MEA Center of Expertise

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January, 2011

  • SharePoint 2010 Architecture Slides–From Ignite Training

    During my SharePoint 2010 Ignite Training for developers @ Microsoft Egypt, I delivered two Architecture sessions; I’m sharing the slides here.

    First Session: SharePoint 2010 Web Application Architecture


    View on PowerPoint Web Apps
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    Download from SkyDrive

    Second Session: SharePoint 2010 Service Application Architecture

     

    View on PowerPoint Web Apps
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    Download from SkyDrive

    See Also:

    SharePoint 2010 as a Development Platform – From Ignite Training

  • Applying BizTalk hotfixes/app updates and impact on environment availability

     

    When you run BizTalk server you normally have plenty of mission critical applications running on it. Those that cannot go offline. I get a lot of questions around how to apply to fixes and impact on availability. There is no straight answer for that, it depends on what you are trying to do. I decided to put together a walkthrough on this topic.

     

    Elements that affect BizTalk availability (that are not disasters :-))

     

     

     

    -      BizTalk Specific:

    o   Deploying Application

    §  Overwriting Existing Application

    if you cannot take existing application offline (doesn’t affect the rest of the environment) then you can deploy side by side versions –check: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee308960(v=bts.10).aspx

    §  Deploying new applications

    1.    If deploying applications to new hosts then no impact to existing ones and accordingly will not affect your environment availability.

    2.    If deploying applications to existing hosts (hosting other applications) a host restart is required. Accordingly this has to be applied on server by server bases (as in take a single server offline, deploy the application then bring it back up).

    o   Patching BizTalk:

    §  If fix contain *.sql (as in it updates the DB) then the IIS/hosts across all servers has to be stopped state before executing the update. The solution around that is:

    1.    Failover to DR site.

    2.    Apply fix on main site. Then bring it online

    3.    Failover to main site.

    4.    Upgrade the DR site.

    §  If the fix does not contain *.sql runtime on each server needs to be restarted (this can be applied on server by server bases).

    The following is extracted from: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2003907

    If the hotfix includes an SQL script (.sql), you must stop the BizTalk services and SQL Server Agent before you install the hotfix. After the hotfix installation is complete, restart the BizTalk services and the SQL Server Agent. If the hotfix does not include an SQL script (.sql), you must restart the BizTalk Host Instance after the hotfix installation is complete.

    -      SQL Specific

    o   When installing a service pack on SQL cluster the following practice can be applied (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/958734 )- which applies on SQL cluster (patch is applied on server by servers, by taking each server offline and patch it)

    -      Infrastructure Specific(Windows/IIS etc..):

    o   Each service back or hotfix has a list of services that needs to be restarted after the fix is applied. If the fix affects a service (or a server restart is required) used by BizTalk (IIS or others). Then the fix should be applied on server by server bases.

    Happy new year :-)

    find me on twitter: http://twitter.com/khnidk

  • Live Online SharePoint Saturday EMEA - Registration

    Live Online SharePoint Saturday EMEA is back on January 22nd, 2011. This is the second annual SPSEMEA and promises to be a huge event with over 30 sessions, 4 simultaneous Live Meeting Channels and a public text chatroom open to participants and speakers.

    Registration for SPSEMEA began last Tuesday, January 11 and is free to the global SharePoint Community. There are over 30 SharePoint Evangelists, including 10 SharePoint MVPs, from around the world providing content you would normally only see at a paid SharePoint Conference. Tracks are set for SharePoint End Users and Business Managers on topics for "How We Did It: Real World Case Studies", "No Code/Assembly Solutions", "SharePoint Interface Branding", and "SharePoint for Business". The sessions will be recorded and made available two weeks after the event.

    Confirmed Presenters
     
    Agnes Molnar, MVP: Hungary
    Andrew Woodward, MVP: United Kingdom
    Ant Clay: United Kingdom
    Ayman El-Hattab, MVP: Egypt
    Brett Lonsdale: United Kingdom
    Chirag Patel: United States
    Chris Poteet: United States
    Christian Buckley: United States
    Coskun Cavusoglu: United States
    Daniel McPherson: India
    Dave Coleman: United Kingdom
    Derek Weeks: United States
    Eric Riz: Candada
    Fabian Williams: United States
    Geoff Varosky: United States
    Hossam Behery: United States
    Ian Woodgate: United Kingdom
    Jeremy Thake, MVP: Australia
    Jerry Yasir, MVP: Saudi Arabia
    Jim Bob Howard: United States
    Jose Antonio Morales: United States
    Laura Rogers: United States
    Mai Omar: Egypt
    Marc Anderson, MVP: United States
    Mark Rackley: United States
    Marwan Tarek, MVP: Egypt
    Matt Bramer: United States
    Michael Hinckley: United States
    Muhammed Nabil: Eygpt
    Nicolas Georgeault: France
    Nigel Price: United Kingdom
    Rackley Mark: United States
    Rutherford Wilson: United States
    Ruven Gotz, MVP: Canada
    Saifullah Shafiq, MVP: United States
    Sarah Haase: United States
    Symon Garfield: United States

