How to Move or Connect to an existing Nintex database

There are times when we might have to move/connect to the Nintex database

1. when there is  a hardware update or server upgrade - we have to move the Nintex database

2. when we need to reuse a Nintex database - we reconnect to an existing Nintex database

Moving the Nintex Workflow Database

1. Login to the SQL Management studio where the current Nintex dayabase is present.And performa back up of the Nintex database (Right click on your Nintex database ->Tasks->Back Up).Click OK on the next screen.

This saves a backup of the NW2007DB to the default directory of "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Backup\" under the filename NW2007DB.bak.

2. On the server where I am copying the Nintex Workflow database to,I copied the backup file

 NW2007DB.bak file to the directory "C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Backup\"

 3.From the SQL , right click on Databases and Restore Database

On From device and then specify File -> Add .Browse for the backed up file NW2007DB.bak.

Click OK.Make sure that the To Database name is NW2007DB

The database is now moved to the new server and is ready to be connected to by Nintex Workflow.

Reconnecting to the existing Nintex Workflow database

Step 1 - Connect the new configuration database

1. In Central Administration,under Application Management ->Nintex Workflow Management ->Database Setup

2. Below Configuration Database,click Edit.

3. Enter the new details and choose Connect to existing database.Click OK.

Step 2 - Update the references to the content databases

1. From the database management screen, you will see that the content databases still point to the old server.

2. On the server where you installed the Nintex Workflow 2007 msi, open a command prompt window.

3. Change Directory to the directory in which you installed Nintex Workflow.

By default:
On a 32bit environment - C:\program files\nintex\nintex workflow 2007

On a 64bit environment - C:\program files (x86)\nintex\nintex workflow 2007

 

4. Restart IIS and the Windows SharePoint timer service .

5. Check the database management page again, the content database references should be up to date.

Note : If for some reason you need to manage the content database servers manually, you can also do so by modifying the database directly. This has the same effect as running the NWAdmin command.

1. Open the configuration database in your database management tool.

2. Open the table called “databases”.

3. You will see the content database details listed. You can update the Server name column as required and submit the change.

Restart IIS and the Windows SharePoint timer service from services.msc and the process should be complete.

Installing Nintex Workflow 2007 for Sharepoint 2007

There are two steps involved in this:

1) Nintex Installation

2) Database configuration

1. Nintex Installation

1) Login to the Sharepoint Server with Server Administrator permissions.

2) Run the installer on the server.

3) Once the installation is complete, the Nintex Workflow 2007 wsp’s should be visible in the Solution Management in Central Administration.

a. nintexworkflow2007.wsp

b. nintexworkflow2007enterprisefeatures.wsp

  

4) Deploy both the solution files to all web applications in the farm.

5) On completion of this, we have to import the Nintex license to Central Administration.I have listed the sequence below on how to do this.

6) We can start with the database configuration for Nintex Workflow 2007 after this.

2. Database configuration

1. In Central Administration, click on Application Management tab. 

2. Below Nintex Workflow Management, click Database Setup.

3. Click the Create below Configuration Database.

4. Enter database server name.The database name for Nintex is given by default.Click OK.You have completed the Nintex installation now.

P.S. : Nintex can use multiple databases, one for configuration and others for content. By default the configuration database is also the content database. More databases can be added if needed.

 

How to create an additional content database for a sharepoint web application

Run the following commands from powershell

1) Get-SPWebapplication - This command gets you a list of web applications in the farm

2) Create an additional content database for one of these webapplications

New-SPContentDatabase DemoContentDB -DatabaseServer SP2010 -WebApplication http://sp2010:1000/

3) Let us check in SQL if the database is created.

4) The database is listed .

