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9/1/2010

SharePoint 2010 Search Features (Including FAST)

Here are some of my top capabilities offered with FAST for SharePoint 2010:
1. Preview of PowerPoint slides and Word document thumbnail. When search results are returned for PowerPoint presentations, you have the ability to flip through the slides using a previewer built in Silverlight. For Word documents, you are able to view a thumbnail of the first page in the document.

2. Deep refiners and counts. These are very powerful. Rather than having to do advanced searches and use Boolean search operators, both of which SharePoint and FAST search supports, the refiners allow you to easily view and drill into your search results. For example, refiners can be used to filter the search results to see just PowerPoint presentations or documents modified within the past month. The experience is very similar to what consumers are used to on Bing. FAST for SharePoint 2010 also includes counts in the refiners so you know before you drill deeper that there are 5 documents that were modified in the past month in the example below.

3. Entity extraction is a capability that FAST provides to enable you to automatically build search refiners for content even if that content has not been explicitly tagged with metadata properties. This becomes important in many cases especially when you are indexing older content (e.g. on a file share) and don’t have the time/resources/money to tag all of the documents to have nice refiners to improve the search experience. A good example of this feature in action is the Financial Times web site.
4. Tremendous scale: both SharePoint standard and FAST for SharePoint 2010 have been improved for high availability and scalability. SharePoint 2010 standard search is able to scale up to approximately 100 million items. FAST for SharePoint 2010 is designed to handle over 500 million items.
5. Pipeline customization and search relevancy and tuning: There are many options for tweaking and refining the search engine in terms of the content sources and types it can crawl; how relevancy is handled (e.g. promote/demote certain content sources or documents); have search audience targeting; and to use key words and best bets (e.g. similar to how Bing allows advertisers to show sponsored links or to have selected content always show at the top of the search results page).
Want to go deeper on SharePoint 2010 search? Check out these resources:

SharePoint enterprise search overview: Learn more about SharePoint enterprise search. Includes some end user demos and whitepapers.
SharePoint Server 2010 Search Evaluation Guide: Detailed feature comparison for end user, administration and development.
Product Comparison: Compare the functional differences between the different search offerings from Microsoft.
SharePoint Search Datasheet: Good summary overview of the SharePoint search solutions.
Enterprise Search resource center: Your starting point on TechNet for all technical things related to SharePoint enterprise search solutions from Microsoft. This includes links to virtual labs, technical whitepapers, reference architectures and blogs.
MSDN resources: The Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) provides a number of training videos and code samples for developing and extending custom search solutions based on SharePoint.

Keep an eye out for more technical training and resources on FAST for SharePoint 2010.

SharePoint 2010 Search - Chris Bortlik's Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

Posted at 9:10 AM by MOSS-04\john | Category: Sharepoint 2010 | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

6/30/2010

Remote Desktop Connection Manager (RDCMan)

RDCMan manages multiple remote desktop connections. It is useful for managing server labs where you need regular access to each machine such as automated checkin systems and data centers. It is similar to the built-in MMC Remote Desktops snap-in, but more flexible.

Download details: RDCMan

Posted at 9:07 AM by MOSS-04\john | Category: Windows Deployment | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

SharePoint Server 2010 Product Licensing Details

You can use SharePoint 2010 to set up intranet, extranet, and Internet sites. Intranet sites are licensed using a Server/CAL (Client Access License) model. SharePoint Server 2010 is required for each running instance of the software, and CALs are required for each person or device accessing a SharePoint Server. Extranet and Internet sites are licensed using a Server-only model—no CALs are required. For more information on licensing models, see Licensing Details.
SharePoint Server 2010: Intranet Scenarios
Client Access License
The Standard CAL delivers the core capabilities of SharePoint 2010:

Sites: A Single Infrastructure for All Your Business Web Sites

Communities: An Integrated Collaboration Platform

Content: ECM for the Masses

Search: Relevance, Refinement, and People (excludes FAST Search)

Composites: Do-It-Yourself Business Solutions (excludes Access Services and InfoPath Services)

Enterprise Client Access License
The Enterprise CAL delivers the full capabilities of SharePoint 2010:

