15 free SharePoint tools to make IT admins smile

SharePoint is a rich tool and offers extensive features for a better, customized and organized work flow. It enables to make processes easier and swift that enables organizations to make the best out of their employees. It is the best CMS that enables to manage huge amount of content effectively.

We live in a competitive world and latest technologies emerge to enable to deliver the best results possible. SharePoint is Microsoft's tool that enables to build richer attractive websites. It is considered to be the most popular collaborative tool that provides all the necessary tools to manage people and content effectively. This platform makes it easy for employees of an organization to share ideas and engage smoothly in knowledge sharing activities.

Some of the free tools which helps admins while customizing their websites are as follows:

1. Microsoft's SharePoint Administration Toolkit 2.0 (for 2010 and 2007 versions)

Microsoft bakes a bunch of nice things into this little add-on, including a kit that generates test loads to check how well any SharePoint deployment runs. It includes another important addon for the Security Configuration Wizard so one can harden the profile of deployment through Windows Server 2008. The SPDiag 3.0 utility is most useful. It grabs a heap of statistics from all the servers in a SharePoint farm, interprets them and presents them in a very neat and customized report.

2. ManageEngine's Free SharePoint Health Monitor Tool

For smaller SharePoint deployment, this lightweight tool gives just an overall rollup of SharePoint farm's health status at a glance. The ManageEngine Free SharePoint Health Monitor fits this bill nicely, giving a conveniently efficient dashboard view where one can see the details about the memory, CPU and disk space usage for each server running SharePoint. It can be drilled down into the SharePoint workload itself to see the response time, service status, Web server (Internet Information Services) process details and even SQL Server details such as buffer cache hit ratio, cache memory and free pages.

3. IntLock's CardioLog Analytics Free Edition

If systems have a quarter of a million page views or fewer per month, one can use this free tool to help which finds out the sites employees are using, how long they are typically engrosed with those websites and what areas of those websites are most used. It installs quickly and is compatible with all kinds of versions of SharePoint, even the latest new SharePoint 2013. One can easily upgrade to the paid version where the free edition has all of the same features, with the only differences being the page view tracking limit and allowing for web-based support.

4. Microsoft's SharePoint Designer (for 2007, 2010 and 2013)

Designer is like the FrontPage web design tool of the SharePoint world. One can use it to customize the look and feel of SharePoint websites, create and modify simple workflows and personalize a SharePoint deployment at ease. If one have a large SharePoint deployment with multiple versions running at the same time, one must use the Designer version specific to the particular SharePoint edition.

5. Idera's Free SharePoint Admin Toolset

This is a combination of seven tools in one, a site monitor is present to check up on any SharePoint sites one manages, a space trends report to track using disk space on deployment for folders, libraries and websites, a handy accelerator that essentially rebuilds the database indexes on the SQL Server instance managing SharePoint deployment, a clean report to show how much SQL database space deployment is consuming, a permissions analyzer to show what users can access which specific websites and libraries, a smart tool to compare the configurations of site collections to see where they are different and a quick admin tool that brings together most frequently used links to SharePoint Central Administration. A very smart tool set to make tasks easier and smart way to deal with.

6. Idera's Free SharePoint Performance Monitor

To have a detailed information at what is happening under the hood of any SharePoint farm, this great tool Idera's Free SharePoint Performance Monitor is used. This tool gives a holistic overview of the performance statistics and metrics for SharePoint itself, the SQL Server instance on any given server and information about the host's operating system and memory configuration. The tool also can be configured to send simple e-mail alerts when one of the performance indicators does not work. One can also monitor multiple websites at a time for their deployments and one can generate nifty graphs and charts about connections, requests, response time, pages, disk usage and many more.

7. McAfee's Network Discovery for Microsoft SharePoint

It is a good SharePoint-specific inventory tool. If one has overall responsibility for a network, one might not even know if one of departments has deployed a SharePoint server. The McAfee Network Discovery Tool for Microsoft SharePoint will scan the network to find SharePoint 2003, 2007 and 2010 environments and then display the results of its scan in a nice neat HTML report that shows in detail which servers have been deployed and what version they're running.

8. Axceler's ViewPoint for SharePoint

This is a great tool for visualizing in a convenient table form exactly which users have what permissions on any given site. This could be very useful in an auditing scenario or any environment where permissions can tighten without granting full access to users needlessly. One can choose to work from the graphical dashboard, to run and print reports to provide to management or to work through with any administrative tools. It works with both SharePoint 2010 as well as SharePoint 2013 deployments. It even requires full SharePoint administrator permissions to do its job properly.

