Aug 21 2009

SharePoint Search and the DisableLoopbackCheck Workaround

Category: amilsark @ 16:10

Problem

If you are seeing 401.1 unauthorized event log entries by the SharePoint Gatherer in your event log, this article may be what you've been googling for.

Are you able to browse to your sharepoint site from the server logged in as the search crawling account?  No luck?  Keep reading.

Reason

With the Windows Server 2003 SP1 ( or possibly just the .Net Framework 3.5 SP1), Microsoft introduced a new security feature that checks for loopbacks (making calls to web applications locally from thet server).  If your search service is running on the same server that is hosting your web applications (which is best practice for indexing speed), you'll most likely recieve this unauthorized error.  You may also see this error for any custom applications which use the SharePiont web services locally. This security fix is meant to block malicious applications from infultrating your web sites from within, which is a good fix in my opinion.

How to I get around this 401 unauthorized then?

Microsoft recommends two fixes.  Both of them are registry modifications.

One turns off the Loopback check altogether which shouldn't be done on external facing production servers for obvious reasons.  The other is to specify the sites that allow loopback from the server.

Here's the instructions for the registry modifications required for both methods:

MS KB Article 896861

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Aug 21 2009

WSS 3.0 SharePoint Search Troubleshooting - Common issues

Category: amilsark @ 15:30

Microsoft SharePoint (WSS 3.0) search is probably one of the most common points of failure and source of support tickets for our customers.

Here are some of the major points to check when troubleshooting this service.

1. Make sure the content database is assigned an indexer.

      Open SharePoint Central Administration > Application Management > Content Databases

      Select your web application if it is not already selected.

      Click on the content database. 

      Make sure that the Search Server dropdown has the servername selected which is running the WSS Search Service.

 

2. Make sure you have implemented the DisableLoopbackCheck registry entry.

     Check out this blog post.

3. Make sure your search service is running as a domain account and that the account credentials were entered correctly (with DOMAIN\serviceaccount) in Central Administration.

4. Make sure your alternate access mappings in the default zone are accessible from the server.

5. If using forms authentication, use windows authentication in the default zone, and then extend the web application to the internet zone which uses forms. 

6. If pdf files are not being indexed correctly on 64bit systems, there may be a registry entry that you are missing.

    Note there is an extra registry GUID change for the 64bit Adobe I filter.  Here'a a link to a well written post : Here

7. After all these are verified and\or changed to the correct configurations, run an stsadm full crawl.

    This is performed by opening a command promt  on the server running the Windows SharePoint Services Search Service then:

    Type cd C:\program files\common files\microsoft shared\web server extensions\12\bin

    Hit Enter

    Type stsadm -o spsearch -action fullcrawlstart

    Hit Enter

    Your content should begin the indexing process

    Check the event lot to see if the 401 unauthorized messages have gone away.

 

I hope this helps you guys out there in the field.

 

 

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Aug 12 2009

SharePoint Advertising For Your Site!

Category: amilsark @ 06:10

Have you noticed the SharePoint targeted advertising (look to the right) available now thanks to SharePointAds.com?

According to their site the payout for pay-per-click is $2.8!  If this is really two dollars and eighty cents, that is an amazing figure!   If this is indeed the case that figure absolutely destroys google adsense.   Their FAQ says that they pay their affiliate publishers 70% of the revenue they collect from advertisers.   High profile SharePoint blogs (SharePointJoel.com), community sites (SharePiontBuzz.com), and online editorials (SharePointReviews.com) have adopted this advertising.

The performance graphs and data visualizations are pretty impressive in your affiliate control panel.  The control panel includes quick stats, trend rports, data on each individual rotating add including click through rate and commision pending and paid out.

Targeted Advertising for SharePoint is an excellent opportunity not only for blog authors, but also for companies whose business is based around SharePoint.  Now your company has an easy and cost effective way of getting advertising space on these high profile, high traffic sites which are  SharePoint resource heaven for most IT professionals working with SharePoint.

If you are interested in generating some targeted advertising revenue from your SharePoint site or SharePoint blogs just fill out the form below.  SharePointAds.com will review your information and send you a confirmation ID  and temporary password.

 

Personal Info


Additional info









 

Happy SharePointing!

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Aug 11 2009

Office SharePoint Server 2007 SP2 License Issue fixed

Category: amilsark @ 06:00

Microsost has released an updated Office Sharepoint Server 2007 SP2 patch where the "license isssue" is now fixed.

For those of you who may not realize the problem in the first releae of Service Pack 2, it essentially places your SharePoint installation into a trial mode until you re-enter your software key in Central Administration.

You can download the updated Service Pack from the following links:

x86: http://download.microsoft.com/download/2/F/5/2F51AB71-1325-49D2-9CB9-18DEC4780E99/office2007-kb971620-fullfile-x86-glb.exe

x64: http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/B/B/5BBD34A9-C528-42B0-8A5F-9A8997B25C32/office2007-kb971620-fullfile-x64-glb.exe

The recommended installation procedure is to install the WSS 3.0 SP2 first, don't run the configuration wizard, then install the Office Sharepoint Server 2007 SP2 and now run the configuration wizard.

 

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Aug 11 2009

Back to Web Development

Category: amilsark @ 03:25

It's been about six months since I moved over to help out with the Fpweb.net Engineering group.  Since then I've learned a lot about hosting infrastructure, networking, Windows Server 2008, Hyper-V, SharePoint infrastructure, SharePoint migrations, and support for these systems.  During my time with the engineers we have put in place many process improvements and infrastructure improvements.  It was an excellent experience.

 

Now back to the .Net Development group.  It seems that since my move, there's been a lot going on with the developers.  There are a number of technologies that I'll need to learn quickly.  These include WCF services, JSON, Jquery Extensions, Sillenium and NUnit tests, Linq to SQL, and many others.  I can't wait to get the ball rolling as we have many projects that will ultimately stream line our business processes, provide better service for our customers, and improve communication between all our departments.


Stay tuned as I have a number of SharePoint and .Net Development articles coming.

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