Introduction:

I was getting the error:

This Setup Requires Internet Information Server 5.1 or higher and Windows XP and higher when I was trying to install a setup project on windows server 2008 with IIS 7.0.

After 1 hour of searching, I discovered there was some configuration problems with the Conditions Editor (Requirements on Target Machine)

Walkthrough:

• Go to the setup project setup and Launch the Conditions Editor.

• Right click on the IIS Condition and view the properties

• Check Condition Formula; it should as the following:

(IISMAJORVERSION >= "#5" AND IISMINORVERSION >= "#1") OR IISMAJORVERSION >= "#6"

In the above case, the minimum IIS Version required is 6.

If you want to install on IIS Version 7.5 and above then use the below condition formula:

(IISMAJORVERSION >= "#7" AND IISMINORVERSION >= "#5")

Introduction:

I want to talk about how to filter events from the custom views in windows event viewer; that will give you more ability to drill down and give you more advance filtration options using C# Code.

Below is an example how to use the same custom view and setting the options in your server side code.

Walkthrough Scenario:

Querying the custom view needs to create a dynamic XML Query; a good start to generate the basic XML Query is by generating one using the event viewer:

Now the extra filtration will be using the Event Level and the Time Generated:

  queryString =
  "<QueryList>" +
      "<Query Id=\"0\" Path=\"Microsoft-Windows-Application Server-System Services/Admin\">" +
      "<Select Path=\"Microsoft-Windows-Application Server-System Services/Admin\">*[System[Provider[@Name='Microsoft-Windows-Application Server-System Services' or @Name='Microsoft-Windows-Application Server-System Services Event Collector' or @Name='Microsoft-Windows-Application Server-System Services Hosting' or @Name='Microsoft-Windows-Application Server-System Services IIS Manager' or @Name='Microsoft-Windows-Application Server-System Services Power Shell' and *[System[(" + ddlFilterByType.SelectedItem.Value.ToString() + ") and TimeCreated[timediff(@SystemTime) &lt;= " + ddlFilterByTime.SelectedItem.Value.ToString() + "]]]]]]</Select> " +
      "<Select Path=\"Microsoft-Windows-Application Server-System Services/Debug\">*[System[Provider[@Name='Microsoft-Windows-Application Server-System Services' or @Name='Microsoft-Windows-Application Server-System Services Event Collector' or @Name='Microsoft-Windows-Application Server-System Services Hosting' or @Name='Microsoft-Windows-Application Server-System Services IIS Manager' or @Name='Microsoft-Windows-Application Server-System Services Power Shell' and *[System[(" + ddlFilterByType.SelectedItem.Value.ToString() + ") and TimeCreated[timediff(@SystemTime) &lt;= " + ddlFilterByTime.SelectedItem.Value.ToString() + "]]]]]]</Select> " +
      "<Select Path=\"Microsoft-Windows-Application Server-System Services/Operational\">*[System[Provider[@Name='Microsoft-Windows-Application Server-System Services' or @Name='Microsoft-Windows-Application Server-System Services Event Collector' or @Name='Microsoft-Windows-Application Server-System Services Hosting' or @Name='Microsoft-Windows-Application Server-System Services IIS Manager' or @Name='Microsoft-Windows-Application Server-System Services Power Shell' and *[System[(" + ddlFilterByType.SelectedItem.Value.ToString() + ") and TimeCreated[timediff(@SystemTime) &lt;= " + ddlFilterByTime.SelectedItem.Value.ToString() + "]]]]]]</Select> " +
      "</Query>" +
  "</QueryList>";

*[System[(" + ddlFilterByLevel.SelectedItem.Value.ToString() + ") and TimeCreated[timediff(@SystemTime) <= " + ddlFilterByTime.SelectedItem.Value.ToString() + "]]]

The values for the dropdown list to filter by level will be set as the following:

    <asp:DropDownList ID="ddlFilterByType" runat="server" Height="16px" 
        Width="160px">
        <asp:ListItem Text="All Levels" Value="0,1,2,3,4,5" />
        <asp:ListItem Text="Critical" Value="Level=1" />
        <asp:ListItem Text="Error" Value="Level=2" />
        <asp:ListItem Text="Warning" Value="Level=3" />
        <asp:ListItem Text="Information" Value="Level=4" />
        <asp:ListItem Text="Verbose" Value="Level=5" />
    </asp:DropDownList>

The values for the dropdown list to filter by Time will be set as the following:

