SharePoint 2010: Importing and Using imported templates

Recently we talked internally about SharePoint and begining to roll it out mainstream.  This involves working with each department and building out their sites.  One department (HR) found a few templates they wanted to work with.  Following is my experience importing and generating a test site from this template: http://www.techsolutions.net/EmployeeTraining.aspx

1. Download and extract your template until you can access the .wsp file
2. Verify the following service is running on SharePoint servers/farm: Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Sandboxed Code Service
• Check out this site for step details (both CA and PS): http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff535775(v=office.14).aspx
3. Decide if deploying to new Web Application or existing. 
• New
1. Create a new Web Application 
2. Create a new Site Collection against that new Web Application (Select template "Team Site" while creating this Site Collection)
3. Goto 'Site Settings' of that new Web Application
4. Goto 'Solutions' 
5. Upload Application Template ".wsp" file, and "Activate" that when upload completes
6. Create a new "Site" in the newly created "Site Collection" (in step 2), and select the newly uploaded solution in "Template" section
• Existing
1. Goto Site Collection to apply template to
2. Goto 'Site Settings'
3. Goto 'Solutions' 
4. Upload Application Template ".wsp" file, and "Activate" that when upload completes
5. Create a new "Site" in the newly created "Site Collection" (in step 2), and select the newly uploaded solution in "Template" section

Pretty simple but took me a while as services were not running.

Check out my How-To write up on SpiceWorks: http://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/show/46419-sharepoint-2010-importing-templates

Enable Remote Desktop (RDP) Remotely

Credit goes out to RAM. (http://community.spiceworks.com/profile/show/RAM.) on SpiceWorks for this hand tidbit.

Found nice How-To on Spiceworks written by RAM (can be found here: http://bit.ly/17vxPcK)

Problem: Remote Desktop Connection Error: This computer can't connect to the remote computer.

Possible Solution:

• Luanch Regedit and connect to remote system
• Start > Run > Regedit
• Minimize Computer Tree (helps keepo things neat)
• Click little arrow next to Computer
• File > Connect Network Registry
• Enter or search for target system name
• Click OK
• Modify fDenyTSConnections to 0
• Under Target System name expand tree
• Navigate: Find HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CurrentControlSet > Control > Terminal Server > fDenyTSConnections
• Right-Click > Modify
• Change value to 0 > OK

Results will very on different system have tested on WinXP and Win7 (Logged in to my system as an Admin / privileged user)

SharePoint 2010: Install Microsoft Productivity Hub 2010 SP1

As we are expanding our SharePoint I decided to play with MS Productivity Hub 2010 SP1 (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=28178) to see if it may help my users become more familiar with SharePoint (and other MS tools).

Requirements:

• Windows XP or later 
• 2007 Office System or later
• SharePoint (SP) Server 2010 SP1 with August 2011 CU 
• Silverlight 4
• Farm Administrator privileges

