SharePoint 2013 ::: How to restore the deleted "Suggested sites to follow" Web Part from a user's MySite

Hi all,

Today’s challenge is to restore the Web Part “Suggested sites to follow” that was deleted by the user himself.

So, do not lose your time in trying to find the Web Part in the Add Web Part page of the mySite, it is not available.

After googleling, I found this link to a Microsoft article to remove the concerned Web Part using PowerShell.

The script, provided by Microsoft, that put me on the track is:

Add-PsSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell

[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages")

[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing")

$useraccount = "useraccount"

$url = "http://" + [System.Net.Dns]::GetHostName() + "/my/personal/" + $useraccount

$site = get-spsite $url

$web = $site.RootWeb

$pageUrl= "Social/Sites.aspx"

$webPartManager =  $web.GetLimitedWebPartManager($pageUrl, [System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts.PersonalizationScope]::Shared);

$webPart = $webPartManager.WebParts | where-object { $_.WebBrowsableObject.GetType().Name -eq "ProjectSearchBrowseWebpart" }

if($webPart -ne $null)

{

    $webPartManager.DeleteWebPart($webPart)

}

$web.Update();

In the script, I found the name of the Web Part "ProjectSearchBrowseWebpart", and the page to find it.

Then, I decided to compare the code of both pages “Social/Sites.aspx” from my mySite and from the user’s mySite, using SharePoint Designer 2013.

I found then the difference at the end of the code:

Hereunder is the code from my mySite, and in yellow, the missing code in the user’s mySite code:

            <div class="ms-contentFollowing-sitesRightZone ms-tableCell ms-verticalAlignTop">

                <div class="ms-contentFollowing-bottomZoneContainer">

                    <WebPartPages:WebPartZone runat="server" FrameType="None" ID="RightZone" Title="<%$Resources:sps,LayoutPageZone_RightZone%>" Orientation="Vertical"><ZoneTemplate>

                                                                           <SPSWC:ProjectSearchBrowseWebpart runat="server" CategoryString="Site" AllowEdit="False" ChromeType="TitleOnly" Description="The recommendations web part suggests content a user may wish to follow within a farm." Title="Suggested sites to follow" ID="projectSearchBrowseWebPart" __MarkupType="vsattributemarkup" __WebPartId="{344EF58F-509A-3DE1-T3DG-ID0T674FOR6Z}" WebPart="true" __designer:IsClosed="false" partorder="2"></SPSWC:ProjectSearchBrowseWebpart>

                                                                           </ZoneTemplate></WebPartPages:WebPartZone>

                </div>

            </div>

        </div>

    </div>

</asp:Content>

So, I simply made a copy/paste of the missing line, save the user’s “Social/Sites.aspx” page, and made a refresh of his mySite in the browser.

 ==>Problem solved.

---

Voilà,

That’s all Folks !!!

SharePoint 2013 and Microsoft Security Patch side effects

Hi all,

Last week, I've patch with big success my production Farm (15 servers) and my Disaster recovery Farm (15 servers).

Little explanation about our configuration:

All the db (system, content, search, etc) are located on a SQL Cluster, set with several availability groups. (this point made me having white hairs during the previous Cumulative Updates).

On that Cluster, there is a primary group, where all the changes made in SharePoint (system, content, search, etc...) are committed (Read/Write).
Then, on the secondary group, all dbs are automatically sync from primary to secondary group (thus, in case of ay issue, I can easily have a fresh backup and replace the faulty db).

So, those 2 SQL cluster, are "dedicated" to my Primary Prod SharePoint Farm.

Beside this, I have a backup farm. She is identical to the primary farm, and was designed in case of disaster recovery, to replace the main Farm.

In the procedure, I've changed it to reduce the user impact to it's minimum.
The estimation is 2 time 5 minutes: DNS switch from Primary Farm to Secondary Farm, and Secondary Farm to Primary Farm.


So, to be short, both Farms were patched without issue.

The problem came 3 days later, when the mandatory security patch where applied on half of the servers in the company (Next half is done 2 days later).

I discovered that 1 server was back in "Upgrade required"... Oh, my words!!!!
Then, the day later, I had 5 other servers back in that status.

During that time, we had the support of Microsoft, and they recommend us to execute this powershell command:
     Get-SPProduct -local
     Reboot the server

Then, I did this procedure, and it works!!!!

After that, I've only execute the powershell command without rebooting the server, and my servers went back to "No Upgrade Required".

This powershell command must be executed on each server that have received a Microsoft security patch.


So, If your farm was successfully patched, and some server are back in the status "Upgrade Required", thus try this powershell command.
Your Farm and server are still up and running, and in take less than 5 minutes to correct the issue.

---

Voilà,

That’s all Folks !!!

SharePoint 2013 ::: Database is in Compatibility range and upgrade is recommended ::: Database is too old and upgrade is required

Hi all,

After the December 2014 CU, all my farms have their BDC Service Database in compatibility range.

I found the solution from Markus’ Blog and I’ve executed this PowerShell command:

Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell

(Get-SPDatabase | ?{$_.type -eq "Microsoft.SharePoint.BusinessData.SharedService.BdcServiceDatabase"}).Provision()

Also, I got an error (as mentionned in his post), and checked the access rights.

This is the error I had:

PS C:\Windows\system32> (Get-SPDatabase | ?{$_.type -eq "Microsoft.SharePoint.BusinessData.SharedService.BdcServiceDatabase"}).Provision()

Exception calling "Provision" with "0" argument(s): "Cannot find the object "dbo.Versions" because it does not exist or you do not have permissions."

At line:1 char:1

+ (Get-SPDatabase | ?{$_.type -eq "Microsoft.SharePoint.BusinessData.SharedService ...

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : SqlException

So, I’ve asked to the SQL Team to add the SPDataAccess for the service account:

Then, I ran again the PowerShell command, and my BDCS database is now in “No action required” status.

I’ve also 3 system database that are in “Database is too old and upgrade is required” status.

For those 3 DBs, I’ve tried the same way as for the BDCS database:

First, getting the correct Type Name for each DB:

Get-SPDatabase | ft -Auto

Second, preparing the PowerShell commands:

(Get-SPDatabase | ?{$_.type -eq "Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Subscription Settings Database"}).Provision()

(Get-SPDatabase | ?{$_.type -eq "Microsoft.Office.Server.Administration.ProfileDatabase"}).Provision()

(Get-SPDatabase | ?{$_.type -eq "Microsoft.Office.Server.Administration.SocialDatabase"}).Provision()

Third, checking and adapting the SQL settings for SPDataAccess

Finally, executing my PowerShell commands.

---

Voilà,

That’s all Folks !!!