Sites: A Single Infrastructure for All Your Business Web Sites

Communities: An Integrated Collaboration Platform

Content: ECM for the Masses

Search: Relevance, Refinement, and People includes FAST Search)

Composites: Do-It-Yourself Business Solutions (includes Access Services and InfoPath Services)

Insights: BI for Everyone (includes PerformancePoint Services, Excel Services, and Visio Services)

Note that the Enterprise CAL is additive: To access the Enterprise edition features, a person/device must have both the Standard CAL and Enterprise CAL. Below is a detailed comparison of specific features available in SharePoint Foundation, Standard & Enterprise CAL.
Foundation:
Accessibility
Audience Targeting
Blogs
Browser-based Customizations
Business Connectivity Services
Business Data Connectivity Service
Claims-Based Authentication
Client Object Model (OM)
Configuration Wizards
Connections to Microsoft Office Clients
Connections to Office Communication Server and Exchange
Cross-Browser Support
Developer Dashboard
Discussions
Event Receivers
External Data Column
External Lists
High-Availability Architecture
Improved Backup and Restore
Improved Setup and Configuration
Language Integrated Query (LINQ) for SharePoint
Large List Scalability and Management
Managed Accounts
Mobile Connectivity
Multilingual User Interface
Multi-Tenancy
Out-of-the-Box Web Parts
Patch Management
Permissions Management
Photos and Presence
Quota Templates
Read-Only Database Support
Remote Blob Storage (SQL Feature)
REST and ATOM Data Feeds
Ribbon and Dialog Framework
Sandboxed Solutions
SharePoint Designer
SharePoint Health Analyzer
SharePoint Lists
SharePoint Ribbon
SharePoint Service Architecture
SharePoint Timer Jobs
SharePoint Workspace
Silverlight Web Part
Site Search
Solution Packages
Streamlined Central Administration
Support for Office Web Apps
Unattached Content Database Recovery
Usage Reporting and Logging
Visual Studio 2010 SharePoint Developer Tools
Visual Upgrade
Web Parts
Wikis
Windows 7 Support
Windows PowerShell Support
Workflow
Workflow Models
Standard:
Ask Me About
Basic Sorting
Best Bets
Business Connectivity Services Profile Page
Click Through Relevancy
Colleague Suggestions
Colleagues Network
Compliance Everywhere
Content Organizer
Document Sets
Duplicate Detection
Enterprise Scale Search
Enterprise Wikis
Federated Search
Improved Governance
Keyword Suggestions
Managed Metadata Service
Memberships
Metadata-driven Navigation
Metadata-driven Refinement
Mobile Search Experience
Multistage Disposition
My Content
My Newsfeed
My Profile
Note Board
Organization Browser
People and Expertise Search
Phonetic and Nickname Search
Query Suggestions, "Did You Mean?", and Related Queries
Ratings
Recent Activities
Recently Authored Content
Relevancy Tuning
Rich Media Management
Search Scopes
Secure Store Service
Shared Content Types
SharePoint 2010 Search Connector Framework
Status Updates
Tag Clouds
Tag Profiles
Tags
Tags and Notes Tool
Unique Document IDs
Web Analytics
Windows 7 Search
Word Automation Services
Workflow Templates
Enterprise:
Access Services
Advanced Content Processing
Advanced Sorting
Business Data Integration with the Office Client
Business Data Web Parts
Business Intelligence Center
Business Intelligence Indexing Connector
Calculated KPIs
Chart Web Parts
Contextual Search
Dashboards
Data Connection Library
Decomposition Tree
Deep Refinement
Excel Services
Excel Services and PowerPivot for SharePoint
Extensible Search Platform
Extreme Scale Search
InfoPath Forms Services
PerformancePoint Services
Rich Web Indexing
Similar Results
Thumbnails and Previews
Tunable Relevance with Multiple Rank Profiles
Visio Services
Visual Best Bets

SharePoint Server 2010 Product Line-up - Gurmeet Singh's SharePoint 2010 Blog - Site Home - TechNet Blogs

Posted at 9:00 AM by MOSS-04\john | Category: Sharepoint 2010 | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

