Microsoft PlayGround

About a year ago I wrote a article on deactivating the custom errors off SharePoint 2007. That had to be done in the following manner:

Step 1: Change

<SafeMode MaxControls="200" CallStack="false" >

to

<SafeMode MaxControls="200" CallStack="true" >

Step 2:

<customErrors mode="Off"/>

If you do this on a SharePoint 2010 installation you will still get the following error:

Server Error in ‘/’ Application.

Description: An application error occurred on the server. The current custom error settings for this application prevent the details of the application error from being viewed.
Details: To enable the details of this specific error message to be viewable on the local server machine, please create a tag within a “web.config” configuration file located in the root directory of the current web application. This tag should then have its “mode” attribute set to “RemoteOnly”. To enable the details to be viewable on remote machines, please set “mode” to “Off”.

This errors states that you did not make the change. This is because there is another web.config file that is being loaded. This file can be found in the following location:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\web.config

If you change this file you will be able to see the .net errors.

If you would like to see custom errors on Central Administration you will also have to change the web.config file in the admin folder off the 14 hive:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\TEMPLATE\ADMIN\web.config

Happy Coding.

For the Dutch TechNet magazine I have written an article about the security within SharePoint. This is my first TechNet article and I think it has turned out great. The link to the article in included below. 

Veiligheid in en om SharePoint – TechNet Magazine, juli 2010

Also read the article of a colleague of mine which wrote an article on SharePoint and Communities that was in the same magazine.

SharePoint, de virtuele koffiecorner – TechNet Magazine, juli 2010

Update: Since a few weeks I’m using Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V installed. This option works far better then VirtualBox. Besides this I also installed a Solid State Disk (This really increases the performance). To use Windows Server 2008 R2 as a desktop read the following article: Using Windows Server as a Desktop Operating System

April 22 Microsoft released the RTM version of SharePoint Server 2010. For this occasion I have set up a new environment, and will share the setup with you guys.

When you want to install a SharePoint Server 2010 environment you will have to check if you meet up with the software and hardware requirements from Microsoft. These requirements can be found here.

Since my installation will be a development environment everything will be installed on a single virtual machine. For the creation of the virtual machine I have used the latest version off VirtualBox. I gave the virtual machine a fixed-sized storage off 40 GB.

On the first run of the virtual machine I entered the setup disc of Windows Server 2008 R2 x64. When the installation was complete I edited the roles off the server and gave the server the following roles:

• Domain server
• Application server
• Web server

When I was finished with the configuration off the roles. I looked at TechNet to find some information about the users you will have to configure for the SharePoint 2010 installation and I found some great articles for setting up the user rights and the accounts you need for the installation:

• Administrative and service accounts required for initial deployment (SharePoint Server 2010)
• Deployment scenarios (SharePoint Server 2010)

After I read the information I started the installation off SQL Server 2008 and SQL Server 2008 SP1. The information stated that you have to have a SQL Server running SP1 Cumulative Update 2. So I downloaded the SP1 Cumulative Update 2 from the Microsoft site. But you can also install SQL Server 2008 R2 (RTM will appear on MSDN on 3 May by the way :)):

• Cumulative update package 2 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1

Since the pop3 service isn’t in Windows Server 2008 I also installed a application that can be used for the mail.

• MailEnabled Standard Edition

When you follow the guides from TechNet you will setup the rights in the right way and you can start with the installation of SharePoint.

When you insert the SharePoint Server 2010 installation disc / iso it will startup with a splash screen:

As you can see you will have several options on this splash screen. You can choice to review the hardware and software requirements and  the installation guide if you haven’t read my links to TechNet yet.

To begin the installation we will have to install the software prerequisites.To to install them click on ‘Install software prerequisites’.

The Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products Preparation will install all of the software prerequisites. If you click on next the tool will start downloading all of the prerequisites you don’t have on the server. After downloading those it will automatically start the installation of the prerequisites.

When the installation off the prerequisites is complete you will have to check the screen if all installations were successful. If there was an installation unsuccessful don’t continue with the installation because it can break the complete SharePoint installation and you will have to start over. Try to fix it by reading the log files.

When the installation off the software prerequisites is completed you can start with the installation of the SharePoint 2010 binaries. To start the installation you will have to click on ‘Install SharePoint Server’ on the splash screen. The first thing you will have to do is insert the product key.

After you have entered your key you will have to accept the License Terms:

When you have accepted the license terms and have clicked continue you will have the option to change the file location. If you want you can set the file location to another folder but for my environment I have kept the default settings.

After you click on ‘Install Now’ the installation will start running.

After a while the installation is complete and you will have the ability to finish the installation. On last screen you will also have a checkbox to Run the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard. You can also uncheck this checkbox and run it from the start menu: Start – All Programs – Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products – SharePoint 2010 Products Configuration Wizard. For now we will keep the checkbox checked and click on ‘Close’.

The SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard will start up with the following screen.

When you click next the Configuration Wizard will give you a warning that it may have to reset several services. Since this is our first installation we can ignore this message and click on ‘Yes’.

When we have clicked ‘Yes’ the configuration wizard will ask us if we would like to connect to a existing server farm. Since we don’t have a server farm we will click on ‘Create a new server farm’ and click on ‘Next’.

On the next screen you can specify the configuration database settings. Here you will have to fill in the Database server and the name of the Configuration Database. Besides that you will also have to provide the account that are needed to access the database be aware that this account will also be used as the application pool account for Central Administration.

  When you have filled in all the settings and you have clicked on ‘Next’ you will see that the SharePoint 2010 Configuration Wizard has a screen that the SharePoint 2007 Configuration has not. On this screen you will have to provide a password for the farm that you will have to use when you want to connect a new server to the farm.

On the next you will have to setup the Central Administration Web Application by providing a port number you want to run the Central Administration Web Application under and you will also have to provide which authentication provider you would like to use. If you choice to use Kerberos you will also have to create Service Principal Names (SPN). In this article you can read how this can be done.

When you click on ‘Next’ you will see a summary of all the properties you have filled in. Check these settings and click on ‘Next’ to run the configuration wizard.

When the configuration wizard is complete you have a new SharePoint development environment were in you can create new web applications.

In the future I will also write several guides to create several service applications. For now Happy SharePointing.

A few day’s ago (April 15) Microsoft released a great set of documentation about SharePoint 2010. The following documentation can be downloaded:

• SharePoint Server 2010 performance and capacity test results and recommendations : A white paper set that describe the performance and capacity impact of specific feature sets included in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010.
• SharePoint Server 2010 capacity management: software boundaries and limits : A white paper that provides information to help you understand the tested performance and capacity limits of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010.
• Extranet Topologies for SharePoint 2010 Products : Illustrates the specific extranet topologies that have been tested with SharePoint 2010 Products.
• Topologies for SharePoint Server 2010 : Describes common ways to build and scale farm topologies, including planning which servers to start services on.
• Databases That Support SharePoint 2010 Products : Describes the Microsoft SQL Server databases on which SharePoint 2010 Products run.

16 April Microsoft reached an exciting engineering milestone: the release-to-manufacturing (RTM) for Office 2010, SharePoint 2010, Visio 2010 and Project 2010!

The Volume License customers with active Software Assurance (SA) on these products will be one of the first to receive the 2010 set of products. They will be able to download the product in English, French, Spanish, German, Russian, and Dutch via the Volume Licensing Service Center starting April 27.

It is said that MSDN and Technet subscribers can download the version on April 22.

Can’t wait to get my hands on the release.