The problem is that Windows Updates will not run properly (giving you various errors) and when Roles or Features are selected un the Server Manager you get the following error:

Error: Cannot display data until your computer is restarted.

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Exchange Outlook Web Access is a wonderful feature, but directing users to access it on their own can be a patience testing proposal if you’re not using URL redirection.

For example: you’ve installed Exchange 2010, configured all the appropriate roles, including the CAS (Client Access Server; responsible for OWA), and deserve a hero’s welcome, or at least a pat on the back. You then send an email to staff telling them that they can access webmail from the following public URL – https://webmail.domain.com/owa; easy enough right? Wrong! A few days later, calls come streaming in with users attempting to access OWA using incorrect URL’s: http instead of https, forgetting to append /owa to the URL, etc.

Well you can clear all of this up and make it transparent to the user, and they’ll never know you did it; it will just work.

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Well, it’s been two weeks and I seem to have all the applications I need installed.  After I got Windows 7 up and running (joined our domain, delegated myself the appropriate credentials, applied all released updates, and set the system settings I desired (remote desktop, firewall tweaks, etc)) I began installing additional software.

In this post, I’ll focus on the applications that have given me trouble, as well as some more common suites and if they required any additional work.

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Analytics software can be invaluable when it comes time to prove the worth of the SharePoint site you migrated your company’s intranet from, or when seeking that budget increase for more hardware.

The problem is with the nature of SharePoint sites being fluid, in that they are constantly changing as the data they serve is being updated or consolidated.  New features and web parts are being added, and so the code under the hood is always evolving.

This brings me to the problem I faced when a customer needed assistance in setting up analytics software on the SharePoint site.

There are plenty of sites that will walk explain the integration for MOSS 2007 and Google Analytics (GA), but none that I found for WSS 3.0.

The site I am working with is using a combination of default and custom Master Pages. 

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OK, so the install was pretty much like all other installs of Vista.  Since I was moving from a 32-bit (x86) environment to a 64-bit (x64) implementation, I was not able to perform an in place or other upgrade. Fresh, or clean install it is!

Upon booting off of the DVD, Vista users will recognize the familiar screen…

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Secure communications in an Exchange enterprise messaging environment is critical.  In Exchange 2007, Microsoft introduced the use of Unified Communications (UCC) or Subject Alternative Name (SAN) SSL certificates.  These Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates allow the secure use of multiple domain names with one certificate, with some certificate providers allowing the use of up to 100 domain names.  By default, when initially installed, Exchange 2007 provides a self-signed certificate which secures the hostname of the server (netbios and FQDN).  For any use outside of a lab environment, you’ll want to purchase and install a UCC certificate.  UCC certificates can be purchased from any major SSL certificate provider (i.e., GoDaddy, GeoTrust, Entrust, Comodo, etc.).

In this example, I’ll show you how to replace a single domain third-party certificate and a self-signed SSL certificate with a new UCC certificate.

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Class Maps are referenced by Policy Maps, which are then applied to the external interface.  VPN traffic is "pre-classified" before entering the external interface. The example below is based on 512 kbps bandwidth available for upload traffic.

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  With Windows 7 public availability around the corner, ADNS will be making the move this Friday.  We will report our experiences on this blog with all aspects from upgrades (Vista only) and new installations.

Majority of our workstations are Dell Vostro 400s, so we should not have any issues meeting the recommended system requirements.

Here are some specs to help get you ready:

Minimum requirements-

• 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
• 16 gigabyte available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

Check back Friday 8/7 for part 1: Installation.

An incredibly useful feature of SharePoint Document libraries is their ability to use the WebDAV protocol to be accessed via Windows Explorer.

The below scenarios will use screen shots and steps from a Windows XP Pro SP3 workstation that is NOT bound to the same domain as the SharePoint Implementation.  This mimics behavior that would be seen by a kiosk or dedicated printing workstation. The SharePoint installation is based on SharePoint Services 3.0 SP2, running on Windows Server 2003 (IIS 6) with WebDAV extensions allowed.

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  One of the biggest user peeves with SharePoint is the authentication prompts.  I get questions about this all the time, so I thought I would explain some simple configuration changes either you or your system administrator can implement to make your SharePoint experience just a bit better.

There are 2 scenarios that I will cover:

1. Visiting the site from your work network; this assumes your workstation is bound to the same domain as the SharePoint implementation.
2. Visiting a SharePoint site of another company, such as an extranet for a partner company.  This would assume your workstation is bound to a different domain than the SharePoint implementation –or- Visiting the site from a workstation that is not bound to any domain (home computer or workgroup).

There are of course scenarios where you will get prompted regardless, in case 2 above, if you open a Microsoft Office document (Excel, Word, etc), after the corresponding Office application opens, you will be presented with a dialogue box requesting your credentials.  This is by design, meaning when the Office application opens, it is initiating a new session to the server, this new session does not have access to the credentials you offered up when initially logging into the site.

If you fall into the category of case 1, and you are being prompted for credentials when opening Office documents from SharePoint libraries, follow the procedure described for that scenario.

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