IIS 7.0 & Special Caracters in path of filename

Who was not faced to the error 404 page in SharePoint 2007 ?
Specially when the End User explain that his site is no more working?

Little debug, shows that the EU had the wonderfull idea to create a new folder for his documents (or a document) containing a special caracter : "+" sign.

The workaround that I found, was to rename the folder/file, and ask the EU not to use anymore those special caracters.

Yesterday, I had a post from Fabrice Romelard's blog explaning how to solve this issue, and the root cause of this issue : IIS 7.0 replace the + sign by a space in the URL, but shows the correct URL in your navigator.

The solution is to add into each Web.Config field of each SharePoint Web App, this line :

<requestFiltering allowDoubleEscaping="true" />


Then, I was faced to another problem : where to add this command when the "requestFiltering" is already used for the "requestLimits maxAllowedContentLength" command.



Simply write the section like this :

  <system.webServer>
    <security>
      <requestFiltering allowDoubleEscaping="true">
        <requestLimits maxAllowedContentLength="524288000" />
      </requestFiltering>
    </security>
  </system.webServer>


Hope it'll help, as all found exemple on internet shows all commands one by one, but not in the same Web.Config


That's all folks

MOSS 2007 : Data changes are lost after Check in of .accdb file

Let's describe the user issue :

User had a database file stored on our SharePoint 2007 environment. (Database into another Database… Uh ? )

The process to reproduce the user's issue :

-          Put the .accdb in Check out

-          Open the .accdb file

-          Making the changes

-          Saving the file

-          Check in to allow other users to work with the .accdb file

Error got by the user :

Little analysis of the error message : seems that the user had selected an incorrect option while opening the file.

So, I made the same process as the user, but I found a little box that I didn't checked.

-          In Sharepoint, do the Check out to avoid having multiple users modifying the file at the same moment

In the "You are about to check out" popup windows, pay attention that the checked box "Use my local drafts folder" is NOT checked

 Open the file

 In the "Save A local Copy" popup windows, simply click on the Save button..
It is mandatory, as Access had to open the file as if it is on your computer, without any restriction.

 

-          We are using Office 2010, and at the top of the opened database, you can see those 2 yellow warning bar :

-          Clicking on the "Save to SharePoint Site" button from the Yellow bar will open the "Save to SharePoint" popup windows, showing that the file will be correctly saved to the Site, as expected.

-          System is showing several message windows, and then, we can find the modified database file on SharePoint.

-          Now, let's do the Check in of the document.

 

 

-          Now, the document is Check in without any error.

That's all folks

Virtualization of Exchange 2010 in a small environment

Source Post : http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/exchange2010/thread/60efa95a-a0cc-4b43-ba93-9dd58a23dd53/

As I'm following the Microsoft course 10135A Configuring, Managing and Troubleshooting Microsoft Exchanges Server 2010, I found this herunder post concerning the installation of Exchange 2010 for Small Environment.

For any questions, please refere to the original post URL given above.

Question :

We are running an Exchange 2003 server with less than 100 mailboxes.  We would like to purchase a new server that will run Hyper-V and virtualize Exchange 2010.  So, I wanted to get some recommendations on the hardware we should order and configuration of the virtual guest machines.

I'm thinking of getting a server with two quad-core processors, 24GB of RAM and 12 drives carved out into RAID 1 configurations.

1. Should I install the host server with 2008 R2 core to reduce security footprint (let security updates requiring a reboot)?
2. Should the guest Exchange 2010 VM include multiple roles: CAS, Hub, Transport, MBX on a single VM since we are a small deployment or should I still break out the MBX into a separate VM running core or Enterprise?
3. I'm thinking of configuring the guest Exchange 2010 VM with VHDs dedicated to separare RAID1 arrays for the OS, DB and logs. Since the host server will have two quad core processors, I would dedicate 4 virtual processors and 16GB or RAM.  Does this sound OK?
4. Since we are running 2003 domain controllers, I was thinking of upgrading to 2008 AD by adding a 2008 domain controller as a VM on this same server.  Would that work as I am short additional server hardware?

