SharePoint 2007 STSADM?

What is STSADM?

STSADM stands for Sharepint Team Service Administration, and it's a tool for command line SharePoint administration, as state in this article it's not interactive and MUST be used with administration credentials. It can be combined with batch programming scripts for automation and doubtlessly it's a must learn if you manage SP servers for on the go fixes, creation, etc.

NOTE - I'm aware that this tool will probably be replaced by PowerShell

For Using STSADM :

• Administrators group on the Server credential
• Stsadm does not work remotely (Must be executed on the server)

To use stsadm commands the syntax is composed by the operation and first the mandatory parameters and then the optional one.

stsadm.exe -[operation] [mansatory params] [optional params]

For Accessing (if this can be called like that) you must open a MS-DOS command prompt (Start>RUN>cmd) and then browse to the directory that you can access stsadm.exe. The default location usually is

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\bin

Here I post 2 examples of basic operations you can try with the STSADM command line tool:

Stsadm Help: stsadm.exe –help e.g., stsadm.exe –help backup

This one is the classic help displaying command line

Stsadm SP Site count: stsadm.exe -o enumsites -url http://YOUR_spSERVER >> sites.txt

This one is a bit more elaborated this one enumerates the sites on a server and then export the results to a .txt file that will be located on the \BIN folder (yes the same where the STSADM is located)

Hope this helps. Regards, Art-Uhr

Contributor Mode - SharePoint Designer (2007)

Sometimes I find myself trying to troubleshoot some SP Sites and need to handle some items via the SPD, but most of the times you [or I] cannot access the complete features of a Site (i.e. workflows due they are inside a hidden folder). So here's a little workaround. As soon as I find the source where I learned this trick I'll give credits properly.

Contributor mode??

Yes.... Contributor Mode (hyperlink is an overview of this mode), in this mode your'e almost only a viewer of the most useful features of SPD, such as WorkFlow's, Master Page editing... etc). This mode IS NOT a security setting, it's a very 'common sense' scope for people who aren't Site Owners (or Farm Administrators, or Site Collection Administrators), but only Content Authors, and also a very effective way to protect everything that is not content.

But back to the point.

This means you're actually importing authentication credentials from the IE (the version i talk on this one is IE7), as far as I've tried simply logging off won't do the trick. This workaround implies a change on the Security Settings of your Internet Explorer (don't worry, it's actually increasing them, not opening a breach). Enough said, here's the work around:

On your IE Tools

Tools > Internet Options > Security > Custom Level > Settings

Scroll all the way down to the User Authentication

and select:

Prompt for Username and Password

What this will do??

This configuration will ask for your credentials EVERY TIME you visit ANY site that requires authentication (Remember the No Security Breach from before?) but this time if you have a privileged account (AKA Admin account) you now can be sure SPD won't carry over your credentials, instead it'll pop up a login box, again use your privileged account and there you go... the site you need to work with ready and with all the features SPD has for you.

Hope this helps!

Regards, Art-Uhr

Crónicas de Consultoría

La Consultoría hoy en día se encuentra más que demacrada en su reputación, en su significado, en su credibilidad, pero más que nada en su valor como plataforma estratégica para las empresas.

Más aún si le ponemos (según el idioma) el prefijo o sufijo de IT - Information Technologies - y no es para menos, si uno de cada dos proyectos de TI se van al cielo en tiempo y costos. Si de los que fracasan en México el 40% de los mismos son ejecutados por Empresas que se dedican a la Consultoría. No se necesita ser un genio para entender porque al momento de competir en el mercado por la asignación de un proyecto al escuchar: somos [Nombre de la Empresa] Consulting o algo que suene consutoría por default exista una desventaja, o una desmotivación o simplemente la disminución de las expectativas de clientes potenciales.

Es entonces el principal, pero no el único motivo de este sencillo blog el concentrar experiencias y comentarios del mundo salvaje de la consultoría.

Trataré en medida de lo posible mantener los acrónimos en su contexto original, ya que al traducirlos la idiosincrasia del idioma puede mermar la precisión de los conceptos.