Engineering & Development

(Welcome to The Next Byte, a series on Microsoft SharePoint and SQL Server written by Don Conrad, a.k.a. “Don SQL”, the Fpweb.net SharePoint database wizard and expert in all things SQL-related. In this post Don examines new features in SQL Server 2012. Missed an installment of The Next Byte? Check out the complete Microsoft SharePoint and SQL Server series.)

and now… THE NEXT BYTE

SQL Server 2012 Topics to Discuss:

1. Which new features will have the biggest impact for SharePoint?
2. Why is the filetable so important?
3. What are the pricing considerations?

Microsoft recently released the newest version of its premier enterprise database management system, SQL Server 2012. This update contains many new and significant features from the current release, 2008 R2. Many of the features are notable improvements over 2008 R2 and there are so many that we couldn’t possibly do justice to them in one article.

In fact, we won’t even try. Instead we’ll focus some of the feature updates that will have the most impact on Microsoft SharePoint, since, after all, SharePoint hosting is what we do here at Fpweb.net.

SQL Server 2012 key features (in no particular order):

1. AlwaysOn
2. Contained databases
3. The FileTable feature (*not a datatype)
4. Core-based licensing

[Editor's Note: This information is provided as-is and is ONLY recommended for a testing environment. Never perform this setup in a SharePoint production environment without extensive prior planning and testing.]

Recently, I found myself in a situation that required me to move a SharePoint 2010 Web Application from Claims Based Authentication to Windows Based Authentication. Searching online for tips on how to do this yielded few results other than Microsoft says this cannot or should not be done. Well, I’m someone who has to prove this the hard way, so I tried anyways; and with a little help was actually successful. And if I’m being honest, it wasn’t even as large an undertaking as I thought it would be.

I’ll walk you through the process, but as stated above, please don’t perform this in a production environment.

In this post, Lead SharePoint Engineer Andy Milsark provides a tip for SharePoint 2010. Looking for more? Check out our catalog of SharePoint Tips & Tricks

I recently finished a SharePoint 2010 claims authentication project and came across an issue with user information stored in the user information list. We are using ADFS 2.0 and using email address as the unique identifier and identity claim. When user accounts are created in the user information list when assigning them permissions through our custom claims provider, email address is saved as the display name and there is nothing saved under the “Work e-mail” field.

I was not able to click on “My Settings” and edit the fields because the User Profile service was provisioned. Even after I deleted the User Profile service, I could not edit these fields through the SharePoint UI as you can see below.

SharePoint Hosting provider Fpweb.net is once again teaming up with Innovative-e, Inc. to present a FREE webinar on “5 Risky SharePoint HR Temptations” on Wednesday, May 23rd at 2:00pm ET.

Join Chris Schwab, SharePoint Engineering Director for Fpweb.net, and Caroll Ford, Managing Partner and SharePoint Practice Owner for Innovative-e, Inc., for an in-depth look into the Human Resources “temptations” or mistakes that organizations make when it comes to understanding the roles necessary to successfully implement and maintain a SharePoint portal, as well as knowing what skills are essential to the various roles. Key topics in this FREE webinar include:

• Discussing the different roles that are required to successfully implement a SharePoint portal
• For each role, learning the appropriate technical and soft skills necessary to form a winning team
• Selecting the “right” people for a SharePoint team
• Understanding how SharePoint governance guidelines and policies interact with the team selection and success
• Managing a cross-functional team that consists of IT and business people who may report through different structures

Please register FREE to attend this featured SharePoint webinar.

SharePoint is a complex platform, so working with SharePoint often requires working with an array of non-SharePoint related software products, such as Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). SharePoint leverages these technologies to add features and increase functionality- in this case SMTP for email delivery.

Sometimes SMTP can be a ‘pain point’ for SharePoint Administrators since it’s not directly related to SharePoint. But when you encounter email delivery problems in SharePoint, resolving the problem frequently involves SMTP troubleshooting. So where does one start in attempting to diagnose an SMTP error or a possible SMTP problem? On many occasions I’ve used Telnet for this purpose, and it has saved me a ton of time and effort. I will discuss the steps in detail in hopes that it can help someone else in similar circumstances.

We will essentially be using a well-known method of using Telnet to send an email, but utilizing it specifically to help diagnose SharePoint SMTP issues and uncover the root cause of any problems. Telnet is one of the best and most reliable tools for troubleshooting email problems in SharePoint because it saves time and narrows down the possible places that a problem may be occurring.

