April 2007 - Posts

Teched Orlando

IM GOING TO TECHED 2007 IN ORLANDO!!!!

yep, im taking the plunge and flying half way across the world. So far, these are the sessions im doing:

  • ARC201 Ron Jacobs on the Architecture Landscape   S230 E   
  • SOA11-TLC The Role of Microsoft BizTalk in a Service-Oriented Infrastructure   Blue Theater 10   
  • ARC308 Best Practices for Designing Reusable SOA Services   S230 A   
  • ARC07-TLC Using Microsoft Tools to Enable Your Enterprise Architecture Efforts   Blue Theater 9   
  • SOA317 Building Connected Systems on the Microsoft .NET Framework Using the Windows Communication Foundation Adapter in BizTalk Server 2006 R2   N220 F   
  • UNC333 Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007: A Look at Its Architecture and Design   N230   
  • ARC09-TLC Capability Mapping: A Foundation for Service-Oriented Architecture   Blue Theater 9   
  • OFC343 Customizing the Microsoft Office Fluent User Interface with Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Office   N220 F   
  • OFC326 Search in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007: Customizing and Extending   N220 E   
  • Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007: It's for Developers Too   S310 A   
  • OFC345 Excel Services Architecture and Developer Scenarios   S220 E   
  • OFC332 Duet for Microsoft Office and SAP: Technical Overview and Product Roadmap   N220 F   
  • OFC338 Anatomy of an Office Business Application   N230   
  • OFC305 Building a High Performance .com Site on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007   S210 B   
  • ARC318 Composite Application Architectures: Using the 2007 Microsoft Office System   N310 A   
  • OFC402 Templates and Features: The Engine Under the SharePoint Hood - Build and Deploy Your Own!   S220 E   
  • OFC330 .NET Development on Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0: The WSS Object Model   S210 E   
  • OFC310 Integrating Line-of-Business Data into Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 with the Business Data Catalog   S210 B  
  • OFC436 Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for Office Architecture   S210 B   
  • OFC225 Designing and Building Sophisticated Composite Applications with Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007   N210 E   
  • OFC319 Integrating Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and SAP Using the Business Data Catalog, iView Web Parts, Web Services and WSRP   N230   
  • OFC308R Microsoft ASP.NET AJAX 1.0 and SharePoint (Repeated from 6/7)   N310 A  

 

Any other South Africans going?

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Sharepoint Weekly 3

Joel does a great job once again with "Sample Data for Capacity Planning". What is really interesting was the report Joel ran on Microsoft team sites across 1TB of data. 62% of these sites were 5MB or below. There were an everage of 47 users per site, half of which were Contributers. 50% of all templates were Team Sites, while only 7% were blank.

Joel also pointed out The SharePoint 2007 Test Data Population Tool (WSSDW.exe) which is a capacity planning and performance testing tool that populates data for testing SharePoint deployments.

 

 


Mauro Cardarelli chats about a nifty MOSS web service query tool. Im sure its been posted before, but get it here if you want it.

 

 


Write Your CAML Queries in C# using CAML.NET - John Holliday chats about a great tool posted on CodePlex where you can write your CAML queries in .Net :

Translates to:

Go get the tool here

 


Using a SharePoint List as an Authentication Provider: Part 1 and Using a SharePoint List as an Authentication Provider: Part 2- now this is something that i dont think i would use, but think its a really geeky cool idea.  Check out Willy Rust's blog post:

 

 


Randall posts about 10 Office Visual How-to Screencasts Now Published for MOSS!

Search

Business Data Catalog (BDC)

Excel Services

 


 


 

Cant remember who originally posted this, but there is a nice article on MSDN on doing Team based development in MOSS.

 

 


The Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies Team Blog announces "WSS 3.0 for Hosters Solution Kit now available on CodePlex"


Cross Posted from ArnoNel.com

EQO - IM with AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Jabber, GoogleTalk and Skype on your phone.

This looks like a really cool mobile service thats lets you chat on AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo, Google, Jabber, and Skype IM networks as well as make calls using Skype. There is support for over 400 mobile phones. There are also automatic configuration settings for Nokia, Motorola and Sony-Ericsson. The service is free... check it out

 

The "VoIP & Gadgets Blog" does a good review and has some screenshots.

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Getting money and approval for Architecture

How does an Architect get money and approval for Architecture from Business?

