Bill Baer /bɛːr/

Microsoft Ignite will open the window to our vision, strategy, and future for SharePoint and provide a first look at most recent developments with SharePoint Server 2016. From the business value for organizations looking to modernize their workplace and infrastructure to the technical value it will deliver to IT Professionals and Developers as well as new hybrid investments for those customers looking to enrich their existing investments with cloud innovation. With Microsoft Ignite just around the corner, it’s time to look back and provide a little historical SharePoint information.

So you downloaded the ULS Viewer and fired up on your SharePoint 2010 environment only to see something like this? -— System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for ‘UlsGump.AboutForm’ threw an exception. —> System.TypeLoadException: Could not load type ‘System.Reflection.CustomAttributeExtensions’ from assembly ‘mscorlib, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089’. at UlsGump.AboutForm..cctor() — End of inner exception stack trace — at UlsGump.MainForm.MainForm_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnLoad(EventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl(Boolean fIgnoreVisible) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl() at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmShowWindow(Message& m) at System.

I’m excited to announce we’ve published a new and improved version of the ULS Viewer. About the Unified Logging Service The Unified Logging Service (ULS) is the primary logging mechanism in SharePoint to make it easier to develop applications, expose in-depth information for debugging, and vehicle to isolate problems or threshold issues when they are encountered. ULS writes events to the Trace Log and stores them in the file system.

A new updated version of the Windows PowerShell Command Builder is now available. The Windows PowerShell Command Builder for Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Microsoft SharePoint 2013, SharePoint Online, and Microsoft Office 365 is an HTML 5 application that is designed to help IT professionals and power users learn how to use Windows PowerShell for administrative tasks. The Windows PowerShell Command Builder enables IT professionals and power users to visually assemble commands related to SharePoint 2010, SharePoint 2013, SharePoint Online, and Office 365 in the browser and take those commands to their respective products.

The User Profile Service Application stores information about users in a centralized location used by SharePoint’s social computing features to support natural collaboration. The User Profile Service Application is also required when provisioning My Site personal sites, enabling certain social computing features such as newsfeeds, and the creation and distribution of user profiles across server farms or sites. To learn more about the User Profile Service Application see also http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee662538.aspx.

If you attended my SharePoint Conference Session on SharePoint 2010 on SQL Server Denali you’re probably ready to get started with some of the features and capabilities we discussed and demonstrated today, particularly AlwaysOn Availability Groups which provide a robust, ready to use solution supporting both local redundancy and remote disaster recovery. NOTE SharePoint 2010 is not currently supported on SQL Server Code Name “Denali”. There are several prerequisites to using AlwaysOn which are documented further at http://msdn.

I’ve recently noticed a number of posts on social.msdn.com related to configuring SharePoint 2010 with Windows Firewall with Advanced Security. The following post provides the basic steps necessary to get started with provisioning a SharePoint 2010 server farm in environments where the Windows Firewall is enabled. To access an instance of the SQL Server through a firewall, you must configure the firewall on the computer that is running SQL Server to allow access.

Do I need to uninstall the Site Recycle Bin from CodePlex if I plan to use the Site Recycle Bin in Service Pack 1? It depends on what you’re looking for. The Site Recycle Bin available through CodePlex will capture deleted Site Collections and Sites to disk, Site Recycle Bin in Service Pack 1 copies the Site Collections and Sites to an auxiliary SQL table until they are permanently deleted at which point are managed by Gradual Site Deletion.

Service Pack 1 introduces a new method of moving Site Collections between Content Databases where RBS is used known as ‘shallow copy’. Overview What is ‘shallow copy’? ‘Shallow copy’ refers to moving structured content without moving the underlying unstructured content. With SharePoint 2010 Products ‘shallow copy’ moves the structured Site Collection data across Content Databases without moving the unstructured data which is comprised of user created content such as PowerPoint Presentations, Word Documents, etc.

Today we are announcing some important and exciting changes to our software boundaries and limits for SharePoint 2010 Products, in summary SharePoint 2010 Products will now support content databases up to 4TB. However, prior to considering multi-terabyte databases you should thoroughly review the following whitepapers: Managing multi-terabyte databases with SharePoint 2010 (http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=26700)) Abstract Managing large content databases with SharePoint 2010 requires careful planning and consideration to include capacity management, performance, and data protection.

