You may have had questions or have had others ask you:

Does a WSP deploy perform an IISRESET?
We are upgrading a solution, will it cause an outage?
What causes an outage when working with SharePoint WSP files?

Over the years, I have had many discussions / meetings with clients & colleagues about this and I would like to publish my findings and the links that I have had with me for a while. Let’s clarify this ambiguity:

Here are answers straight up in three scenarios:
Deploying a solution
Do you need to prepare for an outage / IISRESET?: Yes

Retracting a solution

Do you need to prepare for an outage / IISRESET?: Yes

Upgrading a solution

Do you need to prepare for an outage / IISRESET?: Yes

Ok, lets take a closer look:
Deploying a solution
Initially, the package manifest.xml is checked for its content & destination locations. The files specified in the manifest.xml are copied to the locations. After solution files are copied to the target servers, a configuration reset is scheduled for all front-end Web servers; the reset then deploys the files and restarts Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS). Farm administrators can specify when this occurs (a timer job).
Reference: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa544500.aspx

Retracting a solution

On each front-end Web server, the following occurs:

- Internet Information Services (IIS) is disabled.
- Files are removed from the system.
- IIS is re-enabled and Microsoft SharePoint Foundation is reloaded when a user browses to a page.

- Farm administrators can specify the time when the retraction takes place.

Reference: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa543958.aspx

Upgrading a solution

There are two ways to do an upgrade of a solution. i.e. Replacement and Update. Both inolve a an IISRESET.

Replacements are essentially a retract and optionally removal of a WSP. Then the new version is added and deployed. Causing an IISRESET (twice!).
Updates are essentially a deployment with the same file name but different GUID. SharePoint detects this and retracts the old solution and deploys the new one..causing an IISRESET.

Reference: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa543659.aspx

Please note that there is a -local option when deploying a solution, but according to MSDN, this is to be used for troubleshooting purposes.
Reference: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.sharepoint.administration.spsolution.deploylocal.aspx

You may come across environments which have 32bit servers running SharePoint 2007 which would need to be upgraded to SharePoint 2010. Since SharePoint 2010 does not run on 32bit, an ‘in place upgrade’ option from SharePoint 2007 32 to SharePoint 2010 64 bit may come to mind.

In that case.. you would have to rethink your upgrade strategy. There are many complexities and risks associated with the in place upgrade method and you are better off migrating, rather than upgrading.
However, if you choose to upgrade, then the first step will be to ‘upgrade’ all your SharePoint 2007 – 32bit servers to SharePoint 2007 – 64bit servers. The key is to maintain architecture homogeneity.

Even if you aren’t considering SharePoint 2010 at the moment, you might see value in upgrading to SharePoint 2007 on 64 bit anyway. For example: 64bit addresses larger memory (upto 1024GB!). Here are some advantages of running 64bit: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd630755%28office.12%29.aspx

One HUGE benefit is to get your database servers on 64bit while serving your 32bit MOSS 2007 farm.

Keep in mind: Architecture homogeneity:-
You can deploy an Office SharePoint Server 2007 farm on a mix of 32-bit and 64-bit servers provided that you maintain architecture homogeneity at each topology layer. For example, you can use 64-bit database servers with 32-bit front-end Web servers, or 64-bit application servers with 32-bit servers that are running Excel Services. However, we do not recommend combining 32-bit and 64-bit front-end Web servers within the same farm.

Mixing 32-bit and 64-bit servers

Some important considerations when you are running a mixed 32-bit and 64-bit farm are as follows:

 Do not use the /3GB switch in Windows Server 2003

On a 32-bit server with a total of 4 GB of virtual address space, the /3GB switch can optimize performance by transferring 1 GB of virtual address space from the kernel to the user mode processes. This is not recommended on 64-bit hardware because it leaves only 1 GB available to the kernel. The large address tables that are used by 64-bit hardware can cause that address space to be depleted. As a result, the computer may become destabilized. For more information, see the Knowledge Base article The Windows Server 2003 /3GB switch is not supported in Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 or in later versions or in SharePoint Portal Server 2003 SP2 or in later versions (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=105919).

 Maintain 32-bit or 64-bit homogeneity at each topology layer

You can deploy an Office SharePoint Server 2007 farm on a mix of 32-bit and 64-bit servers provided that you maintain architecture homogeneity at each topology layer. For example, you can use 64-bit database servers with 32-bit front-end Web servers, or 64-bit application servers with 32-bit servers that are running Excel Services. However, we do not recommend combining 32-bit and 64-bit front-end Web servers within the same farm.

