SharePoint – Back to basics - Quotas and locks in SharePoint

In SharePoint, as an administrator, I can control the storage limits for a site. Quota specifies the amount of data that stored in a site collection. Quota settings will send emails when quota limit is exceeded.

We can change the quota settings in SharePoint central Administration By Navigating to Application Management and Selecting Specify Quota Templates link.

We can the Quota template page with maximum size and personal site template. We can change the separate template also. Template name will edit the existing quota templates. We can create new templates in the template name section. Storage limits values will specify the whether to limit the amount of the storage available on the Site Collection. “Sand boxed Solutions with Code Limits” specifies the sand boxed code allowed in the site collection.

If warning limits exceeds, Quota template will send an email. Any change in the template will be affected all the sites in this template. To change the specific site collection quota without changing the quota template we need to follow the steps below,

Navigate to Application Management in Configure Quotas and Locks link Site Collections section.

In Quotas page, in the Current quota template, we have to choose the template quota and specify the Limit site storage and send warning details and Sand boxed Solutions Resource Quota.

Locks will specify administrators to disallow users to view, add, edit, and delete the items from a site. This will be useful while taking backup or migrating activities. We have four lock types are available in SharePoint.

Not Locked is the default scenario users can view or edit the contents. Adding Content Prevented option will add new content that blocked but edit/delete will allowed here. Through Read only option users can only view the content. Adding/editing/Deleting will not be allowed. Through No access users cannot allow to access the site.

We can configure locks by navigating to Application management and select configure quotas and locks. In the quotas and locks page, we need to specify the lock status in “Lock status for this site” option.

Add File type extensions in SharePoint search

By Adding or Removing File type extensions from the list of file name extension in SharePoint search, Search index will include/exclude the properties from files that we have added or removed. To include a file type in search, we have to check that the file type will support for default or any third party filter-based in SharePoint search.

To add a file name extension to the Manager File Types page,

Navigate to Application Management in SharePoint Central Administration and click on Manage Service Applications link.

In the list of service applications, select Search Service Application.

On the Search Administration page, Click on File Types in Crawling section. We can see the Manage File Types page.

Click on New File Type and in the File Extension box We have to provide the file type to add and click on Ok.

We can the File type extension in the list of file types on Manage File types page.

To remove the file types select the file type in the list of file types and select delete to remove.

SharePoint Launch Pad web part issue in IE

I am not able to login the SharePoint site, even entering the correct credentials. By checking this some time, I have found that this is launch pad web part in SharePoint server. IE settings are not allowing third party cookies to the Login page.

We can fix this issue by adjusting the Internet Explorer privacy and security settings.

To Change Privacy settings Go to Tools on right top corner and Select Internet options. Select Privacy Tab, Move the Privacy References Slider down to set privacy level for internet is LOW. Click on OK.

To Change Security settings, click on Security Tab and Select Trusted Sites in the zones. Click on Sites Button to open trusted sites window.

In Trusted Sites window, add this website to the zone box, we have to enter the domain or IP Address of the SharePoint site, click on Add button.

Click on Custom Level button to open the Security settings – Trusted Sites Zone.

In Security Settings – Trusted Sites Zone, “Reset Custom Settings” drop down list, Select Low. Click Ok to exit the Security Settings window and Click on Ok to save the settings.

Source: http://www.propalms.com/support/knowledge_base/ciq/kb/mergedProjects/Admin%20Guide/Administrator_Guide.htm#IE_setting_for_SharePoint_server.htm

Set All Search boxes to use the search center in SharePoint 2013

In SharePoint Site search boxes will crawl the data from local sites. We can see “Expand your search” link that redirects the search center, whenever we configure the global search center in the application. We can configure the search boxes in site level and site collection level in site settings (Site Settings -> Site Collection Administration -> Search Settings) Site level (Site Settings -> Search -> Search Settings)

In SharePoint it is always not possible to modify in all the sites and site collections. Steve Mann wrote power shell commands to loop all the site collections and apply search center URL.

$webApp = Get-SPWebApplication “Web Application URL”
foreach ($siteColl in $webApp.Sites)
{
    if ($siteColl -ne $null)
    {
        $site = Get-SPWeb $ siteColl.Url      
        $site.AllProperties["SRCH_SB_SET_SITE"] = 
                {"Inherit":false,"ResultsPageAddress":"/sites/SearchCenter/Pages/results.aspx","ShowNavigation":false}'
        $site.AllProperties["SRCH_ENH_FTR_URL_SITE"] = '/sites/SearchCenter/Pages'
        $site.Update();
    }
}

Here SRCH_SB_SET_SITE, SRCH_ENH_FTR_URL_SITE are properties. We can find about more in these links

http://radutut.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/update-search-settings-using-powershell-in-sharepoint-2013/

http://mrhodes.net/2010/09/14/set-site-collection-search-settings-by-powershell/

SharePoint User Profile Service Error – Cannot navigate to the requested page because the service is not running”

While working with user profile service in SharePoint, configuring new connection, I got an error saying that “Cannot navigate to the requested page because…” as shown in the image below.