Considering virtualizing SharePoint 2010? We’ve created a one-stop shop for guidance and more at http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/en-us/product/Related-Technologies/Pages/virtualize-sharepoint.aspx.

Updated June 29, 2011 SharePoint Server 2010 Cumulative Updates and Service Packs File Version Description Downloads and Documentation 14.0.5114.5003 June 2010 Cumulative Update KB983497 KB2124512 KB2182938 KB2204024 KB2281364 14.0.5123.5000 August 2010 Cumulative Update KB2352342 KB2352355 14.0.5128.5000 October 2010 Cumulative Update KB2394320 14.0.5130.5002 December 2010 Cumulative Update KB2459257 14.0.5136.5002 February 2011 Cumulative Update KB2475878 14.0.5138.5001 April 2011 Cumulative Update KB2512800 14.0.6029.1000 Service Pack 1 KB2460045 14.0.6106.5000 June 2011 Cumulative Update KB2356599

Site Recycle Bin Service Pack 1 introduces long awaited Site Recycle Bin functionality that enables self-service recovery of site collections and sites. In the past IT Professionals were tasked with restoring entire databases to recover deleted site collections and sites and would generally require expensive restore environments to support the task. Now in Service Pack 1 administrators can quickly and easily recover site collections and sites accidentally deleted by their owners in a process similar to that of the Recycle Bin we have for Lists, Libraries, and Documents.

In SharePoint 2010 we removed StorMan.aspx (Storage Space Allocation) (see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/982587/EN-US) which in previous versions of SharePoint enabled granular management and insight into storage. For example, the page would show you the top 100 documents or document libraries in terms of size. With that information end users could the page to clean up content from their site(s) by deleting the large content that they no longer needed. In Service Pack 1 we are bringing back an improved StorMan.

Service Pack 1 for SharePoint 2010 Products is now available for download. SharePoint Server 2010 Service Pack 1 for Server Language Pack 2010 SharePoint Foundation 2010 Service Pack 1 for SharePoint Foundation 2010 Language Pack To learn more about what’s new in Service Pack read the Service Pack 1 for SharePoint Foundation 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010 whitepaper at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=221773.

Search has become the primary means in the Enterprise for surfacing and locating information, as a result, it has become a mission critical component of SharePoint deployments. The rise in adoption of SharePoint 2010 in organizations has led to more customers seeking to leverage the benefits of the new search architectures, whether Enterprise Search in SharePoint 2010 or FAST Search Server 2010, as part of their topologies. In either scenario…read more on the SharePoint Team Blog.

One of the most challenging aspects of maintaining a SharePoint deployment is understanding why certain events have transpired in the environment, often IT Professionals and Developers only have access to when an event occurred and are tasked with parsing Performance Counters, Event and Diagnostic logs, or executing Transact-SQL statements against the Usage database to put the what and why to the when. These tasks are typically accomplished through an array of tools such as Excel, Log Parser, SQL Server Management Studio…read more on the SharePoint Team Blog.

FILESTREAM is a new feature in SQL Server 2008 that enables the storage of unstructured data on a NTFS file system. FILESTREAM (local or remote) is supported in SharePoint 2010 as one mechanism of reducing capital expenditures through enabling the storage of large binary unstructured data on content addressable or commodity storage. Unstructured Data Unstructured data refers to information…read more on the SharePoint Team Blog.

FILESTREAM is a new feature in SQL Server 2008 that enables the storage of unstructured data on a NTFS file system. FILESTREAM (local or remote) is supported in SharePoint 2010 as one mechanism of reducing capital expenditures through enabling the storage of large binary unstructured data on content addressable or commodity storage. Unstructured Data Unstructured data refers to information that does not adhere to a defined model or does not fit well into relational tables in SharePoint unstructured data can refer to Microsoft Office document file formats, video, audio, and related file types.

As more organizations seek to reduce operating and capital expenditures, solve the challenges of datacenter density, and provide elasticity to their SharePoint deployments – virtualization becomes the focal point of discussion. SharePoint 2010 provides more flexibility in support of virtualization and similar to other server technologies requires proper planning to ensure those goals are met. SharePoint 2010 Virtualization Support and Licensing [All elements of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 are fully supported when deployed in a Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V technology environment.