9. Quest's Server Administrator for SharePoint

This great tool is suitable on SharePoint 2007 and 2010. It lets to see which parts of farm configuration are affecting the security, performance and availability of deployment. It helps to build PowerShell scripts to maintain environment. It also helps with a migration to SharePoint 2010 from 2007, required to get to SharePoint 2013 as well, by showing which parts of deployment are ready for the upgrade and which are not. And it provides an intelligent rating to show what is most important to upgrade before one begin against what would simply be "nice to have."

10. SharePoint SUSHI

SharePoint SUSHI is an open source project hosted on CodePlex that essentially takes the most common administrative tasks and puts them in one convenient tool. SUSHI, which bills itself as a "Swiss army knife for SharePoint," stands for SharePoint Utilities with a smart and useful interface. One can view the lists and sites of any given user can access, which is really helpful for looking at effective permissions, upload user photos as profile images, back up and restore sites; apply a theme to a group of sites with one click and much more.

11. Clockwork Software

It is SharePoint Migration Tool, reliable migration of documents from old ECMS to SharePoint 2010 or SharePoint 2013. From any SQL Server based ECMS (EDRMS, DMS, CMS) with files stored on a network drive or share. ECMSs such as Hummingbird DM6, DOCs Open, Worksite, FileNet etc. Migrate all versions and metadata (including managed metadata).

- Migrate to SharePoint libraries and folders
- Apply document level security if desired
- Currently in use on migration projects totalling about 2 million documents
- Good for small migrations with a cost effective pricing scheme.

12. Metalogix

It can migrate content into SharePoint from just about any source system. From one SharePoint version to another (2003, 2007, 2010, WSSv2 or WSSv3), from various Enterprise Content Management systems (eRoom, Stellent, Livelink) and from file systems, exchange public folders, blogs and websites.

13. PCVITA Express Migrator

It is SharePoint comprehensive too designed for enterprise to migrate content to SharePoint as part of SharePoint migration strategy that goes above and beyond other traditional SharePoint migration software, thereby allowing to have visually architected migration. It provides an effective and simple solution for enterprise to migrate their business-critical data from different repositories (Lotus Notes, File Share, File System, Public Folder and SharePoint etc) to Microsoft SharePoint Server. The SharePoint migration product granularly migrates content while keeping all the associated metadata & permission intact.

14. Vyapin

A powerful tool for developing SharePoint application for migrating documents, NTFS permissions, data and their associated metadata properties from network file shares, file servers and local hard drives to Microsoft SharePoint 2013, Office 365 (SharePoint Online), SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2007. Here are the list of functions it provides such as migrate folders and files into SharePoint libraries from various file servers and network shares. Carry forward default file properties, including custom Office document properties to the respective documents in SharePoint. Automate entire migration process, with the ability to correct and rectify migration errors using the pre-migration validation tool. Migrate content from file shares to on-premise SharePoint servers and SharePoint Online in Office 365 (Standard) environment using a single application.

15. Tzunami

This Deployer tool offers a cost-effective solution for migrating and consolidating multiple content sources into SharePoint. It supports almost all versions of SharePoint, from SPS 2001 to SharePoint 2013. Automating the entire process of migrating unstructured content. SharePoint offers multiple benefits for enterprises big and small. It is for this reason that enterprises are stressing on this particular technology for enabling them to function optimally. It enables to increase employee productivity and enables them to remain more focused with their work. It can function as an effective content management system, document management tool and collaborative platform. Businesses have profited much more with this awesome tool and it has enabled to enhance business initiatives. To get maximum benefits of Sharepoint, you may consider hiring services of a certified SharePoint development company to assist you in your development needs.

We provide SharePoint site migration services. If you would like to talk to one of our certified SharePoint developers, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.

5 Steps to Sustainable SharePoint User Adoption Success

SharePoint has become one of the most widely used web application development platforms, preferred by several enterprises all over. However, in spite of the large number of users, SP is usually considered to be more of a network share. It can be put to varying uses and can actually cater to a range of business requirements. Though often ignored, user adoption sustainability is the main point of concern when it comes to SharePoint. For this, it is essential to create a well- planned and of course sustainable user adoption program. Here is an overview of five steps in which sustainable SharePoint user adoption success can be guaranteed.