    Toni, Isaac, Mark and I will be moderating the sessions, making sure everything is going smoothly. 

    We hope you'll join us for Live Online SharePoint Saturday EMEA. Please register in advance to guarantee yourself free access to some of the best presentations available, all aimed at SharePoint End Users.
    See you there.

    Ayman El-Hattab (@aymanelhattab), Egypt
    Mark Miller (@eusp), United States
    Toni Frankola (@ToniFrankola), Croatia
    Isaac Stith (@MrIsaac), United States

  • Microsoft tech-ed in Dubai - March 2011

    For those of you who didn't register for the tech-ed, please do.  you'll miss a lot

    http://teched.ae/

     

  • SharePoint 2010 as a Development Platform - From Ignite Training

    Last week, I delivered “SharePoint 2010 Ignite training for developers” for Microsoft partners @ Microsoft Egypt. I was very lucky to meet some of the top-notch developers in Egypt and teach them some of the new development features in SharePoint 2010.

    I received many requests to share my slides and I promised to share them on my blog! Today I will share one of the dearest presentations to my heart, “SharePoint 2010 as a Development Platform”, feel free to download it and share it with your teams.

    Session Objectives

    1. Understand SharePoint editions and prerequisites.
    2. Understand the features SharePoint offers as a development Platform.
    3. Explore the differences between a site collection and a site.
    4. Create site collections and sites
    5. Create lists and libraries through the browser.
    6. Use Web Part pages.

     

    View it on the browser using Office Web Apps
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    Download from SkyDrive

  • Feature and Solution Framework in SP2010–From Ignite Training

    As promised, here is another slide deck from SP2010 development training that I delivered last week to partners @ Microsoft Egypt.

    Today I’m sharing a presentation about the main building blocks of SharePoint; Features and Solutions.

    Your feedback is appreciated.

     

    View in brower (PowerPoint Web App)
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    Download from SkyDrive

    See Also:

    SharePoint 2010 as a Development Platform– From SharePoint Ignite Training
    SharePoint 2010 Architecture Slides–From Ignite Training

     

  • Lync Server - Useful Links

    The Lync Server Open Interoperability Program is now available

    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/lync/gg131938.aspx

     

    Other useful Links:

    -        Hardware Requirements. Link

    -        Bandwidth Table. Link

    -        Lync New features – server side. Link

    -        Lync New features – Client Side. Link

    -        Port Requirements. Link

    -        Lync Server 2010 Protocol Workloads Poster. Link

    -        Architecture – Server Roles. Link

    -        Architecture – Topologies. Link

     

     

  • Live Online SharePoint Saturday EMEA!

    SharePoint Saturday EMEA is a loosely knit group of SharePoint evangelists from around the world. We are working together, using SharePoint as a Live Online SharePoint Saturday EMEAcollaboration tool to sponsor live, online global events.

    On January 22nd, 2011, we will hold our 2nd annual, live online SharePoint Saturday event in the EMEA Timezones.

    Registration to attend LIVE ONLINE SHAREPOINT SATURDAY EMEA begins on January 11, 2011. Please mark your calendar to guarantee your seat.

    On January 11, 2011, we will begin open registration for those wishing to attend the sessions. Please mark you calendar and begin spreading the word. Last session we had 600 registrations and hope to break 1000 for this series. Thanks in advance for helping us out.

    For more info:  www.sharepointsaturday.org/emea

    SPSEMEA Organizing Team

    Mark Miller, United States
    Toni Frankola, Croatia
    Isaac Stith, United States
    Ayman El-Hattab, Egypt

  • Adopt and Deploy Lync with Device Replacement program- Preserving Customer investments

    Here is another program from Microsoft to help customers adopt and deploy Lync; Device Replacement.

     

    We are partnering with Vology (http://www.vds.com) & Cxtec (http://www.cxtec.com) to buy/replace/trade-in customers old phones…so we are helping customers preserve their investment.