The traditional and most accurate definition of multi-tenancy remains as a single instance of software that services multiple organizations or clients virtually partitioning its data and configuration allowing those clients to work within a customized application instance. SharePoint Server 2010 delivers new features and capabilities that contribute to supporting true multitenant architectures that are useful not only to hosting providers, but the Enterprise equally. Multi-tenancy, when carefully planned and applied within the Enterprise, is one of many solutions that contribute to reduced cost, complexity, and overall management.

Content Getting Started Planning Upgrade Security Governance Deployment Social Business Intelligence Web Content Management Search Other Technologies Composites Performance and Capacity Planning Additional Resources Getting Started Getting Started with Enterprise Search in SharePoint 2010 Products http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff631149.aspx Planning Evaluation Guide for SharePoint Server 2010 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262881.aspx SharePoint Server 2010 Usage Best Practices http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=5c562f71-3aa9-46fd-abac-7d381813f2b8 Sharepoint Server 2010 Adoption Best Practices http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=94ee6518-75f7-47be-b4c1-0d6ec1248486 SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise Search Evaluation Guide http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff631150.aspx Best Practices for using Fine-Grained Permissions

Learning on the go… New TechNet Radio series (SharePoint 2010 for the IT Professional). We’re pleased to announce a new mobile learning experience, SharePoint 2010 for the IT Professional) on TechNet Radio. Each week we’ll be bringing you a new session that dives into a variety of topics, from deployment to management, interviewing industry professionals, MVP’s and MCM’s. To kick it off we’ll spend 20 minutes interviewing SharePoint MCM and Ranger Bryan Porter about business continuity management in SharePoint.

Make the most of the Developer Dashboard Monitoring Latency and SQL Server Round Trips Among the information provided through the Developer Dashboard is information about page latency and database queries surfaced under Execution Timeout in the user interface in the Web Server section. Using the information provided in this field you can determine whether or not a recently introduced feature or particular page is exceeding acceptable performance thresholds in your environment.

BranchCache If you manage a centralized, regional, or distributed infrastructure with a distributed or clustered user base, a combination of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 may be the best pairing to mitigate the impact of bandwidth and latency penalties that are commonly incurred under such distributions. Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 introduce a new feature (BranchCache) that can reduce wide area network (WAN) utilization and enhance Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies responsiveness when users access content in a central office from branch office locations.

August cumulative updates for SharePoint 2010 have been released. Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2352346 Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2352342 Project Server 2010 http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;2352345 Be the first to know when new updates are released http://services.social.microsoft.com/feeds/feed/OfficeAndRelatedProductsUpdates.

Governance relates to decisions that define expectations, manage access, and validate performance and investment performance defined by established processes and procedures. The information here contains references to governance resources as related to SharePoint 2010, for additional information see also Governance Overview (SharePoint Server 2010). Resources Resource Center (Governance in SharePoint Server 2010) The Governance Resource Center provides documentation, references, and solutions to help IT Professionals plan and prepare to govern SharePoint 2010 environments.

The Office Web Applications cache is used by Word and PowerPoint Web Applications to create a version of a document requested for viewing through the browser improving performance and reducing resource consumption on server machines by making cached versions of a document or presentation available in cases where there are multiple requests for the same document. An important step in information architecture planning should include aligning the appropriate resources for the Office Web Applications cache through understand the frequency of browser requests and dynamics of the data requested.

If you are new to SharePoint 2010 or are upgrading from 2007, there are a variety of courses and formats to help you gain the skills and knowledge you need to ensure a successful deployment, upgrade, or migration. Exams Exam 70-667 TS: Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Configuring This exam is intended to validate the configuration skills needed to administer a SharePoint 2010 installation. Exam 70-668 TS: Microsoft SharePoint 2010, Administrator This exam validates the skills needed to administer SharePoint 2010.

