Presentation – Pitfalls of Migrating to SharePoint 2010

The Presentation

Follow-up

There was a question in regards to a good resource for getting started with developing solutions utilizing Managed Metadata. I highly recommend Andrew Connell’s series on the subject which can be found at SharePoint 2010 Managed Metadata – About the series….

The following script will generate n number of files at the specified size.

Usage

Set the following variables and go:

1. intCounter – Set to 0. Yes zero. Because we all count from 0 right?
2. intNumNeeded – Set to the number of files needed minus 1. We started at 0 remember?
3. intFileSize – Set to the number of bytes the generated file(s) should be. For example, a value of 10,000 will create a 10kb file.

The Script

Another day, another slap on the wrist for some sloppy SharePoint farm administration. A client was experiencing issues when deploying web applications in their farm with the following error appearing any time a new web application was created or extended:

The ‘system.net’ start tag on line 415 does not match the end tag of ‘configuration’. Line 417, position 3

Enabling the full call stack revealed the following:

The ‘system.net’ start tag on line 415 does not match the end tag of ‘configuration’. Line 417, position 3. at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Throw(Exception e)
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ThrowTagMismatch(NodeData startTag)
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseEndElement()
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseElementContent()
at System.Xml.XmlLoader.LoadNode(Boolean skipOverWhitespace)
at System.Xml.XmlLoader.LoadDocSequence(XmlDocument parentDoc)
at System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load(XmlReader reader)
at System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load(String filename)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPAspConfigurationFile.Copy(FileInfo srcFile, DirectoryInfo destDir, String validationKey, String decryptionKey, Boolean bMergeWebConfig, Boolean bBackupExistingFile)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebApplication.InstallFiles(DirectoryInfo vrPath, String validationKey, String decryptionKey)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebApplication.Provision()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.ApplicationPages.ExtendVirtualServerPage.BtnSubmit_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e)
at System.Web.UI.WebControls.Button.RaisePostBackEvent(String eventArgument)
at System.Web.UI.Page.RaisePostBackEvent(IPostBackEventHandler sourceControl, String eventArgument)
at System.Web.UI.Page.ProcessRequestMain(Boolean includeStagesBeforeAsyncPoint, Boolean includeStagesAfterAsyncPoint)

This would lead to all sorts of strange behavior. Half-provisioned IIS sites with no virtual directories mapped, inability to browse resources, and a host of other problems.

The cause of this error was those who-shall-not-be-named had modified the base web.config in %ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\60\CONFIG. The web.config located in the hive at this location is the default web.config that is used to provision a new site (i.e. extend a virtual server).

The particular customization the previous admins had been trying to deploy to all of their web sites would have been much better suited for a Web Application scoped feature with a little bit SPWebConfigModification sprinkled in.

So please, in the future, think before you modify the hive.

The Fix

1. Download the libdvdcss Installer (libdvdcss.pkg) and run it.
2. Open a terminal and verify that the library installed correctly by executing the following command:

   file /usr/lib/libdvdcss.2.dylib
   

   You should see the the following output:

   /usr/lib/libdvdcss.2.dylib: Mach-O universal binary with 2 architectures
   /usr/lib/libdvdcss.2.dylib (for architecture i386):   Mach-O dynamically linked shared library i386
   /usr/lib/libdvdcss.2.dylib (for architecture x86_64):   Mach-O 64-bit dynamically linked shared library x86_64
   

Resources

• DVD decryption, VLC 2.x and HandBrake
• libdvdcss Installer

Video

Resources

• Office.com SharePoint Help
• Get The Point Blog
• YouTube Get Started SharePoint Channel
• Download SharePoint 2010 videos and training from Office.com

Enter the Page Viewer web part (aka the iFrame web part). How does this technological wonder better our lives? Watch and learn.

1. Find a YouTube Video. Ricky Gervais’s opening monologue from the 2012 Golden Globes should do nicely. Once you’ve located your target video, click Share, followed by Embed. Leave the window/tab open, we’ll come back to it in a moment..
2. Go to the page in your SharePoint site where you want to add the video (I’m using a publishing page).
   
3. Add a Page Viewer Web Part (located in the Media and Content category).
4. Open the tool pane. We’ll need to fill in the values for the Link, Height, and Width fields.
5. Back to our YouTube window/tab, select the embed options you would like to use (480×360 video in my case).
6. Locate the embed HTML code and copy the URL. It should look like the following:

   <iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/h_OnK0SrtC8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
   

7. Back in the window/tab containing your SharePoint page, paste the url to the YouTube video in the Link field in your web part. Adjust the Height and Width fields accordingly. Save your web part options. Your web part should render with the video inline.
8. Publish/Save/Stop Editing your page and bask in the glory of your embedded YouTube video (without the use of a content editor or any external text file).

Gallery

Organizations of all sizes are begging their technical departments to setup SharePoint 2010 so that they’re able to make use of some of the capabilities introduced within the SharePoint 2010 platform. While designing, implementing, configuring and deploying a system in and of itself has its own set of challenges, migrating into that shiny new SharePoint can be even more difficult.

In this session, Scott and Dan will share some of their experiences and lessons learned tips, tricks and pointers for ensuring that you’ve considered the various aspects of challenges that arise during a migration effort. Further, as a bonus they’ll share how to not fall prey to some of these pitfalls but rather be able to show that you’re a well rounded professional that’s thought things through before pressing the enter key.

The following configuration steps will allow you to connect to the BPOS OCS servers:

1. Install the Lync for Mac 2011 client.
2. Open the preference pane and select the Account tab.
   Click the Edit… button under the Server Settings heading.
3. In the Advanced Server Settings dialog, enter pool1.oconline.microsoftonline.com:443 in both the Internal Server Name and External Server Name fields.
4. Close the preference pane and select the Microsoft Lync window. Enter the following information:
   • Email Address: user@contoso.com
   • User ID: RED001\user_contoso.com
   • Password: Your password

   

5. Click Sign In and …

Reference

• Lync for Mac 2011
• Microsoft Online Services Client Computer Requirements
• How to troubleshoot Office Communicator authentication issues

Trials and Tribulations of Managed Metadata

Pitfalls of Migrating to SharePoint 2010