Network Load Balancing at its best for SharePoint 2010

Configuring NLB for SharePoint 2010 

The concept behind Network Load Balancing is pretty simple: Each server in a Load Balancing Cluster is configured with a 'virtual' IP address. This IP address is configured on all the servers that are participating in the load balancing 'cluster' (a loose term that's unrelated to the Microsoft Cluster Service). Whenever a request is made on this virtual IP a network driver on each of these machines intercepts the request for the IP address and re-routes the request to one of the machines in the Load Balancing Cluster based on rules that you can configure for each of the servers in the cluster. Microsoft this process Network Load Balancing (NLB). Figure 1 shows how the process works graphically.

A network load balancing cluster routes requests to a single virtual IP to available servers in the load balancing cluster. Note that each machine is self-sufficient and runs independent of the others duplicating all of the resources on each server. The database sits on a separate box(es) accessible by all servers.

actually no need to configure a heart-beat adapter address for NLB. Single adapter is enough with an IP address on each server which can be part of your server LAN address. Importantly make sure that if your network switch is multicast enabled then the NLB Cluster mode needs to be in multicast mode or else the communication will be interrupted. If multicast is not enabled on switch, opt for unicast cluster mode in NLB.

out of umpteen blogs I referred, let me share few of the helpful blogs which I felt had acted upon and suited our infrastructure without much hassles.. 

reference 1

video ref 2
reference 3
reference 4
reference 5

- make sure you configure port rules on NLB for better performance.

- configure perfmon to verify the load on each cluster web front end servers.

Best Practice: SharePoint 2010
Three-Tier-SharePoint-2010-Architecture 

Configuring User Profile Service Application in SharePoint Server 2010

we referred the below blog for sorting issues related to user profile sync and configuring directory service connections to import AD users. 

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/alimaz/archive/2009/11/09/configuring-user-profile-service-application-in-sharepoint-server-2010.aspx


I successfully implemented Three-Tier SharePoint 2010 Architecture
..no hassles.. we could swiftly achieve the upgrade from MOSS2007 to SharePoint 2010 in April 2012.

Quick Fix: user profile service application error in SharePoint 2010

SharePoint 2010: User Profiles - You receive an error - "An unexpected error has occurred." when you try to browse to the page to Manage a newly created User Profile Service Application

You create a new User Profile Service Application and try browsing to the Manage link for the User Profile Service Application, this page might fail with the following error,

Sharepoint 2010 User profile service application error could be resolved by updating the below hotfix.

we could fix the above nature of error by applying the below hot fix of SharePoint 2010.

----------------------------------------------------------

KB Article Number(s): 2597150

Language: All (Global)

Platform: x64

Location: (http://hotfixv4.microsoft.com/Microsoft%20SharePoint%20Server%202010/sp2/office2010kb2597150fullfilex64glb/14.0000.6117.5002/free/445300_intl_x64_zip.exe)

Database attach method to upgrade to a new farm

ADDCONTENTDB

stsadm -o addcontentdb -url  http://intranet  -databasename wss_content_hr -databaseserver yoursqlservername\instancename

if you have multiple subsites then you can very well include all of those stsadm database attach command in a batch file and execute it at one stretch.

ex:

save the below in a execute.bat file:

'----
stsadm -o addcontentdb -url http://intranet -databasename wss_content_hr -databaseserver yoursqlservername\instancename >> result.txt

stsadm -o addcontentdb -url  http://intranet/sites/hr -databasename wss_content_hr -databaseserver yoursqlservername\instancename >> result.txt

stsadm -o addcontentdb -url  http://intranet/sites/it -databasename wss_content_hr -databaseserver yoursqlservername\instancename >> result.txt

'----

the above file execute.bat once executed will append result.txt with the upgrade status.

more reference

dealing with user password credential manager

i .   login with the current user account.

ii.   Click Start and type run in the search and hit Enter .

iii.    type "control userpasswords2 " in the run window and hit Enter

iv.    check if the check box which says Users must enter a user name and password to use is checked. If the check box is checked then uncheck the check box, click on apply and ok tab and hit enter.

v.    Restart the system.

vi.    You will be able to see different users in the logon screen.

 delete stored passwords from your machine..(win 7)

     click Manage Password

if you are not sure which application is using your credential please feel free to remove it. :)

exciting office web apps for SharePoint 2010

No need of office installation on client machines, instead integrate web app bunch with Sharepoint 2010.

saves client licensing (CALs) cost or for those who needs to extend the office feature on the web browser. Clients can open office documents from anywhere outside office network like from Airport or from public internet zone using authorized connection. For better performance install Silverlight on client computers.

installation reference:

installing office web-apps for sharepoint 2010

How to change SQL Server Name or Instance Name

applies to all SQL ver including Denali.

i. Open SQL Server Management Studio and click New Query.

ii. Type Select @@ServerName to verify that the server name. In this example, Windows 2003 from WIN2K3R2EE to SQL Server is used. If windows hostname is changed doesn't mean that SQL Server 2005 name will be automatically changed. It will still return the old name. Let's fix it.

3. Next, type sp_dropserver 'WIN2K3R2EE'

4. You are now ready to add the correct name by typing sp_addserver 'SQLSERVER'. local

at this point if you need to change instance name, execute the below query:

sp_dropserver 'Server Name\old_Instance_name'

go 

sp_addserver 'ServerName\New Instance Name','local'

go

5. Restart sql server and the sql server agent by opening a command prompt and typing net stop mssqlserver and net start msssqlserver. To stop and start the sql server agent, type net stop or start sqlserveragent.

6. Click New Query in SQL Server Management Studio and type select @@servername to verify everything is correct and you have successfully changed the sql server name.