How much is too much? We’ve recently published new content on TechNet that details the Url path length restrictions for SharePoint Server 2010 - this article discusses the specific URL path length and character restrictions in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, Internet Explorer 7, and Internet Explorer 8. Read more…

A recently published whitepaper is now available on TechNet that describes the benefits of deploying Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition and scenarios in which its features can be applied. Excerpt Microsoft® SharePoint® Server 2010 is the business collaboration platform for the enterprise and the Internet. SharePoint Server 2010 has become a business-critical application and an integral part of business processes. To help IT infrastructures to remain flexible and scalable to help support, manage, and secure expanded functionality, an influx of additional users and locations, and increasingly robust applications such as SharePoint Server 2010, we recommend that you choose the Windows Server® 2008 R2 Enterprise operating system during initial deployment.

Overlooked often in SharePoint 2010 is the new Gradual Site Delete capability which was designed to mitigate unplanned site collection outages that occurred as the result of lock escalation in Windows SharePoint Server 3.0 and Office SharePoint Server 2007 when a large site collection was requested for deletion. Before we describe Gradual Site Delete, we should understand the problem space from previous versions of the product. In Windows SharePoint Services 3.

SharePoint Foundation 2010 - KB2028568 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2028568 Search Server 2010 – KB983319 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/983319 SharePoint Server 2010 – KB983497 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/983497 SharePoint Server 2010 – KB2182938 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2182938 (Chinese, Korean, Japanese Localized) SharePoint Server 2010 – KB2281364 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2281364 SharePoint Server 2010 – KB2124512 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2124512

We’ve recently released the first administration toolkit for SharePoint Foundation and SharePoint Server 2010. The toolkit includes a new User Profile Replication Engine, a new Security Configuration Manifest, a new Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) Connector, and the Load Testing Kit (LTK). User Profile Replication Engine The User Profile Replication Engine was first introduced as a standalone application in later adminisration toolkits for Office SharePoint Server 2007 to replicate profiles between Shared Services Providers (SSP).

We’ve recently published a new whitepaper that describes the core concepts of identity in SharePoint 2010 and Kerberos’ role in authentication and delegation. The whitepaper is divided into nine (9) core scenarios: Scenario 1: Core Configuration Scenario 2: Kerberos Authentication for SQL OLTP Scenario 3: Identity Delegation for SQL Analysis Services Scenario 4: Identity Delegation for SQL Reporting Services Scenario 5: Identity Delegation for Excel Services Scenario 6: Identity Delegation for Power Pivot for SharePoint

Today we released a new whitepaper that provides prescriptive guidance about profile synchronization and My Site planning and administrative tasks for SharePoint Server 2010 that combines real world scenarios and step by step instructions with accompanying screenshots to help IT Professionals and Developers successfully understand, deploy, provision, and manage the services, components, and features that support and enable user profiles, synchronization, My Site Web sites, and more. Excerpt When designing a solution for business collaboration and social computing, it is important to think about a ‘social identity’ that represents each user in the organization.

I just wrapped up a great webcast this morning with Avanade and NetApp discussing the virtualization of SharePoint and was excited to see the audience today is largely planning a virtualization layer for SharePoint 2010, many to support server consolidation in legacy datacenters with limited resources understanding that SharePoint’s adoption and improvements in vertical and horizontal scale will result in larger more scenario concentrated deployments, others looking to reduce OpEx and CapEx, and still others looking at virtualization to afford the ability to support resource throttling - providing resources in times of high demand and scaling resources back in times of low demand making the most efficient use of their hosts.

If you’ve recently installed KB938444 and have run into post-installation issues, we’ve posted new guidance and potential solutions here http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sharepoint/archive/2010/06/22/installing-kb938444.aspx.

We just posted a new Virtual Migration Environment for SharePoint Portal Server 2003 or Project Server 2003 customers looking to migrate/upgrade to Office SharePoint Server 2007 or Project Server 2007. Overview The Virtual Migration Environment is a set of two virtual disks that provide Office Project Server 2007 and Office SharePoint Server 2007 environments, sample content, and scripts design to assist customers with upgrade and migration from Office Project Server 2003 and Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 to Project Server 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010.

A recently published whitepaper is now available on TechNet that describes the benefits of deploying Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 on Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition and scenarios in which its features can be applied. Excerpt The adoption of Microsoft® SharePoint® Server 2010 can grow exponentially across an organization quickly gaining momentum and taking root as a critical part of an organization’s ecosystem. To help protect data, ensure availability, and keep costs down, we recommend that customers choose Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition during initial deployment.

