SharePoint 2013 Tools

As it was for SharePoint 2007, and SharePoint 2010, it's time to start a list of tools for SharePoint 2013:

SharePoint 2013 Tools

View more lists from Natalia Tsymbalenko

SharePoint: SharePoint 2007 Administration and PowerShell 2.0

Last months my work with SharePoint 2007, I felt a strong inclination to use PowerShell 2.0.
I envied a happy people who were already with SharePoint 2010 and could enjoy SharePoint 2010 Administration via SharePoint.ps1


PowerShell and SharePoint: What, Why and How
Simple concept: How to use SharePoint cmdlets in PowerShell ISE


I also wanted to have such beautiful commands that have been shipped by SharePoint.ps1 for SharePoint 2010:
Get-SPFarm,
Get-SPWeb,
Get-SPWebApplication


So, my problem was that we don't have SharePoint.ps1 for SharePoint 2007.
To easy up my desire, I have created my functions:
Get-SPFarmV3,
Get-SPWebV3,
Get-SPWebApplicationV3.


And some additional:
Get-SitesWithMissingTemplate, Get-SSProvider, Get-SPVersionV3.


All above I have packed in one SPv3Adapter.mdl module.


Windows PowerShell Module Concepts


Module Installation Best Practices:


Do not install modules for Windows PowerShell in the system location at %Windir%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules. Only modules included with Windows are installed to the system location.


http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd878350(v=vs.85).aspx


Module installation
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd878350(v=vs.85).aspx




And some additional PowerShell files:
Helper functions: Start-CustomTranscript, Get-CustomAPPLog,Get-SolutionDeployed


I have used a lot Get-SolutionDeployed during upgrade SP2007 to SP2010:


The module Helper.mdl has dependency on SPv3Adapter.mdl

Please install  SPv3Adapter.mdl  module first in order to enjoy Sp2007 helper functions.

One of the favorable option for me is to use manifest (you are welcome to use attached customModulesLoader.psm1 and  Manifest.mdl)  to ship the PS modules.

Simple concept: Does WSP deployment(retraction) resets IIS?

[Question]: 
Does WSP deployment triggers IISRESET?

[Answer]:
Depends on type of deployment. There are 2 kinds: Local and Timer Service deployments
(Deploying a Solution). BE AWARE that WSP solution retractions causes IISRESET too.

Local WSP deployment -  stsadm -o deploysolution -local .Deploys the solution synchronously on the local computer only. The timer service is not used.  . It will call IISRESET but locally on the WFE, not in all WFEs in the farm.

Farm solution deployment with no downtime. Update-SPSolution -local

Timer Service Deployment -  stsadm -o deploysolution -immeidate (or -time)
(Deploysolution: Stsadm operation) . Uses a timer job and triggers IISRESET.

The deployment step for a farm solution creates a timer job. This timer job is used by the timer service on each web server in the server farm. The timer job also uses the SharePoint Foundation Administrative web service to access appropriate privileges to deploy solution files to each computer, so both services must be running on all servers for the deployment to succeed.

Initially, the package manifest is parsed to find assemblies, application pages, JavaScript, and other files that are not part of a Feature. These are copied to the locations specified in the manifest. All files contained within a Feature are copied to the Feature directory, a subdirectory of %ProgramFiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\14\TEMPLATE\FEATURES. After solution files are copied to the target computers, a configuration reset is scheduled for all front-end web servers; the reset then deploys the files and restarts Internet Information Services (IIS). Farm administrators can specify when this occurs.

More detail coverage on the topic: SharePoint Solution Deploy, retract, upgrade – What causes your SharePoint farm to go offline IISRESET (web server outage).

Simple Concept : visionapp Remote Desktop 2011: how to restore configuration file?

[Question]:  I want to use my configuration for visionapp Remote Desktop 2011 under a different account logged into machine. I don't have .vre (export) or .vrb (backup) file with my configuration.How can I transfer my connection configuration?

