Sharepoint, Citrix and more!

Moving iTunes iPhone 3g 3gs 4 4s backup to network drive and off your boot drive

2011-11-12T21:30:00.001-08:00

To move your iTunes iPhone backup from your boot drive to a network share (e.g. on your home NAS) you need to do to have the following:

Microsoft iSCSI Initiator (comes with Windows 7 and Vista)
mklink (comes with Windows 7 and Vista)
NAS that has iSCSI services (e.g. QNAP TS-239 Pro II)
iTunes with a recent backup of your iPhone

With the tools and software above follow the steps below:

Double check that you have an existing backup under 'Edit>Preferences>Devices' in iTunes
Close iTunes and unplug your iPhone from the computer
Launch into the admin page of your NAS and enable a iSCSI Target Service. You will also need to create a iSCSI Target and a mapped LUN. If you are not comfortable with this you will need to google for instructions on the internet as configuration will vary from model to model.

NOTE: Make sure you make the mapped LUN slightly bigger than your iPhone capacity (e.g. 17gb for a 16gb iPhone, 33Gb for a 32gb iPhone, etc. Make sure to enable Thin Provisioning if your NAS supports it as this will save space on your NAS - P.S. Most good QNAPs do)

On the workstation with iTunes, click START and type iSCSI Initiator ('iSCSI Initiator' should appear in the search results). Click on 'iSCSI Initiator'.
Click Yes to run this service automatically
In the Target field type in the IP address of your NAS that is hosting the iSCSI Target Service and click 'Quick Connect'
Your iSCSI service should appear. Click 'Done'
Click OK
Click START and type Computer Management ('Computer Management' should appear in the search results). Click 'Computer Management'
Under Storage click 'Disk Management'
If you only have one hard drive, the iSCSI drive should appear as DISK 1. If you have multiple hard drives then the iSCSI drive will most likely be the last one on the list. Click on the iSCSI drive and create a 'Simple Volume' (name the volume and format using NTFS with the quick format feature). Once the drive has formatted it should be accessible through the normal windows explorer. Change the drive letter of this volume to wha ever you want (I choose i:)
Locate the folder with your iTunes backup. This will likely be

"C:\Users\User1\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\"

Go back to the 'MobileSync' folder and CUT and PASTE the 'Backup' folder to the iSCSI location (e.g. cut the 'Backup' folder from "C:\Users\User1\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync" and paste to i:\). This will take a while to copy.
Open a command prompt and type in 'CD\' and press enter. This will bring you to the root if your C: drive. Type in the the following command to make a symbolic link:

C:\>mklink /J "C:\Users\User1\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\"
"I:\Backup\"

If successful you will see the following output:

Junction created for C:\Users\User1\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Ba

ckup\ <<===>> I:\Backup\

Now open iTunes and click 'Edit>Preferences>Devices' and you should see your latest backup/s!

Receive permission error when applying Drupal (Zen) template

2011-08-21T04:21:00.000-07:00

I installed Drupal today and tried to apply the popular 'Zen' template through my web host provider and received a permission denied issue when uncompressing the theme. To fix this I visited the administration page and clicked Configuration>File System (under Media) and changed the default 'Temporary directory' from '/TMP' to 'files/TMP'. Once I applied this change I was able to successfully apply the Zen Drupal template!

SharePoint 2010 appication pools in a stopped or shutdown state after rebooting the server

2011-08-16T01:05:00.000-07:00

After rebooting your SharePoint 2010 farm you noticed that all (or some) application pools are in a stopped state! This will more likely occur if you have a AD Domain Policy applied to your SharePoint servers. If you do have a Active Directory Domain Policy applied to your SharePoint 2010 servers, ensure the Application Pool user account (normally a AD user account) has “Log on as batch job” and "Log on as service” rights in the policy. The best way to do this without editing the policy it self each time a new web application is created, is to create a AD Security Group and assign the application pool user accounts as members. This way you only need to specify the AD Security Group in the domain policy!

Object cache options in site settings page not appearing in some templates in SharePoint 2010

2011-08-15T22:06:00.000-07:00

----------
Problem
----------
Unable to config/view object cache options in site settings page for site templates other than 'publishing ones'

----------
Solution
----------
Visit the web application (root site collection)
1.       Click Site Actions -> Site Settings -> Site collection features, activate 'SharePoint Server Publishing Infrastructure' feature.
2.       Click Site Actions -> Site Settings -> Manage site features, activate 'SharePoint Server Publishing' feature.
3.       Boom! Cache options are now visible in site settings page.