The SharePoint Server 2010 Information Worker Demonstration and Evaluation Virtual Machine (RTM) has been released. Download the virtual machine set at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=751fa0d1-356c-4002-9c60-d539896c66ce&displaylang=en.

New multi-tenancy features are an exciting concept in SharePoint 2010, particularly when considering the implications on hosting SharePoint for a variety of tenants, each requiring some method of partitioning, administration, and a method of reporting and control whether within the boundaries of an Enterprise or as a hosting provider. In this post we’ll look at one of the layers of multi-tenancy in SharePoint 2010. Site Subscriptions SharePoint 2010 provides support for a concept known as site subscriptions.

Database mirroring provides an additional layer of resiliency, specifically, in highly available architectures, by providing a level of granularity not available to failover clustering. For additional information on database mirroring see also http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189852.aspx (SQL Server 2008) or http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189852(SQL.90).aspx (SQL Server 2005). In Office SharePoint Server 2007 database mirroring was a complex to implement, primarily due to the fact that our connection strings were both in managed code and the unmanaged SQL layer which required an administrator deploying database mirroring to leverage SQL Server Client Connection Aliases across front-end Web and application servers - beyond that - database mirroring in Office SharePoint Server 2007 also required databases as principal to maintain node majority, meaning all databases as principal had to reside on the same instance and subsequently failover had to occur moving all databases as a single unit.

SharePoint 2010 provides the administrator a number of improvements to facilitate rapid problem identification and resolution. Among these is the implementation of Correlation Ids. Correlation Ids are GUIDs assigned to events which transpire during the lifecycle of a resource request. As problems occur, the Correlation Id is commonly surfaced within the context of an error when presented to the person initiating the request or through the Developer Dashboard. User Interface (error.

Keeping the trend going this week we’ll look at Active Directory Markers in SharePoint Server 2010. Governance is one of the key planning processes that should occur when considering the deployment of any technology, and SharePoint Server 2010 provides a number of tools and resources to facilitate the product and technology aspects of governance, one of which is the concept of Active Directory Markers to manage and control the uncontrolled proliferation of SharePoint in the Enterprise.

Last week I covered Managed Accounts in SharePoint Server 2010, this week we’ll cover HTTP Request Monitoring and Throttling - I’ve been following a lot of conversions surrounding Resource Throttling in SharePoint Server 2010, of which most have focused on the core scenario involving managing large lists; however, there have been a few discussions on HTTP Request Monitoring and Throttling and how that ties in an organizations security architecture or how it can be used to augment it, particularly how it relates to Distributed-Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.

Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 provides a number of compelling improvements designed especially for the system administrator, of these, commonly overlooked, are Managed Accounts. A Managed Account is effectively an Active Directory user account whose credentials are managed by and contained within SharePoint. In addition to storing the credentials of the object, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 can also leverage Active Directory Domain Policies to automatically reset passwords while meeting the requirements established by policy.

Looking for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 IT Professional curriculum? Microsoft Learning has recently released a new First Look Clinic and Hands on Lab that provides training explaining both new and improved features in addition to deployment, management, and overall administration guidance for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. In addition to deployment and operations you will also learn how to integrate Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 with line of business applications using BCS and troubleshoot common platform issues.

Ham and Cheese Bacon and Eggs Peanut Butter and Jelly Some things are just better together… Two weeks ago the United States Olympic Committee unveiled its virtual pressroom (USOC PressBox) designed to provide an online media outlet for journalists covering the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver as well as providing the best technology and experience to the National Governing Bodies and media covering the United States Olympic & Paralympic Teams, built entirely on SharePoint 2010 and Silverlight, the virtual pressroom provides a wealth of information including real-time Twitter streams.