5) Now to confirm the database is attached to the correct webapplication, browse to Central Admin->Manage Conetnt Database->Select the desired application

The new database is attached to the web application

How to create Central Administration database in Sharepoint 2010 without GUID (using PSCONFIG)

If the Central Administration content database has a GUID at the end, it shows that Configuration Wizard was run to build the farm. We can fix it following the below steps(using PSCONFIG)

1) First, we have to NOT run the Configuration Wizard after SharePoint2010 installation. When you get to this screen, uncheck the box to run the Configuration Wizard and click “Close.”

2) Go to command prompt and change the directory to the following  C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\14\BIN\ .

3) Run the following command. This creates databases in SQL for configuration and administration.

psconfig -cmd configdb -create -server "sql-server-name" -database “configuration-database-name”        -user "username" -password "******" -passphrase "some-passphrase" -admincontentdatabase “central-administration-database-name”

Hardware and software requirements for SharePoint 2013

Summary: Lists the minimum hardware and software requirements to install and run SharePoint 2013 Preview.

Applies to:  SharePoint Foundation 2013 | SharePoint Server 2013 

Overview

SharePoint 2013 provides for several installation scenarios. Currently, these installations include single server with built-in database installations, single-server farm installations, and multiple-server farm installations. This article describes the hardware and software requirements for SharePoint 2013 in each of these scenarios.

Hardware and software requirements for other SharePoint 2013 capabilities

If you plan to use capabilities that are offered through SharePoint 2013 or through other integration channels, such as SQL Server or Exchange Server, you also need to meet the hardware and software requirements that are specific to that capability.

Hardware requirements—location of physical servers

All servers that belong to a server farm, including database servers, must physically reside in the same datacenter. Redundancy and failover between closely located data centers that are configured as a single farm ("stretched farm”) is not supported in SharePoint 2013.

Hardware requirements—web servers, application servers, and single server installations

The values in the following table are minimum values for installations on a single server with a built-in database and for web and application servers that are running SharePoint 2013 in a multiple server farm installation.

For all installation scenarios, you must have sufficient hard disk space for the base installation and sufficient space for diagnostics such as logging, debugging, creating memory dumps, and so on. For production use, you must also have additional free disk space for day-to-day operations. In addition, maintain two times as much free space as you have RAM for production environments.

Installation Scenario	Deployment type and scale	RAM	Processor	Hard disk space
Single server with a built-in database or single server that uses SQL Server	Development or evaluation installation of SharePoint Foundation 2013	8 GB	64-bit, 4 cores	80 GB for system drive
Single server with a built-in database or single server that uses SQL Server	Development or evaluation installation of SharePoint Server 2013	24 GB	64-bit, 4 cores	80 GB for system drive
Web server or application server in a three-tier farm	Pilot, user acceptance test, or production deployment of SharePoint Server 2013	12 GB	64-bit, 4 cores	80 GB for system drive

 

Hardware requirements—database servers

The requirements in the following table apply to database servers in environments that have multiple servers in the farm.

Component	Minimum requirement
Processor	·         64-bit, 4 cores for small deployments ·         64-bit, 8 cores for medium deployments
RAM	·         8 GB for small deployments ·         16 GB for medium deployments For large deployments, see the "Estimate memory requirements" section in Storage and SQL Server capacity planning and configuration (SharePoint Server 2010). These values are larger than those recommended as the minimum values for SQL Server because of the distribution of data that is required for a SharePoint 2013 environment. For more information about SQL Server system requirements, see Hardware and Software Requirements for Installing SQL Server 2008 R2.
Hard disk	80 GB for system drive Hard disk space depends on how much content that you have in your deployment. For information about how to estimate the amount of content and other databases for your deployment, see Storage and SQL Server capacity planning and configuration (SharePoint Server 2010).

Software requirements

The requirements in the following section apply to the following installations:

·         Single server with built-in database

·         Server farm with a single server in the farm

·         Server farm with multiple servers in the farm

The Microsoft SharePoint Products Preparation Tool can assist you in the installation of the software prerequisites for SharePoint 2013. Ensure that you have an Internet connection, because some prerequisites are installed from the Internet.