Opening files within SharePoint 2010 do not open correctly. Fix this by changing the 'Browser File Handling' from 'Strict' to 'Permissive' using Powershell

2011-08-15T21:57:00.000-07:00

Create a PS1 file with the code below (Change the $url value to the URL of your web app)

#####################################################################
$url = "http://webappname"
Get-SPWebApplication $url | ForEach-Object {$_.BrowserFileHandling = “permissive”; $_.update()}
#####################################################################

This will update the web application Browser File Handling from 'Strict' to 'Permissive'

Configuring Drupal on a QNAP NAS (TS-239 Pro II) using GUIs only!

2010-06-12T23:16:00.000-07:00

Below are instructions in configuring Drupal on the TS-239 Pro II NAS without using the Linux command line.

* Enable the web server role and ensured it configured to run on TCP 80
* Launch QNAP admin page and configure MySQL to listen on TCP/3306
* Reset the "root" password for MySQL on the same page by clicking on the "Reset Root Password" button
* Open the QPKG menu and click on "Get QPKG". This should open a new window with a list of packages you can download for your QNAP NAS. If you are unable to find the "Get QPKG" button you can download phpMyAdmin with the link below - "http://gator368.hostgator.com/~qnap/Storage/QPKG/phpMyAdmin_3.2.0.zip".
* Extract the phpMyAdmin zip file to your workstation. You should now have a .qpkg file.
* Go back to the QNAP admin page and visit the QPKG menu. Click on the Installation tab.
* Click "Browse" and select the .qpkg file. Click OK and "Install". This will install phpMyAdmin.
* After installation click a phpMyAdmin icon should appear under the QPKG menu. Click on this and the link to launch the phpMyAdmin webpage.
* Log in using the root account (password is the one you reset eariler)
* On the main menu you should be able to create a mysql database. Create one called "drupal"
* Once database has been created click on "Privileges" and create a new user called "drupaluser"
* Visit www.drupal.org and download the .tar.gz file
* Launch the QNAP web file manager
* Upload the .tar.gz file to the "Web" folder
* Extract the .tar file to the "Web" folder
* Extract the drupal folder within the .tar file into the "Web" folder. Note: The QNAP NAS web file manager has the ability to extract .tar and .gz files.
* Rename the drupal folder so it doesn't have the version numbers
* Delete .tar and .tar.gz files (Clean up)
* Visit the website by hitting the IP address and drupal folder (i.e. http://192.168.1.100/drupal
* Click on "Install Drupal in English"
* You most likely recieve an error regarding default.setting.php file. Follow the instructions on the screen using the QNAP web file manager and click continue. NOTE: There is a button below to try again.
* Type in the name of the database, newly created user and password (i.e. drupal, drupaluser, password) and click continue. This will start populating tables inside the drupal database.
* Again, following the directions on the drupal configuration page such as removing write access to default.settings.php and settings.php (444 - Clean up), Site info, admin details and server settings. Click "Save and Continue".
* DONE! Now visit your site by visting "http://IPAddressoftheNAS/drupal".

To customise your solution, visit www.drupal.org for themes, modules and funky ideas.

Chewy

Receive event ID 8214 "A request was made for a URL, http://srv1.domain:58000, which has not been configured in the following alternate access mapping

2010-03-29T05:35:00.001-07:00

Symptom

Receive the following in th event log:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Windows SharePoint Services 3
Event Category: Topology
Event ID: 8214
Date: 20/11/2009
Time: 3:53:03 PM
User: N/A
Computer: SERVER1
Description:
The description for Event ID ( 8214 ) in Source ( Windows SharePoint Services 3 ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and Support for details. The following information is part of the event: A request was made for a URL, http://server1.domain.local:58000, which has not been configured in Alternate Access Mappings. Some links may point to the Alternate Access URL for the default zone, http://server1:58000. Review the Alternate Access mappings for this Web application at http://server1:58000/_admin/AlternateUrlCollections.aspx and consider adding http://server1.domain.local:58000 as a Public Alternate Access URL if it will be used frequently. Help on this error: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=114854.

