SharePoint at ORNL NLIT Summit June 2009

1. SharePoint at ORNLNLIT SummitJune 2009 Brett D. Ellis Information Technology Services Division

2. Overview • SharePoint at ORNL • 2 Production Farms (Internal and External) • Internal - 2 Load Balanced Web Front Ends(WFE), 1 Index/Query, SQL 2005 Clustered, Several App Servers(SSRS, Ascentn) • External – 2 Load Balanced WFE’s, Index/Query resides on WFE 1. • 1 QA Farm • 1 WFE, 1 Index/Query, SQL 2005, Several App Servers(SSRS, Ascentn) • 1 Dev Farm • 1 WFE, 1 Index/Query, SQL 2005, Ascentn App Server • 1 Backup/Restore Farm • MOSS 2007/WSS 3.0 • 64 Bit, Enterprise MOSS

3. Overview – Problem Areas • Search and Crawling • Patching • Your Task Lists aren’t sending E-mail • Migration from 32 Bit -> 64 Bit • Issues with Project Server Installation • Streamline Code Deployment from DEV -> QA -> Prod

4. Proper Search and Crawling • How do you properly set it up • Content • Containers vs Items • Schedule • Debug • Robots.txt • Name your Crawler

5. Search and Crawling -> Content • Content Source • A bucket of different content • What goes in a Content Source • WebPages • SharePoint Sites • File Shares • Exchange Public Folders

6. Search and Crawling -> Scheduling • Is done at the Content Source level • Be careful how many you have • Be considerate when scheduling of crawls • SharePoint discards anything that has been in the queue for more than an hour • Off-Hours crawls • Distinct Server for Crawls • What ORNL is looking at to be able to crawl multiple times per day

7. Search and Crawling -> Debug • Can look at a crawl log per content source • Can get onerous if you have many URL’s in one source • Very easy to break out a single URL, and schedule a separate crawl • Common errors • Do you have proper read accounts setup • Does the crawler have permissions • Did you install December Cumulative update, without the hotfix…

8. Search and Crawling -> Robots.txt Frequency • Robots.txt is read every 24 hours • We were concerned that it we were crawling with a stale robots.txt • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office Server\12.0\Search\Global\Gathering Manager\RobotsTxtRefreshFrequency • Change from default of 86400 seconds • More fun settings available at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd630757.aspx

9. Search and Crawling -> Name Your Crawler • When a content source only allows a crawler with a specific name • Change the name at the location to be crawled • Or change the name of the crawler • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\\Office Server\12.0\Search\Global\Gathering Manager\UserAgent Fred

10. Proper Patching • Cumulative patching much easier • Microsoft is producing a patch set every few months now that is a cumulative set since SP1 • Had been patching with just MOSS patches, not the WSS Patches • All patches need to be pulled according to what you have installed • WSS • WSS + MOSS • WSS + MOSS + Project Server

11. Proper Patching - Correct Order • Assumes MOSS/WSS • Install WSS Patch on all servers in farm • Install MOSS Patch on all servers in farm • Start Configuration Wizard on Central Admin/Index Server • Wait for dialogue box that says run on every other system, and leave up WITHOUT clicking OK • Now run and complete Configuration Utility on all other servers one by one • When done, go back and finish on Central Admin

12. Task List Not Sending E-mail • Symptom: A task list isn’t sending e-mails as setup • Check the active alerts • Find the contentdb associated with the site in question • Run the following query against that DB, or to be safe a copy of that DB • Note: Any manual modification to the ContentDB’s will be strongly frowned upon my Microsoft.

13. Task List Not Sending E-mail (cont) • Query SQL Database • Useful to watch alerts get properly sent • Natural flow is for alerts to be stored in eventcache then cleared out with timer jobs • select * from eventcache where acl is not null • This query should result in either zero or very low numbers • If you have a large number of results, then you need to open a command prompt to a machine somewhere in your farm for the following stsadm commands

14. Task List not Sending E-mail (cont) • Are Alerts Enabled? • Command: stsadm -o getproperty -url http://site.ornl.gov/sites/alerts -pn alerts-enabled • Result: <Property Exist="Yes" Value="yes" />  • Are they going to be scheduled to run? • Command: stsadm -o getproperty -url http://site.ornl.gov/sites/alerts -pn job-immediate-alerts • Result: <Property Exist="No" /> • Schedule them to run • Command: stsadm.exe -o setproperty -pn job-immediate-alerts -pv "every 5 minutes between 0 and 59" -url http://site.ornl.gov/sites/alerts • Result: Operation completed successfully. • Test that the command took: • Command: stsadm -o getproperty -url http://site.ornl.gov/sites/alerts -pn job-immediate-alerts • Results:<Property Exist="Yes" Value="every 5 minutes between 0 and 59" />

15. Task List Not Sending E-mail (final) • There are several other possibilities for alerts not running • Timer Service stuck on some machine in the farm • Restart the timer services across the farm • Farm Admin passwords improperly set • Reset Farm Admin passwords

16. Upgrade from 32 -> 64 Bit • As of December 2007 SharePoint at ORNL was 32 bit only • Communication of patch level • Devs have personal farms • Created a page to advertise changes to interested parties • For each farm there was a time period where the new farm and the old farm were both up • All changes had to be done to both • Used file comparison tool to compare web.configs • We have several custom codes at ORNL

17. Patch Page at ORNL

18. Upgrade to DEV • Notified Devs we were upgrading • Done months before QA and Prod • Not by design • Concern of solutions working in 32 vs 64 bit up the chain • Testing Phase of both farms up at the same time • At cutover date, refreshed the ContentDB’s

19. Upgrade to QA • Project Server Uninstall • Issues with all our customization and the version of Project Server at the time • Copied ContentDB’s • Ran 64 bit farm in test mode for 2 weeks • At cutover date • Turned 32 bit farm read-only, and refreshed ContentDBs • Our Devs deploy solutions to Dev • Had to interface with Devs for proper solutions to deploy

20. Upgrade to Prod • Done almost identical to QA • Had known set of WebSolutions from QA • Ran 64 bit farm in test mode for three weeks • Current web-app name was bob • New web-app name was bob64 • On Cutover date, refreshed the Content • Created a completely new SSP • Had issues with SSP, that caused us to have to rebuild • Did with an overnight outage

21. Issues in Upgrade to Prod • Issues • Excel Services Trusted Location(absolute path) • http://bob.ornl.gov/trustedlocation • http://bob64.ornl.gov/trustedlocation • Populating Best Bets • Power Shell Script • Syncing Mysite Profile Data • Used Microsoft User Replication Tool

22. How we install solutions • Dev • Developers have Farm admin privs • Deploy their own solutions • QA • SharePoint admin team deploys solution with help from devs, based on their experience in DEV • Prod • Once weekly, SharePoint admin team deploys solutions as it was deployed in QA • Task List • Very handy for historic changes to Farms, and so Developers have a one stop shop to see if work was done

23. Questions and THANKS!!!!

24. Other ORNL presentations which might be of interest • SharePoint • Monday, 11:45-Using SharePoint UI to Deliver General Use Applications, Connie Begovich • Tuesday, 11:45-SharePoint at ORNL, Brett Ellis • Cyber Security • Monday, 1:30-Development of a Process for Phishing Awareness Activities, Phil Arwood • Monday, 2:15-How I Learned to Embrace the Chaos, Mark Lorenc • Monday, 4:15-TOTEM:The ORNL Threat Evaluation Method,John Gerber/Mark Floyd • Desktop Management • Monday 4:15-On the Fly Management of UNIX Hosts using CFEngine,Ryan Adamson • Tuesday, 11:00-Implementation of Least User Privileges, Doug Smelcer • Wednesday, 11:45, Microsoft Deployment Using MDT and SCCM, Chad Deguira • Incident Management • Wednesday, 11:00-Helpdesk Operations for Clients Without Admin Privileges, Bob Beane/Tim Guilliams • IT Modernization • Monday, 2:15-12 Months of Technology, Lara James