Minimum software requirements

 

This section provides minimum software requirements for each server in the farm.
Minimum requirements for a database server in a farm:

·         One of the following:

o        The 64-bit edition of Microsoft SQL Server 2012.

o        The 64-bit edition of SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1

·         The 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter or the 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter

·         The SharePoint parsing process crashes in Windows Server 2008 R2 (KB 2554876)

·         FIX: IIS 7.5 configurations are not updated when you use the ServerManager class to commit configuration changes (KB 2708075)

·         MS11-063: Vulnerability in Windows Client/Server Run-time subsystem could allow elevation of privilege: August 9, 2011 (KB 2567680)

·         Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.5 Release Candidate (RC)

Minimum requirements for a single server with built-in database:

·         The 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter or the 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter

·         The SharePoint parsing process crashes in Windows Server 2008 R2 (KB 2554876)

·         FIX: IIS 7.5 configurations are not updated when you use the ServerManager class to commit configuration changes (KB 2708075)

·         WCF: process may crash with “System.Net.Sockets.SocketException: An invalid argument was supplied” when under high load (KB 2726478)

·         MS11-063: Vulnerability in Windows Client/Server Run-time subsystem could allow elevation of privilege: August 9, 2011 (KB 2567680)

·         The Setup program installs the following prerequisite for a single server with built-in database:

o        Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 - Express Edition

·         The Microsoft SharePoint Products Preparation Tool installs the following prerequisites for a single server with built-in database:

o        Web Server (IIS) role

o        Application Server role

o        Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.5 Release Candidate (RC)

o        SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 Native Client

o        Microsoft WCF Data Services 5.0

o        Microsoft Information Protection and Control Client (MSIPC)

o        Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 SP1 (x64)

o        Windows Management Framework 3.0 Release Candidate (RC) which includes Windows PowerShell 3.0

o        Windows Identity Foundation (WIF) 1.0 and Microsoft Identity Extensions (previously named WIF 1.1)

o        Windows Server AppFabric

o        Cumulative Update Package 1 for Microsoft AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server (KB 2671763)

Minimum requirements for front-end web servers and application servers in a farm:

·         The 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter or the 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter.

·         The SharePoint parsing process crashes in Windows Server 2008 R2 (KB 2554876)

·         FIX: IIS 7.5 configurations are not updated when you use the ServerManager class to commit configuration changes (KB 2708075)

·         WCF: process may crash with “System.Net.Sockets.SocketException: An invalid argument was supplied” when under high load (KB 2726478)

·         MS11-063: Vulnerability in Windows Client/Server Run-time subsystem could allow elevation of privilege: August 9, 2011 (KB 2567680)

·         The Microsoft SharePoint Products Preparation Tool installs the following prerequisites for front-end web servers and application servers in a farm:

o        Web Server (IIS) role

o        Application Server role

o        Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.5 Release Candidate (RC)

o        SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 Native Client

o        Microsoft WCF Data Services 5.0

o        Microsoft Information Protection and Control Client (MSIPC)

o        Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 SP1 (x64)

o        Windows Management Framework 3.0 Release Candidate (RC) which includes Windows PowerShell 3.0

o        Windows Identity Foundation (WIF) 1.0 and Microsoft Identity Extensions (previously named WIF 1.1)

o        Windows Server AppFabric

o        Cumulative Update Package 1 for Microsoft AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server (KB 2671763)

Minimum requirements for client computers

·         A supported browser.