1. Awareness: Drive Enterprise Momentum

Creating awareness while also inviting people over to your SP network is the first step in the process. The most popular way of doing this is by selecting the high- profile, positive as well as influential groups into SharePoint. The next step would be to generate interest in them because their inclination would automatically induce others in the organization to go for this platform. If you are thinking about the ways in which this interest can be generated, check the following tips:

• Identify common enterprise related problems and issues that can be solved by the platform.
• Guide the people in the desired direction by means of training as well as resource adoption to the current SP artefacts.
• Convince the decision makers about what this platform can do for them including saving the cost.
• Communicate the power of SharePoint while also developing self-service support to let people teach themselves.

The next step follows once the influencers have already joined the SP bandwagon.

2. Aligning the Business Needs

Identification of the people along with the possible problems should be followed by aligning them with the business requirements. This involves reviewing the existing collaboration tools as well as patterns while also automating the manual business process too. Following this, it is your turn to prioritize them accordingly.

3. Developing a Relevant Plan

The process of creating a relevant plan begins with an identification of the existing SP resources in terms of training, governance plan, user management plan, release management plan and support structure. The next step would be to establish a support model for self service, site managers and higher level support. A contextual user training module also needs to be developed separately for the site managers and the business users. The modules would include the purpose of SP, roles, responsibilities, learning and support resources along with expectations.

4. Establishing Enterprise Buy-In

After having created the SP bandwagon, it is now time to make the rest of the organization derive the benefits out of using this platform. This is where establishing an enterprise buy-in turns out to be so important, as it makes others realize not just the significance of SP but also the way of using it in the proper manner. Establishment of the Enterprise Buy-In along with deriving the benefits from the same can be done in the following ways:

• Training the site owners as well as the business users
• Making a comparative study between the before and after notes to determine the changes made by SP.
• Provide enough opportunities to the people to get your message. Organizing internal awareness campaigns, hosting user group get-togethers and competitions and so on are some of these opportunities.
• Recognize and present awards to those who help others.

This particular step is one of the most difficult to be accomplished.

5. Facilitate Engagement

The task of ensuring the success of the SharePoint user adoption does not end even after people are convinced of the importance of the platform and they start making the desired use of it. It is necessary to keep them engaged on a long-term basis. The progress needs to be evaluated and kept track of to make sure that no particular user is losing interest. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the support tools is necessary in this regard. Both positive and negative feedback has to be gathered from the business enterprises. Increased engagement paves the way for higher momentum, which in turn, implies that the users are working well.

The above- mentioned five steps are crucial for anyone aiming at enhancing the usability quotient of this SharePoint development platform.

We provide SharePoint portal development services. If you would like to talk to one of our certified SharePoint programmers, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.

SharePoint performance sinks, swims with SQL Server throughput

When any kind of slowdown occurs within a SharePoint system, the immediate solution is to go for addition of more web servers in order to handle the load in a better fashion. However, these front-end servers are dependent upon the same back-end database server. Incidentally, it is the back end where most of the issues crop up. This is because it depends upon SQL as a file as well as a database system. The processing demands of SP brings to light the disk I/O as the most most common bottleneck. Let us discuss the steps that need to be taken for avoiding or mitigating the logjams that can hinder SQL Server throughput.

It is advisable to get the binary large objects such as the file attachments, out from the database. SQL Server as well as SharePoint render support to Microsoft’s RBS ( Remote BLOB Storage) technology. This conveniently allows putting all the Excel, Word or other documents back within the NTFS file system wherein they actually belong.

NTFS has the capability of writing and reading files rapidly. On the other hand, SQL Server needs to manage them along its database pages of 8KB, which can consume a great amount of disk space as well as server resources. To do away with this, files are kept by RBS in NTFS and pointers are also provided. This implies that the file attachments can be written to completely separate disks that the one which contains the chief database. This helps in maintaining speed by reducing disk contention.

Regular Maintenance and Premium Storage

One of the most significant performance management investments with respect to SharePoint is buying fast storage. Initially, it is good for organizations to focus on gaining momentum in planning the purchases since this constitutes one of the most costly aspects of storage. Rapid storage area networks coupled with robust drive caches are capable of rendering high quality storage performance, which is a great need of SharePoint. It is advisable to make sure that adequate amount of storage capacity is available for every data developed with respect to a SP installation.

