Techoed

Sharing phone's internet connection with laptop

2011-06-16T11:07:00.000-07:00

This one is probably easy but it was tricky for me since I had to connect to the internet using my phone's GPRS connection as my broadband modem had gone bust. I say tricky because I had no access to the internet and hence no search engines and the browser on the phone is not friendly. This explanation is for a Windows 6.1 Mobile and Windows 7 Pro combination
So, here we go
Pair the phone with the laptop / desktop
On the phone click on start --> programs --> Internet Sharing.
Then choose Bluetooth Pan for the PC Connection. Choose the network connection which connects your phone to the Internet and click Connect
Now click on the bluetooth icon on the status bar and choose Join a Personal Area Network.
Highlight the Phone on the bluetooth devices list. From the top menu choose "Connect Using --> Access Point".

Happy Browsing!

Audience targeting vs Permissions in SharePoint

2011-06-16T03:10:00.000-07:00

Can audience targeting be used for permissions i.e., control what the users sees? I have seen most folks get this wrong. Audience targeting cannot be used for permissions and here is the reason.
Audience target is used to target content to a particular audience but it does not prevent the user from navigating to the content.
Audience target can be used to customize the content on the page based on the audience profile but if the user knows the path to the content they can still navigate to it and view it unless it is controlled with permissions

SharePoint setup on a cross-domain one way trust environment

2010-11-07T23:21:00.000-08:00

Its been quite a while since I have written something technical. Either too busy or did not find anything challenging enough. Well, here is one that was fairly challening considering I am not a MOSS Administrator.

Requirement: The client had two domains - A and B. There is a one way trust between A and B such that B understands everything in A. The SharePoint instance is on B i.e., Users of A can logon to B but not vice versa.

The following solutions were possible -
1) Setup claims authentication using ADFS. Probably the best approach but not sure how the credentials in B would get validated since the trust is from A to B.
2) Imports users of A into B and keep them in sync using Microsoft ForeFront Identity Manager (FIM). This would have cost implications as FIM is not free.
3) Use AppFabric Access Control. This is relatively new and not played around with it yet.
4) Have NTLM authorization right through by using the ForeFront Identity Manager service available out of the box. This is not the best approach because of possible double hop issues later on but we decided to go ahead with this as currently authorization at the DB level was not a requirement and service accounts could be used to authentication into the DB.

Having decided on Approach 4 we decided to try this out on a VM setup. We created 2 domains A and B, created the one way trust and ensured that once user from A was added to B, he was able to logon and users of B should be able to logon to A.

Once this was done, we had to install the ForeFront Identity Manager service and then run the Profiler Service in SharePoint. This imported the users from A into B. We then added a user in A on one of the sites in B. So, things looked hunky dory until this point. But when we tried to logon to the site with the credentials of the User in A a blank page was displayed and the event logged had a security exception - Bad username/password. After a bit of thought, it was clear that the credentials were not getting validated. Reason - the service account was not able to validate the username/password from domain A! We resolved the issue by using the credentials of User in A for the service account of the Profiler service in SharePoint. Possibly not the best approach but since we have SharePoint on Domain B, I guess there is no other way out!

Comments/suggestions welcome and appreciated.

Cycling to work - a start!

2010-05-26T22:09:00.001-07:00

This is somethng I had been contemplating for a quite sometime now but had been discouraged by well wishers as I had to commute almost 20km one way to work and with a laptop to carry it seemed impractical. Now with just about 5km to get to work I decided to give it a shot.