6/12/2010

Manage Windows 7 Power Options from the Command Line

Windows 7 includes the Power Configuration utility (Powercfg.exe) for managing power options from the command (CMD) line. You can view a list of parameters for this utility by typing powercfg /? at a command prompt. The parameters you’ll work with most often include:

–a Lists the available sleep states on the computer and the reasons why a particular sleep state is not supported.
–d [guid] Deletes the power plan specified by the globally unique identifier (GUID).
–devicequery all_devices_verbose Lists detailed power support information for all devices on the computer. Be sure to redirect the output to a file because this list is very long and detailed.
–energy Checks the system for common configuration, device, and battery problems and then generates an HTML report in the current working directory.
–h Toggles the hibernate feature on or off.
–l Lists the power plans configured on a computer by name and GUID.
–q [guid] Lists the contents of the power plan specified by the GUID. If you don’t provide a GUID, the contents of the active power plan are listed.
–requests Displays all power requests made by device drivers. If there are pending requests for the display, these requests would prevent the computer from automatically powering off the displays. If there are pending requests for any device including the display, these requests would prevent the computer from automatically entering a low-power sleep state.
–s [guid] Makes the power plan specified by the GUID the active power plan.
–x [setting] [value] Sets the specified value for the specified setting in the active power plan

Posted at 12:12 PM by MOSS-04\john | Category: Windows Deployment | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

5/23/2010

Download details: Windows Phone 7 Training Kit for Developers - April 2010 CTP

Windows Phone 7 Series promises to be an amazing mobile phone operating system given its innovative user interface and functionality, as well as its great development platform upon which you can quickly and easily build games and applications. With a myriad of new devices, a powerful and immersive software platform, and a new marketplace to attract developers and provide easy access to applications, consumer demand for Windows Phones will be high, and developers will quickly adopt the Windows Phone platform to capitalize on this growing mobile marketplace. This Training Kit will give you a jumpstart into the new Windows Phone world by providing you with a step-by-step explanation of the tools to use and some key concepts for programming Windows Phones.

Download details: Windows Phone 7 Training Kit for Developers - April 2010 CTP

Posted at 11:22 AM by MOSS-04\john | Category: Windows Mobile | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

5/21/2010

Clustering Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) Broker for High Availability when Deploying Microsoft VDI

A failover cluster is a group of independent computers that work together to increase the availability of applications and services. The clustered servers (called nodes) are connected by physical cables and by software. If one of the cluster nodes fails, another node begins to provide service (a process known as failover). Users experience a minimum of disruptions in service.
This guide describes the steps for configuring Remote Desktop Connection Broker (RD Connection Broker) in a failover cluster, as part of a configuration that provides users with access to personal virtual desktops or virtual machines in a virtual desktop pool through RemoteApp and Desktop Connection. To configure RD Connection Broker in this way, you start with a server that can act as an RD Session Host and RD Connection Broker, configure that server as a one-node failover cluster, then add additional servers (configured in the same way) to the cluster. This can increase the availability of the access you provide to users.
As you work with the configuration in this guide, you can also learn about failover clusters and familiarize yourself with the Failover Cluster Manager snap-in in Windows Server® 2008 R2 Enterprise or Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter.
Note
The failover cluster feature is not available in Windows Web Server 2008 R2 or Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard.
For information about the features and functionality in Remote Desktop Services and in failover clustering in Windows Server 2008 R2, see the following topics:

What's New in Remote Desktop Services (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=185916)
What's New in Failover Clusters in Windows Server 2008 R2 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=147426).

Overview of Remote Desktop Services and virtual machine redirection in the context of a failover cluster

By using the steps in this guide, you can provide users access to personal virtual desktops or virtual machines in a virtual desktop pool, through RemoteApp and Desktop Connection. This is called virtual machine redirection. You can provide virtual machine redirection by configuring a server with specific role services and settings that are available through the Remote Desktop Services server role (as described in Role, role services, and feature requirements for a failover cluster that supports virtual machine redirection, later in this topic). Then, to increase the availability of the services that you are providing, you configure that server as a one-node failover cluster and add more servers (configured with the same role services and settings) to the failover cluster. If one of the servers fails or must be taken offline for maintenance, another server begins to provide service through a process known as failover.
The following illustration shows a failover cluster with a clustered instance of RD Connection Broker. Node 1 and Node 2 are connected by multiple networks. Node 1 has failed, and Node 2 has begun running the clustered instance of RD Connection Broker. Node 2 is also running RD Session Host, although not as part of a cluster. When Node 1 recovers from the failure, it will also be able to run RD Session Host. In other words, even if one node fails, RD Session Host and RD Connection Broker continue to be available.
Figure 1   Failover of clustered RD Connection Broker

