So the first one out is the simple backup/restore stsadm operations. The problem with this is that when doing the restore it’s not possible to specify what database to restore it to. So to be able to do this you need to lock the other content databases except the one you want to add it to. This might not be possible and the you could use a maintenance farm.

A much better option is the mergecontentdbs stsadm operation that was introduced in SP1 of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and allows 3 different options. The first option only analyse the situation and calculate the amount of site collections in the content database and their size. The second option is to move all sites in the specified source content database and move them to the specified destination content database. Our last option is to use an xml file containing the sites that we want to move as an input file to the command and the operation will only move the sites specified in that xml-file

The best thing with the last option is that we can use the enumsites operation to get an xml file of all sites for our a specific web application.

Example: stsadm -o enumsites -url [webAppUrl] -showlocks > "D:tempsites.xml"

The only problem with the above is that if you have a large amount of site collection and a number of content databases you will need to modify the list and remove the site collections that should not be moved to another content database. Later in this post I will show you how this problem can easily be addressed using PowerShell

Before using the mergecontentdbs operation you should consider two things. The first one is that since the mergecontentdbs operation is using the Content Deployment API it’s not suitable for sites larger then 10 GB. The other is that if content is changed during the operation you will not only risk losing the content but it could also cause database corruption as described in this KB: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/969242. So before moving the sites it’s a good recommendation to lock the site collections before the move.

To solve this I created a PowerShell script that does the following:

1. Exports all the site collection for specific web application to an xml-file
2. Remove all sites in the file that is not located in the database I have specified
3. Sets the site collections to no access to prevent data loss
4. Move the sites from the source database to the destination database using the xml file
5. Offers you to make an IISreset on all WFEs in the farm (Recommended after the stsadm operation)
6. Set the site collection lock back to it’s original

$env:PATH = $env:PATH +
";C:Program FilesCommon FilesMicrosoft SharedWeb Server Extensions12BIN" 

$webAppUrl = "http://myWebAppUrl"
$sourceContentDB = "SourceContentDB"
$destinationContentDB = "DestinationContentDB"
$xmlfile = "d:tempsites.xml" 

# enumerate through all site collections and save them to the XML-file
Write-Host "Retreives all site collections located at"
$webAppUrl "and save it to " $xmlfile
stsadm -o enumsites -url $webAppUrl -showlocks > $xmlfile | out-null 

# Import the XML file content $sites = [xml](Get-Content $xmlfile)
# Remove only the site collections located in the source database
Write-Host "Cleaning up the" $xmlfile "file and remove sites that should not be affected"
$sites.Sites.Site | Where-Object {$_.ContentDatabase -ne $sourceContentdb} |
ForEach-Object { $_.ParentNode.RemoveChild($_) | out-null } 

# Enumerate through all the sites in the xml file and make necessary preparations 

foreach($site in $sites.sites.site) {
# Lock the sites to prevent errors when migration and data loss
Write-Host "Locking the site" $site.url "to prevent data loss"
stsadm -o setsitelock -url $site.URL -lock Noaccess
} 

# Moving sites
stsadm -o mergecontentdbs -url $webAppUrl -sourcedatabasename $sourceContentDB
  -destinationdatabasename $destinationContentDB -operation 3 -filename $xmlfile 

# Get the farm object to find get all the WFEs in the farm
[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SharePoint")
$farm = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm]::Local
Write-Host "To complete the move you need to make an IISreset on all WFEs in the farm"
Write-Host "You will now get the option to make an IISreset on all your WFEs"
Write-Host "" 

# Enumerate through all servers in the farm 

foreach ($svr in $farm.Servers) {
  foreach ($svc in $svr.ServiceInstances) {
    # If the server has the Windows SharePoint Services Web Application service it
    # is most likely it's a WFE.
    if($svc.TypeName -eq "Windows SharePoint Services Web Application"){
      # Ask if we should make an IISReset on the server
      $IISReset = Read-Host "Do you want to make an IIS-reset on"
      $svr.DisplayName "server (yes/No)?"
      if($IISReset.ToLower() -eq "yes") {
        iisreset $svr.DisplayName
      }
    }
  }
}
# Enumerate through all the sites in the xml file and finalize the move
foreach($site in $sites.sites.site) {
  # Set the original lockstate for the site collection
  Write-Host "Setting the original lock state for site" $site.url "to prevent data loss"
  stsadm -o setsitelock -url $site.URL -lock $site.Lock
}

You can download the script [Download not found]. Just make sure you run it with an account that has sufficient permissions as described in the enumcontentdbs TechNet article and to modify the first 4 paramaters.

