Archive for Sharepoint

Shrink ShareWebDB Log File on SBS 2008

There’s a well known issue on SBS 2008 servers where the SharePoint Config Log file continues to expand. This SQL log file can rapidly grow in size, eating up valuable disk space on your system C: drive.

I first blogged about this back in December 2008 (view blog).

I posted a second blog post 4 years late in December 2012 (view blog) which provided the recommended Microsoft fix (KB 2000544) to truncate the log file, creating a batch command file and an associated SQL command file to truncate this log file.

I only have a few SBS 2008 servers still installed out in the field. But recently I discovered that there is another similar SQL log file that can grow in size: ShareWebDB_log.ldf file.

On this particular server, the ShareWebDB log file had grown to over 200GB in size. Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

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The solution is to mimic the two files created for the SharePoint log file solution, but have it truncate the ShareWebDB log file instead.

STEP 1: Create the SQL command file

Download the SQL file from my web site (logshrink2.sql.txt), save it to the root of your C: drive, and then rename it to logshrink2.sql

declare @ConfigDB varchar(255);
declare @ConfigDBLog varchar(255);
declare @ConfigDBCmd varchar(255);
select @ConfigDB =  name from sys.databases where name like ‘ShareWebDb%’;
set @ConfigDBCmd = ‘BACKUP database [‘ + RTRIM(@ConfigDB) + ‘] to disk=”C:\windows\temp\before2.bkf”’;
execute(@ConfigDBCmd);
set @ConfigDBCmd = ‘use [‘ + RTRIM(@COnfigDB) + ‘]’;
execute(@ConfigDBCmd);
set @ConfigDBCmd = ‘BACKUP LOG [‘ + RTRIM(@ConfigDB) + ‘] WITH TRUNCATE_ONLY’;
execute(@ConfigDBCmd);
set @ConfigDBCmd = ‘use [‘ + RTRIM(@COnfigDB) + ‘]’;
execute(@ConfigDBCmd);
select @ConfigDBLog =  name from sys.database_files where name like ‘ShareWebDb_log’;
set @ConfigDBCmd = ‘use [‘ +  RTRIM(@ConfigDB) + ‘] DBCC SHRINKFILE([‘ + RTRIM(@ConfigDB) + ‘_log],1)’;
execute(@ConfigDBCmd);
set @ConfigDBCmd = ‘BACKUP database [‘ + RTRIM(@ConfigDB) + ‘] to disk=”C:\windows\temp\after2.bkf”’;
execute(@ConfigDBCmd);
go

STEP 2: Create the DOS batch command file

Next, download the DOS batch command file from my web site (logshrink2.cmd.txt), save it to the root of your C: drive, and then rename it to logshrink2.cmd

dir c:\windows\sysmsi\ssee\mssql.2005\mssql\ShareWebDb* /s
pause
sqlcmd -S \\.\pipe\mssql$microsoft##ssee\sql\query -E -i c:\logshrink2.sql
pause
dir c:\windows\sysmsi\ssee\mssql.2005\mssql\ShareWebDb* /s
pause

STEP 3: Run the command file with administrator rights

Finally, open up File Explorer, right click on the logshrink2.cmd file, and click to “Run as administrator”

RESULT: Here is a screen shot of running this on the server with a 200GB log file:

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63 Free Microsoft eBooks!

Eric LigmanJust in time for summer … Eric Ligman, Microsoft Sales Excellence Manager, is making available 63 (count ‘em) Microsoft eBooks absolutely free – no strings, no time bombs, no tricks.

These eBooks cover a wide gamut: from Office 365 to Windows Azure, from Windows Server to Visual Studio., from SharePoint to Web Development to programming Windows 8  apps.

Click here to view and select e-Books for downloading!

Eric said that last year, when he made a similar offer, over 1 million eBooks were downloaded.

Enjoy.

SBS 2008 and SharePoint Log File

I am still encountering SBS 2008 servers where the Best Practices Analyzer (BPA) reports that the SharePoint SQL Log File is getting too large. There is a KB article that documents a script that will truncate the log file. I’ve created a zip file with the appropriate SQL command line plus a batch file to run it (see Part 1 below).

It is also recommend that after truncating the SharePoint database log file, that you set the recovery mode to “simple” for the database log file (see Part 2 below), and then you won’t need to use this command script again!

Part 1 – Running the command script

I created a zip file that contains both the SQL command line file that the KB article describes, plus a .cmd file that you can use to run the SQL command. In addition, my .cmd file will display the size of the SharePoint database log file both before and after.