We’ve published a new post on the SharePoint Team Blog that details the process, procedures, and options for upgrading from Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 and SharePoint Portal Server 2003 to Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 or Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 - read more here…

Question: Will the Microsoft IT Site Delete Capture available at www.codeplex.com/governance work with SharePoint 2010? Answer: Yes. Question: In Microsoft SharePoint Foundation and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 there is a Timer Job Definition called Gradual Site Delete, will the Microsoft IT Site Delete Capture work when this Timer Job Definition is enabled and what is this Timer Job Definition? Answer: Yes, the Microsoft IT Site Delete Capture will work with the Gradual Site Delete Timer Job Definition.

Upgrading is common function with Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies, whether it be product specific such as Service Packs and Cumulative Updates or platform specific such as new versions of products or the core operating system. Prior to upgrading to any version of a product or patching and updating that product you should understand both the process and options and available to you. This post provides recommended upgrade resources related to Microsoft SharePoint Foundation and Server 2010 and the technologies on which depends separated by both Documentation and Tools resources because I hate looking for this stuff myself.

One of the questions I’ve received on a few occasions to date is how to run the Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products Preparation Tool on a machine that does not have a connection to the Internet. There are two possible methods to working around this scenario: Manually download on another machine and then install the prerequisite software and configure the Server Roles, Role Services, and Features accordingly. See the following posts that describe the prerequisite software and accompanying download locations in addition to configuring the required Server Roles, Role Services, and Features for Microsoft SharePoint Foundation and Server 2010.

I’ve had a couple of questions on configuring the Web and Application server roles on Windows Server 2008 to support Microsoft SharePoint Server and Foundation 2010. This post will describe the minimal prerequisite configuration to support Microsoft SharePoint Server and Foundation 2010 on Windows Server 2008. NOTE PrerequisiteInstaller.exe can be used to programmatically configure Web and application servers and install the required prerequisite software. See also http://blogs.technet.com/wbaer/archive/2009/11/18/installation-notes-for-microsoft-sharepoint-server-and-microsoft-sharepoint-foundation-2010-beta.aspx. Required Roles Application Server Web Server Role Services

Contents Provisioning the Search Service Application Moving Query Components Creating Mirror Query Components Creating Query Components Creating Crawl Components Creating Crawl Databases Creating Property Databases Provisioning the Search Service Application Open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration. Select Managed service applications under Application Management. Select New | Search Service Application on the ribbon user interface. On the Create Search Service Application dialog specify the name for the new Search Service Application or accept the default name, usually Search Service Application 1.

Prerequisites Usage and Health Data Collection and the Session State Service Application have been provisioned on the farm. Provisioning the Web Analytics Service Application Open SharePoint 2010 Central Administration. Select Manage service applications under Application Management. Select New | Web Analytics Service Application on the ribbon user interface. On the Create Web Analytics Service Application dialog specify the name for the new Web Analytics Service Application or accept the default name, usually Web Analytics Service Application 1.

About the Developer Dashboard The Developer Dashboard is an instrumentation framework new to Microsoft SharePoint Foundation and Server 2010 that can help diagnose particularly, classes of bugs that are easy to introduce through custom code, but often difficult to isolate by providing information about the request execution time, the number and callstack of each SPRequest allocation, the number, callstack, and query text of WCF calls and more. The Developer Dashboard appears in a frame on the bottom of each page and can exist in one of three (3) possible modes – On, Off, OnDemand.

If you will be installing the SharePoint Server Public Beta on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 or Microsoft Windows 7 you will need to download and install an update from http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?DownloadID=23806 to resolve an issue that occurs in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 when provisioning Service Applications or when accessing pages that make service calls. These operations will result in an error “System.Configuration.ConfigurationErrorsException: Unrecognized attribute ‘allowInsecureTransport’. Note that attribute names are case-sensitive.

I’ve been receiving this question frequently this week so I’m sure others are asking as well: Question Can I upgrade prerelease versions of Microsoft SharePoint Server or Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 to the release version when it becomes available? Answer No, the prerelease (beta) versions of Microsoft SharePoint Server and Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 are for evaluation purposes only and upgrade to the release version of these products when they become available is not supported.

The SharePoint Products TechCenter on TechNet has been updated to include documentation and resources specific to Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. The SharePoint Products TechCenter beta resources include categorized documentation and guidance on planning, deploying, and operating Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 and product evaluation guides in addition both to resource centers and technical references specifically designed to provide both general product and feature overviews, guidance on managing privacy, permissions, read-only sites and more.