First thing was to get a bicycle so did a lot of googling and finally decided to visit the bicycle store and decide. Me being me it was quite likely that I would use the bicycle for a few days and then leave it to rust so decided to take it easy and bought a entry level 21 gear bicycle (Hero Octane). The reviews for this were not great but even then after sitting on it I thought it was comfortable. Bought the bicycle and it was pouring but decided to ride it back from commercial street. With the enthusiasm of a new bicycle managed to get him with a little bit of sweat. I did not stop pedalling which was quite funny as you will realise later in the post

Day 1: Left home nice and early and it seemed like hard work to get to office. I was sweating even though I wanted to take it easy. On the way back home climbing up the ramp on Gear 1 was easy but then later I saw some construction workers overtaking me with utmost ease with their old non-geared classic bikes - hmmm!!! Obviously, having paid quite a bit for 21 gears I was disappointed, got down and checked the air the convential style - by pressing the tyre with the thumb. That must be it. So, went back home, got myself a new footpump and filled in air.

Day 2: Much more easier I thought till I saw some construction workers in the evening who overtook me with ease! Went back home and tried rotating the front wheels. The disk brakes were holding them a little bit and the wheels wouldn't rotate with ease! Took an hour to finally align the disk brakes and get the wheels moving freely. Tried the back wheel and the brake pads where literally stuck to the wheels! One would have thought the guy @ the store would check all these things before delivering the bike. He takes 30 mins to check everything before delivering the bike!

Day 3: Definitely much easier this time. It was a breeze getting to the office and back. Hope to keep it going for sometime now.

Update: Its almost 6 months now and I have 2 bicycles - a Mongoose (MTB) and a RoadBike and good bikes make a difference. I have covered almost 1800kms including lot of century rides! It takes just 15 mins to reach office. That's almost 50% of what I took on day1 when I started cycling. I will probably blog on the long cycling trips separately and planning for TFN!

Pass Multivalue parameter to sub reports in SSRS

2010-05-26T21:41:00.001-07:00

It has been quite a while since I have blogged. Obviously, cannot use that excuse that I was busy - probably not doing things which were not technical enough to be blogged.

Here I had a request from on of the teams that passing multi value parameters to the sub report is not possible and try to substantiate with this blog - http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/sqlreportingservices/thread/83d0c624-09a2-44c0-82ba-c2eb48571323. I was pretty sure this must be straight forward and hence checked this out and it may not be that simple.

The first step is to create the sub report and test it independent of the main report. Here ensure that the parameter has multi value enabled. All the other attributes of the parameter can be left to none since this will be a sub report and hence values will be sent from the main report. If you notice the parameter visibility has been set to visible. In theory, this is supposed to be internal but it keeps throwing up errors inconsistently when called from the main report if this is set to internal. Now, run this report and and ensure it works.

Now that we're done with the sub report lets work on the main report. Create the report and then add the sub report created as described above. Now, right click on the sub report within the report designer and choose sub report properties.

This should show up the dialogue shown below. Choose the parameters tab from the left menu. Add paramters and then choose the name of the parameter that you had created in the sub report. There seems to be a bug with SSRS that it does not show the name of the parameter in the drop down sometimes. Try saving the sub report and then click on the drop down. If this still does not work you can type the name of the paramter and then for the value choose the parameter that you had create in the main report
Now, the value from the paramter in the main report should get passed to the sub report. Another common mistake which should be avoided - in case you are using this multivalue parameter in the filters ensure you choose the 'IN' operate and not equal to operator.

Happy Reporting!

Kerberos!

2009-12-22T15:46:00.000-08:00

This one probably ranks as the toughest one that I have been involved in the recent times.

SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services and IIS cannot use NTLM if there is a double hop during authentication i.e., the SQL Server and the IIS Servers are hosted on two different servers.

The only way to get around this problem is to enable Kerberos and this is no mean task.

The project that I was involved in used SSAS 2008 and MOSS 2007.

Here are the high level steps on how to enable Kerberos, will try and post detailed steps later.

1) Enable Kerberos for the site using SharePoint Central Admin

2) Edit the connection string to add SSPI=Kerberos

3) Add SPNs the service accounts of the App pools of the site, SSP and the service account running SSAS

4) Enable the service accounts to trust for delegation (Kerberos only)

5) Ensure the Kerberos service which provides tickets is running on all the domain controllers that serve the users

If all the above fails there is a bug with 2008 providing a fix

Ice Skating!

