What is the correct method to delete a variation subsite label in SharePoint 2010?

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The search request was unable to connect to the Search Service.

This is an error I faced trying to set up a fast search centre in an OOTB environment.

TechNet provides four common causes for this issue.

1: The communication channels are not cleaned up correctly
2: The FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint query processing services are not running
3: The SharePoint certificate is not present on one or more of the FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint query processing servers
4: SharePoint has not been configured to point to the FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint query processing node

Reference: Technet

Getting a site collection backup in SharePoint 2010

Getting a site collection backup in SharePoint 2010 can be done in two methods.

• Through the Central Admin  

 Go to Central Admin -> Backup and Restore -> Perform a Site Collection Backup -> Give a name and a file location for the backup and click ok.

• Using PowerShell

Backup -SPSite -Identity <site collection host header> -Path <path of the backup file>

Reference: Technet

Search PDF files via Fast Search for SharePoint 2010

Fast Search for SharePoint 2010 searches PDF files by default(without any 3rd party plug-ins) given that they are not read protected or locked. When creating search scopes for Fast Search, the Document Library which contain the PDF files need to be in the included section of the search scope.

Mentioned below are some of the key points that come up when searching for the PDF search scenarios in Fast Search for SharePoint 2010.

• List of file types supported by default in OOTB sites – SharePoint 2010 does include PDF by default as search file types
• http://technet.microsoft.com/nb-no/library/gg471168.aspx
• Enable advanced filter pack – This is a solution to view content of PDF files in Search of SharePoint 2010
• http://technet.microsoft.com/nb-no/library/ff383314.aspx
• Configure iFilter to enable viewing of PDF content in SharePoint search – This is the recommended method to view content of PDF files
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2293357
• Adding searchable file types in SharePoint 2010 – Additional related info regarding adding searchable file types
• http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2518465
• Additional iFilter products
• http://blogs.msdn.com/b/opal/archive/2009/03/10/pdf-ifilter-battle-second-round.aspx
•  Select what contents are to be displayed in search results – This can be used to limit access to certain libraries, but it will have to be manually specified with this method
• http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-server-help/enable-content-to-be-searchable-HA010379092.aspx

SP Dispose check

When coding a solution in Visual Studio memory leaks which occurs from object disposals which were not handled can be checked using the tool available here.

Add / remove options from an existing SQL database

When there is a need to change settings of an existing Ms SQL database you will need to add ASP.NET SQL Server Registration into windows registry.

It can be done using the following method.

Navigate to [drive:]\%windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\version folder on your Web server, and type aspnet_regsql on the command prompt.

E.g.: 

C:\>cd Windows

C:\Windows>cd Microsoft.NET

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET>cd Framework

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework>cd v2.0.50727

C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727>aspnet_regsql

After registering this functionality existing settings of existing databases can be altered after creation.

More information on the tool can be found on the following reference link.

Reference: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms229862%28v=vs.80%29.aspx

How to get the build version of SharePoint 2010

Keeping track on SharePoint 2010 upgrades are critical for maintenance and development using SharePoint.
There are three methods from which the build version of SharePoint 2010 can be checked.

• From the SharePoint 2010 Central Administration

Go to SharePoint 2010 Central Administration -> Upgrade and Migration -> Check Product and patch Installation Status

• From PowerShell (registry entry)

 Go to SharePoint 2010 Management Shell and enter the following script to get the SharePoint 2010 version registered in the Windows registry

(Get-item "hklm:software\microsoft\shared tools\web server extensions\14.0").Getvalue("version")

• From PowerShell (farm build version)

 Go to SharePoint 2010 Management Shell and enter the following script to get the SharePoint 2010 farm build version

(get-spfarm).buildversion

The newest updates on SharePoint 2010 Server can be checked from the following reference location.

References: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/ff800847

More accurate method to disable Loop back

Method 1 (recommended): Create the Local Security Authority host names that can be referenced in an NTLM authentication request

To do this, follow these steps for all the nodes on the client computer:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa\MSV1_0
3. Right-click MSV1_0, point to New, and then click Multi-String Value.
4. In the Name column, type BackConnectionHostNames, and then press ENTER.
5. Right-click BackConnectionHostNames, and then click Modify.
6. In the Value data box, type the CNAME or the DNS alias, that is used for the local shares on the computer, and then click OK.