To fix this we need to start the user profile service in the services. But we need to have “Replicating domain changes” permissions. Without this we can’t import the changes from AD to SharePoint/SharePoint to AD.

To provide the permission, Right click on Active Directory and select “Delegate Control” option.

We can see the wizard, select the user and click next, in the Permissions window; we need to grant “replicate Directory Changes” right for the user.

Now we need to start the User Profile Synchronization service in Services. It will take some little time to start.

SharePoint - Back to Basics – Resource throttling Settings

Resource throttling is configuration for performance of lists and resource contention. Resource throttling allows SharePoint Admins to manage the heavy data in SharePoint lists. From SharePoint lists supports millions of items, to control the data like number of items to retrieve at a time and number of items in a view we have Resource throttling configuration in SharePoint.

To configure resource throttling in SharePoint, Navigate to Manage web application SharePoint Central Administration. Select web application, in ribbon click on General settings drop down, select Resource throttling option.

In Resource throttling window,

List view Threshold value specifies the maximum number of items retrieved in one request. If the operation exceeds that value will be blocked. This limits the queries in the list, so that the performance will be increased. Default value is 5000.

Allow object model override, allows us to perform queries programmatically request the query use of higher List View threshold. This will be helpful in a using custom code and need to override list value threshold. Default value is “Yes”.

List View Threshold for auditors and administrators mentions the maximum number of items from DB query to process at one time when performed by auditor or administrator permissions. This will work in conjunction with “Allow Object Model Override”. By default this value is 20000.

List View Lookup Threshold value will specify the maximum number of join operations based on the lookup, Person/Group, workflow columns. Default value is 8. If Query uses more than 8 column values, operation will be blocked.

“Daily Time Window for Large Queries” allow us to specify run the large queries in day when usage is low. By specifying the time System will run the large queries with not enforcing the list throttling limits.

By using “List Unique Permissions Threshold” value, we can specify the minimum number of unique permissions that a list/library can have. By default it is 50000.

By selecting “On” for backward compatible Event handlers option SharePoint lists/libraries will supports for backward compatible events. By Turning on HTTP Request Monitoring And Throttling, a job will monitor performance of the front-end web server.

Sharing SQL Server Analysis Service connection using SharePoint 2013 Excel Services

In my previous post, I have explained sharing SQL Server Data source connections in SharePoint 2013. In this post we can use SQL Analysis service connection. We can create Analysis service connection as shown the steps below,

In Excel, Data tab,  click on From Other Sources and select From Analysis Services option.

In Connect to Analysis services, in the Server name box, we have to specify the SQL Server name to get the SQL Server data. Here Iam entering as “.” to connect the local. We have to specify the Log on credentials in the credentials section. To use Windows Authentication, we have to select Use Windows Authentication or to choose SQL Server authentication Select SQL Server Authentication and have to enter the credentials. Click on Next.

“In the Select the database that contains the data that you want” list; we have to select the database that we want to use. If we don’t want to select any database or if there is no databases, uncheck Connect to a specific table.

On Save Data Connection and File and Finish page, we have to enter File Name, Description, Friendly Name, and Search Keywords boxes. In the Authentication settings, we can choose the type of authentication. Click on finish.

Connection will be saved in default location. Once we save the connection, we can upload the connection file Data connections library as shown in my previous post.

Sharing SQL Server Data source connection using SharePoint 2013 Excel Services

We can connect different data sources using excel services includes SharePoint list, access DB, Windows azure etc... All the data connections in excel will support in excel services. We can refresh the data in excel service reports and dashboards and also supports SQL server tables and Analysis services cubes and OLE DB data providers. We can also save the connections to excel services trusted data connection library. It will help us to access the data sources easily without knowing server names and DB names. Excel service workbooks uses in a trusted data library to easy access the current information.

We can use Excel to create and share connections with database. When uploading a data connection to excel services trusted data connection library, data connections will be available to use data models, reports and score cards. Depending on the data source, data will be refreshed easily in excel service workbooks.

To create a SQL server tabular data connection by using excel, we have to follow the steps below,

In Excel Data tab, click on From Other Sources in Get External Data group and we have to select SQL Server.

In Connect to Database Server page, Server name box, we have to specify the SQL Server name to get the SQL Server data. Here Iam entering as “.” to connect the local. We have to specify the Log on credentials in the credentials section. To use Windows Authentication, we have to select Use Windows Authentication or to choose SQL Server authentication Select SQL Server Authentication and have to enter the credentials. Click on Next.

“In the Select the database that contains the data that you want” list, we have to select the database that we want to use, In the Select Database and table page, To create new connection uses single table, we have to select Connect to specific table and we need to select the table to use. By selecting Enable selection of multiple tables, we can select multiple tables.

On Save Data Connection and File and Finish page, we have to enter File Name, Description, Friendly Name, and Search Keywords boxes. In the Authentication settings, we can choose the type of authentication. Click on finish.