Resolution

- Launch Central Administration site and go to “Operations”

- Click on “Alternate Access Mappings”

- Click “Edit Public URLS” and select the Web Application that is giving you grieve

- Enter in the FQDN of the URL (e.g. http://server1.domain.local:58000) under the “Intranet” field (make sure you leave the default value). Click Save

- Run an IISreset

Receive "Provisioning GUID" already exists under the parent Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebService named "".

2010-03-29T05:33:00.000-07:00

Sympton
Receive the following:
An object of the type Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebApplicationProvisioningJobDefinition named "Provisioning GUID" already exists under the parent Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebService named "". Rename your object or delete the existing object.

Resolution

Launch the Central Admin > Operations > Timer Job Definitions and locate the “Provisioning web application” job. Open and the job and delete it from the queue. Run stsadm –o execsvcadmjobs to force the timer jobs run.

Receive "Error List does not exist" when visiting a Sharepoint site

2010-03-29T05:31:00.000-07:00

Symptom
"Error

List does not exist

The page you selected contains a list that does not exist. It may have been deleted by another user. at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequestInternalClass.GetListsWithCallback(String bstrUrl, Guid foreignWebId, String bstrListInternalName, Int32 dwBaseType, Int32 dwBaseTypeAlt, Int32 dwServerTemplate, UInt32 dwGetListFlags, UInt32 dwListFilterFlags, Boolean bPrefetchMetaData, Boolean bSecurityTrimmed, Boolean bGetSecurityData, ISP2DSafeArrayWriter p2DWriter, Int32& plRecycleBinCount)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Library.SPRequest.GetListsWithCallback(String bstrUrl, Guid foreignWebId, String bstrListInternalName, Int32 dwBaseType, Int32 dwBaseTypeAlt, Int32 dwServerTemplate, UInt32 dwGetListFlags, UInt32 dwListFilterFlags, Boolean bPrefetchMetaData, Boolean bSecurityTrimmed, Boolean bGetSecurityData, ISP2DSafeArrayWriter p2DWriter, Int32& plRecycleBinCount)"

Resolution

The root site collection is locked or set to “read only”. Log into the Central Administration site and unlock the site collection (Central Admin>Application Management> Under SharePoint Site Management > Site collection quotas and locks> Select the web app in question and select “Not Locked”. Click OK). Alternatively you can run the following “stsadm –o setsitelock –url http://nameofwebapp –lock none”

Using SQL scripts to query Sharepoint Content databases

2010-03-29T05:20:00.000-07:00

For reference:

– Query to get all the top level site collections
SELECT SiteId AS SiteGuid, Id AS WebGuid, FullUrl AS Url, Title, Author, TimeCreated
FROM dbo.Webs
WHERE (ParentWebId IS NULL)

– Query to get all the child sites in a site collection
SELECT SiteId AS SiteGuid, Id AS WebGuid, FullUrl AS Url, Title, Author, TimeCreated
FROM dbo.Webs
WHERE (NOT (ParentWebId IS NULL))

– Query to get all the SharePoint groups in a site collection
SELECT dbo.Webs.SiteId, dbo.Webs.Id, dbo.Webs.FullUrl, dbo.Webs.Title, dbo.Groups.ID AS Expr1,
dbo.Groups.Title AS Expr2, dbo.Groups.Description
FROM dbo.Groups INNER JOIN
dbo.Webs ON dbo.Groups.SiteId = dbo.Webs.SiteId

– Query to get all the users in a site collection
SELECT dbo.Webs.SiteId, dbo.Webs.Id, dbo.Webs.FullUrl, dbo.Webs.Title, dbo.UserInfo.tp_ID,
dbo.UserInfo.tp_DomainGroup, dbo.UserInfo.tp_SiteAdmin, dbo.UserInfo.tp_Title, dbo.UserInfo.tp_Email
FROM dbo.UserInfo INNER JOIN
dbo.Webs ON dbo.UserInfo.tp_SiteID = dbo.Webs.SiteId

– Query to get all the members of the SharePoint Groups
SELECT dbo.Groups.ID, dbo.Groups.Title, dbo.UserInfo.tp_Title, dbo.UserInfo.tp_Login
FROM dbo.GroupMembership INNER JOIN
dbo.Groups ON dbo.GroupMembership.SiteId = dbo.Groups.SiteId INNER JOIN
dbo.UserInfo ON dbo.GroupMembership.MemberId = dbo.UserInfo.tp_ID