Thanks for your input.

--------------------------

Reply :

The Host machine Hardware Cofiguration look good enough for 100 mailboxes.

1. Should I install the host server with 2008 R2 core to reduce security footprint (let security updates requiring a reboot)?
    Yes. You can. Ref to http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996719.aspx -> Root Machine Storage Requirements


2. Should the guest Exchange 2010 VM include multiple roles: CAS, Hub, Transport, MBX on a single VM since we are a small deployment or should I still break out the MBX into a separate VM running core or Enterprise?
   One of the reason for installing MX,CAS,HUB in seperate servers is for server load balancing between the roles. But As you are gonna install MX,CAS,HUB in Same Host machine, Its not Required to install them as Seperate VM.
  So You may go for Single Server with MX,CAS,HUB Roles.

3. I'm thinking of configuring the guest Exchange 2010 VM with VHDs dedicated to separare RAID1 arrays for the OS, DB and logs. Since the host server will have two quad core processors, I would dedicate 4 virtual processors and 16GB or RAM.  Does this sound OK?
  Dedicated array disk for OS , DB & Log is good deployment plan. It sounds ok.

4. Since we are running 2003 domain controllers, I was thinking of upgrading to 2008 AD by adding a 2008 domain controller as a VM on this same server.  Would that work as I am short additional server hardware?
 Its not recommended to install Exchange 2010 and Domain controller in same machine. But you may try to bring a seperate Vm for W2K8 Domain controller.

 Please read the following articles before you deploy.

 Ref to:
 Exchange 2010 Prerequisites, System Requirements & Recommendation
 http://msexchangehelp.wordpress.com/2010/02/08/exchange-2010-prerequisites-system-requirements-recommendation/

 Exchange 2010 System Requirements - Hardware Virtualization
 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996719.aspx Navigate to Hardware Virtualization


 Mailbox Server Storage Design
 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd346703.aspx


 All the Best :)

---

Sathish Kumar Elango | MCSE 2003 & MCSA Messaging | http://msexchangehelp.wordpress.com

--
That's all folks

Unable to Upload files larger than 28Mb : Error 404

For an unknown reason, I'm unable to upload files larger than 28Mb on a Sharepoint Site, and I got an "Error 404 Page" after 5 to 10 seconds, depending of the file's size.

But the strange thing, is that I'm able to upload the same file (same extension, size) on another Site and located on another Web App.

I tested with multiple upload, without any success for the larger file :

Next step was to check the SharePoint configuration, and specially concerning the erroneous Web App.

-          Maximum Upload Size is correctly set

-          Web Page Security Validation expiration time is also correctly set.

Now, it remains the IIS, ASP to be checked.

To do so, I googled a little bit and after a little cleaning, I was able to point 3 specific Microsoft documents:

-          http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925083

-          http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942074
-          http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925083

The first had the exact problem that I was facing, but their solution gave me error after an IISReset.

And the second document, gave me the correct file to change :

I simply added the "<requestLimits maxAllowedContentLenght="52428800" />" under the 
"<requestFiltering>" node:

  















 The third documents is requesting to add a parameter into the "web.config" files in two places on the server :

     - First path : in the 12-Hive folder, under Template => Layouts

 

     - Second path : in inetpub, in the Web App folder

 

A IISReset later, let's test again :

Et voilà !

The 2 largest files are now on my SharePoint Site:

Nb1: Do not forget to change also on all your WFE servers.
Nb2: The manipulation was completely successfull in our Test Environment, but not in Production...
  ==>> Update : all is working.
  Issue was due because I forgot the add "<requestLimits maxAllowedContentLenght="52428800" />" parameter to the "applicationHost.config" file on the 2 WFE Servers (it was done on the CA Server only in Production)

That's all folks

Move Sites from one Content Database to another

When a Content DB contains too many sites, we can script the migration process of the selected sites to be moved to another Content DB.