Want easy, seamless integration between your company’s network and Fpweb.net’s SharePoint Cloud? How about Disaster Recovery (DR) failover with fast, secure Virtual Machine (VM) replication across the Internet? New updates in the core Microsoft server product lineup are closing the gaps and facilitating smarter cloud-based SharePoint environments. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Microsoft SharePoint and the Cloud are becoming fast friends! (*hold for applause*)

At the recent Microsoft Hosting Summit 2012, I was thrilled to see the future of Cloud tools unfolding before my eyes. Microsoft is finally producing tools that enable providers like Fpweb.net to go big and fast. As a trusted SharePoint advisor and leading hosting provider for the platform, Fpweb.net is 100% SharePoint, and solving our customers’ SharePoint needs just got easier!

Fpweb.net has provided Microsoft’s SharePoint Team with a ton of feedback from our customers, and I am delighted to say that most of our wish list has been fulfilled with this release of products. Always nice to see Redmond recognizing Fpweb.net’s dedicated SharePoint team in their new product release presentations.

So, let’s talk about what the Microsoft Product Teams have been up to – and which tools Fpweb.net will be using to build the next-generation SharePoint Cloud. The big three core components behind SharePoint are Windows Server 8, SQL Server 2012 and System Center 2012. SPOILER: Windows Server 8 is the greatest Cloud platform on the planet…

Without further ado, let’s get started.  

(Don Conrad, a.k.a. “Don SQL”, is Fpweb.net’s resident database wizard and expert in all things Microsoft SQL related. In this post he examines the next version of SQL Server. Missed an installment of The Next Byte? Check out Don’s complete Microsoft SharePoint and SQL Server series.) 

The Next Byte – Special Edition

Microsoft is busy promoting its next version of SQL Server, the database that powers the SharePoint platform. The RTM (“Release to Manufacturing”) edition of SQL Server 2012 is already available for download, and Microsoft will publicly unveil this new database technology before the end of March. As a result, SQL Server database administrators – and DBAs-in-training – are occupied studying up on the differences between SQL Server 2008 and this new version. For this “Special Edition” post, I’ve taken a break in my on-going talks about SQL Server to cover the highlights of new features in SQL Server 2012.

Perhaps the most pressing questions for SQL Server DBAs are:

1) What are the major enhancements?
2) What editions are available?
3) Did the pricing change?

Many of the feature updates in this version are truly significant and really enhance the usefulness of SQL Server. They are less about storing more, faster. Instead, they are more about how can I use my data quicker and better. They also directly address the massive increase in information that has been ongoing for 10+ years and is now threatening to be unmanageably large. How can we store, and access in a meaningful manner, the incredible quantities of data we already have stored and continue storing the increasing magnitude of data that we will have accumulated in the next few years?

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Want to win cool prizes? Tell us your favorite Fpweb.net blog post!

Do you read Fpweb.net’s blog? Has a particular post been especially beneficial to you? Taught you something new? Made you laugh? What post did you give a second look?

The contest is simple, tweet us your favorite blog post! The grand prize: A seat at the table! Specifically, a seat at Innovative-e’s upcoming SharePoint training session “How to Build a Project Management Information System (PMIS) with SharePoint 2010” on March 9th, 2012 (this Friday!) from 11am-3pm ET.

This free ticket to Innovative-e’s online training session is a $249 value (covers attendance, artifacts and resources, and a recording of the presentation) but one random tweeter will enjoy the full course for free! The winner can attend or choose to send a friend! Plus, Additional prizes will be sent randomly to other contestants (coffee mugs, sunglasses, flash drives, etc).

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1. Acknowledge @fpweb in your tweet
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Ex. My favorite @fpweb blog is When Cloud Computing Meets SharePoint http://blog.fpweb.net/cloud-computing-sharepoint-in-the-cloud/ #bestfpwebblog

A winner will be chosen randomly from all contestants on Thursday at 2pm CT. Winners will be announced on Twitter; make sure you’re following @fpweb so we can Direct Message you if you win!

The session is available to everyone, even if you don’t win (enter the discount code ‘Fpweb’ to receive an exclusive 20% off!)  Learn more and register here!

…THE NEXT BYTE

The Next Byte is our series of posts about the relationship between SQL Server 2008 and Microsoft SharePoint, written by database administrator Don Conrad. Missed the last post? Please read “Microsoft SQL Server: The Database Behind SharePoint”.

Up for discussion:

• A high-level description of SQL Server
• What are the major components of SQL Server?
• What are the core functions of SQL Server?
• What do I have after installing SQL Server?

SQL Server is a database server product. It’s arguably one of the three most popular ones on the market (the other two being ORACLE, manufactured by the ORACLE corporation, and DB2 by IBM). All three provide very similar functions albeit on three different hardware platforms. SQL Server runs on Microsoft Windows servers, ORACLE primarily on Unix/Linux platforms and DB2 generally on IBM mainframes.

While all three perform mostly similar activities, Bill G. and I can probably agree that SQL Server is the premier product. After all, administering SQL Server has helped me pay most of my bills these past years!