Lets say i have a classic ASP web application. For me, it makes sense to re-architect the system to .Net. We could scale it, increase security, re-use components and service enable it amongst so many other things. This is going to cost business money. Remember, that this is not a Business problem, but an IT problem. How do you sell this idea to business? Not by being an Architect, but by thinking like an executive.

  • You need to put the problem to business in a language they understand. What does an executive know about SOA or .Net?
  • The Case for Re-Architecture needs to be put in such a way, that it solves the business problem and not an IT problem because you are competing for business resources (money).

 

Check out the Scenario below, and the associated article from MSDN - "The Presidents Dilemma"

"A friend of mine is the president of a university of about 5,000 students and considers himself a technology novice. He told me that the "Web guys" had come to him with a request for $100,000 "to buy a new set of Web development tools, so that they can redo the school's Web architecture."

"Why?" I asked.

"They said it's hard to make changes, like increasing security, scaling applications, reusing content—that kind of thing," he said.

"What else did they say?" I wondered.

"Nothing. That was their entire case. I do not know what to do. They obviously know more about it than I do. They said we really need to 're-architect' the Web site, so it's hard to say no, but it just doesn't feel right."

To help him understand what he was facing, I posed a number of alternate scenarios for him. "What if the head of groundskeeping came to you for $100,000 to upgrade lawnmowers, so that it was easier for his workers to cut the grass?"

"Nope, that's easy. It's not worth the money. It doesn't do a thing for the school."

"What if a faculty committee wanted $100,000 to upgrade classrooms for multimedia and Internet access?"

"I'd think about that one. That might be good. Better student and faculty learning experience, maybe."

"What if the Dean of Students wanted to spend $100,000 on a recruiting effort that would attract 15 percent more students next year, and the incoming students would have higher test scores and better high-school grades than the current average?"

"That's a no-brainer. More and better students are a main goal in my 5-year plan that the Board just approved. She gets the check before she leaves my office."

I challenged him, "So, where does upgrading the Web architecture fit into those three alternatives?"

"It sounds like it's closer to lawnmowers than getting better students," he said.

Case dismissed." Cross Posted from ArnoNel.com

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Duet by SAP and Microsoft, powered by HP

Now this sounds interesting, apparently SAP, Microsoft and HP have been collaborating on creating an HP ProLiant Server appliance with pre-intalled Duet software on it.

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Strategic Architect Forum Presentations available

The presentations from the excellent Architects Forum are now available for download.

View the list here, or download direct below:

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IW Community Event - Deep dive into WCM with Sharepoint

The Information Worker Forum will have an event at Microsoft on Thursday 3 May, with Michael O' Donovan chatting about the Web Content Management features of Sharepoint.

"The Web Content Management (WCM) technology in the 2007 version of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server represents the first major release of Microsoft Content Management Server (MCMS) since 2002. At this forum we’ll look at the major improvements WCM offers over MCMS. We’ll discuss major design changes such as the Windows SharePoint Services-based architecture and the altered underlying storage model. You’ll learn about new WCM concepts such as content types, field controls, workflows, and recycle bins. And we’ll examine various deployment architectures for extranet and internet scenarios. "

For more details on the event and to Register, please see the front page of www.informationworker.co.za

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Sharepoint Weekly 2

Office Visual How To

Randal announced 3 new Visual How to topics for MOSS that went live this week:

 


Microsoft Office Programs and SharePoint Products and Technologies Integration – Fair, Good, Better, Best

"This white paper describes how different versions of Office programs work together with the 2003 and 2007 versions of SharePoint technologies. Although an overview of the integration features of Microsoft Office 2000 versus Microsoft Office XP with Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 is provided, the paper’s focus is on the integration features of the Office 2003 Editions versions the 2007 Office Suites with the 2007 SharePoint Products and Technologies.
The increasing levels of functional capabilities have been deemed “fair” for Office 2000, “good” for Office XP, “better” for the Office 2003 Editions, and “best” for the 2007 Office Suites in terms of how they work together with SharePoint.
A detailed comparison of how the Office 2003 Editions versus the 2007 Office Suites, namely, Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007 and Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007, work with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Office SharePoint Server 2007 will be provided.
The paper concludes that in order to realize the best user experience with Office and SharePoint integration features, the client programs must be upgraded to a 2007 Microsoft Office Suite, namely, Office Professional Plus 2007 or Office Enterprise 2007 and the server technologies must be upgraded to either Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or Office SharePoint Server 2007.
"

Get the whitepaper here

 


 Angus Logan announces 4 episodes of Sharepoint related dnrTV available:

 


Bill English warns us "Please do not install this patch: KB932091"

 


Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Sample: Example Master Pages

"Microsoft has made available four sample master page sets compatible with the Application Templates for Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 to showcase some of the customization options master pages provide."