2009-08-29T19:56:00.000-07:00

Once again its been a long time since I blogged but had so much fun ice skating so its blog time again. To begin with I was very sceptical of even being able to walk on with the Ice Skates on but mustered courage to have a go. After a bit of fight with the skates manage to get them on but got them on too tight.

After wearing the skates had to walk up stairs (this part is quite easy) and then onto the rink. This is where all the fun started. It was tough to move even a couple of inches. I hung on the the rails and then slowly started moving. At the end of one hour had sore elbows (holding onto the rails), stiff back and sore legs (the skates were too tight).

At the end of the hour I was able to slowly move without holding the rails. Did not have even a single fall though.

So, here are the basics from a guru of 1 hour experience :-)

1) Choose the right sized show. Don't hesitate to try a few shoes before choosing one

2) Wear a Jean and some full arm shirt (just in case you fall down)

3) Don't worry about onlookers and friends who might tease you. Its worth the effort once you manged to move around - its fun

4) Don't look down. I felt that I had a better balance when I did not look down

5) Once you get some confidence stay close to the rail but walk slowly very slowly. Its always better to stay close the the rail though just in case you need it :-) and trust me you will need it on the first day

6) Don't lose heart keep practising and you should be able to move a bit on the very first hour itself!

Happy Skating!

Google Maps API Key

2009-04-12T16:18:00.000-07:00

Its been a while since I have blogged - thanks to the workload I have. This one was a challenge and had to crack it by accident, couldn't find any help on the net (atleast I couldn't find it).

The google maps API needs an API key provided by Google. This key will be generated for the domain name you specify. Even though I specified the IP Address correctly I kept getting the error - "The Google Maps API key used on this web site was registered for a different web site. You can generate a new key for this web site at http://code.google.com/apis/maps/."

Ok, before you get bored here is the solution. Go to the website properties in IIS and in the IP address drop down choose the IP which will be used by end users. This should be the key with which you should generate the API Key. Change your code and your site with google maps api should be up and running - no restarts required. If it doesn't work try restarting it though ;-)

Happy Mapping!

Search Limitation on MOSS

2009-02-19T21:05:00.000-08:00

Well there are quite a few limitations with respect to search on MOSS. But let me pen something very peculiar we came across in this particular project I worked on.

If an user searches for any keyword which is present in the Master Page, all the pages using the master page are returned as part of the search results.

To give you a better understanding, navigate to http://technet.microsoft.com and search for "trademarks". This will explain what I am talking about.

If any of you have come across this or solved this, please email me or post your comment.

Happy Searching!

Recession

2009-02-19T20:44:00.000-08:00

I have become a frequent traveller to the US in the last couple of years. Each time I inevitably pass through France (transit). It takes atleast an hour to checkin at Bangalore and sometimes close to a couple of hours at France. This time (Mid Jan 2009) I was past the check-in at Bangalroe in 5 mins (I am not exaggerating). I was past the security check at France in less than 10 mins.

Though I was happy I am very worried with the things to come in the next few months.

Once I reached here. I saw that JC Penney had a door busters sale on a weekend (starting 6am). I being a lazy bum on a weekend, went to the store at 11am. Surprise, surprise - not too many souls at the store. I got some pretty good deals at the store - a 100$ sweater for $10 and a few other warm clothing.

Once again I was happy with my shopping but very worried with the things to follow in the next few months. I just hope for the world's sake and even my sake the economy improves and Obama's plans become successful!

Restoring MOSS backup - Nightmare

2008-11-20T12:14:00.000-08:00

I am currently trying to restore a backup which was created in the dev environment (using Sharepoint Central Adminstration) into the staging environment. The dev environment is totally isolated from the staging environment i.e., two separate physical locations with separate AD.

When I tried to restore the first error was Access to the path '\\server\webbak\spbrtoc.xml' is denied. Tried giving access to everyone to the path but no luck. You need to specifically give access to the user account under which SQL Server runs!