Optional software

 

Environment	Optional software
Single server with built-in database, front-end web servers, and application servers in a farm	·         .NET Framework Data Provider for SQL Server (part of Microsoft .NET Framework) ·         .NET Framework Data Provider for OLE DB (part of Microsoft .NET Framework) ·         Windows Azure Workflow 1.0 Preview You can install Windows Azure Workflow 1.0 Preview on a dedicated computer. ·         Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services Add-in for Microsoft SharePoint Technologies This add-in is used by Access Services for SharePoint 2013. ·         Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Data-Tier Application (DAC) Framework 64-bit edition ·         Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Transact-SQL ScriptDom 64-bit edition ·         Microsoft System CLR Types for Microsoft SQL Server 2012 64-bit edition ·         Microsoft SQL Server 2012 LocalDB 64-bit edition ·         Microsoft Data Services for the .NET Framework 4 and Silverlight 4 (formerly ADO.NET Data Services) ·         Exchange Web Services Managed API, version 1.2 ·         Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Remote Blob Store which is part of the Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Feature Pack ·         SQL Server 2008 R2 Analysis Services ADOMD.NET ·         KB 2472264 If you are running a geo-distributed deployment and your servers are running Windows Server 2008 R2, then installing KB 2472264 can optimize network latency in a dedicated datacenter network.
Client computer	·         Windows 7 ·         Office 2013 ·         Silverlight 3

Reference: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262485(v=office.15).aspx

Sharepoint 2010 Site Templates - How To's

How to save a site as a template

1. Go to Site Actions, select Site Settings.

2. Below Site Actions, you should see Save Site as Template. But sometimes it may not be there. You may see something like this(as below) instead.

3. If Save Site as Template is missing, it is either you dont have sufficient permissions (in which case you need to talk to your site administrator). But if you are the administrator, and still Save Site as Template is missing, the problem is that you need to turn off the site’s publishing features.

(Note: if you are working with a sub site, the parent site will not be affected by this.)

Go to Site Actions -> Site Settings -> Manage site features (Site Actions)

Click Deactivate for SharePoint Server Publishing

4. Once again, browse to Site Actions -> Site Settings. Click on Save Site as Template

5. Put in the file name and click OK

How to delete a custom site template

1. Browse to Site Actions -> Site Settings.Go to Top level site settings (under Site Collection Administration)

2. At the site collection level, click on Solutions (under Galleries)

3. Select the site template and Deactivate

4. Click Deactivate and click Close

5. Once the template is Deactivated, Delete the template

"Save site as template" option in SharePoint 2010 missing

1. Go to Site Actions  –> Site Settings –> Manage site features under Site Actions.

2. Deactivate the SharePoint Server Publishing feature, then go back to the Site Settings page.

3. Now you would see the save as site template link.

4. After you save the template, turn back on SharePoint Server Publishing.

Note: Another way is appending “ /_layouts/savetmpl.aspx ” to the site url you wish to save as a template

4 STSADM commands for getting Site details

Get SiteCollection details

stsadm.exe -o enumsites -url  http://abc.xyz.com/ > C:\SiteCollectionDetails.txt

Get Subsite details

stsadm.exe -o enumsubwebs -url http://abc.xyz.com/ab/collab > C:\SubsiteDetails.txt

Get the permission groups

stsadm -o enumgroups -url http://abc.xyz.com/ >C:\Groups.txt

Get the permission roles

stsadm -o enumroles -url http://abc.xyz.com/ >C:\Roles.txt

Error message While Creating Web application or Site Collection

Error While Creating Web application

An update conflict has occurred, and you must re-try this action. The object SPClaimProviderManager Name=ClaimProviderManager was updated by <domain/service id> , in the w3wp (7744) process, on machine <servername>.  View the tracing log for more information about the conflict.

Error While creating Site Collection

The operation that you are attempting to perform cannot be completed successfully.  No content databases in the web application were available to store your site collection.  The existing content databases may have reached the maximum number of site collections, or be set to read-only, or be offline, or may already contain a copy of this site collection.  Create another content database for the Web application and then try the operation again.

To resolve this:

1) Type services.msc on Run

2) Stop the SharePoint 2010 Timer service.

3) On a Windows Server 2008 R2 server, navigate to the folder: “C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\SharePoint\Config\{GUID}”. Delete all the files from this folder.

4) Restart the SharePoint 2010 Timer service.

5) Restart the server

6) You should be able to perform the activity on Web Application in SharePoint Central Admin now.