What

Good news.  ActiveSync doesn’t require you to know your “pod” (server) anymore when connecting ActiveSync to Exchange that has been upgraded in the Office 2013 refresh (wallbridge.com just got upgraded in the last 3 days).  The bad news is you may need to reset your ActiveSync settings as you may have an old Server entry in your settings.

Note, this isn’t a technical discussion.  I’m not going to go deep into discussions about web applications vs. managed paths, SSL, etc. when scaling up or out.  I simply wanted to share how we named our SharePoint web applications and subsequently became the same advice we give our clients.

Ran into this on Friday at a customer.  Unexpected as the database logging file size shouldn’t have been changed in the first place but it could happen elsewhere. Hope this helps others.

What

• Event ID: 5586
• Error Posted: Unknown SQL Exception 9002 occurred. Additional error information from SQL Server is included below. The transaction log for database ‘ContentDB02′ is full. To find out why space in the log cannot be reused, see the log_reuse_wait_desc column in sys.databases

So What

Sucks don’t it? SharePoint can’t write anymore. From the SharePoint side, certain site collections couldn’t add/edit content but SharePoint pages would still render. When writing, a generic correlation ID would appear so the clue was in the Servers Event Logs only.

The reality/issue was that the database in question was changed from its default logging database maximum size of 2,097,152 MB to 2,048MB (2GB). Sure enough, on the file system, the LDB file for the database was showing 1.9GB or so. Not sure who changed this from the default but that is another story. As the logfiles are well managed and checked, it was recent activity (huge volumes) of transactions within a matter of a day or so that caused it to climb.

Now What

While there is a bunch of ways to approach this, short and sweet was in order as I had a class to teach.

1. First off was to shrink the logging database file (in SQL manager, shrink the database and the file, first of course setting its database recovery type to Simple)
2. Set the database limit back to the defaults … as it shouldn’t have been changed in the first place in this circumstance

Got my email re: 5th year as a Microsoft MVP for SharePoint Server today. Always strange to get it on April Fools but real all the same. Thanks to all for your support.

I love that we are living the dream of BYOD (Bring your own device) and felt the need to illustrate it.

We provide a solid/secured centralized platform and our folks connect with their tool of choice. You could look at this as say Office 365 does the same thing for those that don’t want to make the investment and have the control we do.  Contact itgroove if you want to collaborate the way we do – on premise or in the Cloud (Office 365).

You may have heard stories of businesses hiring technology consultants to fix problems or create new solutions. Many of those stories end with the consultant not meeting the needs or expectations of the business.

A feeling of disappointment and resentment – but you can prevent this.

The reasons for failed technology projects are numerous; however projects come down to one thing: the people. These 6 things should help you avoid failed project situations by hiring good tech consultants – from the beginning.

You should ask consulting companies these six things to gauge whether they will fit your business and are quality consultants. Even hiring consultants means they should go through an interview process.

Shout out to Jarrod for putting this together for me.

Don’t mind me. I reach for this enough times that it was worth sharing again.  I’m sure there will be dozens of other posts out there with similar CSS but I’m hoping we provide a little twist, at least if you are using the stock Master Pages in 2013 (Oslo/Seattle, etc.) as we find the padding to be a bit much as well on pages where you typically want to remove the quick launch (dashboards/user presentation spaces).   Note, I’m not going to cover how to apply this across all of your pages (Master Pages, CSS style sheets, whatever your poison), this is for those “one off” occasions.

Microsoft has asked me to share this with Microsoft saavy peeps.  Besides, everyone loves a contest!

Sean

We often work with Anthony, Pierre and Mitch, the evangelists from the IT Pro team at Microsoft Canada. They asked us to share this important message with you.

The team at Microsoft Canada is focused on ensuring that they help set you up for success by providing the information and tools you need in order to be get the most out of Microsoft based solutions, at home and at work.

Twice a year, Microsoft sends out the Global Relationship Study (GRS for short); it’s a survey that Microsoft uses to collect your feedback and help inform their planning. If you receive emails from Microsoft, subscribe to their newsletters‚ or you’ve attended our any of their events you may receive the survey.