Phew! I thougt I am through. Actually not! Now that I managed to get past this error, I continued to the restoration process. This time the restoration job gives an error Message: Cannot open database "DatabaseName" requested by the login. The login failed. Login failed for user 'Domain\DBUser'. The funny part was the IIS site was created. The web application is listed on SharePoint and the database also got created! Well after spending hours of googling without any luck I went back to basics and identified the permissions for DBUser on the newly created database. Even though DBUser was the user which created the Database, DBUser did not have permissions to look at the tables.

So, I now have a situation where everything gets created but fails in the end. As though it was not challenging enough I do not have have the source code with me!!! Ok, now for the solution (or rather start of the solution). I once again ran the restore (you need to delete the entry in timer job) before restarting the restore. Now, I kept refreshing the DB List on management studio while the restore job was running. As soon as saw my DB Name on the list I immediately clicked (pounced) on new query and ran this command - sp_changedbowner "Domain\DBUser". Now, DBUser became the owner of the newly created database and hence the restore went through!

Wow! I jumped in joy only to realise that even though the job was successful when I tried to browse to the URL I got the usual 404-Page not found error. Back to work - I figured out this happened because the site collection did not get created. I went to the managed Content databases on the Central Administration Screen and found that the number of sites on for the DB was 0! Not to be disheartend got back to work (rather guessing this time). Here are the final steps which got the site up

1) I removed the content db from the web app

2) Detached it from SQL Server

3) Attached it back to SQL Server

3) Attached the content DB back to the web app (using Central Administration).

Restarted the site through IIS. For once I was lucky since I have no clue why this worked but after so much hassle hey who cares, it worked!

Indians driving in the US

2008-11-17T13:35:00.000-08:00

For the brave hearted who are going to rent a car for the first time in the US here are a few tips. I am writing this from the experiences I have had.

If you have driven automatics you can skip this paragraph. Even before you can shift to drive (D) or Reverse (R). You need to push the brake pedal else you will not be able to shift to drive or reverse. This should help you avoid fighting with the lever.

We drive on the left side of the road it is quite difficult to remember to stay on the right especially when the road is empty. So, for the first few days keep this in mind.

At the traffic light you can turn right on red unless there is a sign which says "No turn on Red". Ofcourse before you turn on red, you need to look around to ensure no one is heading your way. If you are turning left then wait for the green left arrow. Or if there is a green signal only (for straight traffic), wait for all oncoming traffic to pass and then take a left.

When a road has many lanes, it is not necessary that the lanes are equally distributed. For example - a road may have 4 lanes : 3 for oncoming traffic and 1 for you! In case there are no dividers then there will be a thick yellow line to mark this. So, before you turn left or right have a look and then decide where you have to end up. This was very weird and I ended up almost driving on the wrong side of the road!

4 way stop signs - This is another interesting signal. You will see it as a 4 way stop sign or all way stop. This means the person reaching the stop sign first gets the right of way. In case, two drivers arrive at the stop sign at the same time the driver to the right gets the right of way - which is the opposite when you normally drive on the road where the driver to the left has the right of way.

Assuming you have successfully reached your destination, you now need to park and get down. You will not be able to remove the key unless the gear lever is in the Park (P) position. Hang on! you will not be able to move the gear to Park when the key is in the off position. So, make sure you move to park when the key is in the on position, switch off the engine and then you can get down!

Finally, if you are stopped by the cops do not get down till he/she asks you to. Keep your hands on the steering wheel, lower the window and then follow instructions - this is not through experience but hearsay! Drive Safe!

Vegetarians travelling to US

2008-11-17T11:44:00.000-08:00

Though I am a non-vegetarian, this article will be useful to all vegetarians. I have travelled to the US quite frequently and I thought I will share my experiences on how I survived with minimum cooking. This will particularly be useful to those who are unable to find decent vegetarian food outside.