Regular maintenance is extremely important for ensuring the efficiency of ongoing SQL server. The SP collaboration platform is able to generate considerable amount of data, especially in case of heavily used document stores wherein versioning occurs in order to track changes within documents. Moreover, manifold versions are maintained for reference purpose. Appropriate database maintenance, incorporating reorganizing or rebuilding indexes along with updating of statistics, allows SQL Server to remain clean-cut and suitable for quality performance. Moreover, database files can be defragmented as the fragmentation level starts to go beyond 7% or 8%.

Breaking it up

Owing to the inherent scalability of the web, SharePoint is able to scale without any major issues. SQL server is unable to do it in a similarly convenient manner. Because of this, managers of a number of big SharePoint environments develop manifold server farms, each having a dedicated back-end system. For instance, a company can possess a set of SharePoint servers as well as a related database for the document library across the company, for special projects, for users' blogs and the like. This yields better results than putting everything into the same SQL Server database.

SharePoint administrators can also consider acquiring certain extra tools in addition to visiting Microsoft’s TechNet website, which presents solutions to particular performance problems and best practices to ensure speedy crawling of SharePoint environments.

Defined Performance Metrics

It is also a significant aspect to develop some measurable and reasonable performance expectations for SharePoint development. The basic formula is to try and base these upon the end-user experience. Simply speaking, acceptable performance can be defined by the maximum time a user has to wait during checking of a document accomplishing a task or accessing a blog. You can then break down these metrics into a number of prospective back-end performance metrics. This is a great means to assess the performance quality.

When user-experience metrics get defined, it is required to measure them regularly in order to identify the trends. In this way, it will be convenient to detect whenever a SharePoint system fails to live up to the organization’s expectations.

We provide SharePoint bespoke development services. If you would like to talk to one of our certified SharePoint programmers, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.

Extracting and Loading SharePoint Data in SQL Server Integration

Whenever it comes to the loading of SP Data in the server integration of SQL, the very first thing that developers of integration package services are bothered about is the best- possible ways in which the data can put in as well as brought out from the SharePoint list. The source of the list and the destination sample of the SharePoint offers an optimized solution with a user friendly interface. The sample also comes with an API for an efficient accomplishment of the tasks apart from the Integration Services.

Ways of Working with SP Data

Following are some of the prominent ways in which the SharePoint data can be extracted or loaded:

• Making use of the SharePoint APIs to add or remove items individually
• Generating as well as submitting the XML by means of the use of the SharePoint Batch API
• Using the Lists Web service that makes use of the same XML as the Batch API

The web services come up as great ways of transferring information to and from SharePoint without altering the platform server itself.

SharePoint Source List and Destination: Features

A discussion on the prominent features of the list source as well as destination of SharePoint is essential in this regard. Now, these actually make use of the public web services of the platform. Here is a list of features that improve their level of performance and functionality:

• The required fields are only returned from the web application development platform
• The somewhat large lists are divided in batches with a batch size that can be configured
• The information of column type is utilized for the purpose of mapping to Integration services data types
• Addition of CAML queries to the query is facilitated to separate the rows that need to be returned
• Simple updating as well as deleting of operations from the Integration Services package
• Integration services expressions can be used to set the essential custom properties of the source and destination
• Supports SQL Server as well as x64 and x86 processors

Process of Using the Destination and Source

Few steps need to be taken prior to using these parts of this SharePoint development platform. The foremost thing to be done is to download the right installer package from the codeplex site. Once downloaded, the installer needs to be run. It has to be kept in mind in this regard that Complete Install needs to be selected, as this allows the installer deploy connectors for each of the version of SSIS on the targeted machine. This is followed by the final step that involves addition of the source and destination to the Toolbox.

Extracting the Information from SharePoint with List Source

The extraction is usually done through the following steps:

• Addition of the SP connections
• Addition of components to the SSIS data flow
• Setting the properties of the SharePoint list source'
• Writing data to SP by means of the SP list destination

With regards to the extraction and loading of SP information, few more factors need to be considered apart from the above. For instance, if you are looking up for a value in a SP list, the Lookup transformation in the data flow can be used to load the lookup table. Again, if you are replacing values in the data with the values found in the loop, loading the altered data back to SP can be done by including the ID from the lookup column.

There is absolutely no doubt about the point that the SP list source as well as destination sample makes getting data into and out of a SharePoint list much hassle- free. What's more, the sample also facilitates a utility library that makes working with SP lists out of integration services simpler.

We provide SharePoint bespoke development services. If you would like to talk to one of our certified SharePoint programmers, please get in touch with us at Mindfire Solutions.