Steps:

  1. Click here to download my zip file. (be sure to rename it from logshrink.z_i_p to logshrink.zip)
  2. Create a directory C:\Scripts
  3. Extract the contents of the zip file to the C:\Scripts directory
  4. Review and edit the .cmd file to adjust the location of the SharePoint database log file. I usually move SharePoint to a D:\ (Data) drive.
  5. Create a shortcut to the logshrink.cmd file and place it on your desktop
  6. To run, right click on the shortcut and click ‘Run as administrator’
    Here is a screen shot of the results of running the script:
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Part 2 – Switching Recovery Mode

Steps

  1. Open SQL Server Management Studio Express (using Run as Administrator)
  2. In the Connect to Server window, for the server name, enter: \\.\pipe\MSSQL&Microsoft##SSEE\sql\query
  3. Under Databases, locate SharePoint_Config_29c26fca…
  4. Right click on the above database, and click Properties
  5. Click on Options in the left frame, and in the right frame you will see that Recovery Mode is set to Full.
  6. Use the drop down option box and select Simple
  7. Click to save, and then exit SQL Server Management Studio Express
  8. Here’s a screen shot where you will change the recovery type from Full to Simple:
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Use psconfig to to resolve SharePoint warnings in SBS 2011 BPA

After installing a SharePoint update to your SBS 2011 server, you may see one (or both) of the following warnings the next time you run the SBS Best Practices Analyzer (BPA) utility:

Use psconfig.exe to upgrade one or more SharePoint databases (Source: 348)
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Use psconfig.exe to upgrade SharePoint (Source: 349)
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  To resolve these warnings, it will be necessary for you to manually run the psconfig command, as it is not run automatically after an update has been applied.

  1. Open an Administrative command prompt
  2. Change directory to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\BIN
  3. Run PSConfig.exe -cmd upgrade -inplace b2b -force -cmd applicationcontent -install -cmd installfeatures

Please note: it may take some time for the psconfig command to complete. And, in some cases, if you get any errors, it is recommended to run the above psconfig command again.

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After this, please check that your SharePoint sites are working properly, and rerun BPA to confirm that the warning messages have been cleared.

For more information on this, please check out the following two posts from the Official blog for Windows Server Essentials and Small Business Server support:

Office 365 Service Description Documents

Microsoft makes available a list of “service description” documents related to Office 365. The list addresses everything from Exchange Online to Office Web Apps, from Apple Mac/IOS support to SharePoint Online.

Here is the link:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=13602

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PSCONFIG tips to fix SharePoint issues!

With SharePoint 2007 and 2010, it’s becoming necessary to run the psconfig utility after installing SharePoint security updates, in addition to running it after installing SharePoint service packs.

I just worked on a SBS 2008 server where the companyweb site stopped working, and users were getting the infamous ‘The Web Page is not available’ error. I discovered that a security update (KB 2596911) had recently been installed.

So, from the FWIW Dept:

If companyweb doesn’t start right away, check these two things before panicking:

  • From Services.msc, see if the World Wide Web Publishing is stopped. If so, start it up.
  • From IIS, see if the SBS SharePoint service is stopped. If so, start it it up.

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Finally, you may find that running psconfig does not fix things right away. In fact, I had to run the psconfig command twice before Companyweb would run on this particular server. Go figure!

KB2596911 on SBS 2008

KB2596911 is a security update for Sharepoint 3.0. After installing it, you might find that you cannot access Companyweb.

Don’t fear … there are several different suggestions that you may need to try to resolve this issue:

First, try rebooting your server, even if KB2596911 does not require a reboot.

If that doesn’t fix the problem, then try running the Sharepoint Products and Technologies Wizard (Start –> Administrative Tools). If that completes successfully, recheck Companyweb – and hopefully it works! If so, you’re all done.

If that doesn’t fix your problem, then check out this blog from the SBS team that addresses some additional steps when encountering issues with updating Sharepoint on SBS:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/sbs/archive/2009/05/06/companyweb-inaccessible-after-sharepoint-3-0-service-pack-2.aspx

Exchange Defender Cloudshare

Vlad Mazek (CEO, Own Web Now) announced the ExchangeDefender CloudShare file sharing and synchronization platform on July 19, 2012.

There is a one page overview that compares CloudShare to Dropbox, YouSendIt, Google, Skydrive and Box on his site.

ExchangeDefender CloudShare Diagram

TechEd 2012 Thoughts

A008 (Large)s a Microsoft MVP for Small Business Servers and a Small/Medium Business (SMB) I.T. consultant, the conferences, seminars and user groups that I routinely attend or speak at are usually geared for the SBS/SMB marketplace. And that’s all great!

So to have an opportunity to attend and work at Microsoft’s TechEd North America conference (7,000+ attendees) this week was a huge thrill and honor for me.

002 (Large)I had a chance to meet, interact and speak with I.T. professionals  representing everything from large financial and commercial companies to colleges and universities.

The convention floor was jammed pack with vendors and presenters. I have done my share of “manning a booth” at conferences but this was amazing.

I understand that it took 3 weeks to set up the hundreds (if not thousands) of workstations that were available for use.

I was asked to facilitate two of the TechEd’s Birds of a Feather sessions. The first was on Advanced Architecture for Microsoft Sharepoint 2010, and the second was on Windows Multipoint Server Deployment.

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TechEd 2012 Sharepoint Presentation

I finally attended my first Microsoft TechEd conference this year. All I can is “Wow”!

I was asked to speak and facilitate a Birds of a Feather session on the topic of “Advanced Architectures for Microsoft SharePoint 2010”. the room was standing-room only (SRO) – over 100 people.

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The specifics of this session was listed as: “In this session we discuss advanced SharePoint architectures with specific highlights on service applications, cross-farm services, multi-tenants, and architecting search for performance. We examine pain points from the participants in the group and discuss possible strategies to overcome challenges.”.

To say I was a bit nervous and intimidated is an understatement. But what a great time it was. I really enjoyed talking and speaking with so many people from a wide variety of businesses and technical backgrounds.

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Click on the link above to view the video of the entire session.