 Mixing 32-bit and 64-bit servers can increase the maintenance overhead for the farm

In mixed 32-bit and 64-bit scenarios, it is necessary to manage things such as third-party applications, custom solutions, software patches, and updates independently for each platform.

Source: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd630764(office.12).aspx

You may receive these errors when generating reports (often large reports) through Microsoft Sharepoint Reporting Services SRSS or Microsoft CRM.

This error appears in the report server log:

ASSERT: Assertion failed! un-named assertion fired for component processing Microsoft.ReportingServices.Diagnostics.Utilities.InternalCatalogException
This error will appear in your web browser when accessing the report:

Reporting Services Error An internal error occurred on the report server. See the error log for more details (rsInternalError)

Solution:
Install SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3

The cause is SQL server timing values may be incorrect when you use Cool’n'Quiet technology in AMD processors or SpeedStep technology in Intel processors. It can also occur on virtual servers on VMware (Intel or AMD).

Here are some links I hope you may find useful:

Link 1:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mariae/archive/2007/12/10/reporting-services-internal-error.aspx

Link 1: Mentions that AMD Cool’n’Quiet settings is the culprit, on further reading on the internet, I have found out that this can occur on intel systems (SpeedStep technology) as well.

Link 2:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;931279

Link 2: States that the issue is a drift may occur between CPU frequency values and the problem was first corrected in SQL 2005 SP 3.
The Microsoft KB article 931279 states that this can occur if we use the CPU stepping or various Windows OS ‘power schemes’ settings. While the former (CPU stepping) is a bit more tricky to check, it would be worth checking the power scheme settings (Start>run>powercfg.cpl).

Link 3:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/955706/en-us (SQL 2005 SP 3)

Link 3 contains a list of bugs that are fixed by SP3. There evidence that it fixes the SQL server timing values – KB article 931279 (Link 2).

Ive found this very handy.. recently, I was working on a server and we were trying to access the local SharePoint site http://127.0.0.1 or http://nameoflocalserver/pages/default.aspx and I was constantly prompted for the username and password. In SharePoint 2010, it can really annoy you by not accepting your username password credentials in the popup window.

Its a ‘feature’ on the server that you need to disable as a workaround.
Caution: Microsoft Best practices is out of scope in this article. Do your own research on this topic.

You would need to create a DWORD registry key in the registry called DisableLoopbackCheck and set it to 1.
Follow these steps:

Option 1: Add this registry entry by PowerShell

New-ItemProperty HKLM:\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa -Name "DisableLoopbackCheck" -value "1" -PropertyType dword

Option 2: Add this registry entry manually

Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK
In Registry Editor, locate the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa
Right-click Lsa, point to New, and then click DWORD Value. (In Win 2008, its DWORD 32bit)
Type DisableLoopbackCheck, and then press ENTER.
Right-click DisableLoopbackCheck, and then click Modify.
In the Value data box, type 1 and then click OK.
Quit Registry Editor.
You may need to restart your server.

For more information about this, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 281308 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/281308/ ) Connecting to SMB share on a Windows 2000-based computer or a Windows Server 2003-based computer may not work with an alias name.

When you are installing MOSS SharePoint 2007  on a Windows 2008 R2 server, you may receive an error to look up Microsoft KB 962935

The possible cause is because you are installing MOSS2007 with SP 1 on a Windows 2008 R2 server.

To overcome this, you have two options:

1. Slip stream – extract and update your install with MOSS 2007 SP 2
- Extract OfficeServerwithSP1.exe by executing  “OfficeServerwithSP1.exe /extract:C:\MOSS\”
- Extract officeserver2007sp2-kb953334-x64-fullfile-en-us by executing  “officeserver2007sp2-kb953334-x64-fullfile-en-us /extract:C:\MOSSsp2\”
- Copying all files from “C:\MOSSsp2\” to “C:\MOSS\Updates\”

2. Download MOSS 2007 with SP2
- For 32bit
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=2E6E5A9C-EBF6-4F7F-8467-F4DE6BD6B831&displaylang=en

- For 64bit
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=3015FDE4-85F6-4CBC-812D-55701FBFB563&displaylang=en

I was looking around for some reading today and I thought of collecting information on whats out there on SharePoint skinning, SharePoint customisation of themes and master pages. There are a few articles on the web that I have read before and would like to share them with you. May I suggest you bookmark this article so you can refer back when you need. I will add more links as I come across them. You may be able to share your favourites with me and I will edit this article to include your valuable suggestions! Thanks!

