Catch my Point

When you configure MOSS using "SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard", in the first step it creates 2 databases

1. SharePoint_config : The configuration database - you will be able to change this name.
2. SharePoint_AdminContent_XXXXXXXX_XXXX_XXXX_XXXX_XXXXXXXXXXXX : The Admin content database - wizard doesn't give you any option to change this name.

No one (esp. DBA's) like GUID's in database name, the only option to avoid this is by using pfconfig command line tool. You can find step by step documentation at Microsoft Technet There are some mistakes in above documentation esp in "Starting Office SharePoint Search Service".

stsadm -o osearch -action start -role -farmcontactemail -farmserviceaccount -farmservicepassword -farmcontentaccessaccount -farmcontentaccesspassword

you cannot pass "farmcontentaccessaccount" & "farmcontentaccesspassword" parameters for osearch action.

Below command shoud be sufficient

stsadm -o osearch -action start -role -farmcontactemail -farmserviceaccount -farmservicepassword

It is also good idea to Use -setheadername while creating MySites & Web Application

If you look into webtempsps.xml, you will find first template

<Template Name=”SPS” ID=”20″> <Configuration ID=”0″ Title=”SharePoint Portal Server Site” Type=”0″ Hidden=”TRUE” ImageUrl=”../images/spshome.gif” Description=”This template is obsolete.”> </Configuration> </Template>

The description message “This template is obsolete.” is very misleading. Is this template really obsolete? Does that mean “\12\TEMPLATE\SiteTemplates\SPS\XML\ONET.XML” is not used for any Site Creation?

If you look into the same file webtempsps.xml, you will see another virtual template “SPSPORTAL” (probably the most used Site Definition for creating Intranet Portal)

<Template Name=”SPSPORTAL” ID=”47″> <Configuration ID=”0″ Title=”Collaboration Portal” Type=”0″ Hidden=”FALSE” ImageUrl=”/_layouts/1033/images/template_corp_intranet.png” Description=”A starter site hierarchy for an intranet divisional portal. It includes a home page, a News site, a Site Directory, a Document Center, and a Search Center with Tabs. Typically, this site has nearly as many contributors as readers and is used to host team sites.” ProvisionAssembly=”Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing, Version=12.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c” ProvisionClass=”Microsoft.SharePoint.Publishing.PortalProvisioningProvider” ProvisionData=”SiteTemplates\\WebManifest\\PortalWebManifest.xml” RootWebOnly=”TRUE” DisplayCategory=”Publishing” VisibilityFeatureDependency=”97A2485F-EF4B-401f-9167-FA4FE177C6F6″> </Configuration> </Template>

This above template is Virtual because you don’t find any folder named “SPSPORTAL” in “\12\TEMPLATE\SiteTemplates” instead this site template is driven by ProvisionData (”SiteTemplates\\WebManifest\\PortalWebManifest.xml”), this manifest file is used to create Multiple sites. If you look into “SiteTemplates\\WebManifest\\PortalWebManifest.xml” file, the very first web element points to SPS site definition.

<portal xmlns=”PortalTemplate.xsd”> <web name=”Home” siteDefinition=”SPS” displayName=”$Resources:spscore,PortalManifest_Home_DisplayName;” description=”$Resources:spscore,PortalManifest_Home_Description;”> <webs> <web name=”News” siteDefinition=”SPSNHOME” displayName=”$Resources:spscore,PortalManifest_News_DisplayName;” description=”$Resources:spscore,PortalManifest_News_Description;” /> <web name=”SiteDirectory” siteDefinition=”SPSSITES” displayName=”$Resources:spscore,PortalManifest_SiteDirectory_DisplayName;” description=”$Resources:spscore,PortalManifest_SiteDirectory_Description;” /> <web name=”SearchCenter” siteDefinition=”SRCHCEN” displayName=”$Resources:spscore,PortalManifest_SearchCenter_DisplayName;” description=”$Resources:spscore,PortalManifest_SearchCenter_Description;” /> <web name=”Docs” siteDefinition=”BDR” displayName=”$Resources:spscore,PortalManifest_DocumentCenter_DisplayName;” description=”$Resources:spscore,PortalManifest_DocumentCenter_Description;” /> </webs> </web> </portal>

To prove that Collaboration Portal actually uses SPS Site Definition to create Home Site

1. lets rename the “SPS” to “SPS1″ in webtempsps.xml, your template should like

   <Template Name=”SPS1″ ID=”20″> <Configuration ID=”0″ Title=”SharePoint Portal Server Site” Type=”0″ Hidden=”TRUE” ImageUrl=”../images/spshome.gif” Description=”This template is obsolete.”> </Configuration> </Template>

2. run IISRESET
3. Create a Site Collection by selecting “Collaboration Portal” Template, do you get an error???

Note: Make sure that you rename the Template name back to “SPS”.

I love flying kites, probably I have never seen anyone flying kites like this.

DocumentTemplate Element could be very confusing, they have totally different set of attributes based on where you are using (Site Definition ONET.XML or Feature). DocumentTemplate Element (Site)

DocumentTemplate Element (ContentType)

I find creating new Document Content Type very easy using "Feature" feature instead of messing with ONET.xml Click here for more info on creating document content types using feature

Probably the best way to understand the concept of webtemp*.xml is to create couple of custom site definitions. Recently I stumbled upon a great blog entry from Bill Baer, I wish I had access to this information last year, when I was playing with Site definitions. Below is the excerpt from http://blogs.technet.com/wbaer/archive/2007/03/25/understanding-webtemp-xml.aspx

WEBTEMP.xml

Products: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007/Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

Includes: Team Site, Blank Site, Document Workspace, Basic Meeting Workspace, Blank Meeting Workspace, Decision Meeting Workspace, Social Meeting Workspace, Multipage Meeting Workspace, Central Admin Site, Wiki Site, and Blog templates.

webtempsrch.xml

Products: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

Includes: Search Center template.

webtempsps.xml

Products: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Includes: SharePoint Portal Server Site, SharePoint Portal Server Personal Space, Personalization Site, Contents area Template, Topic area Template, News Site, Publishing Site, Press Releases Site, Publishing Site with Workflow, Site Directory, Community area Template, Report Center, Collaboration Portal, Search Center with Tabs, Profiles, Publishing Portal, My Site Host templates.

webtempoffile.xml

Products: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Includes: Records Center template.

webtempbdr..xml

Products: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Includes: Document Center template.

webtemposrv.xml

Products: Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Includes: Shared Services Administration Site template.

Configuration Attributes: