Does anyone like the Helpdesk Templates and use them successfully?

Just curious if folks out there are actually using the Helpdesk Templates, and what they think of them? Having come from an environment where we had Numara's TrackIT, I'm finding the SharePoint templates to be pretty annoying to use. I'm about to start thinking how I want to customize them, but I'm curious to know what others think before I start.

Thanks

Reply:

Well, there can be no precise answer to this question. It depends on the requirements that you have. For some people, the helpdesk template fulfills all the requirements whereas on the other hand, some people require very advanced level of help desk application. I have tried it and deployed it for some customers and they seem to be quite satisfied with the performance. The template can be modified and customized to meet your specific requirements.

SSA

------------------------------------
Reply:

I agree that there can be no precise answer to this one. In my experience, we have used the help desk template as a starting point to get conversations going about what we would like to have in the site. On a few occasions, we have kept what we had out of the box and on others we customized or made something entirely different. It all depends on your organizations specific needs. At a minimum we have found the templates to be a good starting point.

------------------------------------
Reply:

Hi,

I've set it up at several implementations. But I completely agree with Jennifer: it is a very good starting point to create an example site based on the template. End-users have immediately a good view on the possibilities and you can soon start brainstorming with your end-users about customizations.

Patrik | My Blog

------------------------------------
Reply:

I'm sorry, I guess I didn't really do a good job of asking anything specific. I guess I was half whining out loud and half hoping someone would come on here singing its praises, give me some good reasons to use it. I guess I'm not sold yet that it's worth putting time and effort into.

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

SQL Server 2008 CU1 Released

The first update to SQL Server 2008 has been released under the new servicing model.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/956717/

I Need some Stsadm Help

I'm a Noob so take it easy on me with any lingo, and please be very specific because what you think i know.. i don't so if i'm way out in left field tell me what i'm doing wrong and what's the wright way to do it..

Have an Existing sharepoint farm ( i want to move the sites to another farm , not all of them.. some.. so i want to move them individually with all the data, design.. ect...)
I used
Stsadm.exe –o backup –url http://sp.it.voa.org -filename itbackup.bak -backupmethod full

It successfully created a backup .. however the file is on 1.8 MB (This leaves me unconformable , the site didn't have much content on it all but 1.8 MB.. that's it ? it couldn't be Everything could it? ( i thought stsadm backup the site, content design ect.......?

So anyway. i copied the bak file over to my other sharepoint enviorment and tried to restore it

Stsadm.exe –o restore –url http://test.myvoa.org -filename itbackup.bak

said something about couldn't find url , not created or something.... this is where i'm lost.. not sure how to restore properly ...

Ok now i know i'm doing alot wrong but like i said i'm super new so take it easy on me

Do i have to do something on Sharepoint first? like create a blank site?
When i restore this bak will it look just like my original site or will i have to do custimization
ps the site name test.myvoa.org is what i want the restored site to be named

thanks for any help

Reply:

Your very close,

The simplest way is to create a site at test.myvoa.org, then make sure this works ok. Then do the restore:

Stsadm.exe –o restore –url http://test.myvoa.org -filename itbackup.bak -overwrite

Your backup should restore the content.

.NET Developer, Brisbane, Australia, http://httpcode.com

------------------------------------
Reply:

Thanks Daniel,

Few more Questions

Does the command above create the Web Application, and the IIS, plus the Application Pool ect.... if so how does this know what application pool user name and password to authenticate with or will i have to make those modifications?
When i tried to force the backup to backup to a directory it WOULD NOT WORK for the life of me... so say if my code was
Stsadm.exe –o backup –url http://sp.it.voa.org -directory C:\joseph\moss backups\it site -filename itbackup.bak -backupmethod ful
It would come back with an error
it would only work with Stsadm.exe –o backup –url http://sp.it.voa.org -filename itbackup.bak -backupmethod full
why is that? what did i do wrong?

any help on this would be appriciated.

------------------------------------
Reply:

By The way Daniel That didn't work, it still says:

The Web application at http://test.myvoa.org could not be found. Verify that you
have typed the URL correctly. If the URL should be serving existing content, th
e system administrator may need to add a new request URL mapping to the intended
application.

I must remind you i copied this site from one sharepoint farm to a totally seperate sharepoint farm with diffrent DB's

Also it's using a new url

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

Gaining Points and the Top Answerer

I just ran a test in the Sandbox forum - to see how many times I could mark my post as an answer. I got five before it unmarked (and now I can't delete the thread!) but that's another story.

I find it silly that if someone marks a response to their own thread as an answer, they're entitled to appearing as a top answerer for the forum (take the 0 star that found the answer, for example). It makes the "Top Answerers" mean less.

Also, I think the mark for 1 star should begin at 3, because some people respond to threads because they "have the same problem." Consequently, I guess you'd move the others up one as well... or, if you don't like an uneven number, move the start to 5.

I just feel like it's really, really easy to become 1 star.

Web Designers for Obama/Biden 08.

Reply:

>I find it silly that if someone marks a response to their own thread as an answer, they're entitled to appearing as a top answerer for the forum (take >the 0 star that found the answer, for example). It makes the "Top Answerers" mean less.

Given that it's probably unlikely that they will re-write the forms software so that it allows someone to mark their own reply to their own thread as an answer but not include this in their points score (which affects the Top Answerers list), I've been for not allowing people to mark their own posts as answers which will naturally remove this problem that you rightly bring up.

I'm also against the possibiilty of someone marking their own answer (in a thread started by someone else) as "Propose as answer" for similar reasons.

In both cases the threshold to the answer being marked as an answer is too low and the possibilty of getting cheap points too high.

Edited by Mike Walsh FIN Sunday, September 14, 2008 2:50 PM spelling (wilol)

------------------------------------
Reply:

Mike:

I had thought that when you marked your own post as answer it did not count to the point score (even if it does contribute to Top Answerers; I did not know about that). But in any case I am opposed to answering your own post as answer.

I am also even more opposed to allowing responders to propose their own reply as answer, as it is more in indication of the lack of humility of the poster than the quality of the answer.

Actually, I am opposed to propose as answer altogether, since I think it serves no useful purpose.

Mark as answer by OP, and Vote as helpful. These are enough. The forums need fewer features, free of bugs, not more.

David Wilkinson | Visual C++ MVP

------------------------------------
Reply:

a. Marking your own post as an answer does not give you points, but it does give you stats in Top Answerers (which is what I think is wrong)

b. That feature of "proposing your own reply as an answer" has been removed - thankfully

c. Marking your own post as an answer should stay, because sometimes one can find the answer to a problem. If the above two things are taken into account, then I see nothing wrong with it.

d. Propose as answer lets OPs know that there is a possible solution.

Web Designers for Obama/Biden 08.

Edited by Oliver Black Sunday, September 14, 2008 9:38 PM

------------------------------------
Reply:

Oliver:

I am opposed to allowing the OP to mark his/her own response as answer, but at the very least I agree that it should not give points or contribute to Top Answerer stats.

AFAICT we have not eliminated the ability to self-propose. See this sandbox thread where I was just able to do this:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/msdnsandbox/thread/3d1f2844-bb63-4721-9c5d-2e32831142e6

I do agree that we should at least get rid of this feature.

But I am really opposed to Propose as answer altogether. I suppose that very occasionally it could cause an OP to realize that his/her question had indeed been answered, but most OP's are not that clueless.

Rather I had thought that the purpose of Propose as answer was

1. To suggest to OP's that they should Mark as answer. Here it is totally ineffective, counterproductive even.

2. To suggest to moderators that they should Mark as answer. I would hope that moderators are sufficiently on the ball not to need this crutch.

I just see no benefit to Propose as answer. The new improved Vote as helpful is a much better feature, IMHO.

David Wilkinson | Visual C++ MVP

------------------------------------
Reply:

One Microsoft moderator (one who does it in his spare time - not one paid solely to moderate) has told me that he likes having Propose as Answer because it allows him to quickly whip through just those threads in order to see if the posts are worth marking as an answer.

I see Propose As Answer **by someone else than the person who wrote it** as serving that purpose well enough.

Propose As Answer by the person who wrote it has all the negative consequences described well enough in the posts above.

I wouldn't mind if Propose As Answer vanished altogether but I wouldn't be mad if they just restricted its use to a neutral person. However the present system must go.

------------------------------------
Reply:

Mike:

I think the new improved Vote as helpful could fulfill the same purpose for moderators. If someone has voted a post as helpful, then it must at least be a candidate for being the answer. Not necessarily the answer, I agree, but just as likely as for a post that is proposed as answer.

I really think that the conceptual difference between Vote as helpful and Propose as answer will escape most users of the forums, and just cause confusion. I personally have made the decision never to use Propose as answer on somebody else's response, and I would prefer that others would not propose my responses as answer. In my experience it is the kiss of death as far as getting OP's to mark as answer, because they see the issue as already dealt with.

David Wilkinson | Visual C++ MVP

------------------------------------
Reply:

One thing I should point out: The people that are debating self-proposing and self-answering in this thread are all moderators (I think). Most people cannot do this. Moderators are given special powers since we've given them a certain level of trust. One would HOPE they wouldn't abuse that ability...

Matt Fraser, STO Forums Software Developer

------------------------------------
Reply:

Matt:

I am a not a moderator, and I was able to self-propose in the Sandbox forum:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/msdnsandbox/thread/3d1f2844-bb63-4721-9c5d-2e32831142e6

And anybody who replies to his/her own thread can mark it as answer. I guess this is OK as long as we have this concept of The Answer, but if we must have voting I much prefer Vote as Helpful. The best way to get marked as answer is to provide a few lines of code. But much more helpful to the OP is to teach them where to find the answer, or to give enough of a hint to figure the problem out for themselves. You know: Give a man a fish and he can eat for a day; teach him how to fish and he can eat forever. This question/answer pair mentality is very alien to teaching the OP good documentation-using habits.

David Wilkinson | Visual C++ MVP

------------------------------------
Reply:

OK, I thought self propose was taken out. Obviously not. I'm kind of on the fence as to whether it should be there or not. I can see arguments both ways, but I tend not to do it myself.

Matt Fraser, STO Forums Software Developer

------------------------------------
Reply:

Self Propose IS disabled, but I can mark any of my replies to my own thread as Answers, as tested in this thread: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/tnsandbox/thread/db8e8ddc-af64-4971-a1d2-929aee1cfc2f/

I verified that my Point count never changed, but my "Answers" total is increasedddecreases for each post I mark/unmark. This should also be disabled as the Top Answers could be users answering thier own questions.

Jeff Schertz, PointBridge | MVP | MCITP: Enterprise Messaging

Edited by Jeff SchertzMVP Sunday, September 21, 2008 2:51 PM

------------------------------------
Reply:

Jeff:

Propose as answer by OP is no longer allowed.

But proposing your own response to someone else's question remains. Some people routinely do this, and it is very annoying, IMHO.

But, once again, I would prefer to get rid of the entire propose as answer feature. I see no point to it.

David Wilkinson | Visual C++ MVP

------------------------------------
Reply:

For an example of the kind of nonsense that can happen with "Propose as answer" see the thread

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vclanguage/thread/38c78adf-d8ee-4b98-aed6-7dd5cfcb3424

Here, one of the responders in the thread has gotten it into his head to propose one of the OP's follow-up questions as answer.

This thread also provides an example of duplicated post.

David Wilkinson | Visual C++ MVP

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

Technique to get newspaper stlye columns in HTML (do it twice & throw half out)

A kludge, and if there's a better way, let me know:

Report services 2005 doesn't support newspaper-column layout in HTML*.

For some scenarios, here is a workaround. This is based on:

http://forums.microsoft.com/TechNet/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=3896092&SiteID=17

In that article JoeBu gives a technique that is easily modified to create newspaper style columns.

Short version: for a two column list, you render the list twice, and set the visibility of items in the lefthand list so that items from the end of the list don't display. And in the righthand list, you set visibility so that items in the first half of the list don't display.

Using the "List" report item, I was never able to get lists to line up at the top of reports in HTML with IE (they did line up in Firefox, and in print formats, but I needed IE). However, using tables, this worked for me.

Here's a version for two columns. This makes top to bottom, left to right list. If there are odd number of items, the left side gets the extra one. A left-to-right, top-to-bottom approach is in JoeBu's post.

Procedure:

Create 2 tables side by side, with the rows horizontally aligned.
In the visibility for the detail row, put this expression for the left table:

=code.whichHalf(CountRows("DataSet1"), RowNumber("DataSet1")) <> 1
and this in the right:
=code.whichHalf(CountRows("DataSet1"), RowNumber("DataSet1")) <> 2
and in the right column

In the reports code area, add this:

-------------start

public function whichHalf(rowcount as integer, thisrow as integer) as integer
' for a two column row - return 1 if this item goes in first hand of
' list, 2 on second

if rowcount = 0 then
  return 1 'avoid divide by 0
end if
dim midpoint as integer
midpoint = round(rowcount/2)
if (midpoint * 2) < rowcount then
  midpoint = midpoint + 1
end if
if thisrow <= midpoint then
  return 1
else
  return 2
end if
end function

---------end

Simple tests with long lists, export to PDF and excel, all worked okay. You have to be very careful to avoid overlapping textboxes anywhere near the tables or they scramble.

*See ms-help://MS.SQLCC.v9/MS.SQLSVR.v9.en/rptsrvr9/html/070ce267-dd43-42b1-9405-64e9b02df218.htm for the general "it doesn't work" documentation.

Dynamic Suite Composition Tool

Mindgrape has developed the application "Dynamic Suite Composition Manager", which helps you to "connect/edit" your OSD files through a graphical interface, instead of you having to edit the osd-files yourself.

It also give you an overview which application already is part of an Dynamic Suite.

Prerequisites:
You need to have Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 installed

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=333325FD-AE52-4E35-B531-508D977D32A6&displaylang=en

Howto: This Application is very intuitive and won´t come with a users manual. Specify your content-directory, mark which applictions you want to pair together and press "pair". The Application will then save a copy of your original OSD with an bak-extension, and then do the actual association inside the OSD-files.

btw, if you want to modfy the colors in the app, just right click it and choose something else

Give it a try, but remember, use at your own risk

Download url: http://forum.mindgrape.se/download.php?id=41

Best Regards

Pierre Eriksson @ Mindgrape

SQL Server Data Services to Launch On or Before 11/14/2008?

See OakLeaf's SQL Server Data Services to Launch On or Before 11/14/2008? post of today for more details.

I have the gut feeling that this announcement is for the public beta, which was originally scheduled for July 2008, not RTM.

--rj

OakLeaf Blog

Edited by Roger Jennings Thursday, September 18, 2008 5:00 PM Minor

Reply:

yep - saw this a while back.

i figure after PDC *lots* of things will come out.

BTW - will you be @ PDC this year?

Mike Amundsen [http://amundsen.com/blog/]

------------------------------------
Reply:

I suspect the public beta release will be around Dec 2008 - Jan 2009, which will be a paid service, the PDC release will highly likely still a private beta release. Given the current pricing trend, I suspect the pricing will be very competitive too, probably something like 'free of charge for 1st 500 MB bandwidth each month'....

Having said that, it is hard to predict how much new stuffs will be introduced in the coming release...integer data type support? transaction support? joins? Another month to go before the secrets are unveiled.

------------------------------------
Reply:

Hi folks. You are correct in assuming that the announcement post PDC is for Public Beta. Our RTM is slated later in CY09.

Thanks

Anil

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

Upgrade Issues: SS2005 Express with Advanced Services to SS2008 Express with Advanced Services

I did an in-place upgrade of SQL Server Express Edition; these are the issues I've experienced:

Upgrade:

FROM SQL Server 2005 Express with Advanced Services (at the SP2 level)
TO SQL Server 2008 Express with Advanced Services (10.0.1600.22)

AFTER the upgrade, these are the issues I am seeing:

After the upgrade, I do NOT have the client tools (i.e. SQL Server Management Studio Express).
In my Application Event Log I am seeing various errors
1. ERROR: Report Server Windows Service (SQLEXPRESS) cannot connect to the report server database.
2. ERROR: SQL Server failed to communicate with filter daemon launch service (Windows error: Windows Error: hr = 0x80070422(failed to retrieve text for this error)). Full-Text filter daemon process failed to start. Full-text search functionality will not be available. [Event Source: MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS; Event ID: 9954]
3. ERROR: SQL Server is not ready to accept new client connections. Wait a few minutes before trying again. If you have access to the error log, look for the informational message that indicates that SQL Server is ready before trying to connect again. [Event Source: MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS, Event ID 17187]

BEFORE the upgrade, I ran the SQL Server 2008 Upgrade Advisor. While it did point out several issues (with things I don't use), none were blocking issues. These were the issues raised:

Database Server
- Invalid object name 'SYS.SYMMETRIC_KEYS'. "DESX"
- Full-Text Search has changed in SQL Server 2008
- Changes to the storage format for types xs : dateTime, xs : date, and xs : time
- Changes to behaviour of trace flags
- Other Database Engine upgrade issues
Reporting Services
- Obsolete extensions were detected on the report server computer
- Custom ISAPI filters are configured on the report server website.
- Reporting Services 2005 web service security group migration.

This is an extract from my upgrade summary file (note that I have excluded some columns for readability):

(C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Setup Bootstrap\Log\Summary.txt)

Product features discovered:

Product	Instance	Instance ID	Feature	Version
Sql Server 2005			Tools	9.2.3073
Sql Server 2005			ToolsClient	9.2.3073
Sql Server 2005			ToolsClient\Connectivity	9.2.3073
Sql Server 2008	SQLEXPRESS	MSSQL10.SQLEXPRESS	Database Engine Services	10.0.1600.22
Sql Server 2008	SQLEXPRESS	MSSQL10.SQLEXPRESS	SQL Server Replication	10.0.1600.22
Sql Server 2008	SQLEXPRESS	MSSQL10.SQLEXPRESS	Full-Text Search	10.0.1600.22
Sql Server 2008	SQLEXPRESS	MSRS10.SQLEXPRESS	Reporting Services	10.0.1600.22

As you can see, I seem to have been only partially upgraded. The database engine features are now at 2008 level; the client tools are still at the 2005 level.

Question:

My most pressing need at this point is to get the 2008 level client tools. Does anybody know how I can do that (easily), without a complete uninstall/reinstall or other similar measures?

Notes:

I can't remember exactly how I arrived at SQL Server 2005 Express Edition with Advanced Services initially (2 years ago). I think I started with SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (base package) and then added on the client tools (SQL Server Management Studio Express Edition) and then subsequently upgraded to SQL Server 2005 Express Edition with Advanced Services. I am wondering if the failed update / install of the 2008 client tools is related to my original 2005 upgrade path.

=====

Update:

I resolved this by doing the following:

Deleting all the SQL Server 2005 Express Edition "residue" (I went into Add/Remove Programs and uninstalled anything matching "SQL Server 2005 xxx")
I then did a maintenance upgrade on SQL Server 2008 Express Edition and added the 2008 version of SQL Server Management Studio (basic)

Removing users policies from Admin pc

Hello,

I installed Windows server 2008 and established a small testing LAN to apply some policies. The policies that I assigned to the LAN users have been granted to the Admin pc too. For example, if i didn't allow the LAN users to access the control panel, then the admin pc will not access too.

the question is: how can i grant the admin pc full permission?

Please, anyone knows how to fix this problem?

Be rich with kownledge

Reply:

This is a PowerShell scripting forum. Were you looking for a way to script a fix or had a general GPO question? This is not the forum for GPO related questions.

Marco

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

Replication (thru IIS) error caused by an space char on Sql Server name

It has taken me many hours to discover what caused this error, so I think it will be useful to have it published here.

When trying to sync from a Sql Server Compact Edition (v3.1) thru a IIS I got this error:

[29045] [Initializing SQL Server Reconciler has failed.]

[20084] [El proceso no pudo conectar a Distributor 'SERVERPDA\PDASV '.]
[0] [No se puede completar el proceso de inicio de sesión debido a un retraso en la apertura de la conexión del servidor]

On the EvenLog of the server this error was repeated hundreds of times (Source: SERVERPDA\PDASV):

The server was unable to load the SSL provider library needed to log in; the connection has been closed. SSL is used to encrypt either the login sequence or all communications, depending on how the administrator has configured the server. See Books Online for information on this error message: 0x6d. [CLIENT: 11.11.11.11]

The 0x6d (109) error is: The pipe has been ended

The cause of the error was that there was an SPACE CHAR on the Publisher Name (Sql Server name).

The solution is as easy as deleting the space from the name:

"SERVERPDA\PDASV" instead of "SERVERPDA\PDASV "

The main problem here, is that the error doesn't indicate the real problem. The correct error should be the typical "Failure to connect to SQL Server with provided connection information. SQL Server does not exist, access is denied because the IIS user is not a valid user on the SQL Server, or the password is incorrect.".

Hyper-v & Dynamic Disk (Scripting with diskpart)

I am attempting to script the provisioning of Hyper-V VMs using a base set of syspreped VHD's. This worked fine until I tried to integrate disk resizing into the function. My script:

· Copies a 20GB dynamic disk to a new location and renames it.

· Does a call out to a resize-vhd function I have written and resizes the dynamic disk to a value I set.

· Mounts the new disk to inject some sysprep files (this sit he stage I have now hit a problem)…

Now if im working with basic disks, I simply call diskpart, set the disk as active and it uses the next available drive letter. With a dynamic disk, if I have mounted this disk previously (or a copy of the disk) I then need to recover it (and then it uses the old driver letter or picks a new if the old one is in use). I also can't mount more than one copy of this disk at one time – if I try it shows up as error, which is no good. I did not have this problem with basic disks…

Taking a step back…the first time I mount the disk it's marked as foreign, so I have to import it. This wouldn't have been such a huge problem, but I can only import it once and then I need to start issuing the recover switch – does that make any sense? It looks like Windows remembers a dynamic disk and (possibly quite sensibly) won't let you mount the same dynamic disk simultaneously.

Is there any way I can trick Windows into thinking that a *copy* of a dynamic disk is a NEW disk? I think that's what I need to do… Perhaps this behavior can be disabled with a registry hack?

Any thoughts?

Reply:

A small bump, i'm no closer to figuring this out myself.

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

SCCM-OSD

Dear All

You Can Download SCCM-OSD Deployment Document From Below Link .

I hope this will be helpfull for you.

http://www.4shared.com/account/home.jsp;jsessionid=AE8089E2BC4328614A900CFBFAF08658.dc61

Reply:

The folder looks empty when I login. Can you make the file "public"?

Best Regards
Ronni Pedersen

------------------------------------
Reply:

Now You Can Download SCCM-OSD From Below Link

http://www.4shared.com/file/63710008/88c30055/Deploying_Operating_System-01.html

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

XP 64 and IPv6

HI guys,

this might be in the wrong section ( Admins feel free to move

)

ok.. any way, slight issue with xp64 and IPv6.

it seems that there is a problem when using Fixed IPs and using the Ms IPv6 Protocols.

noticed the issue after DHCP fell over on my x64 inst, not a prob just sort out a static IP. Once this had been done my system started becoming slow and unresponcive leading to the OS falling over ( freezing, inc the mouse @_@ )

after a format and reinst. install the MoBo NIC drivers, restart.

install IPv6 and then configure the static IP... XP falls over giving a BSOD, didnt manage to cath the actual component that caused the BSOD tho

following the BSOD attempting to get in to XP - no joy, safe mode - no joy. looking at the loader when xp is booting in to safemode it looked like things were failing when trying to start the networking services.

is there going to be a fix or a work around for this?

thanks Stick out tongue

Reply:

If you have done some of yor home work then you would know that xp 64 is based on w2k3 server core not like Sp3 which is Xp x32 only. Which is the purpose of this forum. Sp3 issues. Unless Sp3 is the problem.

Is the device usb based?

Have you completely brought your system up to date?

www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,8523601

Any problems in the fire wall configuration? Tried turning this off for testing?

Is the Sp3 side been updated for IP6?

blogs.msdn.com/p2p/archive/2007/07/24/pnrp-debugging-guide-part-1.aspx

technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb726952.aspx

mercury.telscom.ch/configuration_of_ipv6_features.htm

what services are running or not running?

services.msc

www.blackviper.com/WinXPx64/Services/IPv6_Helper_Service.htm

What adaptor are you attempting to connect to? Checked its manual out? Tried the latest driver for your adaptor?

Is this another operatings system like linux? Us somgthing not running that should be on that side?

support.microsoft.com/kb/237295

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/928233/en-us

Sp3 has a problem with fixing up dot net 1.1 sp1. And should be re-installed. Even if involves removing higher versions of .net. Fixes many media edition problems, problems with detecting plug and play items, and general havic.