Another option to move site collections is to use the Batch Site Manager that is included in the SharePoint Administration Toolkit. This tool is packaged as a solution that you deploy to your farm. When deployed (and activated), it will then have a new option in Central Administration under Application Management.

The tool allows you to very nicely see all site collection for each content database, select the ones you want to move and create a timer job for the move. The Batch Site Manager is using the stsadm operations backup and restore in the background. It usually takes a bit longer then the mergecontentdbs but you get the option to specify when the timer job should be run, where to store the temporary file and you can get a email notification telling you the status of the move. As you can see in the screenshot above the tool also offers you to batch locking and deletion of sites.

The Batch Site Manager is recommended to use with sites up to 15 GB. The mentioned recommendations for the both tools should be seen as recommendation and it’s possible to test your way forward and what works in your environment.

So what about really large site collections?
When moving really large sites none of the mentioned tools might work and you will then have to take on a different approach. In short this is what you need to do.

1. Set the site collection that needs to be moved (farm 1) to read only and make a SQL backup of the content database (ContentDB A).
2. Restore the content database with a new name (ContentDB B) and attach it to your Maintanence farm (Farm B) or if you don’t have one to a different web application. Make sure you use the –assignnewdatabaseid since we will later on restore the database back to it’s original location
3. When it’s attached to farm B, use the stsadm -deletesite operation using the -gradualdelete parameter (introduced in the April CU) to remove the sites from ContentDB B that should not be moved.
4. Backup the ContentDB B and restore it (but don’t attach it yet) to your Farm A
5. Delete the large site from ContentDB A using stsadm and -gradualdelete.
6. When the site is deleted you can attach ContentDB A to Farm A
7. Unlock the site collection when done.

When saving a site as a site template (found in Site settings and Site Actions) it will in SharePoint 2010 be saved as a .wsp file and stored in the Site collections solution gallery. This makes it very easy to reuse and redeploy the site template to other site collections or to other farms. It also means that the Site template gallery we had in the previous version is no longer needed or available in SharePoint 2010.

When the solution is saved it will automatically get activated so that if you want to create a new sub site within your site collection the Site template will be available directly after it is saved. So when choosing Site actions and New site it will be available there as seen below.

So what about saving a Site collection as a site template? Well since end users are not able to create Site collections from the UI you need to find a way to apply your new site template without having it to be deployed globally. Microsoft has thought of this so when creating a Site collection from Central administration you have the option to select “select template later”.

This option does not only mean that when browsing to the site the first time you are able to select any of the available templates but you are able to upload a new Site template and by doing that the wsp will be saved in the new Site collection solution gallery. Quite neat isn’t it?

As you can see below, we are browsing to the new site and from there we have the link to our Site collection solution gallery. There we can upload the .wsp-file containing our site template. Next time we browse to the site collection root our new site template will be available under the custom tab.

The exact location and registration can be found at www.ssug.se

Hope to see you there!

In some scenarios these rules are not applicable for you. For instance you might know that you have a content database over the recommendation then you don’t want to get an alert every hour it is run. This can easily be changed from central administration but if you want to script it using PowerShell to build it into e.g. your installation script this is how you do.

Open up the SharePoint management shell.

First we need to connect to the list containing all the health rules. This is done from through the SPHealthReportsList class.

$haList = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.Health.SPHealthRulesList]::Local.Items

Next thing we need to do is to get the ID of the specific rule. This can be done from Central Administration by clicking on an item. Right click on the page and take properties. In the Querystring in the Address field you will find the ID.

You can of course get the ID through PowerShell as well. The below line shows all the name of all items and their ID.

$haList | Select-Object title, id | Format-List

When you know the ID of the rule to disable (or enable) you simply get the item and set the HealthRuleCheckEnabled to True or False. When that is done we just update the item with the Update() method.

$healthRule = $haList.GetItemById(1)
$healthRule["HealthRuleCheckEnabled"] = $false
$healthRule.Update()

That’s all for today, hope you found it useful and now it’s time for weekend!