1. Navigate to http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=28178 and download all files saving them to location accessible from SharePoint (SP) Server(s)
• CoreInstall2010SP1.exe 14.0 MB
• ContentPack2010SP1-1.exe 460.0 MB
• ContentPack2010SP1-2.exe 441.4 MB
• ContentPack2010SP1-3.exe 470.4 MB
• ContentPack2010SP1-4.exe 718.8 MB
2. Unpack all downloads to a directory on one of the servers in your SP farm.
• Created folder called MS Productivity Hub 2010 SP1
3. Verify Administrative rights to User Profile Service Application (By default only SP installation account does)
• Open the Central Administration site. The Central Administration site can be found under the Start menu, in the Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products folder. 
• Within the Central Administration site, navigate to Service Applications under Application Management > Manage Service Applications. 
• Find the User Profile Service Application in the list. Highlight the row by clicking on the row to the right of the link (do not click the link as this will take you to another page). 
• With the User Profile Service Application row highlighted, click the Permissions button in the ribbon toolbar.
• In the Permissions dialog, verify that your account (or the account being used to install the Productivity Hub) is specified with Full Control before proceeding with Productivity Hub installation. 
• Click OK once you have verified and / or added your account with Full Control permissions.
4. Decide where you want the Productivity Hub site to reside within your existing SharePoint Server 2010 farm. 
• You can choose to deploy the site to a new site collection or to an existing site collection. The installation process will attempt to create or replace the chosen site collection with a new Productivity Hub site collection.
• I choose to install in new web application and site collection.
• Web Application
• Authentication: Classic
• IIS Web Site
• IIS Web Site: MSPHUB
• Port: 80
• Host Header: [name for address]
• Ex: internal / training /etc
• Path: [Change only if needed]
• Security Configuration
• Authentication provider: MTLM
• Allow Anonymous: No
• SSL: No
• Public URL
• URL: http://sptraining:80
• Zone: Default
• Application Pool
• Pool Name: SharePoint - MSPHUB
• Security Account: Configuarable (Predefined SP_Farm)
• Database Name and Authentication
• Database server: [Enter Database Server Name]
• Database Name: WSS_Content_MSPHUB
• Database Authentication: Windows authentication
• Failover Server: [Enter if available]
• Search Server: SharePoint Server Search
• Service Application Connections: Default
• CEI Program: No
• Site Collection
• Central Administration > Create Site Collection
• Web Application: [Select Web Application created above]
• Title: MS Productivity Hub
• Description: MS Productivity Hub Repository
• URL: [web application]/
• Template: Blank Site
• Primary Site Collection Administrator: [Desired User]
• Secondary Site Collection Administrator (if needed): [Desired User]
• Quota Template: No Quota
5. Once you have determined which site collection to use, open the SharePoint 2010 Management Shell from one of the SharePoint front end web servers.
• The SharePoint 2010 Management Shell can be found under the Start menu, in the Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products folder. 
6. From within the management shell, change directory to where you’ve placed the Productivity Hub installation files.
• cd "C:\MS Productity Hub 2010 SP1" (remove " if typeing)
7. Run the following command from the management shell prompt: .\install [sitecollectionURL] 
• Example: .\install http://myhubsite/  or .\install http://sptraining/
• Select Y to overwrite
8. Monitor the management shell window to answer any prompts and to ensure success (this may take a few minutes). Once the install process completes, the initial site collection will be deployed to target URL. If you chose to install the default content packs during the installation process, you now have those content packs installed. If there are other content packs you wish to install, please do so now before proceeding to the next step. 
9. Next, open the Central Administration site to initiate a full crawl of the new site collection. The Central Administration site can be found under the Start menu, in the Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products folder. 
1. Within the Central Administration site, navigate to your default Search Service Application instance under Application Management > Manage Service Applications. 
2. From the Search Administration page, click Content Sources from the left navigation menu 
3. Find the relevant Content Source that encompasses the new site collection and choose Start Full Crawl from within its drop-down menu. If you only have “Local SharePoint Server Sites” listed as a content source, perform a full crawl on it. 
• NOTE: The full crawl process may take a few minutes to a several hours depending on the size of your SharePoint server farm. This step is necessary to index the content of the Productivity Hub site collection. 
10. Installation is now complete. You can now navigate to the Productivity Hub site in Internet Explorer and set permissions for your end users and coaches who will need access to the Productivity Hub. Permissions are controlled from the home page. Use Site Actions > Site Settings > People and Groups. Add the relevant users and Active Directory groups to the following SharePoint security groups based on role: 
1. Hub 2010 Members – most users should be placed here. They will be able to view, tag, and rate content, and participate in forums. 
2. Hub 2010 Coaches – same access level as Members, but with access to the Coach Help and the ability to manage content of the Productivity Hub site. 
3. Hub 2010 Owners – Administrators should be registered here. They will have full access to manage content and forum posts, view Site Admin Help, SA Benefits Help, and Coach Help pages; and modify site permissions.
4. Hub Visitors – users who need read-only access to content and forums should be added to this group. Tagging and ratings will still work for these users.

