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7/28/2008

Running Windows Server 2003 Administration Tolls Pack on Vista

Good afternoon MSS Blog followers. I ran into an issue after upgrading to Vista with my Windows Server 2003 Tools not working anymore, no user account abilities, no ISS management, and no Exchange Snap-in. Finally I saw a few blogs that hinted around my issue but none that fixed it. I finally copied these DLL's:

address.dll
escprint.dll
exchmem.dll
glblname.dll
maildsmx.dll
pttrace.dll
netui0.dll
netui1.dll
netui2.dll

I got some from the Exchange CD and others from a DLL download library, since I do not have rights to the exchange server itself. After downloading these I ran a script:

regsvr32 /s address.dll

regsvr32 /s escprint.dll

regsvr32 /s exchmem.dll

regsvr32 /s glblname.dll

regsvr32 /s maildsmx.dll

regsvr32 /s pttrace.dll

regsvr32 /s netui0.dll

regsvr32 /s netui1.dll

regsvr32 /s netui2.dll

Copy to text file click save as Fix then replace txt with CMD and click ok. Open the file from the save location by double clicking

This script registers the DLL's for use. This combination of grabbing the right DLL's and running the script worked like a charm. After running the script I looked down on one of the first blogs I visited and saw this script in the comments. Wish I had looked there last Thursday!

http://nikste.wordpress.com/2007/12/17/how-to-run-exchange-2003-system-management-tools-in-vista/

Posted at 4:41 PM by Ross Beurmann | Category: Tips and Tricks | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

7/14/2008

Web Site Governance (a user/administrator perspective)

It has been a long time, regrettably, since my last post. I apologize to my loyal fans…J At any rate there is an issue that is affecting a lot of the staff here at MetroStar which is portal site governance. Now I have been an administrator for several web applications, from my work pre-MetroStar (aka…the Dark Ages) as well as my work at MetroStar. I have drafted governance policy and plans, as well as Configuration Control policies and plans for multiple systems in the Federal sector, most commonly the DoD market.

I believe in the effort put forward by the Technology powers that be here at MetroStar but I believe there was no user adoption strategy put forward. When applying governance to a previously un-governed site, there is a huge need for a user adoption strategy geared towards those users who are typically owners of sites, as well as people who had design access to these sites. A clear cut message of the plan, the intent of the plan, and a timeline of execution, needs to be developed and shared with the users of the portal. I am hoping that MetroStar can chalk this experience to lessons learned and the next time a governance policy, plan and finally action are taken the adoption strategy will be well planned and executed just like the governance model.

Now the Administrators side is: The policy is set, adapt an overcome. This point of view is also very understandable. The fact of the matter is the portal is governed now and there are documentation templates etcetera, fall into line, and march on.

I understand both sides of the story here. I was affected by this in both ways, one as a site owner for multiple sites on the portal. I was in the midst of developing a new site for the portal, and as a MetroStar portal administrator.

Posted at 11:29 AM by Ross Beurmann | Category: Non sequitor's | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

Process Automation in SharePoint 2007

Hello sports fans, welcome to a little "edification" (note the flying quotation marks) for everyone in building workflows in SharePoint designer. There are two assumptions people tend to make when discussing process automation and workflow.

Process automation and workflow are, in fact, the same thing.
SharePoint does Workflow

Both of these assumptions are incorrect. Well let me rephrase, I would strongly disagree. Process automation is done in SharePoint using SharePoint Designer I agree with wholeheartedly. I would also say that workflow can be done in SharePoint using an excellent C#/.NET programmer and some elbow grease. SharePoint designer is a powerful design tool that also allows for the use of Windows Workflow Foundation (WWF), InfoPath Forms, email, and Built-in SharePoint lists. All of the features I just mentioned are inherent in SharePoint, actually there are some built in "workflows" that come out of the box with MOSS enterprise edition. These workflows are more like task assigners for documents and other list items. They create a task, send an email, collect some data you know the basics. They are very useful in a situation where the requirements are met be simple. In the Government, simple is not a requirement you often get.

Utilizing SharePoint Designer:

SharePoint designer can do much of the same but at the designer's discretion. You can copy, add, update and delete list items, perform lookups against the database, and other useful little things. The issue I have encountered with SharePoint designer is that you cannot create sub-sites, or do any cross site lookups, copies, adds etcetera. SharePoint designer can do a lot of powerful things after your site is set-up and configured including the creation of lists, metadata fields, document libraries and so on.

Currently I have created a SharePoint designer workflow for a few sites. I had a few that were pretty inventive for a Network/Systems guy like me. I set up a workflow that took the last four places in the URL of a document and classified the type of doc based on the extension. It was for a library of code that had categories based on the type of document. The example was if the URL of the Current Item ended with .DOC then select Word Document 1997-2003 from Document Type. The Document type selection box was a custom drop down with fields input previously before entering SharePoint Designer. The next pretty cool thing I did was a copy a list from one list into two others. We had a list that contained a Point of Contact and other information for the input of this data. When the user created or edited a list item the workflow would run and copy the POC info into the POC list and the other data into another list. Now the issue I was facing was duplicate data, I created a look-up on the POC list that said if the Full Name on the current Item equaled any full name on the POC list then DO NOT copy the item to the list. I did the same look-up on the other data list and I have yet to have duplicates. Now if these workflows have to transverse separate sites these lookups will not work. If multiple sites are involved you will need to develop your workflow in custom code using the MOSS object Model and WWF.

