Dave and Chris welcome Cognitive as a sponsor to the blog

Dave and Chris are very pleased to welcome Cognitive as their first sponsor to the blog. We hope that you will find this partnership useful as we continue to blog about the world of SharePoint and technology. With SharePoint 2010 really beginning to take off we know that there are plenty of SharePoint experts around and also people in desperate need of these people, we hope that this is where you will benefit from Cognitive!

“Cognitive are delighted to sponsor the http://sharepointedutech.com/ blog; it was an easy choice really given how Dave managed to defeat the “Ash Cloud No Fly Period” to get back in time for Spevo via Twitter and the supportive SharePoint community!

Following Spevo and the imminent launch of SharePoint 2010 everyone is asking the burning question “When do I get to use it commercially?”  That’s where Cognitive can assist….

We work with a select number of end users, who are either planning an upgrade to 2010 or a product re-write to the latest version, and Microsoft Enterprise Gold level Partners adept at convincing Client’s to implement 2010. As  a key player in the expansion of Microsoft’s Enterprise Gold partners, and the exclusive staffing partner to several Microsoft president’s club members and end user clients, Cognitive offer you a variety of opportunities that will enable you to attain your desired career goals.

Our SharePoint search & selection practice has over 22 years Microsoft centric recruitment experience and, as such, you will be working with individuals who understand the Microsoft channel, take an active interest in your  existing circumstances and genuinely care about your career goals.

We look to ensure that your next move is the right one.

So if you want to ShareNews, ShareEvents, ShareIdeas, ShareCV or ShareCoffee then please get in touch.”

ShareNews, ShareEvents, ShareIdeas, ShareCV or ShareCoffee

Opening PDFs in SharePoint 2010

If you have your nice SP2010 setup you may notice that when you go to open a PDF file it prompts you to save it rather than opening.

This is really annoying and would send everyone here at the school completely bananas! Not to mention the fact that we try to get everything on SharePoint only to force people to save it to their own area!

Never fear there is a solution. It’s in central admin.

Go there and click ‘Manage Web Applications’

Click on the web app you want to change, and go to ‘General Settings’

Scroll down the list until you reach ‘Browser File Handling’

Change the radio box from Strict to Permissive.

Click ok.

Go back to your PDF document and click on it – and it will open up without forcing you to save it somewhere first.

You may have noticed in the first screen shot there was no PDF icon. Well, follow this guide to right that wrong!

SQL 2008 Version Numbers and Patch Levels

While working today on a customers site installing SharePoint 2010 i discovered that i could not connect to create a database using the SharePoint configuration wizard, after digging into SQL with Chris we discovered that the hosting company where using an unpatched version of SQL 2008 which required many updates.

 So for the sake of my own sanity and yours i thought i would write this post and include a chart showing all the SQL 2008 versions also links to the patches that you will need. I hope it helps and i will endevour to keep it updated.

Patch Level	Build	Version Number
2008 + Cumulative Update 7 for SP1	2,766	10.00.2766
2008 + Q978839	2,760	10.00.2760
2008 SP1+Q978791	2,758	10.00.2758
2008 + Cumulative Update 6 for SP1	2,757	10.00.2757
2008 + Cumulative Update 5 for SP1	2,746	10.00.2746
2008 + Cumulative Update 4 for SP1	2,734	10.00.2734
2008 + Cumulative Update 3 for SP1	2,723	10.00.2723
2008 + Cumulative Update 2 for SP1	2,714	10.00.2714
2008 + Q970507	2,712	10.00.2712
2008 + Cumulative Update 1 for SP1	2,710	10.00.2710
2008 + Service Pack 1	2,531	10.00.2531
2008 + Cumulative Update 10	1,835	10.00.1835
2008 + Cumulative Update 9	1,828	10.00.1828
2008 + Cumulative Update 8	1,823	10.00.1823
2008 + Cumulative Update 6	1,812	10.00.1812
2008 + Cumulative Update 5	1,806	9.00.1806
2008 + Cumulative Update 4	1,798	10.00.1798
2008 + Cumulative Update 3	1,787	10.00.1787
2008+Q958186 (Available by request.)	1,779	10.00.1779
2008+Q958611	1,771	10.00.1771
2008+Q956718	1,750	10.00.1750
2008 RTM	1,600	10.00.1600.22
2008 February CTP	1,300	10.00.1300.13
2008 July CTP (requires Virtual Server 2005 R2)	1,049	10.00.1049.14
2008 June CTP	1,019	10.00.1019.17

Twynham Goes Live With SharePoint 2010

 I am pleased to announce that today we at Twynham went live with SharePoint 2010 this has been a long journey for the team at Twynham as we have been on the TAP programme for 2010 since December 2008, this means that we have gone through the Alpha, Beta and on to the release candidate and now the RTM, we have got a public demo site that we will release later this week early next week so further details to come. But just a taster image below.

Introduction to SharePoint 2010 Free Event

UPDATE:- This event is now full a second date has now been added for Monday 14th June

Now second event full trying to find a date for a third day!

On May the 14th i along with fellow network manager Alan Richards from West Hatch School will be presenting a session called Moving to SharePoint 2010- why, how, when and where? This event is free but places are limited so please check the details below and if you want to attend please get in touch ASAP. After this event myself and Mike Herrity are flying to Washington DC to present at SharePoint Saturday DC a busy time.