ShoreTel v13.1 SIP and BIAMP

At the beginning of the year we expanded and built a new set of training/conference rooms.  We employed GrayBow (http://www.graybow.com/) to handle the Audio/Visuals of the room.

One such feature is the use of Crestron, Revolabs for conference phones.  We have had several issues with programming the system to dial, maintain connections longer then 30 some minutes.  GrayBow has been great sending techs out and working with the vendors to resolve the issue (hoping the new firmware release fixes all the issues).  Below documents how we had to configure our ShoreTel System to acknowledge the BIAMP card in the new system.

ShoreWare Director Configuration

---

1. Access ShoreTel Director via Web Browser (http://[DirectorIP]/shorewaredirector/login.asp)
• Default Login: admin / changeme
2. Create a SIP Profile
1. Navigate to Administration > IP Phones > SIP Profiles
2. Click New
1. Name: [We used BIAMP]
2. User Agent: biamp.*
3. Priority: 100
4. System Parameters:
• OptionsPing=0
• SendEarlyMedia=0
• MWI=none
• 1CodecAnswer=1
• StripVideoCodec=0
5. Custom Parameters:
6. Click Save
3. Create a Codec List (We skipped as already configured for other SIP System)
1. Navigate to Administration > Call Control > Codec Lists
2. Click New
1. Name: [We used BIAMP_codecs]
2. Under Choose Codecs Select: AAC_LC/32000
3. Click Add >>
4. Under Codec List Members Select: AAC_LC/32000
5. Click Move Up >> until at the top
6. Click Save
4. Configure Switch Port (Again we skipped as already configured for other SIP System)
1. Navigate to Administration > Platform Hardware.. > Voice Switches.. > Primary
2. Select desired switch name to configure SIP on
3. Determine desired port > Change Port Type to 100 SIP Proxy
• Check your switch manual for more details
4. Update Description for easy Identification later
5. Click Save
5. Configuring Site (Again we skipped as already configured for other SIP System)
1. Navigate to Administration > Sites > [Desired Site Name]
2. Update Following Sections:
1. Bandwidth
1. Admission Control Bandwidth: 1544 kbps 
2. Intra-Site Calls: LS_Codecs
3. Inter-Site Calls: LS_Codecs
4. FAX and Modem Calls: Fax Codecs - High Bandwidth
2. SIP Proxy
1. Virtual IP Address: [Designate static IP for SIP Proxy]
2. Proxy Switch 1: [Select defined switch]
3. Proxy Switch 2: [Select defined switch]
3. Click Save
6. Create SIP User Extension
1. Navigate to Administration > Users > Individual Users
2. Click Go to the right of Add new user at site [desired site name]
3. Complete Following Fields
1. First Name: [RoomNames]
2. Number: [System may auto-populate otherwise enter desired extension]
3. License Type [Select Extension and Mailbox]
• You can come back after completion to set to Extension-Only
4. Primary Phone Port > IP Phones: Any IP Phone
5. Click Save
4. Scroll to Bottom and update following:
1. Client Username: [Keep things simple same as First Name]
2. SIP Password: [Define password / By default nonassigned]
3. Click Save
5. Click Save

ShoreTel v13.1 SIP and LifeSize 220

Recently we had issues with our SIP link failing between our LifeSize220 Video Conference System and our ShoreTel VoIP system.  Below are the steps I used to verify and update settings to recreate the connection:

