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Microsoft Office 14 Goes Alpha by Late 2008

Microsoft to Alpha Test Office 14 Before End of the Year

Just to trigger excitement on the forthcoming version of Microsoft Office...Thanks!

As I have mentioned in my previous piece, Microsoft Search Server 2008 (MSS) and Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express (MSSX) are built on Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. It is designed for an organization who wants to benefit from the power of search without having Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. There are times, however, that we need to upgrade our existing MSS 2008 or MSSX 2008 to MOSS 2007, or moving our existing WSS 3.0 to MSS 2000 or MSSX 2008.

Before performing any upgrade process, however, it is recommended to read first the Microsoft Search Server 2008 Upgrade Path provided by Microsoft and consider the tables below.

The following are supported paths:

The following are unsupported paths:

Thanks...

Microsoft Search Server 2008 is distributed with significant features and key investment areas - including simplified installation process, enhance search administration interface, innovative federation capabilities, and performance enrichments. With its Search Administration dashboard, administering MSS 2008 becomes completely uncomplicated.

This piece will attempt to provide us the elements necessary to administer Microsoft Search Server 2008. Under the crawling section are:

Under the queries and results section are:

Under the usage reports section are:

Navigating to Search Administration page requires only two strides. First, let us open SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration > Application Management. Below is the illustration.

Secondly, under the Search section of our Application Management page, click Manage Search Service. And there we are, we will be redirected to Search Administration dashboard. We could start now administering our Microsoft Search Server 2008.

Thanks...

In my previous piece, I have demonstrated the process of deploying Microsoft Search Server 2008. To continue the process, we need to configure the search server. Below are the required and optional configurable items:

1. Required

Below is the illustration.

2. Optional

Below is the illustration.

Upon confirmation of the settings we have defined, the configuration process will proceed.

After the configuration process, a Welcome to Microsoft Search Server 2008 page will be displayed.

From the welcome page, we could now navigate to the Search Administration page.

Thank you very much.

By opening the Microsoft Enterprise Search 2008 site, we will be clutched by a statement that describes the essence of this technology: “Search doesn't have to be complicated. You can deliver search solutions to your organization quickly and easily with Microsoft Search Server 2008.”

Microsoft Search Server 2008 (MSS) and Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express (MSSX) are built on Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. It is designed for an organization who wants to benefit from the power of search without having Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. As a constituent of the huge spectrum of MOSS 2007, either MSS or MSSX is the right technology for an enterprise who only wants to have its information searchable. If we are running Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and want to enjoy the power of enterprise searching, therefore, we need MSS or MSSX. Microsoft has provided us guide to compare and identify which search product is right for us.

NOTE: The same is the case of Microsoft Office Forms Server 2007 with MOSS 2007 and WSS 3.0 for InfoPath Form Services.

Before implementing Microsoft Search Server 2008, we primarily need to determine the hardware requirements, plan to deploy, plan for administrative and service accounts, plan to crawl content, plan the search experience, plan for redundancy, and plan for availability.

To upgrade our WSS 3.0 to MSS or MSSX, moreover, we need first to read the guide provided by Microsoft that presents instructions and considerations on the upgrade process. And to enable MSSX features in WSS 3.0, Mike Walsh has provided us a comprehensive guide.

Enough with the introduction and we will start our journey in installing Microsoft Search Server 2008.

1. Upon being prompted by the Start dialog, as illustrated below, let us click the Run the Search Preparation Tool under the Install section. This will check installation of prerequisites.

2. After the completion of the first step, we will proceed with the installation by clicking the Install Search Server under the Install section. Notice that the installation process is almost the same with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Forms Server 2007.

3. During the installation we will be prompted to provide our 25-character Product Key. Below is the illustration.

4. Next is the facility where we need to identify the installation type. For demonstration purposes, we will select Advance installation. Below is the illustration.

5. Next is the facility to define the Server Type. For our purpose, we will select Complete. It will install all components and we will give us the capability to add servers to form a farm. Below is the illustration.

6. With the first few steps, we can now monitor the progress while it is installing. Below is the illustration.

7. Since MSS or MSSX runs on WSS 3.0, we will be prompted by a dialog box that directs us to run SharePoint Product and Technologies Configuration Wizard to complete its installation. Below is the illustration.

8. As illustrated below, we will also be prompted by a message box that some services will be restarted or reset during the configuration.

9. Additionally, we will be asked to Connect to Server Farm. In our case, we will create a new server farm. Below is the illustration.

10. Before the configuration process, we need to specify the configuration database settings where Database Server, Database Name, and Service Account must be defined. Below is the illustration.

11. The configuration process could be monitored from the next dialog that will appear. Below is the illustration.

12. Finally, we will be prompted by a dialog box that we have successfully configured our server. Below is the illustration.

