Sharepoint 2010 Beta Review (1)

Since Microsoft released Sharepoint 2010 Beta in the middle of November, I installed and played with it for a while. Here are some notes.

Installation:

It is much easier to install. However, you need to read some posts on line for some known issues to save your time, and download some patches before doing the full installation. Sharepoint 2010 also provides a way to auto download those files for you, so you need to set up the network connection for your VM before installation. I used VMWare to install 2010, OS is Windows Server 2008 with SP2. The configuration process is very smooth, you do not need to type in anything. To enable everything on 2010, you also need to set up the web server role and application role using windows server management tool.

Important New Features:

There are lots of topics about new features and guides about Sharepoint 2010. Sometimes you are getting lost because there are so many information available online. Based on my experiences, with new technologies, I always start from a box — a Sharepoint 2010 VM, an overview — an IT Pro’s evaluation guide, a sample — a developer evaluation guide, and a detailed reference – Sharepoint foundation 2010 and Sharepoint server 2010 SDKs. As an IT Pro, you may be very interested in these new features 2010 brings up on table:

1. Office Web Application: After downloading the latest released Office 2010 web app beta, and integrated it into Sharepoint by installing it as a Sharepoint service application, now I can open a word, excel, or a power point file from my browser including IE, Firefox, Safari (from both window pc and iphone), and even Google Chrome, and edit these files directly in browsers, with version controls and synchronization running on the server! These make it possible to read/edit Sharepoint documents from anywhere, anytime, by using mobile devices like iphone or Microsoft mobile phone. And I would say that the 2010 version mobile pages are great! It is automatically designed to integrate with my iphone, and browsering a Sharepoint 2010 sites is easy and very smooth. Lots of problems are solved to make it better to view Sharepoint site from Firefox, Safari and Chrome. The following are 16 screen shots tested on my sharepoint 2010 server using iphone, firefox and Google Chrome.

2. Global Content Type: Content types now are farm wise concept! This is very important for the enterprise to build up their own custom meta data across the server and reuse it anywhere afterwards. And different site collections can share the same content type now.

3. WCF Based Service: Now Sharepoint services are WCF based — which means that you can access Sharepoint from any platform anywhere, and chose connection types, this is huge for enterprise level integration architecture, to make Sharepoint services connected with any existing applications.

4. Document Set: This is very important for document management, now you can group document type together as a set and bound them with workflow, version control and content types. For instance, you can create a document set called proposal which includes Technical approach, cost evaluation and system quality control analysis files and bound them together as a document set, Sharepoint will manage it as a single resource.

5. Access DB to Sharepoint: Now power users can create DBs using Access service with a form and view supported on Sharepoint site and publish new access solutions to Sharepoint sites with centrally accessible from Browser. — this helps we create project matadata (temple tables) with different business needs in the real life, without making any connection/changes to the application databases. Each project site Owner can create their own temple DB tables using Access Service and view it immediately on Site pages. Quick and Easy!

6. Sandbox Solutions: For any customized codes, now we can deploy it on the part of the server without influence other regular services running on Sharepoint.

7. Developer Dashboard View: As an IT Pro, you can turn on this Developer Dashboard feature to check the running process for server controls, db queries and networking performance and help you easily identify the problems.

8. BCS: Now you can directly create a Business Data Catalog using SPD 2010 or Visual Studio 2010 tools and it also support CRUD(Create/Read/Update/Delete) functions and this is also making office apps connect with BCS with Business Data information as the metadata.

Lots more, like Power Shell helps administration, Visio Service helps workflow, Search with FAST, communicate with people connections, Large List performance improvement, Excel Service as REST architecture, in memory DB technique (“Gemini”), etc….

… To be continued …

What’s new in Sharepoint 2010 — A Preview

Microsoft raised the curtain on SharePoint 2010 at Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) for the very first time, will be released in the first half of 2010. Here is the summary about the key improvement for this exciting upgraded product:

For Admin:

•  Central Administration has been overhauled and has a cleaner, more productive, more intuitive UI with new functionality like new reports.
•  built-in Best Practices Analyzer! — helps identify potential problems before they become real headaches
• No more 2,000 items performance limitation (per list)!!
•  Support Ribbon — While it also has a Visual Upgrade feature that lets you keep the old look and feel until you’re good-and-ready

For end-users:

• The entire end-user experience is improved. It supports a rich, Ribbon-based, asynchronous UI that in one or two clicks, on one page. You can use IE, Firefox, Apple’s Safari, and “other browsers” — Apple iphone? By using Web Edit, you can edit any part of any page, in place and WYSIWYG—like a Wiki. — Great for customizaiton and personalization for ICE sites at a BU and personalized base.
• Sharepoint Workspace — previous called Groove. This support offline sharepoint list/lib data edit and sync with real time data features. 
• With BCS(Business Connectivity Services), which support read and WRITE! Whether it’s SharePoint data or data in back-end applications and databases, it all shows up as a SharePoint list. Huge changes!
• SharePoint 2010 offers rich media support – can host videos effectively, and incorporate Silverlight with a built-in Silverlight Web part.
• New Service for user – Visio Services tapps into back-end data sources and creates dynamic diagrams, no user side Visio installation.