The important details:

• Timing – March 4^th to April 12^th 2013
• Sent From – “Microsoft Feedback”
• Email Alias – “feedback@e–mail.microsoft.com”
• Subject Line – “Help Microsoft Focus on Customers and Partners”

Many of you already read the Microsoft Canada IT Pro team’s blogs‚ connect with them on LinkedIn and have attended their events in the last year or so. So you may already know that you’re their top priority. So they want to hear from you.

Pierre, Anthony and Mitch use the GRS results to shape what they do, how they do it and if it’s resonating with you. Tell them what you need to be the “go-to” guy (or gal). Tell them what you need to grow your career. They want you to be completely satisfied with Microsoft Canada.

This year, Pierre, Anthony and Mitch have delivered 30 IT Camps and counting across the country. Giving you the opportunity to get hands on and learn how to get the most value for your organization. They have a few more events planned this year, so keep an eye on their plancast feed for events near you. Based on your feedback, topics they’re planning to cover will include:

· Windows 8

· Windows Server 2012

· System Center 2012

· Private Cloud

· BYOD – Management and Security

That’s not all. They’ve heard you loud and clear so in addition to hands on events, they’re also delivering more technical content online via the IT Pro Connection Blog. Windows 8 continues to be a big area of focus for them. They covered a lot of great content at launch and they’ve complimented that with new content like:

· Security Concepts

· Enterprise Focused Content

· Windows 8 and System Center 2012 Integration

In addition to this, there are some valuable online resources you can use like Microsoft Virtual Academy, Microsoft’s no-cost online training portal. Or software evaluations (free trials) on TechNet that allow you to build your own labs to try out what you’ve learned.

Regardless of how you engage with the team at Microsoft Canada‚ you’d probably agree that they hear you. They’d also encourage you to continue to provide that great feedback. They thrive on it‚ they relish it‚ they wallow in it and most importantly of all‚ they action it. So please keep connecting with them and keep it coming! Pierre, Anthony and Mitch are listening.

Resources, Tools and Training

· Tim Horton’s Gift Card Contest – We’re giving away 350 Tim Horton’s gift cards, all you have to do to qualify is download a free qualifying software evaluation (trial). Download all three for more chances to win, but hurry, the contest closes soon.*

· Windows 8 Resource Guide - Download a printable, one-page guide to the top resources that will help you explore, plan for, deploy, manage, and support Windows 8 as part of your IT infrastructure.

· Windows Server 2012 Evaluation – Get hands on with Windows Server 2012 and explore the scale and performance possibilities for your server virtualization.

· Microsoft Support - Get help with products‚ specific errors‚ virus detection and removal and more.

· Microsoft Licensing -Visit the Volume Licensing Portal today to ask questions about volume licensing‚ get a quote‚ activate a product or find the right program for your organization. 

*No purchase necessary. Contest open to residents of Canada, excluding Quebec. Contest closes April 11, 2013 at 11:59:59 p.m. ET. Three-Hundred-and-Fifty (350) prizes are available to be won: (i) $10 CDN Tim Horton’s gift card.  Skill-testing question required. Odds of winning depend on the number of eligible entries. For full rules, including entry, eligibility requirements and complete prize description, review the full terms and Conditions.

Mark Minasi wrote a very informative article about IPv6 and buried in the goodness were ways to disable the (various) elements of it. I’m summarizing the pieces below as his goes on quite a bit and I imagine I’ll be referencing this quite a bit now and then… Ya, this is one of those blogs posts that are as much me recording it for my own purposes as for sharing.

• Reference article – an interesting read for the nerd set: http://www.minasi.com/newsletters/nws1303.htm

Note, I’m not endorsing turning off IPV6 everywhere … as it will matter (Someday?) but in situations where it is not needed, the following may prove useful. If you are interested in which platforms even know what to do with IPv6 (Supports it), see here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/network/hh994905.aspx

Killing 6to4, ISATAP and Teredo for the Impatient

If you’re in a rush, this Registry entry will kill 6to4, Teredo and ISATAP in one shot. Heck, it’s a Registry entry, so you could even roll it out as a group policy.

1. Look in the Registry at HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters for a REG_DWORD entry called DisabledComponents. If it's not there, create it in Parameters.

2. Set its value to 1.

3. Restart the computer.

Shutting Off 6to4 using PowerShell

set-net6to4configuration -state disabled

Shutting Off Teredo using PowerShell

Set-NetTeredoConfiguration -type disabled

Shutting Off ISATAP

set-netisatapconfiguration -state disabled