Keith

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

Migrate farm to a new sql server the easy way

I have setup a sharepoint farm (3 wfe) on sql server that uses mirroring. In doing so, the sql service uses a non-standard sql port so we had to install the sql native client and configure an alias name, server name, and port. Now we are migrating all databases to a new sql cluster and I beleive this will be the simplest sharepoint migration to a new sql server. The documentation from MS covers backing up the shared service provider, deleting the ssp database, moving your databases to the new server, run a stsadm command to point to the new sql server name, and restoring the shared service provider.

I think (and will follow up) a simpler approach is to move all databases and update the sql client alias on each WFE. If you don't use the sql native client tools and an alias... just install it and configure the alias to point to the new sql server.

Am I missing anything in this assumption?

Edited by spork_ Friday, September 19, 2008 3:12 AM clairification

Reply:

This should be ok, we've used this approach before and had no problems. We've also experimented using this approach as part of our disaster recovery plan, the idea like you say, is to have a mirrored system that we could fail over to.

.NET Developer, Brisbane, Australia, http://httpcode.com

------------------------------------
Reply:

Thanks for replying Daniel. I'm glad to hear you had success with this approach. I also like that you mentioned using this approach in a DR scenario - I'll have to remember that.

Unfortunately, after explaining the situation to my supervisor he still asked I make the native sql client alias pointed to the same host name. The sql alias switcheroo would have taken seconds to complete. In my case the backup and restore of the shared service provider was very very troublesome. The backup of the ssp took all of 3 minutes while the restore took approximately 15-20 minutes to complete... when it finally completed.

Some of my issues in restoring the ssp were:

The stsadm command to delete the ssp never deleted the databases.
I detached the orphaned ssp dbs, yet the db files in the sql data folder also caused restore issues.
I moved the db files and the restore seemed to hang at 30% (i noticed this in the restore log) so i canceled it -- not realizing the restore simply takes a very long time to complete.
Uncovered sql permission issues because the dba didn't migrate all perms from the previous sql server
After re-running the delete ssp command I was able to restore the ssp... it just took a long time.

Total time to restore the ssp dbs... over 4 hours due to troubleshooting.

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Report Previews Fine But Only Prints Blank Page

Update: Nevermind. If I set the margins to 0 it prints fine.

SSRS VStudio 2008, local report only. I have a report that when I run it, it previews fine but no matter what I print to or export to, it ends up nothing except a blank page. Any ideas? It has hundreds of lines and textboxes on it.

Reply:

I don't see anyway to mark it as answered when there is no reply. I will have to mark your message then. There is no option to mark the original message that I can see...

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Unanswered Questions For All Forums

Hi

Before in the old forums we had a page that allowed us to view unanswered questions in all forums. Can we get a page like that in this forums or way to view post in multiple categories at the same time.

Reply:

I think you need to define what you mean by "all forums".

I know something about SharePoint, so in my case it would make sense if in addition to the Unanswered Questions button for a particular SharePoint forum, it was possible on the page that lists all the SharePoint forums to have a list of the Unanswered questions for all those forums.

I know know much less about the subjects of most of the other forums so it would make no sense at all to have a way to get a list of ALL forums.

I doubt if there is anyone out there who is an expert on every subject for which there is a forum.

But unanswered forums for all forums in one group of forums, OK, that makes sense. (Even if I wouldn't use it myself because there are enough unanswered messages to keep anyone busy in just ONE of those SharePoint forums).

Edited by Mike Walsh FIN Tuesday, September 16, 2008 6:02 AM grammar - much little (ugh!) repelaced by much less

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Reply:

To follow up on what Mike said, we have talked about the possibility of a "My Forums" view, where you define what forums you are intersted on, and then could apply filters from there. This isn't coming in the immediate future though.

Matt Fraser, STO Forums Software Developer

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Reply:

In the old forums we had unanswered for all. It was a lot easier to rack up the points just watching the answered in all. Forums view seems like it will do pretty much the same thing except with filtering. Filtering in the UnansweredQuestions.aspx doesn't work.

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/UnansweredQuestions.aspx?SiteID=1

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Reply:

> In the old forums we had unanswered for all. It was a lot easier to rack up the points

I don't think the point is to "rack up the points".

The point is surely to provide good quality answers.

I doubt if anyone can provide *good quality* answers in every forum.