For Developers:

• Visual Studio 2010 SharePoint Tools — Coming up with Sharepoint 2010, make developemnt more efficient and powerful.
• integrate with LINQ, a client side object model, BCS, Silverlight Web Part, TFS, a standard Solution Package and the developer dashboard, which can expose debugging information on any SharePoint page.

And a lot more …

Basically, we see that the whole architecture and infrustracture of next version Sharepoint 2010 is not changed a lot, while it added more features, site definitions, based on WSS3.0 (will Microsoft announce WSS4.0??) and provide more functionalities. components and services: like BCS, Visio Service, Ribbon, Silverlight WP, BPA, Rich Browser support, and better performance. With the new tool — VS 2010 Sharepoint Tool, it gives a more powerful weapon to implement and develop Sharepoint Solutions in a more efficient way. Watch detailed information on: http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/2010/Sneak_Peek/Pages/default.aspx

And this is just partial of what Sharepoint 2010 brings to us early of year 2010.

MCTS 070-541: The hardest?

Is this the hardest exam among the four Sharepoint certificate exams? The answer is Yes. Windows Shared Services 3.0 Development is the basic and the most important concepts around Sharepoint, and the exam lasts more than 3 hours. With 55 questions, your knowledge about how to develop a sharepoint component and entity is tested. Here are the basic concepts tested in this exam:  

Deploying Windows SharePoint Services and Custom Components

• Deploy a Web Part to the Windows SharePoint Services server — Register an assembly as a safe control ile; Configure Web Part permissions; Enable a Web Part to access resources by creating a custom security policy.
• Create and deploy a Windows SharePoint Services solution package.
• Deploy a site definition to a Windows SharePoint Services front-end Web server – Deploy a site definition manually
• Deploy a feature manually; Install and activate a feature using STSADM.
• Deploy a Web service within the context of any Windows SharePoint Services site and to the Windows SharePoint Services context.
• Deploy user controls to Web server.

Creating Site and Feature Provisioning Components

• Create a feature definition — Specify a feature that depends on another feature to activate; Event Receiver; using a resource file; action to add an option to the site settings menu
• Create a site definition – top and side navigation; list definition to use in a site; Hide a list definition from the Create Page; Specify a Document Template in a site definition; Document Template
• site definition module — Force a Feature to install when a site is created by using the site definition
• Specify the configurations of lists and modules in a site definition — Create multiple configurations; site created as the root Web site in a collection
• Create pages and layouts for a site — Page Layout that has multiple Web part zones; Modify the page layout for a site using master pages

Creating Metadata and Workflow Provisioning Components

• Create a site column — in a site definition in a Feature
• Create a list definition – hiding it on the list Create Page; Add a new view
• Create a Custom Field Type
• Create a Workflow definition  — Attach a workflow to a list on creation; Package a workflow in a feature
• Create a Content Type: multiple Content Types; Apply a Content Type to multiple file types; Inherit properties; Update an existing content type

Developing Windows SharePoint Services Components by Using the .NET Framework

• Handle Windows SharePoint Services events by developing an event receiver — Handle a list event; Cancel an operation; feature event
• Develop a Web Part — postback using control life cycle; Handle exceptions within a Web Part; Convert a user control into a Web Part; caching; personalized Web Part property; shared Web Part property; Create a Web Part that uses CSS styles; custom tool part.
• Share data between Web Parts — data provider; data consumer; Filter information from one Web Part to another.
• Elevate application permissions by using impersonation.
• Enable a custom Windows SharePoint Services administration page to access the Windows SharePoint Services object model.
• Schedule tasks by using the SharePoint Timer service.

Manipulating Site Content by using the API

• Manage an alert — Create, Remov and Change the frequency of alerts.
• Enhance the Windows SharePoint Services search service – SPQuery; cross-site search.
• User access permissions — Add, Remove and change user to a site group.
• Manipulate items in lists.
• Manipulate documents in lists.
• Manage records by using the records repository.
• Manage document versions.