[Answer]:
Run visionapp, add file

Browse and find you original settings.xml file with connections and credentials under C:\Documents and Settings\{User}\Application Data\visionapp\vRd2010\settings.xml


Select the file, finish the process.

Note: stored credentials in setting.xml won't be decrypted, so you need to retype password for them.

SharePoint 2010 gentelman's tool set (freeware)

I have compiled a tool set for SharePoint 2007 a time go which can help developers to handle SharePoint 2007 issues easily. All mentioned tools are freeware.

I am starting compiling tools for SharePoint 2010:

SharePoint Feature Administration and Clean Up Tool - http://featureadmin.codeplex.com/ - helps to investigate missing features and remove them. The most common task after database attach upgrade is to get rid of 367b94a9-4a15-42ba-b4a2-32420363e018 ReportServer SharePoint 2007 feature. Feature Admin Tool v2.2. makes is fast and easy!

As before, a tremendous help with reading SharePoint logs -ULS Viewer - http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/ULSViewer - ULSViewer allows users to open a ULS log file and display its contents in a user friendly format.

A descendant of The SharePoint Manager 2007 -  http://spm.codeplex.com/  SharePoint manager 2010- still powerful  and "must have" for everybody who touches the SharePoint from administrative side.

A great tool to diagnose farm performance by MS - SPDiag 3.0

An interesting PowerShell solution to automate installation - http://autospinstaller.codeplex.com/

OMG! your sharepoint site is deleted on Prod

Yes, it happened to me today) But we could restore the site. Thanks God we have a SQL backup of the web app and we simply restored it on the staging env and than I ran there:
stsadm -o export   -url <the restored site url on the stg>   -filename <export file name> -includeusersecurity -versions 4
It will backup the site with the item version and users. But be mindful there are some site size limitations. If the site is  huge - you don't have any other options except restore the whole web app restore
In case you site is small, you are a lucky guy\lady! Once you get the backup of the site.
Go ahead and run on Prod (I highly recommend to do backup before - just in case):
stsadm -o export   -url <URL name>   -filename <export file name> -includeusersecurity   
-updateversions 2
It will restore the site with versions and users. Be mindful the versions and users will be restored if the site collection where it's restoring has these users. As I can guess the user field holds the id of the user and when sharepoint restores the site it searched the id of the user on the site collection level. If the user was found, it will restore the user field's value and the versions associated with this user.

P.S.
One of the way to prevent the prod site deletion - use the SharePoint Site Recycle Bin.
I haven't tried for myself. But I used the old implementation of it. Microsoft deleted the old version, but I save it and can share with you:Microsoft IT Site Delete Capture LE 1.0.rar

Happy restoring to all!

Debugging Sharepoint: Make it faster

Recently I was suffering from the sharepoint debugging. It was extremly slow - I dare to say around 15-20 minutes to load symbols.
I have tried to debug attaching to the process w3w.exe and also with Debugger.Launch() in code.
The surfing won't bring much - some recommend to load symbols from Microsoft to optimize the debugging. Tried - didn't help.
Finally on the second week of pain I came up with a quick and elegant solution - to use WSPBuilder to debug!

Here is the instruction to make the debugging enjoyable:
1. clear all old breakpoints (some people claimed that it really helped them to improve the debugging experience)
2. set the pool identity the same as the user who runs the debug (it will mitigate the message box "attaching to this process can potentially harm..")
3. Use the WSPBuilder extension for Visual Studio to put the ddl in GAC and recycle app pools
4. Run the site to initiate the process w3w.exe
5. Through WSPBuilder  attach to IIS working processes

Note: Sometime even the visual studio shows that it runs the debug, the actual breakpoints are not hit. I don't know the reason. But I know how to cure such behavior - kill all w3w.exe process and re-attached to a new one which you will fire surfing the sharepoint site.

Sharepoint gentelman's tool set (freeware)

The SharePoint Manager 2007 - http://www.codeplex.com/spm - is a SharePoint object model explorer. It enables you to browse every site on the local farm and view every property. It also enables you to change the properties (at your own risk). This is a very powerfull tool for developers that like to know what secrets the SharePoint holds.


