Exchange connection issues

A third party application had strange issues with a new Exchange 2013 server.

Environment: Super Office 6.1, Exchange 2013, Terminal Server, Server 2003

Symtoms:

The Infobridge Synchronizer agent had issues connecting to the exchangeserver för certain users. Only strange thing we discovered was that the users that didn’t work came in the same order as the Infobridge database had structured the users. Like the first 34 worked and the the remaining 7 had ID like 34,35,36… in the dbo.

Solution:

Many conversations with Super Office, infobridge yet another consultant and the developmentdepartment,  it finally clicked

1. On the ExchangeServer add or change the following value
2. \\HKEY_LocalMachine\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\MSExchangeIS\ParametersSystem\
3. Create Dword(32) value named: Maximum Allowed Sessions Per User = 250
4. Restart Server or Information Store.

Now it’s important to note that the Exchangeserver had proper throttlingpolicies configured and didn’t alert to any events that indicated session issues.

I had similar issue when a procurve switch between an Exchange 2003 server and an office was being bonkers. That time it had to with the switch cutting of the sessions, forcing the client to initate new sessions without closing the old ones. But I really thought 2013 would be a leap forward in this sort of situation.

Why are these the default limitation on a Serversystem that should be able to support tens of thousands of users? And the do this sort of error on only 50….

References:

http://elderec.org/2011/07/exchange-2010-mapiexceptionsessionlimit-unable-to-open-message-store-2/

Can’t logoff user

Environment: Server 2008 Remote Desktop Services

Issue: User reports that they can’t login their account on Remote Desktop Services. They’re greated by Loading Notification Message which spins on forever.

Symptom: Disconnect removes user from session. But when logoff is tried nothing happens. Manually killing the only two processes associated with account doesn’t help (taskmgr, rdclip).

Solution:

1. Check the session ID from Terminal Services Manager for the troubleaccount.
2. Run Sysinternals Process Explorer (from http://live.sysinternals.com/procexp.exe)
3. Add the Session ID to columns
4. Kill the winlogon.exe that have the same Session ID as the troubled account.

Solved.

References:

https://forums.citrix.com/thread.jspa?threadID=258251&tstart=105&start=15

Passwordprompts when opening documents

The passwordsprompts on a sharepointserver might be considered very secure. Since you often always have to give username and passwords. This might however prevent useradoptionrate. These passwordsprompt usually make users (and admins) annoyed. I’ve authenticated already, why do this every time?

So to get rid of passwordsprompts in sharepoint verify these common configuration issues.

• The site isn’t present in Internet Options Intranetzone. If you access server by internal name like http://myserver its their by default, but if you’re using a public address like http://myserver.mydomain.com then you need to add it manually.
• Credentials isn’t saved. Check the Credentials manager to see if the saved passwords are stored there. If they aint there, add them.
• Autodiscover Proxy is activated in LAN-settings in Internet Options. This might delay authenticationprocess if proxy is misconfigured internally.
• Security level is higher than necessary in Intranet Zone. Lower it. These sites are usually pretty tightly secured anyway.
• Wrong password in saved in credentials manager. Ok, if you save the wrong password the first time or you’ve changed the password since, you’re better of removing youre previous accounts from the credential manager and make a fresh start to sure.
• Using Firefox you can add the sharepointserver to trusted sites in
• about:config
• network.automatic-ntlm-auth.trusted-uris = myserver (more than one is separated by “,”

References:

http://tech.kateva.org/2009/01/how-to-use-firefox-with-sharepoint.html

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/smb-technologist/prevent-unwanted-credentials-prompts-with-sharepoint-document-libraries/

http://social.education.purdue.edu/edit/2011/03/sharepoint-pw-prompts/

http://www.alpineinteractive.co.uk/blog/2013/3/4/sharepoint-online-slow-opening-documents-in-windows-explorer

Error when creating document from sharepoint

Symtoms: Suddenly when trying to create new document from a sharepointlist the following message is presented instead of a new document:

“The Operating system is not presently configure to run this application”
Followed by another error with bull about rights and such.
Solution:
When searching the net for this error some indicators point to Office 2013 to be the culprit. Though I’m running Office 2010, I’ve installed Visio 2013. Can this be the the error?
When installing hotfix kb2726997 the error disappears. Solved. Link below.

Edit 131217: This can also happen if Sharepoint Designer 2013 is installed together with Office 2010.

References:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2726997/en-us

Making Sharepoint Search better

Method for adding more relevant refiners to search. This method is relevant when using site content types for managing documents. For example having a MyDoc-Site Content Type with Site Column Department or labeling associated. This is handy when the enduser want a more relevant query filter.

 

1. Make sure the column you want is
1. a. Site Column
2. b. Indexed on the list.
2. Site Settings>Site Collection Administration>Search Schema
3. Choose a refinable Managed Property depending on type of content. For example refinableString01
4. Edit Refinable
1. a. Change Alias to something more obvious
2. b. Mappings to crawled Property > Add a mapping
3. i. Search for the sought after crawled property. If theres more than one, choose one without ows_q in the name.
5. Ok.
6. Run new crawl.

References:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/tothesharepoint/archive/2013/06/19/stage-14-configure-refiners-for-faceted-navigation.aspx

Preserve (some) document properties

There are some properties that’s usually already bundled with your documents. Like maybe the title, author, comments and categories. Ok, usually only author and title but still.

To get pull these values along when adding a document to a document library you can add the following columns (line text)

_Comment

_Status

_Categories

_Author

 

Neat thing is that these properties works both ways. Edit the columns in SP and it shows up in the document properties.

 

 

 

 

References:

http://sharepoint.stackexchange.com/questions/64689/word-document-author-property-as-sharepoint-column-how

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/sharepoint/en-US/00b648dc-6b9b-420d-b9eb-6ac095f6f5b2/core-document-columns-author-and-date-created?forum=sharepointgeneralprevious

Check installation type

Its relevant to know what kind of installation a sharepoint server is.

For example User Profile Synchronization service is not supported in a Single Server installation, which is sort of relevant to know if troubleshooting a issue like that.

To check this on the local server:

• SharePoint 2007: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\12.0\WSS\ServerRole
• SharePoint 2010: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\14.0\WSS\ServerRole
• SharePoint 2013: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\15.0\WSS\ServerRole

Value can be:

• SINGLESERVER – means this is a standalone / single server installation
• APPLICATION – means this is an application server on a full farm installation (could also include the web front end role as well if multiple roles are used)
• WFE – means this is a web front-end server on a full farm installation

References:

http://nickhobbs.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/sharepoint-how-to-check-the-sharepoint-installation-type-standalone-or-farm/