– Query to get all the sites where a specific feature is activated
SELECT dbo.Webs.Id AS WebGuid, dbo.Webs.Title AS WebTitle, dbo.Webs.FullUrl AS WebUrl, dbo.Features.FeatureId,
dbo.Features.TimeActivated
FROM dbo.Features INNER JOIN
dbo.Webs ON dbo.Features.SiteId = dbo.Webs.SiteId AND dbo.Features.WebId = dbo.Webs.Id
WHERE (dbo.Features.FeatureId = '00BFEA71-D1CE-42de-9C63-A44004CE0104')

– Query to get all the users assigned to roles
SELECT dbo.Webs.Id, dbo.Webs.Title, dbo.Webs.FullUrl, dbo.Roles.RoleId, dbo.Roles.Title AS RoleTitle,
dbo.UserInfo.tp_Title, dbo.UserInfo.tp_Login
FROM dbo.RoleAssignment INNER JOIN
dbo.Roles ON dbo.RoleAssignment.SiteId = dbo.Roles.SiteId AND
dbo.RoleAssignment.RoleId = dbo.Roles.RoleId INNER JOIN
dbo.Webs ON dbo.Roles.SiteId = dbo.Webs.SiteId AND dbo.Roles.WebId = dbo.Webs.Id INNER JOIN
dbo.UserInfo ON dbo.RoleAssignment.PrincipalId = dbo.UserInfo.tp_ID

– Query to get all the SharePoint groups assigned to roles
SELECT dbo.Webs.Id, dbo.Webs.Title, dbo.Webs.FullUrl, dbo.Roles.RoleId, dbo.Roles.Title AS RoleTitle,
dbo.Groups.Title AS GroupName
FROM dbo.RoleAssignment INNER JOIN
dbo.Roles ON dbo.RoleAssignment.SiteId = dbo.Roles.SiteId AND
dbo.RoleAssignment.RoleId = dbo.Roles.RoleId INNER JOIN
dbo.Webs ON dbo.Roles.SiteId = dbo.Webs.SiteId AND dbo.Roles.WebId = dbo.Webs.Id INNER JOIN
dbo.Groups ON dbo.RoleAssignment.SiteId = dbo.Groups.SiteId AND
dbo.RoleAssignment.PrincipalId = dbo.Groups.ID

Error event ID 6482 is logging every minute on your Sharepoint Servers

2010-03-29T04:59:00.000-07:00

Symptom

Error event ID 6482 is logging every minute on your Sharepoint Servers.

"Event Type: Error
Event Source: Office SharePoint Server
Event Category: Office Server Shared Services
Event ID: 6482
Date: DD/MM/YYYY
Time: hh:mm:ss
User: N/A
Computer: Server Name
Description:
Application Server Administration job failed for service instance Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance (GUID).
Reason: The underlying connection was closed: An unexpected error occurred on a send.
Technical Support Details: etc etc"

Resolution

- Stop the Office SharePoint Services Search service (net stop osearch)
- Download and install the IIS 6.0 Resource Kit Tools.

On each server in the farm that has Office SharePoint 2007 installed, follow these steps:
- Launch a cmd prompt
- Drill to C:\Program Files\IIS Resources\SelfSSL)
- Type selfssl /s:951338967 /v:1000, and then press ENTER.

Notes
For 64 bit, 951338967 is the default ID of the Office Server Web Services certificate.
For 32 bit, 1720207907 is the default ID of the Office Server Web Services certificate. You can check the ID of Office Server Web Services from IIS.
1000 is the number of days that the certification will be valid.
You need to execute the selfssl command on each MOSS Server in the farm which is running a "Office Server Web Services" site.

- Start the Office SharePoint Services Search service (net start osearch)
- Download and install the following update to the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 and apply 959209 update

Recevie "The Project Application Service doesn't exist or is stopped." when access Shared Services that has Project Server 2007 installed.

2010-03-29T04:52:00.000-07:00

Symptom

Receive the following erro when administering MOSS Shared Services:

"The Project Application Service doesn't exist or is stopped. Start the Project Application Service."

Resolution

Ensure all Sharepoint server has the Project Server 2007 binaries installed.

and ensure Project Server is running on at least on server (stsadm command is "stsadm -o provisionservice -action start -servicetype "Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.Administration.ProjectApplicationService, Microsoft.Office.Project.Server.Administration, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71E9BCE111E9429C" -servicename ProjectApplicationService"")

Outlook 2003 not displaying inserted pictures when viewing emails.