The purpose, is to reduce the number of sites from the DataBase1_site, and balance them between the 2 other DB, leaving Sharepoint the ability to distribute the sites on the DB's.

Step 1 :

First things first, the DataBase1_site Maximum Number of Sites is set to a lower limit (in this case, I divided by 2 the Warning and Number  - my choice)

This will leave Sharepoint to restore the sites to the lowest populated DB ( DataBase3_site in my case)

Step 2 :

Then, it's time to give some work to the SQL Team :

-          Full backup of the DataBase1_site as it is a customer requirement (and this time, I was happy to have it done !!! )

When backup is completed, I've locked all the sites that will be moved.

Then, time for SQL Team to do a differential backup of the DataBase1_site.

Step 3 :

I've written a .bat file with all those commands (according to the explanations of my SharePoint Guru), for each site that will be moved :

stsadm -o backup -url "http://<URL>/sites/<SiteToMove>" -filename "<SiteToMove>.bak"

stsadm -o setsitelock -url "http://<URL>/sites/<SiteToMove>" -lock none

stsadm -o deletesite -url "http:// <URL>/sites/<SiteToMove>"

stsadm -o restore -url "http:// <URL>/sites/POL_CONINO" -filename "<SiteToMove>.bak"

stsadm -o setsitelock -url "http:// <URL>/sites/<SiteToMove>" -lock none

1-      Backup:               Local backup to restore the site into to new DataBase

2-      SetSiteLock:      Unlock the site, or the DeleteSite will not be possible

3-      DeleteSite:        Delete the site from DataBase1_site

4-      Restore:              Restore the deleted site into the allowed DataBase

5-      SetSiteLock:      Unlock the site, as the restore was made from the backup of a locked site

If all is correctly done, job is finish.

But …. In case of problem … as the backup command didn't succeed for any reason, the restore of the full DB is needed, and must be done on SQL side.

Step 4 :

Now, the restore of the DB is done by SQL Team, and we must add the Content DB to Sharepoint, then create a backup of the lost site.

I've wrote a little script that will do all step, with a little "pause" to check the restore of the lost site, before deleting the Backup DB from Sharepoint.

As the Backup DB contains exactly the same sites as the production DB, a new ID must be set to the Backup DB using the stsadm.exe parameter :  –assignnewdatabaseid .

You can find all the details to the Microsoft TechNet Site:

stsadm -o addcontentdb -url http://backupsitemove -assignnewdatabaseid -databasename xxxxxxxxxx1_Site -databaseserver SQLServer\InstanceName

stsadm -o backup -url http://backupsitemove/sites/<SiteName> -filename "<BackupPath>\Backup\<SiteName>.BAK"

stsadm -o restore -url http://<Destination _URL>/sites/<SiteName> -filename "<BackupPath>\Backup\<SiteName>.BAK"

pause

stsadm -o deletesite -url http://backupsitemove/sites/<SiteName>

stsadm -o unextendvs -url http://backupsitemove -deletecontent -deleteiissites

pause

The last command will delete the Database from SharePoint AND from the SQL Server if the used account is set as dbo of the Content DB.

Step 5 :

A full Cralw had to be done to refresh the Search engine.

Step 6 :

Take a deep breath, a coffee and be proud of your job done without losing any user's data.

Nb:  for the little story, I've done all this recovery for one site… that had its last modified document/folder set to 2009 …

That's all folks

Opening Excel files in SharePoint and get a "Microsoft Office Excel Secutity Notice" warning windows message

The root cause of this warning message is created by Office 2007 when you have a hyperlink in your excel document.

The purpose is to warn the user about the possible risk if the hyperlink was inserted by unsafe program.

ð  It is not Sharepoint related.

Error message :

Let's Google first the error message :

This kind of message is not related to SharePoint, but with Office 2007.

This is the link on Microsoft Web Site : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/925757/en-us

It is clearly written :

Hope it'll help.

That's all folks