Free event for schools on Microsoft’s next generation Learning Platform

SharePoint 2010 is due to be launched on May 12^th as Microsoft’s next generation Learning Platform. Many schools across the UK are currently using SharePoint 2007 and this event will help schools with their strategic planning, including when and why to consider moving to SharePoint 2010, regardless of whether you are planning to change this year or in the future. It may be that you are not using SharePoint at all but would like to see what the new version can do.

In the UK we are lucky to have schools who have been involved in Microsoft’s global Technology Adoption Programme, and as result have had a chance to influence Microsoft’s developments, as well as implement early versions of SharePoint 2010.

This SharePoint 2010 event is intended for ICT leaders, School Leaders and Network Managers and will be led by schools that have been using SharePoint 2010 during the last year and have significant experience. Places are limited and the session is completely free including all food and refreshments.

Microsoft UK have sponsored the event through the provision of their conference facilities

Event Details:

Microsoft Campus, Reading, RG6 1WG

Date: Friday 14^th May 2010

Time: 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Key topics covered:

Why SharePoint 2010? 10 great features for teachers and students

Social in SharePoint 2010. Capturing students’ interest in social networking to help their learning.

Moving to SharePoint 2010- why, how, when and where?

SharePoint 2010 as a Leadership and Management tool.

Branding SharePoint 2010- how to make SharePoint look like your school, and work for your school!

Using SharePoint 2010 to hit government targets – online reporting to parents, managing absence, community cohesion and personalising learning.

To book places for this event for you and your colleagues please contact Mike Herrity, Assistant Headteacher at Twynham School by email at

mike.herrity@twynhamschool.com

Changes in SharePoint 2010 RTM Web Apps

   Previously I posted about where’s the save in the SharePoint 2010 Web Apps  well today SharePoint 2010 became available on MSDN for download so I am pleased to report that the missing save is almost back, in the Excel web app as you can see from the image below you now have a “Save As” button

But no save, as for OneNote and PowerPoint no save but you do now have an Undo and Redo buttons across all the web apps so a slight improvement for those people that love the save button.

SharePoint Versus the volcano

 Who would have thought a week ago that I would be trapped until Tuesday 20^th April in Holland because of a volcano but that is what has happened, I have checked all the options Eurostar, ferry’s etc. but no good, my final plea for help is via Twitter but we will see if the power of the tweet pays off . I was very much looking forward to attending the SharePoint Evolution conference in London, the people that I feel the most sorry for regarding the event are Steve Smith and his team at Combined Knowledge who last year organised a superb event and I am sure that the conference this year will be bigger and better.

 But as it has turned out attendees and speakers are stuck all around the world and unable to get to London but the good news regarding the conference is that Steve has started putting alternative plans into action and also the session DVD will still be sent out post conference. Hopefully we will get a best practice conference in the UK in 2011.

UPDATE

The power of twitter is wonderful i now have a lift back to the UK and i will make it to SharePoint Evolution Thankyou all

SharePoint 2010 Goes RTM

  Well we finally got there today Microsoft announced the RTM of SharePoint 2010, Office 2010, Visio 2010 and Project 2010. Volume licence customers will be able to download from April 27^th initially in English, French, Spanish, German, Russian, and Dutch via the Volume Licensing Service Center. Customers without software assurance will be able to purchase the new products through Volume Licensing from Microsoft partners starting May 1. Read more on the SharePoint Team Blog

SharePoint 2010 Topologies Part 3

 In my previous post of this series I looked at the standard topologies for SharePoint 2010 through this post I will look at how we at Twynham are going to configure SharePoint 2010 for our environment. We will be deploying SharePoint 2010 and SQL 2008 in a HyperV cluster the configuration for our virtual servers will be SharePoint web front end servers each with 8 GB Ram and SQL with 9 GB the SQL server will also be configured in a failover cluster with one LUN of our SAN dedicated to SQL 2008. The image below illustrates how we are deploying our solution

The virtual application server will also be deployed with 8GB Ram. The last server in our configuration will be our streaming media server which will remain physical as we wish to reuse one of our Dell MD3000 boxes but when this goes end of life in a year time this will also be virtualized by adding more SATA storage to our SAN.

 There is still debate about Virtual Vs Physical but as we build our solution and go live i will post about how it performs.

What is it about SharePoint?

  A strange title for a post but an apt one, I have been involved with SharePoint since 2001 and back in the early days it was very difficult to find any information about the product but now you are literally tripping over yourself with information and help on blogs worldwide (Including this one)

 But the thing I like most is the community atmosphere surrounding SharePoint in the USA you have SharePoint Saturdays and thanks to Mark Miller virtual Saturday events you have user groups everywhere even in Bournemouth thanks again to Ian Woodgate. Now I am no expert and I am sure someone will correct me but you do not seem to have the same social element to Windows Server, Exchange, ISA Server or any other big product from Microsoft. The SharePoint evolution conference is on in London in less than 2 weeks and so far a football tournament, A daily running event and of course the ubiquitous SharePint a very strange product is SharePoint which seems to bring people together but was that not the point of SharePoint? A collaboration platform!!

And long may it continue and I cannot wait for SharePint in London see you there and by the way mines a lager.