ShoreWare Director Configuration

---

1. Access ShoreTel Director via Web Browser (http://[DirectorIP]/shorewaredirector/login.asp)
• Default Login: admin / changeme
2. Create a SIP Profile
1. Navigate to Administration > IP Phones > SIP Profiles
2. Click New
1. Name: [We used LifeSize220]
2. User Agent: LifeSize.*
3. Priority: 100
4. System Parameters:
• OptionsPing=0
• SendEarlyMedia=0
• MWI=none
• 1CodecAnswer=1
• StripVideoCodec=0
5. Custom Parameters:
• 1CodecAnswer=0
6. Click Save
3. Create a Codec List
1. Navigate to Administration > Call Control > Codec Lists
2. Click New
1. Name: [We used LS_codecs]
2. Under Choose Codecs Select: AAC_LC/32000
3. Click Add >>
4. Under Codec List Members Select: AAC_LC/32000
5. Click Move Up >> until at the top
6. Click Save
4. Configure Switch Port
1. Navigate to Administration > Platform Hardware.. > Voice Switches.. > Primary
2. Select desired switch name to configure SIP on
3. Determine desired port > Change Port Type to 100 SIP Proxy
• Check your switch manual for more details
4. Update Description for easy Identification later
5. Click Save
5. Configuring Site
1. Navigate to Administration > Sites > [Desired Site Name]
2. Update Following Sections:
1. Bandwidth
1. Admission Control Bandwidth: 1544 kbps 
2. Intra-Site Calls: LS_Codecs
3. Inter-Site Calls: LS_Codecs
4. FAX and Modem Calls: Fax Codecs - High Bandwidth
2. SIP Proxy
1. Virtual IP Address: [Designate static IP for SIP Proxy]
2. Proxy Switch 1: [Select defined switch]
3. Proxy Switch 2: [Select defined switch]
3. Click Save
6. Create SIP User Extension
1. Navigate to Administration > Users > Individual Users
2. Click Go to the right of Add new user at site [desired site name]
3. Complete Following Fields
1. First Name: [We used LifeSize_220]
2. Number: [System may auto-populate otherwise enter desired extension]
3. License Type [Select Extension and Mailbox]
• You can come back after completion to set to Extension-Only
4. Primary Phone Port > IP Phones: Any IP Phone
5. Click Save
4. Scroll to Bottom and update following:
1. Client Username: [Keep things simple same as First Name]
2. SIP Password: [Define password / By default nonassigned]
3. Click Save
5. Click Save

LifeSize 220 Configuration

---

1. Access Administration Interface
• IP (Web Browser)
• Open Browser and enter IP address of LifeSize System
• Enter Password (Default 1234)
• System (Remote Controller)
• System Menu (Blue Button)
• Administrator Preferences  > OK
• Communications > SIP
2. Preferences > Communication > SIP
• SIP: Enabled
• SIP Username: [User's First Name]
• Authorization Name:  [User's Extension #]
• Authorization Password: [defined password]
• SIP Server Type: Auto
• SIP Registration: Direct
• SIP Proxy: Disabled
• SIP Registrar: Enabled
• Registrar Hostname: [SIP Proxy: Virtual IP Address:]
• SIP Signaling: Auto
• UDP Signaling Port: 5060
• TCP Signaling Port: 5060
• TLS Signaling Port: 5061

Validate Registration (Update User License Type)

---

1. Access ShoreTel Director via Web Browser (http://[DirectorIP]/shorewaredirector/login.asp)
• Default Login: admin / changeme
2. Navigate to Administration > Users > Individual Users
3. Click on [User's first name created earlier: LifeSize_220 for us]
4. Verify under Current Port you see something like:
• SIP-[String of characters]
• Congrats phone has registered with ShoreTel if not begin troubleshooting (Physical connections and settings)
5. Change License Type: [Set to Extension Only unless Mailbox is needed]

That completes it.  Hope this helps many out there.

Printer Server - Windows Server 2008

Before I joined my current employeer they setup their printers as follows:

1. Assign a Static IP to device at the unit (though they are on their own VLAN and could have DHCP setup).
2. Install to the Primary Domain Controller (PDC) then share out to all users
• Some manual others via a old batch script (Correct no GPO here)
• If system needs 64-bit drivers they can download from manufacture site.

So having many issues with this config I am setting up a Print Server on our Backup Domain Controller (BDC) also a 2k8 system (hoping to move up to 2k8r2 or even 2k12 next year).  Below are the processes/setups I completed.