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Reply:

I agree with Mike on this. For example, the OCS forums right now are on their own separate URL so the current Unanswered link is great; it lists all unanswered posts across all OCS forums so I can easily check the page for anything I can assist with and be on my way. Most users with the knowledge to assist others are busy working on the products themselves and don't have time to check 20 different sub-forums multiple times per day. Alternatively, the old main TechNet forum's Unanswered link was useless to me as I only contribute to the Exchange and Windows forums there, but that link shows EVERY post in the site which was mainly SharePoint and SQL questions. That's just way too much data to filter through just to find Exchange and Windows posts, so I have to check all the Exchange categories manually which just doesn't happen often. Also only the sub-furms name is shown, so you don't know if a post under "General Discussions" is in the Exchange, or SQL, or SharePoint group.

Now as great as the new site is, I'm not excited about the OCS forums moving over here yet as there will be no way to view all posts across under all OCS categories, either Answered, Unanswered, No Replies, etc. I really think each product's main forums list needs to have these links. I've tried building a link using a custom URL, but it appears the engine doesn't support listing posts like this.

Jeff Schertz, PointBridge | MVP | MCITP: Enterprise Messaging

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Can't Uninstall

I messed up my sharepoint installation, and now I can't figure out how to fix all the errors. I figured it would be best to uninstall then reinstall, but I can't figure out how to do that. I looked in control panel, no app there - tried this:

On the drive where SharePoint Products and Technologies is installed, open a command-line window and type the following command:

cd %CommonProgramFiles%\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\bin
Type the following command:

stsadm.exe -o unextendvs -url <URL> [-deletecontent] [-deleteiissites]

where URL is the URL of the Web application.
- To also delete the content database associated with the Web application, use deletecontent.
- To delete all IIS Web sites associated with the Web application, use deleteiissites.

No sucess....any clue?

Thanks in advance,
Dave

Reply:

Hi Dave,

Try this. Couldn't get any proper documentation on uninstalling Sharepoint

http://nehasinha.wordpress.com/2008/02/01/uninstalling-moss-2007-manually/

Sri

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Memory defragmentation required to restart Hyper-V Guest.

Memory defragmentation on Hyper-V Host; any utilities exist to create the required contiguous memory needed to restart Guest OS after HOST has been running and fragmented memory.

Currently only way to restart Guest using 32GB would be to re-boot HOST and start imediately afterwards.

Editing notes are not filtered for strong language

Check this thread for reference (moderator eyes only).

Hans Passant.

Reply:

Did you post the right thread ?

I don't see any strong language in any of the three messages in the thread and the only edit note is "Note: more appropriate forum (Moved from Building Development and Diagnostic Tools for .Net to Visual C++ General)" which doesn't seem to contain string language either.

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Reply:

You probably don't have moderator rights in that forum to see the deleted message.

Hans Passant.

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Reply:

Ah, true. I may be a Moderator but not there.

I did see your deleted expletive here ....

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Live Mesh Loading Blank screen when trying to connect to desktop

Hi, Mesh desktop page is not connecting. When I click on the connect tab a seperate IE blank screen opens and does not load the desktop that im trying to connect to.
https://www.mesh.com/Web/RemoteDesktop.aspx?DeviceId=a2536281-7f13-4681-8945-e3aa29bd3f51

I tried to re-installed Mesh active X and silver light, reset all IE settings, deleted files and cookies.

Still no success, this has been going on for couple of days now.

I have Vista home premium. IE 7.

Any ideas?

Moved by Mike Walsh FIN Saturday, September 20, 2008 7:28 AM Off-topic (Moved from Bug Reporting for Forums Platform (not product support) to Off-Topic Posts (Do Not Post Here))

Reply:

Well, the first idea that comes to mind is that perhaps you have posted this in the wrong forum. From what I am given to understand, this forum is specifically for issues relating to the forums platform. Unless I'm mistaken (it happens ;-), Windows Live Mesh isn't part of the social forums platform, and the folks here may not have the connection to that platform which would enable them to help you with your issue. If you look at the name of the forum, "Bug Reporting for Forums Platform (not product support)," they seem to be pretty focused on one thing.

cheers,
scott

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Reply:

I'm moving it to the Off-Topic forum.

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Ms Support forum

Wednesday, March 30, 2022