October 2009 Cumulative Update Packages for SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

The server-packages of October 2009 Cumulative Update for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 are ready for download. October 2009 Cumulative Updates introduce more rules on Pre-Upgrade Checker, which can help customers to prepare the upgrade of their SharePoint farm to SharePoint 2010.

Download Information

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 October 2009 cumulative update package
http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=974989

Office SharePoint Server 2007 October 2009 cumulative update package
http://support.microsoft.com/hotfix/KBHotfix.aspx?kbnum=974988

Detail Description

Description of the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 October 2009 cumulative update package
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/974989 (link may not be live yet)

Description of the Office SharePoint Server 2007 October 2009 cumulative update package
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/974988 (link may not be live yet)

Installation Recommendation for a fresh SharePoint Server

To keep all files in a SharePoint installation up-to-date, the following sequence is recommended.

1. Service Pack 2 for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and language packs
2. Service Pack 2 for Office SharePoint Server 2007 and language packs
3. October 2009 Cumulative Update package for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
4. October 2009 Cumulative Update package for Office SharePoint Server 2007

Please note: Start from April 2009 Cumulative Update, the packages will no longer install on a farm without a service pack installed. You must have installed either Service Pack 1 (SP1) or SP2 prior to the installation of the cumulative updates.

After applying the preceding updates, run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard or “psconfig -cmd upgrade -inplace b2b -wait” in command line. This needs to be done on every server in the farm with SharePoint installed.

The version of content databases should be 12.0.6520.5000 after successfully applying these updates.

You can also refer to April Cumulative Update post for deployment guides, slipstream how-to links and FAQs.

How To Install WSS4 on Windows 7

Once SharePoint 2010 Public Beta is released, you would want to start playing with it!

This post will detail steps on installing Microsoft SharePoint Foundation (WSS4) on a Windows 7 RTM.

Ideally this would be on laptop and the recommended hardware would be

• x64 capable CPU
• 2 Gb of RAM minimum (4Gb recommended)
• Download the SharePoint.exe file for Microsoft SharePoint Foundation (WSS 4)
• Extract the files from SharePoint.exe with this command line. SharePoint.exe /extract:c:\SharePointFiles  This extracts all of the installation files to your hard drive at C:\SharePointFiles
• Edit the Configuration to Allow Windows Client. You will need to edit one of the installation files to permit the install on Windows 7. Edit C:\SharePointFiles\Files\Setup\config.xml and add this line to the end. Because this is an XML file you must get capitalization correct. <Setting Id="AllowWindowsClientInstall" Value="True"/> The complete file will now look like this:

<Configuration>
<Package Id="sts">
<Setting Id="SETUPTYPE" Value="CLEAN_INSTALL" />
</Package>
<DATADIR Value="%CommonProgramFiles%\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\Data" />
<Logging Type="verbose" Path="%temp%" Template="Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 4.0 Setup *.log" />
<PIDKEY Value="<replace with your key here>" />
<Setting Id="UsingUIInstallMode" Value="1" />
<Setting Id="SETUP_REBOOT" Value="Never" />
<Setting Id=”AllowWindowsClientInstall” Value=”True”/>
</Configuration>

Before you install and configure Microsoft SharePoint Foundation (WSS 4) on Windows7 RTM, you will need to configure Windows7 features and install the pre-requisite software, since SharePoint 2010 does not run the pre-requisite installer on Windows7 RTM.

I have written a separate post on how to prepare for Microsoft SharePoint Foundation (WSS 4) installation on Wiindows7 RTM.

Once you have installed the pre-requisite software, you are ready to install and configure Microsoft SharePoint Foundation (WSS 4)

• Run C:\SharePointFiles\Setup.exe.
• Choose “Install Windows SharePoint Services”. Do not install the software prerequisites.
• Accept the warning about installing on Windows 7.
• Choose the Basic install type.
• On Windows 7 only during the install you will be prompted for a known compatibility issue with SQL Server 2008. Ignore for now.
• Choose Run Program during install.
• After installation and configuration of WSS4.0 is completed, you will need to install the SQL Server 2008 SP1.
• On installation, start the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard. Run the Wizard.
• Once the configuration is successful  install SQL Server 2008 SP1. Download Link:  sql8sp1
• Create a new SharePoint site using the SharePoint 4.0 Central Administration under Administrative Tools

How to repair a SQL Server 2008 Suspect database after upgrade to Windows server 2008 R2

Sometimes when you connect to your database server, you may find it in suspect mode. Your database server won’t allow you to perform any operation on that database until the database is repaired.

A database can go in suspect mode for many reasons like improper shutdown of the database server, corruption of the database files etc.

To get the exact reason of a database going into suspect mode can be found using the following query,

DBCC CHECKDB (’YourDBname’) WITH NO_INFOMSGS, ALL_ERRORMSGS

Output of the above query will give the errors in the database.

