Frugal Admin Series: Free tools for SharePoint

1. Frugal Admin Series: Free tools for SharePoint CA Callahan Author: Mastering Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 callahan@callahantech.com

2. Prerequisites • An interest in SharePoint Foundation and willingness to sit through a presentation (gold star) • IT Administrators • Experience administering Windows Servers • IIS (extensive IIS helpful) • Minimal SQL experience • Recognize SQL Mgmt Studio • Know what databases are • Interest in keeping SharePoint expenses low • Know how to browse the web… • Sense of humor

3. Agenda • Finding free tools • Safe hunting • Codeplex • Script gallery on TechNet • Vendors • Monitoring, auditing, and Management tools • SPDiag • Indihiang • Webalizer • SharePoint Manager • ULS Viewer • Auditlogsp (Sean helped me tweak this too) • Developer Dashboard (okay, built in) • SharePoint Performance Monitor (Idera) • Interesting tweaks • Easytabs • Scripts from some nice people • SharePointBac project on codeplex • Sean McDonough’s augmented Backup/Restore Cmdlets • Or full SharePoint backup with PowerShell script (spbackup.codeplex.com)

4. Finding Free Tools • Three types of tools • Potentially harmful or useless stuff • Codeplex/Gallery/Nice MS Employees and MVPs • Free, maybe gimped tools as enticement from Vendors • How can you tell the difference? • Suggestions • www.codeplex.com (search for SharePoint 2010) • gallery.technet.microsoft.com • Idera (sample company) • Offers SharePoint Manager as a free tool • Another interesting free webparts from a vendor: http://www.pentalogic.net/sharepoint-products/free-stuff • A web part that fixes the “no view menu selector” bug when web parts are added to a list page. • Remember, these tools will often require the account your logged in to install or use them to have administrative rights, either to the server, the farm, or usually both.

5. Free web parts: Easy Tabs • Ever have a page or dashboard that had too many web parts in it? The users had to scroll just a little too much? • Maybe you had them minimized by default so users could open the ones they wanted themselves? • Maybe you organized them by type in zones? • Easy tabs is a lets you add some code to a content editor web part, put it, hidden, at the bottom of a zone crowded with web parts, to instead create tabs at the top of the zone for them. • Note: web parts below the script, without header titles, or hidden don’t show up in the tabs. • This is just an example of some of the cool, trustworthy, time tested web parts out there. • Easy Tabs 5 is located at http://usermanagedsolutions.com/SharePoint-User-Toolkit/default.aspx • Make your selection of features, then copy the text to a text file • Copy that text file to a library on the site • Use the content editor web parts, strategically placed, to refer to the text file’s URL • Be sure to set it to hidden under Layout • It can bog down pages, so be sure to test before you deploy. • Still may be useful for those who need the organization but don’t have the coding know-how to modify the page on their own.

6. Developer Dashboard • Built into SharePoint but not enabled by default • Adds a section at the end of pages to show it’s performance per object, time loaded, time to SQL and back, etc. • Very, very useful to see why a page is bogging down • Great diagnostic/troubleshooting • You can enable it via PS or STSADM. It can be set to OFF/Always ON/ON Demand. On Demand means an icon is added to the top right of every page for the farm (it’s farm wide) so you can choose to see the Developer Dashboard or not. • Stsadm –o setproperty –pn developer-dashboard –pvondemand

7. SPDiag • Part of the SharePoint Administration toolkit • I like the older version better than the new one • SPDiag from admin toolkit 4.0 • Search for SharePoint administration toolkit 4.0 64 bit • It’s for MOSS 2007/WSS 3.0 but still works and I prefer it • Diagnostic Studio (for 2010) • Just search for SharePoint 2010 administration toolkit v2.0 • Simpler interface, less stuff CANNOT run on the same machine as the earlier version- modifies the diag files • Install (it does require installation, not portable, either one) • Tips (account logged in and running it must own WSS_Logging)

8. SharePoint Manager 2010 • Get it at spm.codeplex.com • Is a portable application. Just a zipped executable that works like a treat (if you run it as an account that is a farm administrator) • A very, very detailed object model explorer for your SharePoint farm. • You can drill down to individual list field GUIDs. • This tool is actively being worked on. Don’t be surprised to see a few more updates.