Posted at 11:27 AM by Ross Beurmann | Category: Microsoft Technologies | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

5/1/2008

Health Care

With the current political campaign barrelling forward one of the Democratic hot issues is health care as it always is. I have a great story about Metrostar's health benefits. My second son was born on Monday and he and my wife returned from the hospital back home last night. Just before their return as we were waiting to be discharged from the Hospital our bill arrived. Remembering back to my first son, Tommy's, birth I was a little nervous. When Tommy was born, I was in the Army stationed in Arizona and I remember counting out the 13 dollars I owed the Sierra Vista Regional Medical center from my wallet. It was such a nominal ammount since the Military has excellent medical benefits for its men and women I didn't even look at the total cost of his delivery. As I was opening the envelope I remember being a little nervous and I looked down at the total I saw over 42 thousand dollars and I almost hade a heart attack, luckily I was standing in a hospital. Anyway as I calmed down and looked at the "you owe" total I was pleasantly surprised that the ammount I was giving to the hospital wasn't going to require a second mortgage or a call to a bookie. It was in the hundreds of dollars and I called up my Boss and thanked him for providing us with such good health care for a small chunk of change each month. Anyway the bottom line is when you have an employer that provides the best to his employees you don't have to worry about who wants socialized health care anymore, now you have to fight to keep the great benefit you already have.

Posted at 3:07 PM by Ross Beurmann | Category: Non sequitor's | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

4/16/2008

MOSS and Service Oriented Architecture

The term Service Oriented Architecture gets over used and is typically not properly understood in the IT industry. Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is believed to be a technological solution however it is a person's set of ideas that constructs a technological solution. There are many benefits to creating a SOA in organizations but it can cause issues as well. These issues can be mitigated and resolved with proper planning and implementation.

Benefits:

System Integration - Legacy systems can be easily integrated into your SOA by the use of small pieces of code on the enterprise level (Enterprise Service Buses) and at the application level (Application Interfaces.)
Enterprise Search - Imagine one search box that would allow you to search items vertically and horizontally in an organization to pull up any and all items that a user has access to.
Identity and Access Rights Management - Users can get overwhelmed quickly by having multiple log-ins for each system that they interact with. Creating an enterprise access solution is the answer.
Enterprise People Search – Do your users need to track down an HR person, or an IT professional, well search across the organizations professional network to find the right person for the right issue.

Issues:

Content Management – Your Current Desperate systems are all using their own Meta Data tagging guidelines
Security – Does the organization have multiple classifications or departments that have security concerns
Cost – If the organization doesn't own MOSS there will be some initial cost concerns, however the value is justified because purchasing MOSS allows for the re-use of legacy applications
Detractors – This can be a person or persons inside the organization that either doesn't understand the solution, is stubborn about change, or doesn't like the developer/ company implementing the solution

The MOSS SOA approach utilizes the SharePoint object model in the way of web services to create features on the Portal or Top Level site levels to communicate to legacy application interfaces. These web services will allow a user, based on their identity and access, to search, see, push and pull data from legacy systems from one location. The steps are as follows:

Develop a Content Management Approach – This will create a single Meta Tagging solution that will increase the amount of sources you can pull items from.
Apply Identity and Access Management Approach
Code you Web Services to act as the Enterprise Service Buses
Install MOSS and apply Meta Tag guidelines to it by way of template based libraries and lists.
Create and install your application Interfaces

After the seemingly easy but rather tedious process you are ready for your users to access and add content from your Enterprise Portal. The below Diagram Shows the Basic Architecture of a MOSS SOA Approach, remember the Legacy Applications have Application Interfaces coded on them:

Posted at 10:40 AM by Ross Beurmann | Category: Microsoft Technologies | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

4/9/2008

Leveraging Technology Against Business Needs

Technology is always evolving and adapting which is great but it seems that Business' in the public and private sectors don't use this technology to its fullest capacity. It seems there is a constant battle between those who like things the old way, and tech geeks who think new is obviously better. I work for an IT company that produces cutting edge technological systems for business, but I print documents out to edit them with a red pen as if I was a High School English teacher. There are 2 keys to running a successful IT project, user/management buy in and creating the right solution; easier said than done obviously. The first thing you need to wrap your hands around is an advocate. This is a high up person in the organization that loves your solution and will fight alongside you to combat detractors. Detractors can kill an IT project as quick as Mike Tyson can chew through an ear. Detractors don't like something about your product which could be as mundane as the brand name or more like the personality of one of your team members. The most successful IT professionals like Bill Gates and Steve Jobbs not only have the right solution for the problem but also the correct means to explain that solution at the 60,000 foot view and in a highly technical view. Ensuring that you have the right advocate can ensure the success of your project. The second thing you need to do is align the business goals with proper IT solutions. Managing requirements from a business perspective only or an IT perspective only will fail. Your analysis has to fuse business and technology together to ensure that you deliver the best product for the business case at hand. This will allow you to develop a tool for the user that will increase efficiency around the workplace as well as please management with dashboards and reporting features to simplify their day to day. Creating an easy to use GUI, with the proper functionality, and having a powerful advocate inside the organization will lead to a successful IT project.

Posted at 7:27 AM by Ross Beurmann | Category: Tips and Tricks | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

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