Although it is not called out in the previous illustration, the clustered instance of RD Connection Broker stores important state information in registry keys that the Cluster service monitors and replicates between the cluster nodes. (This differs from some other clustered services or applications, which typically store such information in cluster storage.) Because the information is automatically replicated between nodes, when Node 2 begins running the clustered instance of RD Connection Broker, the state information it needs is already stored in the local registry on the node.
The following illustration shows the sequence of events that begins with the user requesting a connection to a virtual desktop, and ends with the virtual desktop being displayed on the client.
Figure 2   Servers providing a virtual desktop

The user requests a connection to a virtual desktop, either a personal virtual desktop or one from a virtual desktop pool.
The RD Gateway receives the request.
The RD Gateway sends the request to a virtual machine redirector (that is, RD Session Host running in virtual machine redirection mode). The virtual machine redirector informs RD Connection Broker, and then waits for the IP address of a virtual machine.
RD Connection Broker requests information about a virtual machine from the RD Virtualization Host.
RD Connection Broker receives information about a virtual machine and then provides that information to the virtual machine redirector.
The virtual machine redirector communicates through the RD Gateway, providing the client with the IP address and connection information for a virtual desktop.
The client connects to a virtual desktop.
The virtual desktop is displayed on the client.

The following illustration shows the same sequence of events occurring despite the failure of one node of the cluster. Because a second cluster node is still running, it can respond to client requests as they occur.
Figure 3   Servers providing a virtual desktop after a failure

From time to time, a user might attempt to connect with a clustered server just before it fails. In that case, when the server fails, the user will have to try again. On the next attempt, assuming that the connection attempt is made with a functioning server, it will succeed.
When you create a clustered instance of RD Connection Broker, you configure certain settings differently than you would for a standalone RD Connection Broker server. For a table of the differences, see Appendix A: Differences between a clustered RD Connection Broker and a standalone RD Connection Broker.
Hardware, software, and network infrastructure requirements for a failover cluster

Deploying Remote Desktop Connection Broker with High Availability Using Failover Clustering

Posted at 9:30 PM by MOSS-04\john | Category: Virtualization | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

SharePoint 2010 Reference .Net Software Development Kit (SDK)

The Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Software Development Kit (SDK) includes documentation and code samples for Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 and for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, which builds upon the SharePoint Foundation 2010 infrastructure. The documentation includes detailed descriptions of the technologies that SharePoint Server 2010 and SharePoint Foundation 2010 provide for developers, reference documentation for the server and client object models, and step-by-step procedures for using these technologies and object models and programming with them. This SDK also includes best practices and setup guidance to help you get started with your own custom applications that build and extend upon the SharePoint Foundation 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010 platforms.
For additional information, you can visit the SharePoint Developer Center on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN): http://msdn.microsoft.com/sharepoint. Visit frequently to learn about recently published content; to view essential getting-started content; to view rich media content such as videos and screencasts; to get connected to instructor-led training and other learning resources; to learn more about product features and scenarios in our MSDN Resource Centers; and to find community resources such as MSDN forums, newsgroups, MVP blogs, and much more.
The SDK also includes many code samples that address common customization scenarios and solution building blocks. Future (quarterly) releases will contain additional samples, and you can also check MSDN Code Gallery for SharePoint solutions and code samples.