2010-03-29T04:51:00.000-07:00

Symptom

Outlook 2003 not displaying inserted pictures when viewing emails. This happens with some images and not others.

Resolution

Delete the HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Outlook\Security\OutlookSecureTempFolder registry key.

SMS log location (WinPE 2.0)

2010-02-23T15:11:00.000-08:00

During the WinPE build stage you can find hit "F8" (providing you have enabled command prompt support on the boot wim file) to launch a command prompt. From the command prompt visit x:\Windows\Temp\SMSTSlog and launch the SMSTS.log with notepad (notepad.exe smsts.log).

Hint, use SMStrace to read the log. Its your best friend!

Iphone 3g upgrade / update from 2.2.1 to 3.1.2 freezes and never completes (failes)

2009-10-10T02:19:00.000-07:00

Symptom:
The Iphone status bar during the upgrade freezes.

Resolution:
Restore your iPhone from a previous known working version. I was able to successfully roll back to 2.2.1 HOWEVER all the data was wiped from the iPhone. Luckily I had a back up to restore from and re-downloading the applications and songs i bought can be done without any issues or additional cost.

Below are the instructions for applying the 2.2.1 firmware. NOTE: I ended up upgrading the iPhone to 3.0.1 via this method, restore from a 2.2.1 backup and updating all my applications via the itunes application on the iPhone so they were compatiable with 3.0.1:

NOTE: This method WILL remove all data from your iPhone! Please be aware of this.

- Download the firmware from
http://modmyi.com/wiki/index.php/IPhone_Firmware_Download_Links#2.2.1_2
or
http://theiphoneproject.org/?page_id=3
or
http://www.felixbruns.de/iPod/firmware/

- Rename the extension from ".zip" to ".ipsw". If you are unable to view the extension of the file you need to go to your control panel, load "Folder Options", click on the view tab and select "Show Hidden files and folders" and ensure "Hide extensions for known file types" is UNCHECKED.

- Turn off your iPhone

- Open up iTunes and plug your iPhone in (iPhone is still off).

- Hold down the Navi button and turn on your iPhone. Keep the button held down till you see an iTunes icon with a USB cable

- iTunes will report that the phone is in recovery mode. Click OK.

- Hold down the shift key and click restore. A window will prompt. Select the renamed file (e.g. iPhone1,2_3.0.1_7A400_Restore.ipsw) and click OK.

- Wait AROUND 20-30 minutes for the firmware to be applied to the iPhone.

Done!

NOTE: Again, this method WILL remove all data from your iPhone! Please be aware of this.

An unhandled exception occurred in the user interface.Exception Information when starting Sharepoint Office Search

2009-10-05T03:30:00.000-07:00

Symptom:

You receive "An unhandled exception occurred in the user interface.Exception Information: Osearch - Xuser accountX" when starting the office search role.

Resolution:

Ensure you specify the domain before the user account when configuring the search account in the Central Admin e.g. DOMAIN\Search_Account

Report Server has encountered a SharePoint error. (rsSharePointError) Get Online Help Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

2009-10-03T18:42:00.001-07:00

Symptom

Reporting Services Error
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Report Server has encountered a SharePoint error. (rsSharePointError) Get Online Help
Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Resolution

- Launch the SQL Management Studio hosting the Sharepoint databases.
- View the mapped permissions for SSRS account configured in Reporting Services (i.e. DOMAIN\SYS-SSRS-ENV)
- Provide dbowner access for this account to the web application that the SSP and MySites is configured on. If you have created separate web applications for each SSP and MySites ensure dbowner is configured for both

Receive Access is denied. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070005 (E_ACCESSDENIED)) when modifying Sharepoint crawl schedule

2009-10-03T18:39:00.000-07:00

Symptom:

Receive the following when configuring a full/incremental crawl schedule in you SSP.
Access is denied. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070005 (E_ACCESSDENIED))

Resolution:

- Log into the server that is running the office search indexing.
- Open up a command prompt and visit C:\Windows.
- Run the following command “attrib –s tasks”
- View the security permission of C:\windows\tasks through windows explorer
- Give built in account “WSS_WPG” modify rights to the folder
- Run the following command “attrib +s tasks” to complete the configuration.