Microsoft has developed a way to calculate “problems”  within a solution based on a number of different metrics. To see what matrics are used you can use PowerShell and type the two following line of code in the SharePoint 2010 Management Shell: 

PS > $spCodeService = [Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPUserCodeService]::Local
PS > $spCodeService.ResourceMeasures | select name

Name
----
AbnormalProcessTerminationCount
CPUExecutionTime
CriticalExceptionCount
IdlePercentProcessorTime
InvocationCount
PercentProcessorTime
ProcessCPUCycles
ProcessHandleCount
ProcessIOBytes
ProcessThreadCount
ProcessVirtualBytes
SharePointDatabaseQueryCount
SharePointDatabaseQueryTime
UnhandledExceptionCount
UnresponsiveprocessCount

This will generate a list of all the Resource Measures. Each item has a number of properties that defines how the points should be calculated. If we take a closer look to the first item by typing: 

PS > $spCodeService.ResourceMeasures["AbnormalProcessTerminationCount"]

MinimumThreshold                : 0
ResourcesPerPoint               : 1
AbsoluteLimit                   : 2
DiskSizeRequired                : 0
CanSelectForBackup              : False
CanRenameOnRestore              : False
CanSelectForRestore             : True
CanBackupRestoreAsConfiguration : True
Name                            : AbnormalProcessTerminationCount
TypeName                        : Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPResourc
                                  eMeasure
DisplayName                     : AbnormalProcessTerminationCount
Id                              : 9056369d-768e-42bd-bd9c-67d810ad7936
Status                          : Online
Parent                          : SPUserCodeService Name=SPUserCodeV4
Version                         : 2410
Properties                      : {}
Farm                            : SPFarm Name=SharePoint_SP2010TestFarm_ConfigD
                                  B
UpgradedPersistedProperties     : {} 

In the above case the RecourcesPerPoint value is set to one. This means that whenever an Abnormal Process Termination occurs it will generate one “point”. You can also see that there is a AbsoluteLimit value. If any specific ResourceMeasure hits its AboluteLimit it will shut down the solution even if the daily quota of points is not reached. By typing the following you can see each ResourceMeasure’s ResourcesPerPoint and AbsoluteLimit values:

PS > $spCodeService.ResourceMeasures | select name, resourcesperpoint, absolutelimit

Name                                ResourcesPerPoint             AbsoluteLimit
----                                -----------------             -------------
AbnormalProcessTerminat...                          1                         2
CPUExecutionTime                                  200                        60
CriticalExceptionCount                             10                         3
IdlePercentProcessorTime                          100                        10
InvocationCount                                   100                       100
PercentProcessorTime                               85                       100
ProcessCPUCycles                         100000000000              100000000000
ProcessHandleCount                              10000                      5000
ProcessIOBytes                               10000000                 100000000
ProcessThreadCount                              10000                       200
ProcessVirtualBytes                        1000000000                4000000000
SharePointDatabaseQuery...                        400                       100
SharePointDatabaseQuery...                         20                        60
UnhandledExceptionCount                            50                         3
UnresponsiveprocessCount                            2                         1

It is possible to change the these values if you want to tweek how the points are calculated. To change the AbsoluteLimit on the AbnormalProcessTerminationCount you simply type: 

PS > $spCodeService.ResourceMeasures["AbnormalProcessTerminationCount"] `
.AbsoluteLimit = 2

If you want to change the Max Point quota for a specific site collection you can do that by typing: 

PS > (get-spsite http://SPsiteURL).Quota.UserCodeMaximumLevel = 200

Or of you want to change the quota on all site collections this is how you do. Get all site collections using the Get-SPSite cmdlet and then you pipe it to a foreach-object and then set the new value. 

PS > Get-SPSite | foreach-object {$_.Quota.UserCodeMaximumLevel = 200}

The final book ended in 368 pages that stretches over 21 chapters. The book is divided in three parts. The first part gives an introduction to the changes in SharePoint 2010 and sets the terminology for the coming chapters. In the second part we go through the basics of PowerShell, before we move on to the third part which is the majority of the book. Here we use real life scenarios and hands-on guides with a lot of code examples to explain how to automate and take full control over your SharePoint 2010 environment using PowerShell.

PowerShell will have a huge impact on how SharePoint administrators work. This is, so far, the only book covering everything you need to know about managing SharePoint 2010 with PowerShell and we hope you will enjoy it.

We feel very pleased with the final result and we have received nothing but great feedback from the group of people that got the chance to see the book before it got released. We hope that this book will be useful for you and every IT-Pro working with SharePoint 2010. So find the nearest reseller and let us know what you think.