With this we could now launch the SharePoint Central Administration and start performing necessary setting for our Microsoft Search Server 2008. Thanks you very much.

Port 445, the official newsletter of Philippine Windows Users Group, is now available. The newsletter, according to Jay-R Barrios, the President of PHIWUG, will serve as an information hub for the members and the entire technical community. Inside the first issue are:

1. President's Corner where Jay-R Barrios welcomes everybody to the first edition of Port 445.

2. On On One With where Elczar Adame, the PHIWUG Vice President, featured his conversation with Maria Green, an IT PRO Evangelist for Microsoft Asia Pacific, on Microsoft's programs for user groups, IT professionals, and developers.

3. Meet the Philippines MVPs where Jay Paloma, a former PHIWUG President, featured Philip and Joanne Ortiz, the Philipppines XBOX MVPs and SEA's first MVP couple.

4. TechTalk where a Technology Solutions Professional : Windows Client of Microsoft Asia Pacific, Jay Paloma, discussed on Windows Vista Deployment Tools and Resources.

5. Certified where Mon Salvador, the Special Interest Group Head for Training and Certification, provided inputs in preparing and obtaining MCTS certification.

Download a copy here.

Thank you very much.

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 implementation practically requires moving the content database from one environment to another – from development, to staging, to production. Microsoft has provided us several ways to do this. It could be done using Central Administration facilities, or by STSADM command-line tools. In this piece, I will complete the task using the later approach.

In our source server, let us do the following steps:

1. In the Command Prompt, let us change to the directory where the STSADM command-line tool is located. By default, it is on C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\BIN.

2. The next step is to prepare our content database before moving it by setting up the profile and membership synchronization service. It prevents the synchronization service from failing and losing related settings. To do this, let us type the following command, and then press Enter:

STSADM –o preparetomove –contentdb <content database name>

3. Now, let us detach our content database by executing the command below. We have to take note, however, that removing the content database simply removes the association of the database with our SharePoint Web application and does not exactly delete the database.

STSADM -o deletecontentdb –url <URL name> -databasename <database name> -databaseserver <database server name>

4. Let us open our Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Management Studio, and detach the content database. Finally, we will copy the corresponding .mdf and .ldf files to our destination server.

In our destination server, let us do the following steps:

NOTE: It is assumed that you have created a corresponding Web site in you destination server and deleted its content database - like what we have did in steps 2 and 3. With this, we are now ready to restore/move the content database of our source server to the destination server. Thanks Amlan for the comment.

5. Let us open our Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Management Studio, and attach the content database that we transferred in the previous step.

6. In the Command Prompt, let us change to the directory where the STSADM command-line tool is located. By default, it is on C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\BIN.

7. Now, to add the content database to our destination server, let us type the following command, and then press Enter:

STSADM –o addcontentdb –url <URL name> -databasename <database name> -databaseserver <database server name>

8. And finally let us start a full crawl. We must be aware, moreover, that a full crawl will occur the first time even if the next crawling scheduled is set to incremental mode in the content database we have restored.

As I have committed during the MSDN Session last August 6, 2008 at Microsoft Philippines, you could download the slide deck of my presentation here. Thanks for attending.

InfoPath Form Services capabilities in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 extends our business processes beyond corporate firewall, delivering forms as Microsoft Office Outlook e-mail messages, Web browser forms, or forms for mobile devices. I have previously posted related topics, including:

Embedding InfoPath Form in SharePoint Page

Office Business Application

InfoPath Form Services

A part of my previous post, this video guides as in deploying administrator-approved form template in Microsoft Office SharePoint 2007.

This video is taken from the official site of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007 are packaged with email notification feature. It enables users to aggregate e-mail messages within lists and libraries. This demonstration video is a part of my commitment to share with you SharePoint related contents that I have gathered from several sources.

This video is taken from the official site of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

Thanks.

Excel Services is a part of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and is built on Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and ASP.NET. Architecturally, it is a composite of Excel Web Access, Excel Web Services, and Excel Calculation Services. While the Excel Web Access is a web part that renders Excel workbooks on SharePoint page, the Excel Web Services provides access to its Web service. Moreover, the Excel Calculation Services is designed to load, calculate,  and refresh data.

As I have mentioned in my previous blog, I will dedicate my entire month of August in sharing with you demonstration videos and contents on Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

This video is taken from the official site of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007.

Thanks...

While busy preparing for the first release of Philippine Windows Users Group newsletter and finalizing my slide deck and demonstration for an MSDN session, I thought of gathering reading materials, presentation contents, and demonstration videos on Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. After couple of weeks of downloading the materials, I have decided to focus this month of August in sharing with you these materials.

I will start with a demonstration video on MOSS 2007 Record Center that I have found from SharePoint site.

Thanks to MSN Video.