Deleting multiple SQL databases using script in SQL 2005

2009-10-03T18:33:00.000-07:00

WARNING - Only run this script if you have experience with managing SQL databases. All you have to do is change the wildcard criteria.

/*********************************************************************************
/ START - Delete multiple database SQL script
/*********************************************************************************

USE [master]
GO

DECLARE @command varchar(1000)
/****** Change the prefix WSS_ to whatever you’re prefixing your database names with******/
SELECT @command =
'IF ''?'' NOT IN(''master'', ''model'', ''msdb'', ''tempdb'') AND ''?'' LIKE ''WSS_%''
BEGIN DROP DATABASE [?]
END'
EXEC sys.sp_MSforeachdb @command

/*********************************************************************************
/ END - Delete multiple database SQL script
/*********************************************************************************

Thanks to Laurent for this magical script

Windows Server 2008 R2 - Mouse performance slow, server hangs when modifying video hardware acceleration settings in the registry (video1,2,3,4 keys)

2009-09-22T07:14:00.000-07:00

Symptom - Windows Server 2008 R2 hangs when accessing the registry to modify the VSA video settings (Video1,2,3,4) via the console (not RDP) in VMware ESX (now vSphere).

Resolution - Even with Video hardware acceleration on, in order to succesfully view and modify the video registry key through the console and have a stable server, you must upgrade your ESX farm to 3.5 Update 5 or to vSphere 4 Update 1 (Thanks to Luyt and Danks on this one).

Unable to delete Content Deployment Path or Job in Central Administration - Receive "Error: Access Denied"

2009-09-22T07:07:00.000-07:00

Symptom - Unable to delete a Content Deployment Path or Job within the Central Admin. You receive "Error access denied" no matter what account you use (even the one you used to create the Content Deployment schedule with.

Resolution - Disable the Content Deployment Path and then deleting it using the same account that you used to create the schedule/path/job

Correct steps for anonymous access search results when using Content Deployment.

2009-09-22T06:57:00.000-07:00

This tip is for administrators that have configured Content Deployment before. If you wish to content deploy content to an external public facing farm however you only want users to view anonymous search results (hide results that require authenication) then do the following:

- Delete any existing search crawls on the destination farm.
- Create a web application and blank site collection on the destination farm. Ensure you have the exact same features/solutions deployed from the source on the destination farm. (Ensure anonymous is disabled on the destination web app).
- Configure and execute a full content deployment to the new web app/site collection.
- Enable anonymous on the destination web app and inside the root site collection.
- Running a full crawl.

Once the full crawl has run successful visit the external site and you should now only see anonymous allowed results when running a search.

Server Error in '/' Application. [HttpException (0x80004005): Request timed out.]

2009-09-21T03:49:00.000-07:00

Symptom

You receive the following when attempting to launch a large report within SQL Reporting Services in Sharepoint integrated mode + Project Server 2007:

Server Error in '/' Application.

Request timed out. Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.
Exception Details: System.Web.HttpException: Request timed out.
Source Error: An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.
Stack Trace: [HttpException (0x80004005): Request timed out.]

Resolution:

Extend the timeout value in the web.config file of the Sharepoint web application. Visit the web.config file located within the IIS website (e.g. c:\inetpub\www\website\80), edit the file and search (CTRL F) for "httpruntime". Modify the line from:

httpRuntime maxRequestLength="51200" /
To
httpRuntime maxRequestLength="51200" executionTimeout="9000" /

Adding the executionTimeout line will extend the default 2 minutes of generating the report to 10 minutes +

Close down your web browser and regenerate the Reporting Services Report (in my case, integrated with Project Server 2007 with Sharepoint) through the Sharepoint website/web application. The report should now be successful!

Perfmon doesn't display counter names just numbers

2009-08-28T22:16:00.000-07:00

Symptom

When you launch perfmon instead of seeing the descriptive names you see numbers (making very difficult to select the right counter). You also notice that the home page of perfmon doesn’t display the default counters.

Resolution

Close down perfmon
Copy the “PerfStringBackup.INI” from a working server (C:\Windows\System32\PerfStringBackup.ini)
Open up a command prompt and CD to C:\windows\system32
Run “lodctr /R:perfstringbackup.ini”
Re-open perfmon and you should see the default counters and the descriptive names.