Said about the book:

-“If you want to automate your SharePoint 2010
environment this book is for you”
-Dr Tobias Weltner, MVP PowerShell

-“This book is a must for all SharePoint administrators!”
-Göran Husman, SharePoint MVP and author

-“PowerShell should be at the top of every SharePoint IT pro
and developer toolbox”
-Jeremy Thake, SharePoint Server MVP

-“A must-read, task-based guide to using PowerShell for
SharePoint administrators”
-Ravikanth Chaganti, MVP PowerShell

The first script that is now available only on CodePlex is the Enum-SPContentDatabases script that is made for SharePoint 2007 and helps administrators to get a list of all content databases for all Web applications within a farm. The output format is either xml or csv. The script can now be found here: http://sharepointpsscripts.codeplex.com/releases/view/53114

My original blog post about this is found here: http://mysharepointofview.com/2010/01/enumerate-all-content-databases-using-powershell/

Open up PowerShell with an account that has access to the sites and type:

[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("Microsoft.SharePoint")
$spsite = New-Object Microsoft.SharePoint.SPSite("http://yoursite")
($spsite.AllWebs | where {$_.WebTemplate -eq "BLOG#0"}).count

I tested this on a quite small site collection ~500 webs. If it’s a large site collection (number of sites) you should be a bit careful since it might take up a lot of resources. If you use PowerShell V2 then you should first set the ThreadOption to ReuseThread like below.
$host.Runspace.ThreadOptions = “ReuseThread”

If you want to search for another type of built-in or custom template you can do so by just changing the value “BLOG#0″. If you want to see all available templates and their internal name you type (where 1033 is your LCID):

$spsite.GetWebTemplates(1033) | select Name

That’s all for now!

Application Server Administration job failed for service instance Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchAdminSharedWebServiceInstance (6b98c51f-116c-49f0-9aa6-4207555ed2f8).

Reason: The handle is invalid.

Techinal Support Details:

System.Security.Cryptography.CryptographicException: The handle is invalid.
at System.Security.Cryptography.Utils.CreateProvHandle(CspParameters parameters, Boolean
andomKeyContainer)
at System.Security.Cryptography.Utils.GetKeyPairHelper(CspAlgorithmType keyType, CspParameters parameters, Boolean randomKeyContainer, Int32 dwKeySize, SafeProvHandle& safeProvHandle, SafeKeyHandle& safeKeyHandle)
at System.Security.Cryptography.RSACryptoServiceProvider.GetKeyPair()
at System.Security.Cryptography.RSACryptoServiceProvider..ctor(Int32 dwKeySize, CspParameters parameters, Boolean useDefaultKeySize)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Utilities.CertificateManager.CreateSelfSignedSslCertificate(CspParameters parameters, X500DistinguishedName name, DateTime expiresAfter)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPProvisioningAssistant.ProvisionIisWebSite(String serverComment, String[] serverBindings, String[] secureBindings, AuthenticationMethods authenticationMethods, String[] authenticationProviders, String path, AccessFlags accessFlags, String applicationName, String applicationPoolId, String[] scriptMaps, String sslCertificateSubjectName)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPMetabaseManager.ProvisionIisWebSite(String serverComment, String[] serverBindings, String[] secureBindings, Int32 authenticationMethods, String[] authenticationProviders, String path, Int32 accessFlags, String applicationName, String applicationPoolId, String[] scriptMaps, String sslCertificateSubjectName)
at Microsoft.Office.Server.Administration.SharedWebServiceInstance.Synchronize()
at Microsoft.Office.Server.Administration.ApplicationServerJob.ProvisionLocalSharedServiceInstances(Boolean isAdministrationServiceJob)
After some troubleshooting, googling and talking to the windows team I found that the folder:
C:Documents and SettingsAll UsersApplication DataMicrosoftCryptoRSAMachineKeys most likely had the wrong permissions. One of the files located in the folder didn’t seemed to like the move and when trying to look at the permissions I got this:

So, what I did was that I gave the ownership of this folder to the local administrators group which is done in the following way:

Click Ok on the warning that is shown above.

Click on Advanced and then on the Owner tab.

Select administrators, and click Ok until all windows are closed

Open up the security dialogue again and add the local administrators group and click ok. Note that if you have moved the server from one AD to another you will most likely see the old AD account in the security list which should be deleted.

You should add the local Administrator group to the MachineKeys folder above an make sure that it inherits the permissions.

This should solve the problem for you.

Now in the beginning there are a some prices that can be won if you just sign up. And why wouldn’t you, it’s free and you can win an iPad and other nice things!! If you have any questions on any of the topics, don’t hesitate to post them in the forum. The link to the site is www.secretsofsharepoint.com and to read the press release you can do that on Idera who is one of the main sponsors of the site. http://www.idera.com/News/?NewsCategory=0&ID=263