SharePoint Server 2010: Operations Framework and Checklists

SharePoint like any other applications requires some maintenance and monitoring. Here are some checklist that could help you to maintain your environments.  If you don’t want to complete these tasks manually, you could look at implementing Microsoft System Center Operations Manager. 

 

 

Checklist: Summary

Prepared by:

Date:

 

Completed	Daily
	Check backups.
	Check CPU/memory use.
	Check disk use.
	Check disk health (S.M.A.R.T.)
	Examine event logs.
	Check backups.
	Check Internet Information Service (IIS) performance.
	Check SharePoint Server database health.
	Check SharePoint Health Analyzer
	Check non-SharePoint Server connectors.
	Check security logs.
	Update virus definitions and scan for viruses.
	Verify that SharePoint Server and required Windows services have started correctly.

 

 

Completed	Weekly
	Create reports.
	Complete incident reports.
	Meet to discuss status.
	Check and compose IIS logs.
	Check and compose SharePoint ULS logs.

 

 

Completed	Monthly
	Do capacity planning.
	Perform hotfixes, service packs, update rollups, and security updates.
	Perform disaster recovery test. Test one backup a month to restore.

 

These checklists are extracted from this document: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=3cd07201-7420-4c12-9639-81da513e728d

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Remote BLOB storage for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010

If you are looking for information on how to configure RBS, you can look at this MS document.

 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=9a43e6df-f0eb-47e8-8dd4-1493ee8292cf

 

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SharePoint 2010 product comparison

If you want to compare what feature comes with the different editions of SharePoint 2010 you can go to this site: 

http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/en-us/buy/Pages/Editions-Comparison.aspx

You will find a nice table that compares SharePoint Foundation VS SharePoint Server Standard and Enterprise. 

 

Be aware that under the Enterprise edition it says that you have access to these features:

Advanced Content Processing
Advanced Sorting
Business Intelligence Indexing Connector
Contextual Search
Deep Refinement
Extensible Search Platform
Extreme Scale Search
Rich Web Indexing
Similar Results
Thumbnails and Previews
Tunable Relevance with Multiple Rank Profiles
Visual Best Bets

They are in fact available with the Enterprise version of SharePoint Server 2010, but you need to have a Fast Server in order to use them.

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Guide for IT Pros for Microsoft Office Web Apps

Microsoft has just published a guide to explain how to use the Microsoft Office Web Apps on Microsoft SharePoint 2010 in an organization.

 

Overview

This book includes information to help IT professionals use Microsoft Office Web Apps on Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products in an organization.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=515dd67e-3ff6-4f0d-bc45-cfc8ba742055

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New downloads about SharePoint 2010

Find in this article some new articles and tools that have been publishe on the Microsoft site for SharePoint 2010

 

• SharePoint Server 2010 performance and capacity test results and recommendations

Brief Description

These white papers describe the performance and capacity impact of specific feature sets included in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010.

• Risk and Health Assessment for Microsoft SharePoint Server Datasheet

Brief Description

The Risk and Health Assessment Program for Microsoft SharePoint Server has been developed to provide in-depth analysis of your Office SharePoint Server and Windows SharePoint Services configurations, custom code, and operational procedures, uncovering areas that are potential risks to server stability or that do not align with Microsoft best practices.

• Microsoft Business Connectivity Services Model

Brief Description

Microsoft Business Connectivity Services enable users to interact with external data by using SharePoint lists and Microsoft Office 2010.

• Developing Applications for SharePoint 2010

Brief Description

This guidance provides technical information about key areas of SharePoint 2010 application development. It contains a written guide, reference implementations with source code and documentation, and a library of reusable source code components.

• SharePoint 2010 Presentations: Developer Conference Session Files

Brief Description

This download provides PowerPoint 2010 files used in sessions during the SharePoint 2010 Developer Conference from October 2009.