On Import Data page, Click on Only Create Connection and Click on OK. 

To Upload Data connections to SharePoint,

Navigate to BI center site and Open Data Connections Library.Click on New Item and click on Browse to choose the file.

If we save the data connections in Default location, in default location, click on libraries, Documents and navigate to My Data Sources.

Select the ODC file that we wanted to upload and click on Open.

In the Add a document dialog box we have to select Content Type as Office Data Connection File. Need to provide details for Name, Title and Description and Keywords, click on Save. 

New data connection will be added as shown below.

“External Data Refresh Failed An error occurred during an attempt to establish a connection to the external data source . The following connections failed to refresh:” error in SharePoint 2013 PowerPivot data refresh

While practicing with SharePoint Excel Services and Power Pivot office web apps, when refreshing the data I got an error saying that

“External Data Refresh Failed……”

By checking the error found a solution from TechNet blog. When using Office web apps in SharePoint 2013, Excel files will be viewed in WOPI (Web Application Open Interface) and edited through Office Web Apps. When SharePoint farm is configured to use excel apps, Excel services and power pivot features will depend on the Excel web app server configurations.

Excel web app runs in SharePoint View ode and Office web server view mode. In URL, if see “xlviewer.aspx” it is running on SharePoint Mode. If URL Contains “WopiFrame.aspx”, excel web app is running in “Office Web Apps Server view Mode”. If we use OWA Server view mode, to view the workbooks, Some BI features like Excel Web Access Web part, Refresh ODataConnections web part, View and interact PowerPivot view/data models...

We have to apply suppression setting on the farm to work with slicers and refresh data. So that we can edit the document in browser with Office Web Apps. We can suppress the Office webapps using following PowerShell command,

New-SPWOPISuppressionSetting –Extension “XLSX” -Action “view” 

JSLink in SharePoint 2013

JS link is a new WebPart property in SharePoint 2013. It allows us to create the client side rendering solutions in SharePoint 2013. We can format the data and functionality in the WebPart. We can edit the fields and format the data and functionality with in the WebPart using JSLink.

We can override the title column using the JSLink. We can use the Javascript file. In SharePoint 2010 we can use XSLT in SharePoint designer to add extra link. Through JS we can reuse the javascript file in other webparts also as per the requirement.

Add a Javascript file in _Catalog/masterpage that we have created. And we need to add the code below in the javascript file. And we need to add the javascript reference in webpart.

We have to add the js code below,

(function () {
 var context = {};
 context.Templates = {};    


 context.Templates.Fields = {
  'Title': { 'View' : '<a href="<#=ctx.CurrentItem.FileRef#>"><#=ctx.CurrentItem.Title#></a>' }
  };

 SPClientTemplates.TemplateManager.RegisterTemplateOverrides(context);
})();
 

We can work with JSLink as this as shown the URL.

Source: http://www.idubbs.com/blog/2012/js-link-for-sharepoint-2013-web-partsa-quick-functional-primer/

SharePoint 2013 PowerPivot manual refresh failed error "An error occurred during an attempt to establish a connection to the external data source… “

While working with SharePoint 2013 PowerPivot, I got an error "An error occurred during an attempt to establish a connection to the external data source… " as shown the image below, while refreshing all the connections.

In logs I have found the error like, “Current Identity is Claims Identity. We need to get a Windows Identity”

We can view PowerPivot workbooks using excel services in browser. To refresh the data in power pivot tables, Claims to Windows Tokens (C2WTS) will be utilized. If C2WTS is running with a domain account, that account needs to have permissions to the SharePoint server. Account must be in Administrator for SharePoint server where the C2WTS is running and service should be run on the name of that account.

Check the account that running the C2WTS service and add “Act as part of the operating system” permissions to that account. We can find the account in services. (run ->services.msc)

To access the Server’s local security policy, go to User Rights Assignments (Start-> Administrative Tools -> Local Security Policy -> Local Policies -> User Rights Assignments)

The account running for C2WTS, need to add permissions for “Act as part of the operating system” 

Service Account Application ID is not specified or has an invalid value error in SharePoint

In SharePoint the unattended Service Account Application ID setting will stores the application identifier in registered Secured Stored Service. Application ID will use the unattended service account credentials. If unattended service Account is single, Visio graphics service impersonates, when it connects to the data sources out of SharePoint like SQL server..etc. This account required to connect the external sources.

We can fix this issue by specifying the valid application ID value. To do that,

Navigate to SharePoint Central Administration, Application Management section and click on Manage service applications link.

Select Secure Store Service application in the list of service applications. 

We have to record the application ID from the Target Application ID column.

Select Visio Graphics service application page in the list of service applications.

Click on Global Settings, in Manage Visio Graphics Services page.

we have to enter the application ID, recorded from secure store service, and enter it in Unattended Service Account text box in Visio Graphics Service Settings page, external data section, and Click on OK button.