http://bsn.borderware.com/

And don't forget www.mxtoolbox.com

Symptoms:

• Search returns no results, but no errors either, in WSS - simply that no results were found, when there definitely should be something there.


• Event ID 2424 and the error (along the lines of) "The update cannot be started because the content sources cannot be accessed. Fix the errors and try the update again. Context: Application 'Search', Catalog 'index file on the search server search'

Solutions (for me (this week, 2 different issues/2 different fixes)

1. On one install, it was a brand new WSS site. All configured, all tuned, everything cool but missing SP1. Soon as I applied it and rebooted, my search started working - Whoopee! Happy.


2. On the other install, it was a little more complicated but ultimately made perfect sense. My WSS server was on a private IP network (192.168.5.x). The URL I assigned it, instead of setting up a local web application and extending it (what I really should have done), actually resolved to the public IP of the site (67.44.44.x). Therefore, when search attempted to run, it itself was unable to *visit* the website, in order to search it. The quick fix was to resolve the IP's internally by modifying the local hosts file. The real solution will be to rebuild the sites (backup/restore collection) to local web applications, that are extended for public access.

I'll add more solutions, when/if I come across them. Hope this helps someone, somewhere.

Problem:

You have a SharePoint list/form that you want to control the order of data entry into. No matter what way you order the columns in the list or view, it doesn't show them the way you'd expect.

Answer:

The column ordering is based on the content type's ordering, and then list settings ordering is applied after. I think the rules are that it applies the content type's ordering first, and then orders any additional columns that you have added later.

To change the ordering of the content type, you need to first enable the management of content types on that list (Advanced settings), then select the content type (Issue, in my case), and re-order the columns there.

Zac wrote and discovered it first, so it would be rude not to point out the reference :)
http://www.sharepointu.com/forums/p/1494/4056.aspx

It provides an automated mechanism (that can be scheduled via your task scheduler) for WSS Site Collection Backups (multiple sites, via CSV selection list)

Download the script here - NOTE: you use this at your own risk. I'm just being a nice guy here. http://www.itgroove.net/central/Scripts/WSS.zip

Simply copy the script to your server, fill out the few required variables and modify the CSV file to suit. CSV format is as following:

ClientName,PortalURL,friendlyname

E.g.

itgroove,https://portal.itgroove.net:443,itgroovePortal

http://dlocc.com/sharepoint/35-customization/46-how-to-remove-the-qtitleq-column-from-a-sharepoint-list.html

http://vmetc.com/2008/08/10/whats-the-difference-between-free-esxi-and-licensed-esxi

And this ESX vs ESXi comparison:

http://planetwilson.blogspot.com/2008/02/version-2-of-colour-calendar-released.html

But even after blowing away the web application and site collection, creating a new web application and restoring the site collection from backup, this problem would just reappear (errors below):

You are not authorized to view this page

HTTP Error 401.2 - Unauthorized: Access is denied due to server configuration.
Internet Information Services (IIS)

For me, what worked was this...

This was the article that got me thinking about the problem:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/832769

And then I did this...

Configure Basic authentication (I disabled NTLM/Integrated, to get mine to work) on the Web application from SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration.

1. Click Start, Administrative Tools, and then double-click SharePoint Central Administration.
2. Click the Application Management tab, and then click Authentication Providers.
3. In the Web Application list, select the Web application that you have to update.
4. Click the Zone that you want.
5. On the Edit Authentication page for the IIS Authentication Settings, Integrated Windows authentication, click Basic authentication (and uncheck or try/alternate with Integrated Windows Authentication turned off).
6. To apply the change, click Save.

I resolved the problem I was having where I would create a DataViewWebPart for one of our lists and get this:

The server returned a non-specific error when trying to get data from the data source. Check the format and content of your query and try again. If the problem persists, contact the server administrator.

It turns out that amongst the 100 fields the list has there was one that was tripping it up. That field just so happened to be a look-up to that list itself (self-referential). Whether or not it was because of the nature of the reference or some other spurious mal-formatted data is yet to be assessed.

Use this path, to connect to your local SharePoint Windows Internal Database (WIB) using SQL Server Management Studio Express (2005).

.\pipe\MSSQL$MICROSOFT##SSEE\sql\query

(note: there are two backslashes at the front of that syntax that aren’t shown via HTML, so don’t forget those)

When you've got it, flaunt it, right?

itgroove Testimonials, online and available.

http://www.itgroove.net/cms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1&Itemid=3

Although not reported by Microsoft as a problem (pretty much no info on the net), through some testing, we were able to ascertain that the problem was being caused by permissions and restrictions, more than likely because of the server being a domain controller. The test results concluded that if the end user was an 'administrator', the 'Connect To' feature worked perfectly in Terminal Services Manager, which gave us a flash back of the 'Windows 2000, Log on Locally' privilege. Of course, ever since Windows 2003, there's been the introduction of the 'Remote Desktop Users' group, that by default, is not granted the 'Log on Locally' privilege (although it allows you to connect to the server with a TS client). As soon as we granted the 'Remote Desktop User's group the 'log on locally' privilege in the Default Domain Controller's Group Policy object...BAM!...everything was working with 'as expected' functionality.

Thanks to Avi for the write up :)

http://www.cmsmatrix.org/

Microsoft allows you to use the same VM licensing with any VM platform, even bare metal VM platforms like ESX. The same licensing that applies to the MS VM's applies to all VM technology.

• Windows 2003 Standard - 1 instance VM or Physical


• Windows 2008 Standard - 1 Physical + Virtual


• Windows Server Enterprise 2003-2008 - 1 Physical + 4 VM


• Windows Datacenter 2003 -2008 - 1 Physical Unlimited VM

• http://www.pcworld.com/article/132838-1/microsoft_clarifies_virtualization_licensing.html

• http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/howtobuy/licensing/calculator.mspx