Get them here

 


A Fresh Look at Compliance in SharePoint Server 2007
"Whether you’re building a secure intranet library with sensitive documents, a DMZ-based extranet deployment, or a high-scale Internet environment, you’ll be pleased to find Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 is a rock-solid platform with open authentication and membership providers and rich and flexible auditing and compliance capabilities."

Security Tip of the Month: Making SharePoint Resources Safe for Remote Workers

By Joe Licari, Director, Microsoft Security Product Management
Learn how to safely access SharePoint portals from anywhere at any time by combining the Microsoft Intelligent Application Gateway 2007 with Microsoft Forefront Security for SharePoint.

Shields Up! Getting Better Protection with Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server and Microsoft Forefront Security for SharePoint

Through tight integration with Exchange Server and SharePoint products and technologies, Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server and Microsoft Forefront Security for SharePoint offer a number of valuable benefits, including improved manageability, performance, and security. This paper describes these benefits at a high level.

Forefront Security for SharePoint Best Practices

This document details the recommended settings to use when configuring Microsoft Forefront Security for SharePoint (FSSP). Following these recommendations should result in the best possible configuration for your system, thus preventing harm to your infrastructure.

Deploying Windows Rights Management Services with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Step-By-Step Guide

This guide provides instructions for deploying Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 in a Microsoft Windows Rights Management Services (RMS) with Service Pack 2 environment. It includes the necessary information for installing and configuring RMS, installing and configuring Office SharePoint Server 2007 in the newly created RMS infrastructure, and verifying that Office SharePoint Server 2007 documents can be rights-protected and consumed.

Server Farm Security for Office SharePoint Server

Explore this technical library for guidance on secure topology design checklists, planning for secure communications with a server farm, and planning for security hardening for server roles within a server farm.

Environment-Specific Security for Office SharePoint Server

This article provides server design checklists, including topology and logical architecture, and information on security hardening for server roles and secure configurations for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 features. These features include four environments: an internal team or department, an internal IT-hosted environment, an external secure collaboration environment, and an external anonymous access environment.

Designing Security for Windows SharePoint Services

This chapter from the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 technical library provides a methodical approach to building security into your solution design for Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Practical, secure configurations for specific server roles are explained. The guidance for each server role includes recommended secure settings for the network, the operating system, and the applications that are installed, including Internet Information Services (IIS), Microsoft ASP.NET Framework, and Microsoft SQL Server.

Forefront Security for SharePoint 2007 User Guide

Forefront for SharePoint is designed to protect servers running Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2007 or Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 2007. Both versions run on either the 32-bit or 64-bit version of the SharePoint server and have identical functionality. Read this user guide for installation instructions and information on Forefront Security for SharePoint Services, administration options, scan options, reporting, and much more.

Microsoft Forefront Security for SharePoint MOM 2005 Management Pack

The Microsoft Forefront Security for SharePoint MOM 2005 Management Pack supplies critical events and alerts on virus and worm activity to MOM 2005.

Security Guidelines for Developing InfoPath Forms

InfoPath 2007 helps protect users against potential threats posed by maliciously authored form templates. This MSDN Library article offers best practices for developers of InfoPath forms such as how to sign the CAB files of ActiveX controls, how to sign form templates sent as an attachment to an e-mail message, and how to recognize potential security issues in the XML file associated with a form.


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the Strategic Architect

Ok, so im in Architect. There are so many kinds out there. I guess my role fits in with the Skyscrapr definition "Strategic Architect". According to them:

"The job of Enterprise Architects is to keep the business and its IT systems in alignment. They strive to maximize the return on IT investment by making sure that IT spending is prioritized towards business opportunity, and by optimizing the impact of investments across the organization’s portfolios of services, resources, projects, and processes. Enterprise Architects must be a bridge between business leaders, development, and operations to ensure that mutual understanding is achieved, goals are realistic, and expectations are properly managed. Enterprise Architecture is about the big picture — how people and technology work together to produce world-class long-term results."