To repair the database, run the following queries in Query Analyzer,

EXEC sp_resetstatus ‘yourDBname’;

ALTER DATABASE yourDBname SET EMERGENCY

DBCC checkdb(’yourDBname’)

ALTER DATABASE yourDBname SET SINGLE_USER WITH ROLLBACK IMMEDIATE

DBCC CheckDB (’yourDBname’, REPAIR_ALLOW_DATA_LOSS)

ALTER DATABASE yourDBname SET MULTI_USER

and you are done.

Single Server Complete Install of SharePoint 2010 using local accounts

Something that was possible in SharePoint Server 2007 has become tricky in SharePoint Server 2010. The complete installation on a single server using non-domain accounts. Something most developers, demonstrators and testers do a lot of suddenly requires the use of domain accounts instead of local machine accounts. Or does it....

The recommendation for a single server build of SharePoint 2010 is to use the Stand Alone installation giving you SQL express and a default configuration. But what if you want to use SQL Server 2008 and to have more control over the build, and to use local service accounts. In this case you need to use complete install and either PowerShell alone or a combination of Windows PowerShell and PSCONFIG(UI).EXE

To begin with carry out your SharePoint 2010 installation using the advanced option and complete as the server type. This is recommended in a farm configuration.

Next you would think to use either PSCONFIG or PSCONFIGUI to create the farm. Well you would be wrong

PSCONFIG.EXE -cmd configdb -create -server neilhw2k8r2 -database sharepoint_2010_config -user neilhw2k8r2\administrator -password ******** -passphrase ********
-admincontentdatabase sharepoint2010_admincontent

Results in

SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard version 14.0.4514.1009. Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation 2010. All rights reserved.

The specified user neilhw2k8r2\administrator is a local account.

Local accounts should only be used in stand alone mode.

So how do we get around this limitation without using the corporate domain or else promoting the server to a domain controller.

Windows PowerShell is your friend, New-SPConfigurationDatabase allows you to specify none domain credentials for the farm.

To execute this command launch the SharePoint 2010 management shell (in the same location as the central admin link) and simply type the command at the cursor and press enter.

The beauty of the Windows PowerShell approach is you get prompted for the missing command line attributes instead of the rather horrible error dialog that PSConfig throws at you

After this completes you will find in SQL a new configuration database and an admin content database (unfortunately the GUID is back but that can be fixed if necessary)

Next the simplest way to complete the installation is revery back to PSConfigUI as you now are starting with the server already joined to the farm.

Follow the wizard through the same options as you had with SharePoint 2007 and complete the installation/configuration with the following screen

Clicking Fiinish launches the central admin website and after agreeing to report back customer experiences to Microsoft (or not) you get your first look at SharePoint 2010 central admin and the configuration wizards.

So wizard - or - manual configuration. That's a subject for another post so come back for more...

SharePoint 2010 Keynote

PowerPoint Presentation Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2009 (2.1MB)

Steve Ballmer Keynote Video

Jeff Teper Keynote

Jeff Teper Q&A

SharePoint Workflow - Content

Office Integration

Easily connect Microsoft Office to the SharePoint sites you work in

Compliance Everywhere

Quickly identify, collect and preserve content throughout SharePoint for legal discovery

SharePoint Workflow - Composites

Business Connectivity Services

Users can easily connect to and interact with external enterprise data

Human Workflows

-

SharePoint Designer lets you create sophisticated workflows without code

SharePoint Workflow - Insights

Rich Analytics and Visualizations

-

Create interactive and contextual dashboards aggregating data and content seamlessly

Increased Fidelity With Excel

-

Distribute Excel Workbooks with the same fidelity as the client, maintaining one version of the truth

SharePoint Workflow - Communities

Add Colleagues

-

Adding Colleagues to my network is easy, and includes grouping and privacy options

Enterprise Wikis

-

Enterprise wikis help consolidate companywide information into a centralized, easy-to-manage repository

SharePoint Workflow - IT Pros

Streamlined Central Administration

-

Streamlined Central Administration and Ribbon UI improve management experience

Visual Upgrade

-

Switch between two versions of looks of SharePoint after upgrade

SharePoint Workflow - Developers

Install on Windows 7

-

SharePoint 2010 running on Windows 7

Developer Dashboard

-

The Developer Dashboard appears below the page when enabled

SharePoint 2010 Resources

As Steve Ballmer announced this morning at the SharePoint Conference, and Jeff Teper notes below in his post, the public beta of SharePoint 2010 and Office 2010 will be available in November.