SPContentTypeExplorer- http://spcontenttypeexplore.codeplex.com/ - This very small tool allows admins to find all the lists that are using a given content type. Rather than being stuck with a "This content type is still used...." when trying to delete one, you'll be now able to find where it is used.


SharePoint Designer Workflow Exporter - http://spdtoolkit.codeplex.com/ - exports workflows that are created using SharePoint designer to an feature. Making it possible to package in solution packages (WSP) See: http://agiledirect.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/packaging-and-re-using-sharepoint-designer-workflows-part-2/ or http://www.agiledirect.nl for more information.


WorkflowAssociationRepair - http://agiledirect.wordpress.com/2007/11/21/sharepoint-designer-workflow-association-stsadm-repair-command/ - TSADMCOMMAND that repairs this association by opening the configuration file, synchronizing version information and saving it back to the server, it also re-attaches the workflow using the WebPartPages webservice, which basically the same SOAP command when you are editing workflows in SPD and saving them. This tool comes in quite handy if you need restore loads of workflows on a site.


Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Application Templates: All Templates - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=5807b5ef-57a1-47cb-8666-78c1363f127d&displaylang=en -This download package includes all forty of the Application Templates for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 plus the Application Template Core solution, which is required to deploy server admin templates.


SharePoint Solution Generator (VSeWSSv12) - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=7BF65B28-06E2-4E87-9BAD-086E32185E68&displaylang=en - Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Tools: Visual Studio 2008 Extensions, Version 1.2 – One of the extremely useful feature - generates a Site Definition project from an existing SharePoint site.



Stramit SharePoint Caml Viewer - http://spcamlviewer.codeplex.com/ - light view in SharePoint, convenient way to CAML querying

ULS Viewer - http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/ULSViewer - ULSViewer allows users to open a ULS log file and display its contents in a user friendly format.

SLAM! SharePoint List Association Manager- http://slam.codeplex.com/- In short it allows you to define relationships (one to one, one to many, many to many) between SharePoint lists (or Content Types) and then leverage those relationships in webparts or custom field types using familiar and straight forward SQL queries.


MOSS Manage User membership feature - http://mossusermembership.codeplex.com/ - This feature shows a new menu called "Manage User Membership" on site settings under "Users and Permissions" and permits to manage users membership. Extremlly usefull to view all groups to which specific user belongs.

Sharepoint SUSHI - http://www.codeplex.com/sushi -SUSHI = SharePoint Utility with a Smart, Helpful Interface. Tools which allows to run security report\bulk update\bulk site creation.

Windows SharePoint Services Software Development Kit (SDK)

WSPBuilder


Xavor SharePoint Admin Tool - SharePoint Admin tool is a web based tool that can give any site administrator "one click" access to a set of useful administrative tools (including Check access of any security principle (a user or a group) on any securable object inside SharePoint like SP Web, SP Site, SP List, SP list item). And more important it's FREE!

The latest finding - Microsoft SharePoint Administration Toolkit - the great tool to analyze SharePoint performance and also ships with check permissions tool which is handy in case you have a complicated permission logic with breaking inheritance

Sharepoint Space monitor  - With this great application, administrators can now look at a Web Application and see what sites (and subsites and lists and libraries) are using the most space.

 WssAnalyzeFeatures    -  to find the missing features  with ease
Or
A similar app - SharePoint Feature Administration and Clean Up Tool

GUIDGEN.EXE

Every time that comes time to generate GUID – I almost forget how to do this!

 

Here is the tool included in Visual Studio:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\Tools\guidgen.exe

 
 

For simplicity sake, you could add this path to your system variable: PATH – just add : ;C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\Common7\Tools

 

NOTE: After applying new value to the PATH variable – don't forget to re-open DOS window . After re-opening you will be able run the GUIDGEN.exe from wherever place you are in your disc!