Note Type each host name on a separate line.

Note If the BackConnectionHostNames registry entry exists as a REG_DWORD type, you have to delete the BackConnectionHostNames registry entry.
7. Exit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.

Steps to deploy a SharePoint 2010 site

The basic steps to deploy a SharePoint 2010 site are as follows;

• Create Web Application
• Deploy the content packages 
•  (using a powershell script)
• Edit the web.config file 
• Located in the C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\<web_application_folder>
• Do the IIS-Binding
• Go to Start -> Run -> IIS-Manager  and select the desired website from the list and click Bindings. Add the url of the site as a new binding. 
• Enable features
• This is only required if you are not restoring a backup of a site collection.
• (Optional) 
• Restoring a site collection backup. Refer here for details.

Restoring a sitecollection backup in SP 2010

In SharePoint 2010 Management Shell you can enter the following command in order to restore a site collection backup in to a SharePoint 2010 we application.

Restore-SPSite -Identity -Path [-DatabaseServer ] [-DatabaseName ] [-HostHeader ] [-Force] [-GradualDelete] [-Verbose]



For example in order to restore a site collection to a certain web application we can use the following command.

PS C:\> Restore-SPSite -Identity http://cd-sgunasena -Path C:\UpdateFw\sitecollectionbackup\abc.bak -HostHeaderWebApplication http://abcdemo.abcompany.com -Force


Reference: MSDN

Before deploying SP 2010 sites in powershell

I recently joined a release engineering management group for our SharePoint developments in the work place. And I'm now learning deployment related stuff.

Some quick facts:

• Be sure to be logged in as a farm administrator (I get this confused sometimes as we meddle with a lot of test accounts in order to test SharePoint developments)
• Make sure the DisableLoopback feature is enabled. You can do this by going to  Registry editor by typing regedit in start menu -> run. In registry goto HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE -> SYSTEM -> CurrentControlSet -> Control ->Lsa . Right Click on Lsa and select AddNewDWord (32bit) Value and enter "DisableLoopbackCheck" as the name and enter 1 when prompted to enter a value. 

Keep in mind to make sure the following services are enabled and started before running windows powershell to deploy SharePoint 2010 sites.

• SharePoint 2010 Administration
• SharePoint 2010 Timer
• World Wide Web Publishing service

Errors while running Pre-Upgrade Checker

Last week I was doing another test migration using the database - attach method. This time we were trying to simulate a multi-server farm environment.
Before upgrading, as usual :) , I ran the pre-upgrade checker on the SharePoint 2007 test farm we had created. But it returned several unfamiliar errors!

We found out by checking many things regarding permissions the following two were the reasons for causing erroneous reports.

• Additional inactive server in the farm
• insufficient permissions to continue

 This was later resolved by,

• removing the additional inactive server from farm
• re-running the pre-upgrade checker using a more privileged account

These errors occur due to misplacement of simple issues. But these things happen when we are thinking only about the big things and not concentrating on small details. Hope this will help a wanderer :)

Attaching DB error while performing Attach-DB Upgrade from SP 2007 to 2010

While performing the database-attach upgrading method I came across many errors yesterday. Some were silly errors like typing errors ;) . But there were some serious errors too like the one I describes in my previous post yesterday.
The last error I logged in to my previous blog post was an error in SQL authentication while trying to run the DB attach command in powershell.
The command was like this,

PS C:\Users\sgunasena> Mount-SPContentDatabase -Name WSS_Content_4455 -DatabaseServer local -WebApplication http://cd-sgunasena:7788

And I tried several ways changing commands and changing databases. But it did not work out. It seems like I was having an issue with SQL authentication. Since this is a work environment I'm not provided with unlimited access to machines, yet I am in the machine admin group. And also in SQL server settings I have given the user all the rights necessary. I'm still looking into the authentication issue.
So the Powershell command didNOT work out for me.
So I consulted a friend of mine and discussed about this. Friend came up with a different command using the command prompt or the old fashioned way!
And of course it worked out fine.
You have to first move into the 14hive in order to perform it using the following command.

C:\Program Files>cd C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Ex
tensions\14\BIN

And then you need to execute the following command in order to get it done the correct way.

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\BIN>stsa
dm -o addcontentdb -url http://cd-sgunasena:7788 -databasename WSS_Content_4455