So....i dont play with Visual Studio that much anymore. Im not that great at UML. Im still struggling with SOA concepts, and im busy looking into BPEL.
What i do is read Gartner. I sit with the business a lot doing analysis. I ask questions. I provide input into IT Strategy. I provide input into Tech roadmap's....into Standards......Practices...Im the guy that sits between business and IT..... I hope to make business productive...

In addition to my Sharepoint, and IW community commitments, im going to be posting a lot more on broader Architecture topics, but focused on Strategic Architecture.

My journey starts here...

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One Day Blog Silence

"
Silence can say more than a thousand words.

This day shall unite us all about this unbelievable painful & shocking event and show some respect and love to those who lost their loved ones.

On April 30th 2007, the Blogosphere will hold a One-Day Blog Silence in honor of the victims at Virginia Tech.  More then 30 died at the US college massacre.

But it´s not only about them. Many bloggers have responded and asked about all the other victims of our world. All the people who die every day. What about them?

This day can be a symbol of support to all the victims of our world!

All you have to do is spread the word about it and post the graphic on your blog on 30th April 2007. No words and no comments. Just respect, reflect and empathy.

"

More info here

Cross Posted from ArnoNel.com

Sharepoint Weekly Roundup

STSADM.exe for Windows - Ronalus has done a Windows GUI for our fave command line tool


Feature Events Manager

 


Using Microsoft Forefront Security for SharePoint to Defend Collaboration


Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Sample: Example Master Pages - From MS: "Master pages are a feature of ASP.NET 2.0 that work the same way in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 as they do in ASP.NET 2.0. Using master pages, you can create a single page template and then use that template as the basis for multiple pages in an application, instead of having to build each new page from scratch.
Microsoft has made available a package of sample master pages compatible with the Application Templates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 to showcase some of the customization options master pages provide. The master pages were built using new CSS and Master Page editing tools within Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007.
"


Free Utility Quickly and Easily Configures Forms Based Authentication for SharePoint


Sharepoint Tips And Tricks have released a new version of their Sharepoint Tips utility Pack: version 1.2 of the SharePoint Tips Utility Pack

 


App Pool Recycler for SharePoint devs - cool new utility from mr Harbar

 


Sharepoint Team blog releases: Debugger "Feature" for SharePoint


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Speed Reading

This is something ive always wanted to learn. Traditionally, we are taught to Sub-vocalize words when we read, meaning that in practive, most people max out at 200-300 words per minute. In theory, our brains can take in much more info than that, and our brains actually get bored reading that slowly so thats why some people get tired from reading. After going to courses, most people double their reading speed, and some courses claim average speeds of 2000-5000 words per minute after completion. The world record, according to this site, is held by a South African woman, and is claimed at 150 000 words per minute.

Ive done a lot of research but its difficult to find the true players from the scams. So, for your sake, ill be testing software, and hopefully trying out some courses too.

Today, id like to thank The Literacy Company for sponsoring me a copy of their Speed Reading software, called the Readers Edge. Im going to commit 15 minutes a day to this, and will let you know how it goes. From their site:

"

How Do We Teach You To Become a Better Reader?

Our software, The Reader’s Edge®, teaches you how to unlearn the habits of slow readers and learn the habits and skills of effective and efficient speed readers. With The Reader’s Edge, the result of extensive R&D, you are guaranteed to learn how to read better and faster with improved comprehension and retention.

3-Step Teaching Approach Ensures Success

  1. By taking reading speed & comprehension tests we are able to obtain your true ‘reading speed’.
  2. Configuring the program to your reading abilities ensures you are practicing at a reading speed within your current abilities.
  3. Practice with the Eight Exercises in The Reader’s Edge and become an effective speed reader!

What Kind of Results Can I Expect?

Here at The Literacy Company we teach Effective Speed Reading... an enhanced method of speed reading. We don't advertise unrealistic and unattainable results, we guarantee to teach you a reading method that will last a lifetime. Don't be fooled by methods that promise to teach you how to read thousands of words per minute, it's not realistic.

Practice with The Reader's Edge for only 15 minutes every other day and we guarantee to AT LEAST double your current reading speed, while improving your comprehension and recall. Imagine the free time you will have if you, at a minimum, double your reading speed.

Next Steps

Program Exercises & Screenshots

Try our Online Demo

Buy The Reader's Edge

Contact Us for More Information

"

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