Download details: SharePoint 2010 Reference: Software Development Kit

Posted at 9:21 PM by MOSS-04\john | Category: Sharepoint 2010 | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

Microsoft Private Cloud “AppFabric” Prepares for Release

Several weeks ago, I told you about our upcoming Application Infrastructure Virtual Launch event. Today, I am pleased to announce the availability of the Windows Server AppFabric Release Candidate (RC). To learn more, I recommend tuning into the keynote (and the many other sessions we have going on) today at the App Infrastructure Virtual Launch event!
Here’s a brief overview of the announcements we’re making during the event this morning:
First off, we’re officially launching Windows Server AppFabric, with the immediate availability of the Windows Server AppFabric Release Candidate (RC); the final RTM release will be available for download in June. I would like to invite you to check out the new Windows Server AppFabric MSDN page (also revamped today!) and download the release candidate to get started.
Also today, we’re excited to announce the availability of the first BizTalk Server 2010 Beta; which now seamlessly integrates with Windows Server AppFabric, combining the rich capabilities of BizTalk Server integration and the flexible development experience of .NET to allow customers to easily develop and manage composite applications. To learn more (and download the beta), visit the BizTalk website at www.microsoft.com/biztalk.
Together with the already available Windows Azure AppFabric, Windows Server AppFabric and BizTalk Server 2010 form Microsoft’s application infrastructure technologies, bringing even more value to the Windows Server application server. These offerings benefit developers and IT pros by delivering cloud-like elasticity, high availability, faster performance, seamless connectivity, and simplified composition for the most demanding, enterprise applications.
If you’ve been following this blog, we hope you’ve been enjoying the technical insights that the product team has been providing into AppFabric and the underlying technologies (WCF and WF). To gain a broader context about our technologies, and to gain access to a wealth of technical resources, be sure to visit the virtual launch event. In particular, here are some specific sessions and content that the team would like to highlight for your consideration:

Application Server Session
Enterprise Integration Session
Windows Server AppFabric Product Stand

4/29/2010

Malware and Virus Scanning Architecture in Forefront Threat Management Gateway (TMG) 2010

Being a security gateway, the new TMG 2010 has a malware inspection capability built right in it. It inspects all http as well as https traffic to ensure none of the malware infected traffic can get into the corporate network. You may ask my company antivirus program is doing exactly the same thing why do I need to use the gateway to do this? It is important all computers within the corporate network have Anti-Virus installed but sometime their definition may not be up to date especially roaming users by using the gateway not only you can protect those server and client machine, it also provides a centralized monitoring role as well as content policy enhancement.
By using the malware filter, you can safeguard your corporate network with the Microsoft Anti-Malware engine.

From the diagram above it shows how the Malware inspection works starting from
1. PC requests some resource from the internet, it can be a web page or downloading a file.
2. The Forefront TMG will check whether this user is allowed to connect to the request web page by company policy.
3. If the user is allowing to connecting to his/her desire web site, the connection will proceed. On the other hand if the user is not allowed to connect to his/her desire web site the TMG will return a restriction or warning (subject to the policy) message back to the user.
4. If the user is allowing to connecting to the web site a request will reach the intended website and the web server will serve back the content right back to the user.
5. If the Proxy feature is enabled it will catch in the proxy engine.
6. The content then pass on to the Malware Inspection Filter to ensure it is free Malware and serve back to the user’s PC. If there is some form of Malware embedded within the content, TMG will stop it right away.
The TMG is using the Microsoft Anti Malware Engine for malware detection and it will automatically update its engine as well as the AM signature from the Microsoft Cloud service and have them stored locally to ensure the signature database is always up to date and efficiently.
<snip>

Read the whole article @> Microsoft Hong Kong ITPro 's blog : Forefront Threat Management Gateway TMG 2010 part 1

Posted at 3:10 PM by MOSS-04\john | Category: Security | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

Best Practices Analyzer (BPA) for HYPER-V (RTM and R2)

You can use Hyper-V Best Practices Analyzer to scan a server that is running the Hyper-V role, and help identify configurations that do not comply with the best practices of Microsoft for this role. BPA scans the configuration of the physical computer, the virtual machines, and other resources such as virtual networking and virtual storage. Scan results are displayed as a list of issues that you can sort by severity, and include recommendations for fixing issues and links to instructions. No configuration changes are made by running the scan.

Download details: Update for Best Practices Analyzer for HYPER-V for Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Edition (KB977238)

Posted at 10:38 AM by MOSS-04\john | Category: Virtualization | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

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