9. Powershellcmdlets and script: Backup and Restore • Sean McDonough, a SharePoint MVP, focuses on Backup and Restore • Noticed there were some commands that are more than useful for backing up that aren’t built in- so he built them • Get the wsp (solution) file of the cmdlets at: sharepointbac.codeplex.com • Once downloaded, it has to be added and deployed just like any wsp (see auditlogsp for more details). • Once deployed, it’s farm wide. Just open a PowerShell console window and use them. • The cmdlets specifically include • the ability to look at a backup catalog in a location to see the backups there. • The ability to remove a catalog (meaning delete a full backup and it’s dependent differentials). • The ability to email a notification that a backup completed (good or bad) • In addition, Sean has a nifty script to automate backups that he gave me (that I can give to you, of course, only be sure he’s given credit)

10. IndiHiang • Go to Indihiang.codeplex.com • MUST USE 64 bit INSTALLER on 64 bit servers • Uses IIS logs, saved reports, or remote server logs, to generate details • I like to specify the log folder for my more active web applications so it’s easier to select for viewing in Indihiang • The logs you select to analyze (you can simply select all logs in a folder if you like) need to saved as consolidations. (the cancel/save buttons are backwards, be warned) • Indihiang is installed as an MSI (can be deployed via group policy if you wish). Must have permissions to install locally. I run it logged in as a farm administrator. • Use the interface to specify logs to analyze. • Then can see details per hits, access page, bandwidth, and much more in graphic detail.

11. ULS Viewer • There are two ULS Viewers • One from codeplex (is more static and simple) • Downloads as a zip • Is completely portable, just an exe • The other from MSDN (dynamic, realtime analysis) • Search for ULS Viewer 2010 (the URL is long and non-intuitive) it will be the one archived on MSDN, release date 10/9/2009 • They both easily analyze tracelogs of the server. • There is filtering capabilities by category, severity, etc. • Great diagnostic, troubleshooting, analysis tool

12. Webalizer • Webalizer is a standard web server logfile analysis program. • I use the Tobias-Schwarz GUI Version. • www.tobias-schwarz.net • Once installed (download the zip, unpack, run setup), you can use to by first making sure, in the settings, that the correct language for you is selected, the default is German. • Then select the log files you want to analyze. They take a moment. (the logfile icons go from yellow to green if succesful) • Then you can use the performance buttons to analyze a pretty vast array of statistics (everything you collect in the IIS logs is displayed in various ways here. • Isn’t Microsoft dependent either, willl work with Apache and Linux, etc. • Good general tool.

13. Free from a vendor: SharePoint Performance Monitor • The problem with using a vendor’s free tools is, in exchange, they’ll want you to register, and they will very likely contact you about the product. • It’s okay to just want to use the free thing. Stick to you guns. • You need to go to the Idera website (www.idera.com) and click on Free Tools. • Remember, you will have to give some information, and a valid non-gmail address, to get a link to download the file. • Beware, the link expires. Download quickly and often before it goes away. • Once downloaded and extracted, it requires installation. It gives you a simple interface to see performance.

14. Auditlogsp • Love this tool. It surfaces the auditing capabilities for SharePoint Foundation that otherwise are not really available in an easy to enable and configure and see kind of way. • Get it at auditlogsp.codeplex.com • It is a solution (a wsp file) • It will have to be added and deployed • (example: run stsadm –o addsolution –filename <path to wsp file> • Then go to Central Administration and deploy the solution • Once deployed, you can enable it as a feature per site collection. Once enabled, it adds a Audit Management option to Site Settings, in which you can enable/disable it, and configure what’s audited. • It displays an Audit History for all list and library items, and an Audit Viewer option on the site actions menu. • BIG CAVEAT: the version on codeplex is not set to secure that Audit Viewer to only those who have manageweb permission. It lets everyone see it. Sean McDonough fixed that for me, and I can show you what he edited if you want to (or even share this wsp with you all)

15. Agenda • Finding free tools • Safe hunting • Codeplex • Script gallery on TechNet • Vendors • Monitoring, auditing, and Management tools • SPDiag • Indihiang • Webalizer • SharePoint Manager • ULS Viewer • Auditlogsp (Sean helped me tweak this too) • Developer Dashboard (okay, built in) • SharePoint Performance Monitor (Idera) • Interesting tweaks • Easytabs • Scripts from some nice people • SharePointBac project on codeplex • Sean McDonough’s augmented Backup/Restore Cmdlets • Or full SharePoint backup with PowerShell script (spbackup.codeplex.com)

16. Frugal Admin Series: Free tools for SharePoint CA Callahan Author: Mastering Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 callahan@callahantech.com @cacallahan Blog: servergrrl.blogspot.com Online SharePoint Foundation user group: www.facebook.com/groups/callahanspf