The path specified could not be used at this time. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070094)

2009-08-24T03:24:00.000-07:00

A simple IIS reset and a restart of the WSS Timer Service (located in services.msc) on all Sharepoint servers within that farm will fix this issues.

An update conflict has occurred, and you must re-try this action.

2009-08-24T03:09:00.000-07:00

You receive the following when trying to modify/delete a web application

"An update conflict has occurred, and you must re-try this action. The object SPWebApplication Name=SharePoint – WebApp80 Parent=SPWebService is being updated by DOMAIN\Account, in the OWSTIMER process, on machine SERVER. View the tracing log for more information about the conflict. at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.StoreObject(SPPersistedObject obj, Boolean storeClassIfNecessary, Boolean ensure) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.PutObject(SPPersistedObject obj, Boolean ensure) at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPPersistedObject.Update() at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWebApplication.Update() at Microsoft.SharePoint.ApplicationPages.PolicyUserPage.BtnFinish_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)"

To resolve this issue, clear the file system cache on all servers in the server farm on which the Windows SharePoint Services Timer service is running.
To do this, follow these steps:

Stop the Timer service. To do this, follow these steps:
a. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Services.
b. Right-click Windows SharePoint Services Timer, and then click Stop.
c. Close the Services console.
On the computer that is running Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and on which the Central Administration site is hosted, click Start, click Run, type explorer, and then press ENTER.
In Windows Explorer, locate and then double-click the following folder: Drive:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\SharePoint\Config\GUIDNotes o The Drive placeholder specifies the letter of the drive on which Windows is installed. By default, Windows is installed on drive C. o The GUID placeholder specifies the GUID folder. o The Application Data folder may be hidden. To view the hidden folder, follow these steps:
1. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
2. Click the View tab.
3. In the Advanced settings list, click Show hidden files and folders under Hidden files and folders, and then click OK.o In Windows Server 2008, the configuration cache is in the following location: Drive:\ProgramData\Microsoft\SharePoint\Config\GUID
Back up the Cache.ini file.
Delete all the XML configuration files in the GUID folder. Do this so that you can verify that the GUID folder is replaced by new XML configuration files when the cache is rebuilt.
Note When you empty the configuration cache in the GUID folder, make sure that you do not delete the GUID folder and the Cache.ini file that is located in the GUID folder.
Double-click the Cache.ini file.
On the Edit menu, click Select All.
On the Edit menu, click Delete.
Type 1, and then click Save on the File menu.
On the File menu, click Exit.
Start the Timer service. To do this, follow these steps: .
Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Services.
a. Right-click Windows SharePoint Services Timer, and then click Start.
b. Close the Services console. Note The file system cache is re-created after you perform this procedure. Make sure that you perform this procedure on all servers in the server farm.
Make sure that the Cache.ini file in the GUID folder now contains its previous value. For example, make sure that the value of the Cache.ini file is not 1.
Click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration.
Click the Operations tab, and then click Timer job status under Global Configuration.
In the list of timer jobs, verify that the status of the Config Refresh entry is Succeeded. This may show “Aborted” as the status. Ignore this and check in 10 mins (you can tell if the process has completed successfully on each server that displays “aborted” by the CPU utilization (when the timer job is reconfiguring the CPU will be at 100%).
On the File menu, click Close.

You still may run into this error when deleting the web applicaton that has no content database (DBA accidently deleted it). Just deselect the "delete database" option in the Central Admin when deleting the database and you should be able to remove the web application.

Content Deployment Quick Tips

2009-08-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

The tips below are based on Sharepoint 2007 (WSS + MOSS SP2)

Never mix full and incremental Content Deployments. Run a full content deployment first then change it to incremental straight away. Never change an existing incremental deployment to full.
Do not delete and rename pages during the same Content Deployment schedule.
If your authoring changes do not appear on the destination farm then do an import and export of the sub site that is affect using only the Codeplex Sharepoint Content Deployment Wizard. The wizard is the only free tool I know that can retain object IDs and is easy to use.
Ensure all solutions (WSPs) are installed on both authoring and destination farm.
Always deploy to a blank site collection on the destination farm when running a full Content Deployment. Best use the following command to create a blank site collection (stsadm.exe -o createsite -url http://yourwebsite -ownerlogin DOMAIN\site_admin -owneremail site_admin@domain.com.au

I'll be modifying this post with more tips later

Chewy