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SharePoint 2010 new articles

Here is a list of newly published articles about SharePoint 2010 on the Microsoft site:

 

SharePoint Technologies
Search topology operations in SharePoint Server 2010 (white paper)
This white paper describes how to use the Windows PowerShell command-line interface to scale out the search topology.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff696763.aspx

Use tracing on the client (SharePoint Server 2010)
This article describes how to use the Performance Monitor tool on client computers that are running Windows 7 or Windows Vista to enable tracing that captures Microsoft Business Connectivity Services events. It also describes how to use the Event Viewer tool to view the results of a Business Connectivity Services trace.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff700209.aspx

Set permission to a published service application (SharePoint Server)
This article describes how to set permissions to a published service application.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff700211.aspx

PerformancePoint Services and PowerPivot for Excel (white paper)
This article describes and points to a white paper about integration between PerformancePoint Services in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 and PowerPivot for Excel.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff700212.aspx

Configure Data Source Time Settings for Time Intelligence
This article provides an overview about adding time intelligence properties to PerformancePoint Services data sources.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff701697.aspx

Configuring Analysis Services Data Source Time Settings in PerformancePoint
This article describes how to set PerformancePoint Time Intelligence values on Analysis Services data sources.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff701695.aspx

Configure Tabular Data Source Time Settings for Time Intelligence in PerformancePoint
This article describes how to set Time Intelligence properties for tabular data sources in PerformancePoint Services.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff701698.aspx

PerformancePoint Time Intelligence Quick Reference Sheet
This article provides a reference for setting time intelligence properties in PerformancePoint Services.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff701696.aspx

Index of SharePoint Server 2010 Windows PowerShell cmdlets
This article lists Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010Windows PowerShell cmdlets in noun or verb order.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff678226.aspx

Install prerequisites from a network share (SharePoint Server 2010)
This article describes how to install the SharePoint Server 2010 from a network share rather than directly from the Internet.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff686793.aspx

Complete List of recently published MOSS 2007 & SharePoint 2010 articles
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262043(office.12).aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262043(office.14).aspx

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PowerPivot Samples

As you probably know, with PowerPivot you can manipulate large data sets (Millions of rows).  If you want to test drive the new functionnalities of PowerPivot, you can donwnload these sample files.

 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=1ae63bfb-c303-44e3-ae44-7413d499495d

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=eac83429-c6e5-48a6-87cf-00a4141e5441

NOTE: To fully interact with these samples, you must have Microsoft Excel 2010 and the Microsoft PowerPivot for Excel 2010 add-in installed.

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SharePoint 2010 Resource Centers

Microsoft has multiple resource centers for SharePoint 2010.  These resource center are a great starting point in your SharePoint 2010 journey!

 

SharePoint Server 2010 Resource Centers

 

Basics What’s new Getting started Architecture design Business continuity management (backup, recovery, availability, and disaster recovery) Capacity management Installation and deployment Security and authentication Upgrade and migration Virtualization Windows PowerShell From: http://technet.microsoft.com/fr-ca/sharepoint/ff465365(en-us).aspx  Serge

Solutions Business Connectivity Services Business intelligence Enterprise collaboration Enterprise content management Enterprise search Records management Social computing Web content management

SharePoint 2010 virtual labs

If you don’t have time to download the VM from Microsoft, or to install a SharePoint 2010 environment, but you would like to test drive SharePoint 2010, Microsoft has made available a set of virtual labs on SharePoint.

 

You can find them here:

• TechNet Virtual Lab: Backup and Restore in SharePoint Server 2010
• TechNet Virtual Lab: Business Continuity Management in SharePoint Server 2010
• TechNet Virtual Lab: Configuring Remote Blob Storage FILESTREAM Provider for SharePoint Server 2010
• TechNet Virtual Lab: Configuring Tenant Administration on SharePoint Server 2010
• TechNet Virtual Lab: Configuring User Profile Synchronization in SharePoint Server 2010
• TechNet Virtual Lab: Introduction to Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Upgrade
• TechNet Virtual Lab: New IT Pro Features in SharePoint Server 2010
• TechNet Virtual Lab: Windows PowerShell in SharePoint Server 2010
• MSDN Virtual Lab: Developing a BCS External Content Type with Visual Studio 2010
• MSDN Virtual Lab: Developing a Visual Web Part in Visual Studio 2010
• MSDN Virtual Lab: Developing SharePoint 2010 User Interface with Silverlight in Visual Studio 2010

Have Fun!

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SharePoint 2010 Capacity and sizing resource center

Last week I wrote and article (http://sergetremblay.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!554AE8DB90904219!278.entry)  about SharePoint 2010 capacity planning.  It is important to have the right tools and to have metrics to use in order to plan a SharePoint 2010 infrastructure.

 

Microsoft has created a SharePoint 2010 capacity management site to centralize the documentation and tools to help you plan and size your SharePoint 2010 farm.  Here is the link:

 

http://technet.microsoft.com/fr-fr/sharepoint/ff601870(en-us).aspx

 

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