  <asp:DropDownList ID="ddlFilterByTime" runat="server" Width="160px">
        <asp:ListItem Text="Any Time" Value="0" />
        <asp:ListItem Text="Last Hour" Value="3600000" />
        <asp:ListItem Text="Last 12 Hours" Value="43200000" />
        <asp:ListItem Text="Last 24 Hours" Value="86400000" />
        <asp:ListItem Text="Last 7 Days" Value="604800000" />
        <asp:ListItem Text="Last 30 Days" Value="2592000000" />
    </asp:DropDownList>

Now we need to initialize an instance of the EventLogReader by specifying and EventLogQuery:

EventLogQuery eventsQuery = new EventLogQuery("Application", PathType.LogName, queryString);
EventLogReader logReader = new EventLogReader(eventsQuery);

Read the EventLogReader by looping through the EventRecord:

 for (EventRecord Instance = logReader.ReadEvent(); null != Instance; Instance = logReader.ReadEvent())
                {
                    String EventID = Instance.Id.ToString();
                }

Introduction

Moving / Migrating Microsoft SharePoint Server Databases from one server to another might be difficult as you need to reconfigure all the related DB(s) to point at the new server. This might be acceptable if we are talking about the SharePoint Content Databases, but how about the below scenarios:

Scenario # 1:

Moving the SharePoint Configuration DB(s) or the SharePoint Service Application DB(s)?

Scenario # 2:

Lets consider another scenario, where you want to move the SharePoint DB(s) from a Single Standalone SQL Server to a Highly Available Cluster Server, or maybe even configure it to use on of the new features such as SQL Server AlwaysOn.

Suggested Solution:

The answer to the above scenarios might not be as straight forward as it seems, as you might need to reconfigure each DB & Service Separately, so how about suggesting the use of SQL Server Aliases as it could be consider a good starting point for both of the above scenario.

Walkthrough Scenario

To start take a backup of the SharePoint Server DB(s) that you want to move, this can be easily done using Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio. After the backup is complete restore the Database(s) on the new server.

Note:

• More information about SQL Server DB Backup & Restore can be found here.
• This approach will not migrate SQL Server other components such as SSRS or SSAS ... etc. however it could be considered a good start to the migration process.
  
• After Defining the SQL Sever Alias the Database on the Source Server will not be accessible and can be removed.
  

After successfully restoring the SharePoint DB(s) we need to start configuring the SQL Server Alias. To achieve this goal we need to do the following steps on All the SharePoint Servers in the Farm; such as WFE, APPS ...etc.:

Go to Start >> Run >> Type CliConfg.exe and the below screen will appear:

Select the Alias Tab and click Add:

Select TCP/IP from the Network Libraries and Enter the following Values:

Server Alias: This is the New SQL Server Name Network Name 

• In Case of SQL Server FCI then this could be the cluster name
• In Case of SQL Server AlwaysOn AG this could be the SQL Listener Name
  

Server Name: This is the Old SQL Server Network Name

Port Number (if needed)

And that's its, you will see the new SQL Server Alias added as shown and you are ready to start using the new Database.

Don't forget to apply these changes to all the SharePoint Servers in the farm. hope you found it useful

Additional References

Below are some useful references that provides more information about the items mentioned in the above post:

Creating a SQL Server alias using the SQL Server Client Network Utility

Plan Your SharePoint Farm Right with a SQL Server Alias

Create SQL Server Alias – CliConfg.exe

There are some prerequisites for VHD Disks that need to be ready before decide to present VHD Disk in WAP to be used why Virtual Machine Provisioning that will save you a lot of troubleshooting time if you verify all as follows:

1. Library Share that hosts the VHD must be added to the list of Read-Only shares in Cloud Properties in VMM.
2. The VHD must have “FamilyName” property configured.
3. The VHD must have “release” property set in the format like n.n.n.n (e.g. 1.0.0.0).
4. The VHD must have the Operating System property set.
5. VHD must have the required Tags by Gallery item, the Tags requirements can be found in Gallery item’s readme, this property can be configured only through VMM PowerShell using set-scvirtualharddisk cmdlets, knowing that Data VHD Disk does not require Tag.

More resources with more details for each step that include videos as well can be found here:

Troubleshoot Gallery Item:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/privatecloud/archive/2013/11/27/troubleshooting-windows-azure-pack-and-gallery-items-part-2.aspx

Troubleshoot WAP:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/privatecloud/archive/2013/11/08/troubleshooting-windows-azure-pack-spf-amp-vmm.aspx

Troubleshoot SPF:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/scvmm/archive/2013/11/12/general-troubleshooting-list-for-windows-azure-pack-wap-and-spf-integration.aspx

As a conclusion, you should be aware about all the above prerequisites that need to be verified before start testing creating VM using VHD Disk or from Gallery.

Introduction

Discussion

Solution & Walkthrough

1-    

2-    

3-    

4-    

5-    

6-    

7-    

8-     Now the method is created as follows: