Install of SharePoint Fails to Create Configuration Database

Before I get into the details let me give you information about the environment. This was a simple farm installation, one server as the DB Server, and the other as the SharePoint front end. Both Servers are running with Server 2008 Standard 64-bit, the Database server is running SQL Standard 2008, the SharePoint version is MOSS Enterprise.

When I went to install SharePoint the first time around I would get to step 2 and then got Failed to Created Configuration Database.

Failed to create the configuration database
An exception of type System.Data.SqlClient.SQLException was thrown. Additional exception information: The definition for column 'some crazy Japanese character' must include a data type.

This got me thinking that maybe the collation on SQL was incorrect. Looking into this just the default collation for 2008 was created which was not what is recommended. As a reference Microsoft indicates the following should be selected when installing the instance
Latin1_General_CI_AS_KS_WS. My determination was that KS was not set and that was where the strange character request came from. Just as a reference below are the items needed for this collation.

• Case insensitive
• Accent sensitive
• Kana sensitive
• Width sensitive

I uninstalled the instance, SharePoint has its own in this environment. (!note this collation is not in the list you have to select the options), and then reinstalled with the correct collation.

Thought this would have fixed the problem, and it did, but now I ended up with a new error with the Configuration Database still failing to create(Note that it was being created, my guess just not completed, so you will have to go in and delete the config every time you rerun psconfig)

On to the next error:
Failed to create the configuration database.
An exception of type System.Xml.XmlException was thrown. Additional exception information: '㐀' is an unexpected token. The expected token is '='. Line 1, position 568.
System.Xml.XmlException: '㐀' is an unexpected token. The expected token is '='. Line 1, position 568.
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Throw(Exception e)
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseAttributes()
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseElement()
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseElementContent()
at System.Xml.XmlLoader.LoadNode(Boolean skipOverWhitespace)
at System.Xml.XmlLoader.LoadDocSequence(XmlDocument parentDoc)
at System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load(XmlReader reader)
at System.Xml.XmlDocument.LoadXml(String xml)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.GetObject(Guid id, Guid parentId, Guid type, String name, SPObjectStatus status, Byte[] versionBuffer, String xml)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.FetchObject(Guid id)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.GetObject(Guid id, Boolean checkInMemoryCache)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.GetObject(Guid id)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.GetObject(String name, Guid parentId, Type type)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.get_Farm()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPPersistedObject.get_Farm()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPPersistedObject.Update()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPServer.Update()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.RegisterDefaultDatabaseServices(SqlConnectionStringBuilder connectionString)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.Provision(SqlConnectionStringBuilder connectionString)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm.Create(SqlConnectionStringBuilder configurationDatabase, SqlConnectionStringBuilder administrationContentDatabase, IdentityType identityType, String farmUser, SecureString farmPassword)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm.Create(SqlConnectionStringBuilder configurationDatabase, SqlConnectionStringBuilder administrationContentDatabase, String farmUser, SecureString farmPassword)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.ConfigurationDatabaseTask.CreateOrConnectConfigDb()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.ConfigurationDatabaseTask.Run()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.TaskThread.ExecuteTask()

AND When attempted again

Failed to create the configuration database.
An exception of type System.Xml.XmlException was thrown. Additional exception information: The '=' character, hexadecimal value 0x3D, cannot be included in a name. Line 1, position 1300.
System.Xml.XmlException: The '=' character, hexadecimal value 0x3D, cannot be included in a name. Line 1, position 1300.
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.Throw(Exception e)
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseElement()
at System.Xml.XmlTextReaderImpl.ParseElementContent()
at System.Xml.XmlLoader.LoadNode(Boolean skipOverWhitespace)
at System.Xml.XmlLoader.LoadDocSequence(XmlDocument parentDoc)
at System.Xml.XmlDocument.Load(XmlReader reader)
at System.Xml.XmlDocument.LoadXml(String xml)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.GetObject(Guid id, Guid parentId, Guid type, String name, SPObjectStatus status, Byte[] versionBuffer, String xml)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.FetchObject(Guid id)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.GetObject(Guid id, Boolean checkInMemoryCache)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.GetObject(Guid id)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPPersistedObject.get_Parent()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPPersistedObject.CreateDiagnosticString()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPPersistedObject.ToString()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPPersistedObject.Update()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPServer.Update()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.RegisterDefaultDatabaseServices(SqlConnectionStringBuilder connectionString)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPConfigurationDatabase.Provision(SqlConnectionStringBuilder connectionString)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm.Create(SqlConnectionStringBuilder configurationDatabase, SqlConnectionStringBuilder administrationContentDatabase, IdentityType identityType, String farmUser, SecureString farmPassword)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPFarm.Create(SqlConnectionStringBuilder configurationDatabase, SqlConnectionStringBuilder administrationContentDatabase, String farmUser, SecureString farmPassword)
at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.ConfigurationDatabaseTask.CreateOrConnectConfigDb()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.ConfigurationDatabaseTask.Run()
at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.TaskThread.ExecuteTask()

At this point I had already called Microsoft Support

They checked a couple of areas to ensure the right items were created, and permissions had been set up correctly. Found out that some of the web.config files did not actually install, very strange. So we completely uninstalled SharePoint and renamed the HIVE (web server extensions/12) to 12_old and reinstalled SharePoint.

The previous two errors did not appear I got a new one:

Failed to Create Configuration Database

Unknown SQL Exception 156 occurred. Additional error information from SQL Server is included below.
Incorrect syntax near the keyword 'CREATE'.

OK seriously what is going on. Symantec Endpoint had been installed on both servers. While I had stopped the services, I still could not get SharePoint installed, so I went out on a limb and uninstalled it from both machines. Ran PSConfig again and low and behold SharePoint was able to make it through configuration and sequential Service Packs, and is now fully configured.

Enter a new issue. Reinstallation of Endpoint once again brings SharePoint to a standstill. Now I need to figure out a way to resolve this issue. Will update once I figure this out.

SharePoint 2010 Sneak Peek

Well with the SharePoint Conference not until October, Microsoft seems to have decided to release a sneak peek into some of the items that will be available in 2010. This is good because I just picked up on some of the add-ons for SQL 2008 R2.

SQL 2008 Add-ins
Add-in for Microsoft Office SharePoint 2010
Share & Collaborate with Confidence

• Enables users to publish reports and analyses to SharePoint to make them available to others in the organization
• Applications and reports can be refreshed automatically while also maintaining version control and tracking
• Central, secure location where users can easily control who has access to sensitive data while also maximizing the number of people who can view the reports

SharePoint 2010 Management Console
Manage User-Generated Analytical Applications

• Provides a single, comprehensive management tool through Microsoft Office SharePoint that gives IT administrators the ability to set server policies and monitor Self Service BI activities
• IT can manage and secure all BI assets, freeing the original authors to focus on business priorities
• Dashboard views to monitor access and utilization of analyses and reports as well as track patterns of hardware usage to help ensure the right security privileges are applied and user generated solutions are continuously available, up-to-date, and secured
  

New Capabilities
General Overview

• Ribbon - Similar to Office 2007
• Selecting mutliple documents to check-in/check-out
• Graying out of sections not needed, such as pop-ups for adding comments when checking back in, all other items are grayed out.
• Easer editing via Web Edit and uploading of images from your desktop without having to upload and then point to the file
• Out of the Box Silver light Web Part for adding silverlight applications
• Rich Theming - Select Themes from PowerPoint, edit color palletes
• Better Compatability with Firefox
• Visio Services - Publish straight to SharePoint, users dont need Visio to see templates
• SharePoint Designer 2010 is greatly improved allowing direct tie in to backend systems by creating content types
• Business Connectivity Services - Read Write from within SharePoint, Seemless is Sweet
• Seemless integration with Office templates, Business Connectivity
• SharePoint Workspace (Formerly Groove) taking SharePoint offline including line of business applications
• Rich Media Support (PowerPoint 2010 now has a new inline video editing capability) for powerpoint, silverlight and other media services.

IT Professional - Just an interesting fact the video on the demo was done using Firefox

• Streamlined Central Administration - Cleaner Layout with the Ribbon
• SharePoint Best Practices Analyzer - Operational Insight and Health, checks for issues and can automatically fix issues. Fully Extensible
• Usage Reporting and Logging - SQL Logging Database for all SharePoint logging, also completely extensible - Tons of reports
• Large List Resource Throttling - to help with user load, and view creation to help with scalability
• Unattached Content Database Recovery - Option to map and detach a content database from Central Admin granual file extract
• Visual Upgrade - Upgrades directly to same look and feel, and allows to preview new visual, preview prevents users from making changes not compatibile with 2007

Developer

• Visual Studio 2010 SharePoint Tools
• LINQ for SharePoint
• Developer Dashboard
• Business Connectivity Services
• Client Object Model
• Silverlight Web Part

http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/2010/Sneak_Peek/Pages/default.aspx

If there was any thought that there could be some competitors to SharePoint they would now be blown out of the water in my eyes. Hoping to be able to get to the Conference in October

SharePoint workflows not starting Automatically

I did some work on a site recently and the workflow as simple as it was not automatically kicking off. After doing some research I kept finding links to a Microsoft KB explaining why this may happen after upgrading to SharePoint Service Pack 1. However the installation was fully upgraded to the most recent version and none of the items mentioned in the KB were happening on this server. At first I didnt have access to central administration. Once I got in the first place I checked was the Timer Job Status. Everything was successful here. Then I realized that it may be a Alternate Access Mapping (AAM) issue. Turns out that the outside URL was not even set up in the AAM. Adding this url to the internet zone and restarting IIS solved the problem. If you are unfamilar with Central Administration here are the steps.

1. Go to Central Administration


2. Go to Operations


3. Go to Alternate Access Mappings (under Global Configuration)


4. Click on Edit Public Urls


5. Ensure you have the right Web Collection selected


6. Enter in the public facing URL into the Internet field


7. Click Save


8. Restart IIS

Passed WSS 3.0 Application Development Exam

After a couple of days studying and taking the Microsoft E-Learning Collection for this exam. I found it wasnt as difficult as I was anticipating. This exam makes 3 out of the 4 SharePoint Specifc exams, I think Ill go for the next one in either August or September.

Using URL to filter Web Parts on a SharePoint Page

Adding URL Query to filter Web Parts
The point of this walk through is to explain how to create filters for web parts based on the page URL. Web parts to be filtered must be XSLT Data View Web parts. One of the fields that exist in the web parts corresponding list or library must contain data that matches the page name. If filtering multiple web parts on a page you must complete the following steps for each one. !!Note that some performance issues may arise if your filter has to process through thousands and thousands of records!!

1. Add Web Part(s) to page
2. Open page in SharePoint Designer
3. Right Click on Web Part and Select Convert to XSLT Data View
4. Select the Common Tasks
5. To remove the tool bar select Change Layout
6. Go to the General Tab
7. Uncheck any boxes to remove the toolbar and filtering
8. Click Ok
9. Select Common Tasks
10. Select Parameters…
11. Enter New Parameter
12. Enter CurrentUrl
13. Select Server Variable as Parameter Source
14. Enter URL as Server Variable
15. Click Ok
16. Select the Common Tasks
17. Select Filter
18. Check Add XSLT Filtering
19. Click Edit
20. Enter the following code and/or adapt it to your use[@Title=substring-after(substring-before($CurrentUrl,'.aspx'),'/Pages/')]
    Code Explanation
    @Title = the field that contains the content that matches your page name (i.e. ProductA is an item in the Title field and ProductA.aspx is the page)
    
    $CurrentUrl = the parameter we just created
    
    /Pages/ = the document library the pages reside in (if your pages reside in a document library named Products set this to /Products/)
    
    The query pulls out the red information to use as the filter criteria http://sharepoint/pages/page2.aspx and matches it against the field chosen.
21. Click Ok
22. Click Ok
23. Save your page, you will notice at this time that your web parts return no results, the results will not show because the filter only processes at runtime.
24. Refresh the page
    

Actual Code that is added to the Page is as follows:

In Parameter Bindings
parameterbinding location="ServerVariable(URL)" defaultvalue="" name="CurrentUrl"

In XSL Style Sheet
xsl:param name="CurrentUrl"

In xsl:template name="dvt_1"
xsl:variable name="Rows" select="/dsQueryResponse/Rows/Row[@Title=substring-after(substring-before($CurrentUrl,'.aspx'),'/Pages/')]"

Slacking latley

I have been slacking lately with adding items to this blog, my wife and I just recently had a baby and of course I lost track of other items I have been working on, but I am on the upswing again so items should start popping up again.

SharePoint PreScan Utility Hiccups

I haven't had any chances to work on doing an upgrade from SharePoint 2003 to 2007 until now. So in order to get myself up to speed I decided to begin testing with my companies old 2003 implementation since we have already moved to 2007, we had just decided to do a complete rebuild from scratch instead of the upgrade.

The first thing I do is run the PreScan Utility, you can find it here http://www.microsoft.com/Downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e8a00b1f-6f45-42cd-8e56-e62c20feb2f1&displaylang=en.

I got an error which stated "Skipping virtual server: . Server state = NeedUpgrade. Most likely this virtual server is not extended with WSS v2. "

To me this seems strange as I thought the Virtual Server was already set to be SharePoint. So I google the issue, here is the KB from Microsoft for the different prescan errors and solutions http://support.microsoft.com/kb/937291.

In my case I just needed to do the upgrade as whoever set up the portal server originally had not done this. To do this you would use the stsadm utility.

1. Open Command as an administrator
2. Change the Path - cd "\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\60\Bin"
3. stsadm -o upgrade -url http://serverbeingupgraded

Run the Prescan utility using the config xml, this config file maps the site templates correctly, if you run the prescan with out this you will get back notifications that SharePoint is using a lot of custom templates, which may not be the case.

1. Open Command as one of the SharePoint admin accounts
2. Run the utility
prescan /c preupgradescanconfig.xml /v http://serverbeingupgraded

Getting the results below is good, if any of the items marked in blue come back with something other than 0 you will want to look into things a little deeper, and will most likely have to recreate your custom templates for use with 2007.

03/25/2009 10:36:55 Number of sites skipped (already scanned): 0
03/25/2009 10:36:55 Number of sites scanned: 50
03/25/2009 10:36:55 Number of broken sites: 0
03/25/2009 10:36:55 Number of webs scanned: 125
03/25/2009 10:36:55 Number of broken webs: 0
03/25/2009 10:36:55 Number of webs using custom template: 0
03/25/2009 10:36:55 Number of pages scanned: 6145
03/25/2009 10:36:55 Number of unghosted pages: 315 (5.13% of total).

Unghosted pages are not necessarily a bad thing and there is a way of reghosting.

For more info on this visit Joel Olsens blog
http://blogs.msdn.com/joelo/archive/2007/04/13/don-t-be-afraid-of-prescan-part-1.aspx