Manipulating Site Configuration by Using the API

• Manipulate a list structure.
• Dynamically handle events.
• Manage site hierarchy.
• Customize navigation in a Windows SharePoint Services site.
• Create a custom site group and set permissions for the group.

  

MCTS 070-542 Exam key Concepts

I took the Sharepoint Development exam before Windows Shared Service 3.0 Development exam because I have been working on MOSS for 3 years. The exam covered each MOSS topic and it is the shortest test(33 questions), not the easiest, though. Here are the highlights for the key concepts being tested:

Managing Enterprise Content

• Enforce document storage business rules by using Document Policy –Create a custom document policy; Deploy a document policy by using a policy feature; Specify logic for a document policy by using a policy resource; Manage document retention rules by using the expiration feature policy; Launch a workflow when a document expires
• Audit Windows SharePoint Services content by using a custom policy.
• Manage records by using Office SharePoint Server 2007 record management features — Create a custom audit report; Create a custom legal hold.
• Create content by using the Office SharePoint Server 2007 Web content management features — Create pages dynamically; Create a custom field control; Localize a site by using resource lists.
• Deploy content between servers.
• Provide variations of Web content — Redirect a user to a variation based on profile setting; Provision multiple sites in a hierarchy.

 Creating Business Intelligence Solutions by Using Office SharePoint Server 2007

•  Display data from a Microsoft Excel workbook by using Excel Services
•  Create a trusted workbook location by using the Stsadm.exe command-line tool. 
•  Implement business logic by using an Excel Services user-defined function.
•  Expose a data source by adding a data connection to a Report Center Web Site.
•  Create a key performance indicator (KPI) Web Part by using data from a report data source. 

Integrating Business Data with Office SharePoint Server 2007 by Using the Business Data Catalog (BDC)

• Create a BDC Application Definition –Create a line of business (LOB) system.
• Describe an external application in the BDC Application Definition –Create an LOB system instance; Create an entity
• Display data from an external data source – Create a Finder method.
• Enable indexing of data stored in an external data source — Create an IDEnumerator.
• Enable searching on a BDC Application Definition — Enable a single item query by creating identifiers for entities; Create a filter descriptor.
• Create a custom action on an entity — Create an association between two entities.
• Create a Web Part to browse data — Execute a wildcard filter on an entity.

Accessing Office SharePoint Server 2007 Application Platform Services  

• Display an InfoPath Form from within an ASP.NET page by using the Form Services control.
• Automate Office Forms Server administration tasks –Activate a previously uploaded form template.
• Manage credentials by using the single sign-on (SSO) credential store — Create a custom SSO provider for use by the BDC
• Transform a custom document format into another format.
• Display a user profile retrieved from an Office SharePoint Server 2007 Web service.

Customizing Functionality by Using Profiles

• Import users into the user profile store from an LDAP store.
• Manipulate profile properties –Add a profile property to the user profile store; Store a user’s attributes in the user profile store by creating a multivalue property; Map a BDC data item to a user profile property; Set the privacy policy for a user profile property.
• Add a distribution list to a new membership

Searching Data by Using the Search Service

• Programmatically enhance the search service –Access the search context for the Shared Services Provider (SSP)
• Add a custom search page for searching the BDC — Extend the user interface by adding a tab to the search page.
• Provide custom search capabilities by creating an enterprise search Web Part.
• Customize the display of search results by modifying the Search Core Results XSLT.
• Display results from a Windows SharePoint Services search Web service.
• Display the results of a keyword query

Targeting Content Based on Audience Membership

• Create an audience.
• Specify conditions for audience membership by using rules.
• Target a list item to an audience.
• Display all audiences to which a user belongs.
• Display all users in a given audience.

 Overall, there are more questions focus on BDC, Reporting service, Excel Service and WCM.  

Holding All 4 Sharepoint Certificates

It’s been a while since my last post. So what’s new: I passed other two sharepoint development certificates: 070-541 and 070-542. Yes, I Did! In two months, I got all four Sharepoint certificates.