For more resources, take a look at:

- SharePoint 2010 Website - to view SharePoint 2010 in action

- SharePoint 2010 forum- for SharePoint 2010 questions

- SharePoint 2010 PressPass- for the SPC 2009 keynote video, a Q&A with Jeff Teper, and more

- SharePoint 2010 Developer Center - for developer info

- http://www.mssharepointitpro.com - for IT Pro info

- http://www.microsoft.com/sharepoint - for more SharePoint information

SharePoint 2010 Documentation and posters

Enterprise Search Planning for SharePoint Server 2010

This model describes primary architecture design decisions for search environments.

Design Search for SharePoint Server 2010

This model describes the steps to determine a basic design for a SharePoint Server 2010 search architecture.

SharePoint Server 2010 Search Architecture

This model describes the physical and logical architecture components of the search system.

Getting started with BI in SharePoint Server 2010

Discusses the business intelligence tools available in SharePoint Server 2010

SharePoint Server 2010 Evaluation Guide

Introduction and overview of SharePoint Server 2010 for IT pros.

SharePoint Enterprise Search

Compares and contrasts search technologies in SharePoint 2010 Products

Topologies for SharePoint Server 2010

Describes common ways to build and scale farm topologies, including planning which servers to start services on.

Hosting Environments for SharePoint 2010 Products

Summarizes the support for hosting environments and illustrates common hosting architectures.

Services in SharePoint Products 2010

Describes and illustrates the services architecture, including and common ways to deploy services in your overall solution design.

Cross-farm Services in SharePoint 2010 Products

Illustrates how to deploy services across farms to provide centralized administration of services.

Upgrade planning poster

Describes requirements and considerations for planning to upgrade to SharePoint Server 2010

Upgrading services poster

You need to give special consideration to the issues involved when you upgrade services from the previous version of SharePoint Server.

Upgrade testing poster

To help ensure a smooth transition to SharePoint Server 2010, perform a trial upgrade to find issues likely to surface during the actual process.

Upgrade approaches poster

This model describes the three basic approaches to upgrading to SharePoint Server 2010: in-place, database attach, or a hybrid of the two.

Office Web Apps Technical Beta

The Office Web Apps Team has begun passively inviting many people to the Technical Preview of Office Web Apps through Sky Drive and Windows Live.

• See a Demo of Office Web Apps
• Check out the Office Web Apps team blog – lots of good posts.

I encourage people to sign up to get notifications for Office 2010 and Office Web Apps through Office the Movie.  The details below are slowly being rolled out to select audiences and those invited through the office beta so you might or might not see the option to sign up.  Here’s how it will work if you’ve been invited…

The Office Web application Technical Beta is currently available via SkyDrive to selected people. To get started:

1. Log into www.skydrive.live.com using your Windows Live ID.

2. Upload a Word, Excel or PowerPoint file (OneNote Coming soon!) to a folder in SkyDrive.

3. In the folder, you will observe an Info. bar at the top to join the Technical Preview.

“Join our preview program” to create edit view and share office documents online. Click “join” to begin.

4. Click on the link and accept the terms of service.

5. Navigate back to the folder and click on the file.

6. Click New to create various documents online, like PowerPoint, Word, Excel and coming soon OneNote!

PerformancePoint Server 2007 Service Pack 3

The last Service Pack for this discontinued product…

PerformancePoint Server 2007 with Service Pack 3 (SP3) is a set of servers and integrated performance management applications that you can use to monitor, analyze, and plan your business and to assure alignment, accountability, and actionable insight across your entire organization.

Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 SP3 is an integrated performance management application that allows customers to monitor, analyze, and plan their business as well as drive alignment, accountability, and actionable insight across the entire organization.
For detailed information about this service pack release, refer to documentation in the following locations:

• Service Pack 3 for Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkId=166896) on Microsoft TechNet
• PerformancePoint Server 2007 Help and How-to (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkId=96771) on Microsoft Office Online
• Microsoft Knowledge Base article 975249

Download details PerformancePoint Server SP3 (x86)

Download details PerformancePoint Server SP 3 (x64)

Firewall Ports for Active Directory Communication

The following ports are required to be open for SharePoint in order for it to communicate between network domains in your environment. A one-way trust is required between network domains and the necessary firewall ports need to be opened.

Firewall Ports

• TCP/UDP 135 (RPC)
• TCP/UDP 389 by default, customizable (LDAP)
• TCP 636 by default, customizable (LDAP SSL)
• TCP 3268 (LDAP GC)
• TCP 3269 (LDAP GC SSL)
• TCP/UDP 53 (DNS)
• TCP/UDP 88 (Kerberos)
• TCP/UDP 445 (Directory Services)
• TCP/UDP 749 (Kerberos-Adm)
• TCP port 750 (Kerberos-IV)

External Links

• Plan security hardening for extranet environments (Windows SharePoint Services)
• How to configure a firewall for domains and trusts