Install Role via Server Manager (wanted to do via PowerShell but requires installation of Exchange Management appearently: http://bit.ly/15yqjQg)

1. Login to desired server to install Print Server Role
2. Launch Server Manager (if not done so automatically)
3. Under Roles Summary click Add Roles
4. Select Printer Services > Next > Next
5. Select Roles to add > Next
• Printer Server (selected)
• Printer Server and Print Magament Snap-in
• LPD Service
• For Linux Printing using LPR
• Internet Printing
• Allow users to manage print jobs (Requires Web Server (IIS) role)
6. Review > Install
7. Review results (correct any error as needed)

Printer Setup

1. To start I had to add our network printers to our BDC.  Mapping them to their IP and not using the shares from the PDC.  (Used all PCL5 32-bit drivers as server is 32 bit).
• Print Management > Print Servers > [Server Name] > Printers > Right Click - Add Printer
• For new printer complete the following:
• Select "Add a TCP/IP or Web Services Printer ..." > Next
• Enter IP Address > Next
• Setup Sharing now or skip and do later > Next
• Review Details > Next
• I always recommend selecting "Print test page", if you wish to add more printers select that > Finish
• To duplicate a printer (If you setup default print settings for BW and Color)
• Select "Add a new printer using existing port: [Select TCP/IP port to be used]" > Next
• Select Driver to use (we only change when we need to offer up PostScript to our marketing)
• Once the printers were all added I then began the process of adding additional drivers.
2. Next I made sure I had the x86, x64 of PCL5 and also select PostScript (PS) drivers for my printers.
• Print Management > Print Servers > [Server Name] > Drivers  > Right Click - Add Driver
• Next
• Select all formats that you plan to add (typically I do both x64 and x86 for all printers) > Next
• Either browse the list or click "Have Disk" (I recommend using have disk and downloading drivers from vendor) > Next
• If multiple models select best fit.
• Will repeat if you selected both x64 and x86 otherwise click "Finish"

And that is it.  Now you can manage drivers for all installed printers in on location.  At some point I will get GPO deployment configured and will post that up as well but for now I will have to update our existing batch file.

WatchGuard Best Practice and XTM

Recently atteneded WatchGuard (WG) XTM 101 presented by Bill (William) Larsen.

Helpful Tips:

When naming rules end with: .in/ .out / .passthrough
     Will make life easier to filter traffic when troubleshooting / investigating

Ensure only your Active Directory (AD)servers provide DNS

• Setup Alias to include only your AD servers
• Setup DNS-proxy.out
• Policy Type: DNS-Proxy
• From: ADServers
• To: Any-External

Allow guest wifi to use public DNS

• Setup DNS-proxy.passthrough
• Policy Type: DNS-Proxy
• From: Any-Optional
• To: Any-External

If you have multiple servers/systems that you need to manage through RDP let WG handle the port translation.

• Create additional Policy Types using following naming scheme:
• RDP-[Port]
• Ex. RDP-3391 | RDP-3390
• When setting up SNAT us following naming scheme(only if SNAT just for RDP)
• SNAT Name: RDP-[server name]
• Ex. RDP-WFE01
• SNAT Member: [External IP] [Internal IP] [Internal Port (3389 unless changed on server)]
• xx.xx.xx.xx -> 192.168.40.25 : 3389

To prevent SpamBot from sending on your domain ensure only your Exchange server can send

• Setup Alias to include only you Exchange server (only have a single server not sure how a cluster would function)
• Setup following rules:
• Name: SMTP-Exchange.out
• Policy Type: SMTP
• From: Exchange
• To: Any-External (or alias for offsite SpamFiltering, we use Postini)

Now for the Exchange and DNS to work you need to ensure this finally rule is setup as we have not blocked any thing only setup rules to allow.

Setup Deny Rule:

• Name: MyDenyRule
• Policy Type: MyDenyRule
• Ports: 25 (TCP&UDP), 53 (TCP&UDP) and 161
• From: Any-Trusted, Any-Optional
• To: Any-External