I really appreciate the supports from my family. And I also want to share my experience about how to manage this while working on company project. Here is my suggestions:  

• Be Focus: We have some many things to do each day, if you always concentrate on your focused goal, you’ll find that you do have time to use, just be focus.
• Be Smart: Learn what is covered in the exam quickly and find the right resource for the solution. There are some really good e-learning courses that Microsoft provides. Being smart means that you do not jump into the sea and lose the target, learn how to adjust yourself quickly.
• Be Hungry: There are so much to learn for the exams, even for a very experienced Sharepoint Guru. If you desire to learn and want to know the truth badly, you are on the right direction to the success. 
• Be in good shape: I was working on these for over 12 hours each day, inluding the company projects. I have to spend some time to do exercises and play soccer to keep myself in good shape, it is so important to study with high efficiency.
• Be Ready: Yes, to make this happens, you have to be an exper, with at least 2-3 years experiences. That helps to build up the common concepts and working experience, which is so important in the exams — they do test and exam your working experiences. So keep practice, and practice more…  

I will post some detailed information for each development exams later on.

Passed MCTS 70-630 in 20 days

I passed MCTS 70-630 Sharepoint Server 2007 Configuration certificate exam today, It takes me 20 days from the day I decided to start.

So what is the feedback and suggestion I can give to you?

First of all, you do need to have experiences Microsoft mentioned as followings:

Internet Information Server—administration and configuration  

 

Windows Server 2003 Active Directory administration  

 

Networking infrastructure services, including TCP/IP and clustering 

 

Microsoft .NET 2.0, as it relates to Office SharePoint Server 2007 

 

Internet Security and Acceleration Server 

 

Network load-balancing for applications 

Microsoft SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server 2005, as it relates to Office SharePoint Server 2007—administration 

Security, as it relates to Office SharePoint Server 2007

Back-up restoration of data  

Most of above skills are tested in MCTS 70-631, and you do need to gain enough experiences on these before you can feel confident to handle 630 exam.

Here are the details I add for 70-630 exam feedback. I marked the point from 1-10 to indicate the importance I feel the exam covers during the exam. — Again, this is my personal opinion.

Configure site management  – 8 – in General

Configure personalization - 9 – user link, personalization vs. Customization, personal lniks in my site 

Configure users and groups - 9 – audience, audience targeting, permissions, user profile importing, managing property

Configure alerts – 6 – at item level with alerts settings in SSP

Configure Single Sign-on (SSO) – 7- combine with infopath form permissions and excell service permissions

Managing Search – 9 – in General

Configure Search Center – 8 – Regular search box web part, defualt search site page 

Configure Search settings – 9 – indexing, full crawling, search in BDC, serach content source, etc 

Monitor Search activity – 9 – searching monitor and analysis, including file type list, etc. 

Configuring Content Management – 9 – in General

Configure document management - 8 – site templates, check in/out, Content type with DIP  

Configure records management - 10 – record center routing table, site template, etc

Configure Web content management – 7- WCM content deployment cross site collections

Manage policies and compliance - 8 – document information policy settings, client/server conversion

Configure workflow – 7 – conditional worlflow, builtin workflow

Configuring Business Forms – 8 – in General

Configure Forms server - 8 – Web-compatible form, SSO, permission, uploading form to Doc Library with permission

Manage data connection files – 7 – ODC/UDC

Configure Web service proxy – 8- Excel service proxy, UDC web service proxy settings

Manage form templates – 8- Qieuce forms, session state setting.

Managing Business Intelligence – 8 – in General

 Configure Excel services – 7 – Workbook client permission, configuration in SSP, etc

Configure Report Center – 8- Site Template, contents, Dashboard page

Configure Web parts – 6 – Filter web parts and usages

Configure Business Data Catalog (BDC) - 7- SSO integration and search on BDC 

Managing Administration - 7 – in General 

Manage the central administration interface – 6 – generak magement tools from UI

Manage the shared service provider – 7 - Detailed my sites and user profile configurations

Use the STSADM tool – 7- Some stsadm command

Configure usage analysis and reporting - 8 – Detailed usage analysis configuration and reporting format

Deploying or Upgrading - 5 – in General 

Manage Microsoft Content Management Server (CMS) assessment – 6 – Migration from MCMS 2002 to Moss 2007 prescan

Configure shared services – 5- Details about permission and configuration

Manage Business Intelligence tools – 3 - not a question I can remember 

Manage portal and site migration – 5- migration re-link URL

Finalize upgrades – 6- upgrading and migration user permissions

As a non-admin sharepoint personnal, I now passed both configuration exams, the knowledge does gives me a better general view about sharepoint and its most important features it covers. And it helps me do architecture, implement and development work better.   

