Gradualdelete is new

With the WSS/SharePoint April 2009 Cumulative Update, a new parameter was introduced for the “stsadm –o deletesite” and “stsadm –o mergecontentdbs” commands. I noticed it while reviewing some recently published/update TechNet articles and tweeted about it here, here, here and here. Because of that I wanted to summarize the content in one post, point out some other things I found while researching and point you to where you can get more detail. On The Sean Blog, Sean covers all the commands added in the April update.

Here are the things that jumped out at me:

1. There is a new property added which is where the SPTimer schedule for the deletion job is stored and marks the site collection for deletion so it can no longer be accessed.

2. To restore a large site collection (see the Note), you can use the gradualdelete parameter with deletesite and mergecontentdbs to help the process. This is the article that got me looking everything else up.

Also, a note I saw while doing this review…MS is recommending you install the April 2009 update before continuing to use the mergecontentdbs command (see the Important note).

To be the most current on your deployment, you will want to install Service Pack 2 and then the April 2009 Update.

This post was all over the place. I hope it was still helpful. Well…it has been a long time since I have posted so hopefully this post will get me back onto the blog wagon.

Call for SharePoint Speakers: St. Louis MOSS Camp

On Saturday, April 18, 2009, there will be an all-day MOSS Camp taking place in St. Louis, MO focusing on all things SharePoint and we are looking for speakers. The current plan is to have four tracks covering the following topics: Development, Infrastructure, Governance/Business, or End User. The session can contain 100, 200, or 300 level information.

Submissions for speakers are being accepted immediately.

Registration being open for attendees will be announced soon. More information will be posted on the St. Louis SharePoint Users Group site as it becomes available and you can follow the St. Louis MOSS Camp twitter account for updates as well.

Do you need to apply the December SharePoint security patch?

Just a quick note to make sure everyone sees this item. As posted on the SharePoint blog, you do NOT need to apply the patch if you have already installed the SharePoint October Cumulative update. However, if you have not, go get that server patched with the December security patch!

64-bit PDF iFilters Update

In this post, I will do a brief review of the state of 64-bit PDF iFilters for the Microsoft platform (this effects SharePoint). There have been a couple things occur in the last few days that I just wanted to point out.

First, let me review the purpose of an ifilter briefly for those who may not be aware. For Microsoft search products, an ifilter allows the indexer to read different file formats. So a PDF ifilter allows a Microsoft search product to open Adobe PDF files so that can be indexed and searched. Also, if you are running the MS Search Product on 64-bit platform, you want to run a 64-bit ifilter for performance and supportability reasons.

Until this month, in my opinion, the only production ready option for a 64-bit ifilter was offered by FoxIt Software. There are two things that have happened that I wanted to point out for your review.

1. Finally, Adobe has released a 64-bit PDF ifilter. Their filter is free.
2. FoxIt Software has released an update to their 64-bit PDF ifilter this month. There is a charge for their ifilter if you are using on a server (free for desktop use).

So if you are using FoxIt already, time to update your filter next patch cycle. If you need an ifilter, you may ask, “Why on earth would I use the FoxIt Software solution I have to buy now that Adobe has a free version?” There have been tests done to show that previously, the FoxIt ifilters (even 32-bit) performed better than the Adobe solution. I know the FoxIt version is multi-threaded. I do not know the capabilities of the free Adobe version yet.

So for Production environments, I would ask you to still consider the FoxIt solution. But if you can’t afford it, there is an alternative now. As more testing is done with these filter solutions, hopefully we will have more information to make a decision.

If you need help installing the ifilters, here are some links that will help:

For SPS 2003: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555209
For WSS 3.0: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927675
For MOSS 2007: http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/adir_ron/archive/2007/05/03/Just-Released-_2D00_-PDF-IFilter-for-x64-Bit_2100_.aspx

How to add the PDF icon

And if you install SharePoint updates/patches, remember that you need to reinstall the FoxIt PDF ifilter.

Video of SharePoint Updates Presentation

The Windows Media video version of my KC Office Geeks SharePoint Updates presentation is available for download now. This presentation reviews what is in SharePoint updates, additional recommendations for other updates to apply, and the 25 step process for properly and successfully deploying the updates:

SharePoint Updates – Standard Quality (37MB)

SharePoint Updates – High Quality (424MB)

UPDATE: My post with the PowerPoint presentation so you can follow along

Presenting at St. Louis Day of .Net

I will be presenting on SharePoint Updates at the St. Louis Day of .Net on Saturday, December 13th. There is a great lineup of speakers for the one day conference.

SharePoint RTM (SP0) standard support ending

As of January 13, 2009, standard (mainstream) support for WSS 3.0 and SharePoint 2007 RTM (SP0) ends. This is part of the Microsoft Support Lifecycle for their products. Now, I won’t claim to be an expert in the MS Support model so I will just state my current understanding. If I find out more or different information, I will update this post.

You have two options if you wish to be able to continue to be to receive hotfixes (non-security) for problems you have:

1. Either install Service Pack 1 (my recommended solution). You have to do this option if you want to submit a design change or feature request.
2. Obtain an extended hotfix agreement, purchased within 90 days of mainstream support ending

Latest SharePoint Update Presentation

It was great to be able to present for the KC Office Geeks. Thanks for having me out!

My presentation has been posted so you can download a copy. You can get it from my company’s Community page. It is the November 2008 presentation. I video recorded this presentation and will have the video available for download soon. I will post again when it is available.

Also, if you listened to the MOSS Gone Wild podcasts where I was a guest, this presentation has all the Microsoft Knowledge Base articles that I referenced.

UPDATE: Video is available

Presenting in Kansas City on Thursday, November 6th

I will be in KC on Thursday, November 6th for the Kansas City Office Geeks meeting to present on SharePoint Updates. They are a user group based out of Kansas City for people who work with Office Products, such as SharePoint, Access, Excel, InfoPath, etc. There is presentation information available on the Community page of my company’s web site with links to the group’s site:

http://www.hrizns.com/Pages/Community.aspx

They meet at Centriq Training at 8700 State Line Road, Ste 200, Leawood, KS, 66206 and the meeting starts at 5:45 p.m. Hope to see you there!

Here is the synoposis:

SharePoint Updates: The Tour Starts Here

JD will discuss the important aspects you will need to know to successfully deploy updates in your Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or Office SharePoint Server 2007 environment. The presentation will provide an overview of the contents of SharePoint updates released (including the latest cumulative update and security patches), new “stsadm” commands enabled, and new functionality you can enable as needed. You will learn recommended additional actions you should take while upgrading as well as additional recommended updates to apply along the way. Finally, you will learn the step by step process for proper deployment as well as how to create a slipstream install to make future farm deployments and changes easier.

Look forward to get to talk with everyone! Thanks Becky for getting things arranged for me to present!

SHAREPOINT NATION!

SharePoint Podcast Guest

Justin Jackson and Todd Kitta are wonderful and allowed me to be a guest on their new Sharepoint podcast: MOSS Gone Wild.  In Episode 4, we sat down and talked about the steps you should be taking when you are applying SharePoint patches. In Episode 5 (to be published soon), we talked about the contents of the SharePoint updates since the RTM release.

Please feel free to post comments/questions either here or at their web site.