You do get frozen paratas, chappatis and oothappams but the challenge is to get a dish to go with it. I had tried out the Frozen Indian foods (microwavable). They give a strong masala smell and it is quite pungent and difficult to eat on a daily basis. So, here are a few tips. Get the following ingredents (all inexpensive) - tawa (for heating chappatis), cooking oil (vegetable oil), a metal ice cream scoop with a thick plastic handle (available at the dollar store), mustard and cummin seed. After heating the frozen foods in the microwave. Heat the oil for about 3 mins in the ice cream scoop, then add a few mustard seeds and some cummin seeds, mix it with the microwaved food and you have delicious smelling food. Deep foods' Mirchi Masala is one of my favourite brands. No! I am not being paid to write this article.

Sports in India

2008-09-23T23:11:00.000-07:00

The title is synonymous to cricket in India. When we say sport in India on most occasions it is cricket. Not that I am a critic of cricket but the fact that other sports get absolutely no recognition is apalling. I was watching one of the regional channels where there was a debate about "Pursuing sports in India" is a waste of time. The debate brought about interesting points. I heard that both Mr. Bhaskaran (former hockey international) and Sachin were recipients of the Arjuna award. The press walked over Bhaskaran to interview Sachin. I then did a google on sports and most of the pages returned cricket related pages. It is no surprise that India fairs poorly in the Olympics.

I stay in the north of Bangalore and had to search for a couple of years to find a badminton court to play at an amateur level. The government should set up small recreation centres. This would be a start. Anywhere in the west it is quite easy to find a place to play. BCCI should be taken over by the government. The overflowing funds from BCCI should be spent on improving other sports as well. Cricket doesn't need any marketing at the moment.

Mr. Bhaskaran had made a valid point - the sports minister should be a former player and should step onto the field everyday to find out ground realities and take necessary action.

Parents play a huge role in the development of the kid. Parents should encourage a child if he is very passionate about some sport. It makes the child grow up to be a better personality and maybe he will make a few bucks for him as well!

Update: I came across the website "Mittal Champions Trust" which is to be lauded for its efforts. I hope they produce world beaters in the near future.

Any thoughts welcome.

Custom .Net application on SharePoint

2008-08-25T02:14:00.000-07:00

Following are the few points I would suggest considering when deciding whether to use MOSS as the platform for the application you develop.

1) Is your application centered on Documents?
2) Is your application looking for collaboration features like blog, Wiki, Tasks etc?
3) Is your application about managing the web content and require content authoring, review process to publish the content to web?
4) Is your application looking at managing a unstructured content?
5) Is your application looking managing site strcture (Site-->sub site)?
6) Is your application looking at using Out-of-the Box User Management, Access Control?

If your answer is yes to any of the above questions then you can consider SharePoint.

Also MOSS is not a recommended plaform if you are looking at building
1) Transaction based application which would require use of a Custom database
2) Application as a Front end that leverages all of it features through external systems and nothing from MOSS features

Applying SP2 to SQL Server 2005

2008-07-30T23:44:00.001-07:00

One would have thought that applying a Service Pack is an easy job. Well not exactly as I found out. I spend two days trying to apply the patch.

The main problem as I noticed from the log was that the installer was looking for a .msp file which did not exist.

Solution

Uninstall SQL Server completely using the Windows Installer Cleanup utility - http://support.microsoft.com/KB/290301.

Once all the components of SQL Server have been uninstalled. Install SQL Server from the original source - could be the DVD or the downloaded software. During installation you may get an error about owc11.exe. Uninstallation of this is not possible through the Add/Remove programs in Control Panel. This will have to be uninstalled by using the Windows Installer Cleanup utility. Once this is done re-run SQL Server 2005 setup and it should go through.

After installing SQL Server, install SP2. Hurrah! I had my SQL Server up and running and what was surprising was I found all the databases intact. Obviously, it is still a good idea to backup your databases before trying this out.