 

　

 

 

 

 

MCTS 70-631: WSS3.0 Configuration Certificate

I passed the MS 70-631 certificate exam last week. This exam is focused on the administration and configuration of sharepoint server. And there are some  requirements on the following fields, I added my comments based on my preparation and exam experience:

	Web administration/Internet Information Services 6.0  — Focus on security, authentication, application pool and web Admin and IIS Monitor
	General Windows Server 2003 directory administration — LADP, AD with Form based authentication configuration
	General networking infrastructure — firewall, intranet, perimeter network and Internet security and network configuration, infrastructure, some question is difficult
	General knowledge of Windows SharePoint Server 2007 — configure a sharepointserver and web application, permission settings and admin knowledge, sharepoint concepts – workflow, features, web part, site definition, site template
	General understanding of Microsoft .NET 2.0 as it relates to Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 — Master page, designer, and web part pages
	General understanding of Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server — set up ISA server to protect the sharepoint web server, need understand details, network topology, network security
	Network load-balancing for applications — NLB with Multicast and UniCast configurations, tough questions
	Administering SQL Server 2000 or 2005 for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 — Configure SQL authentication, default content and configuration DB settings
	General security and authentication practices — SSO, NTLM, Form/windows Authentication and sharepoint security, IIS security configuration, SSL, IRM and AAM.
	Back-up and restoration of data — How to use web and STSADM tool to backup and restore sites on the web farm environment. Restore deleted files and web sites. Besides these, the exam also tested sharepoint migration, upgrade, monitoring and customization. In general, the exam is not an easy one. Because I did not have too much time to prepare for it, I chose to get the microsoft on-line training courses to get some idea about the exam, And I usedTranscender as a testing practice source. I would say that Transcender really did a great job. The format of the exam is close to real exam. I do like the practice exams it provides and the review materials it includes. Will definitely use Transcender again for other exams.

Soccer Stars in Action

I got some pictures from a couple of the parents. Our little soccer stars looks great!

Thanks, Greg and Julie!

Spring 2009 YMCA Soccer Team 2 Schedule

We had a great start today! Here are the schedule for the rest of the season.

Date     Time     Field     Snacks       Drinks

• 4/11 10:00 Field 1 Julie Baker Julie Baker
• 4/18 9:00 Field 1 Adriana Inman Adriana I.
• 4/25 11:00 Field 1  Greg Mitchell   Greg M.
• 5/2 11:00 Field 1     Michael R.     Michael R.
• 5/9 10:00 Field 1    Julie M.          Julie M.
• 5/16 12:45 YMCA    Mellisa             Mellisa
• 5/23 10:00 Field 1     Tonya            Angela

Like Julie metioned in the email, we will let parent to buy the numbers and DIY for your kids on the team shirt.

If any parent want to bring Snacks and/or drinks for some training day, please post it by adding a comment and I will keep this post updated.

Thanks everyone, we had a great day.

Spring Soccer 2009 YMCA-Team 2(Age 4-5)

This year we have 13 kids in our team and I myself and Greg Mitchell are the coaches for this team.

I am a soccer fan, a player, and a USSF soccer ref for many years. This is my first year to be a soccer coach. Greg has been a basketball coach for 5 years and he has lots of experiences to coach young athlete. 

Here are the to-do list before your kids show up the first day.

•  Buy a pair of Shin Guard. Safety is No. 1. To protect your kids, go to WalMart or soccer shops to buy it before showing up on field.
•  Get a soccer ball for the kids. 4-5 years old kids can kick a ball very well, a Size 3 ball is used for their age.
•  Get a pair of soccer shoe. No metal parts, find a right sized shoe, the bigger, the worse.
•  First game day: this Saturday — April 4, at 10:oo AM. Location:   6116 Morris Road, Hamilton, Ohio 45011, Fire Department, besides North  Elementary School. Please arrive 5-10 minutes before the first training and first game. 

Here are coaches’ to-do list:

•  We will distribute this season’s game schedule, picture of the day notice and Parent Code of Ethics documents on the first game day.
•  We need to decide if we’d like to print the kids’ favorite number on their team T-shirts.
•  We will bring as much training equipments as we can find to the field to help kids start their first game.
•  We will answer any question you have and talk about anything you want to discuss.
•  We will post more interesting Soccer rules, activities and on-line schedules later on.   

If you have any question, feel free to reach me at 256-2149 or email me mren2006@gmail.com, you can reach Greg at 218-3942, or email him gmitchell008@cinci.rr.com

The last important thing: in case of inclement weather, please follow the instruction to get the game cancellation information in the morning of every game day:

Go to www.gmvymca.org/eastbutler/, click on the Big “MEMBER HOT BUTTON” at the right bottom, search Soccer Game for the latest announcement.