Article 1:

http://aspalliance.com/759_Working_with_SharePoint_Templates.all

With the help of this article, you will learn how to
1. Create a new template.
2. Add Web Part Zones to a template in default.aspx page.
3. Add Web Parts by default while create Sub Area Pages using Onet.xml.
4. Create default Content Lists using Onet.xml.
5. Create multiple lists of the same list type in Onet.xml.
6. Change the view using Schema.xml.

Article 2:

http://www.heathersolomon.com/blog/articles/sp2007.aspx

In this article on Heather Solomon’s website, you will get to understand more on Master Pages and themes in SharePoint.
There are a lot of SharePoint Design tips, working with CSS and the master page. You might need some good time set aside to go through these articles.

Article 3:
http://www.idratherbewriting.com/2008/06/21/customizing-your-sharepoint-site-read-these-10-conceptsgotchas-first/
In this article, you will read 10 Concepts/Gotchas when customising SharePoint.
1. A good SharePoint site is one that doesn’t look like a SharePoint site.
2. Without SharePoint Designer, you can do nothing. With SharePoint Designer, you can do nothing.
3. Like the Borg, all content pages render through Default.master or another master file.
4. When you edit the master, the core.css file unghosts.
5. You can’t see the image directory that the core.css stylesheet refers to.
6. If you edit the Summary View and change the item limit, it breaks the code and you have to generate a new site to figure out the code to fix it.
7. If you modify a theme, switch back to the default, and then return to your modified theme, all modifications are gone.
8. To configure the search to see just blog posts, you have to enter a code that does not exist anywhere on the Internet or help file.
9. You can’t control the look and feel of the admin side of things.
10. Site metrics don’t tell you what post anyone has viewed.

Arcticle 4:
http://branding-sharepoint.com/2010/01/winter-in-minnesota/
A blog in the life of a SharePoint graphic designer. Some inspiring articles to see where SharePoint design can lead to!

May I suggest you bookmark this article so you can refer back when you need. I will add more links as I come across them. You may be able to share your favourites with me and I will edit this article to include your valuable suggestions! Thanks!

A few questions have come up about having dual SharePoint Central Administation servers in a farm. In short, it is possible to run two CAs in a farm. (It is Microsoft supported).
In a 5 server farm (3 WFE, 1 Index, 1 CA), we may feel the need to load balance the CAs with Microsoft’s Network load balancing NLB.
I found a good article that helped reinforced some concepts..
http://www.harbar.net/articles/spca.aspx

1. Download Free ifilter from: http://download.adobe.com/pub/adobe/acrobat/win/all/ifilter60.exe
You can also download Download Adobe Reader 9.0 which contains the ifilter.  Necessary for x64 bit systems. http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4025

2. Run the newly downloaded file and go through the install wizard with your preferences.

3. Enable the pdf extension in SharePoint. Central Administration > SharedServices > Search Settings > File Types >New File Type
4. Enter ‘pdf’ as a file extension and Click OK.

5. Right click and save the pdf icon from http://www.adobe.com/misc/linking.html

6. Add the Acrobat pdf icon to the SharePoint templates directory. Copy the Acrobat PDF picture called pdficon_small.gif in the 12 Hive\TEMPLATE\IMAGES folder, e.g. %programfiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\TEMPLATE\IMAGES.

7. Open the 12 Hive\TEMPLATE\XML\DOCICON.XML file.
Find the <DocIcons.ByExtension> part
Add the following: <mapping Key=”pdf” Value=”pdficon_small.gif” OpenControl=”" />
Save

8. Run
net stop osearch
net start osearch

9. Perform a full crawl to reindex your pdf files.

When creating a new web application, you may experience this error:

The directory C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\80 is already being used by another IIS Web Site.  Choose a different root directory for your new Web application.

Solution:
1. Ensure you have a proper dns name / entry in the hosts file of your server for the new url you are wanting to create.
2. Ensure you have typed in the ‘host header’ typed in when creating the new web application.
3. If this doesnt work, open IIS Manager – Start>run> inetmgr> and verify the home directory – it could be located on a different drive.

You may sometimes see this error when creating a new page in a SharePoint MOSS 2007 publishing portal.

“Content type ’0x01010007FF3E057FA8AB4AA42FCB67B453FFC100E214EEE741181F4E9F7ACC43278EE811′ not found in web ‘http://yoururl’

Two step solution:

1. Go to Central Admin, Application Management, User Permissions for Web Application.
Ensure “Use Client Integration Features” and “Use Remote Interfaces” are enabled.

2. Go to Central Admin, Application Management, Policy for Web Application.
Add your user account with Full Control and Finish!

You may have to do an IISRESET and you should be able to create new pages.