We know in SharePoint all web applications and Windows Services need one managed account, or it cannot be running successfully.
Then how to configure service account in SharePoint 2013? The following will teach you step by step.
Assume that for some reasons you have to change the current service account to another for Web Application Pool – SharePoint – 80.

• First, you need to register the managed account that you want to change.

Open Central Administration, click Security tab on the left.

• Click Configure Managed Accounts, enter Managed Account page.

• Click Register Managed Account.

• Enter the User name and Password, click OK and the managed account is registered successfully.

Notes: You need to use NetBIOS name “br” for User name not the fully qualified domain name”br.local”. Or you will see the error message “Specified value is not supported for the domain Name parameter.” In SharePoint 2010, the message is less clear as “Specified value is not supported for the {0} parameter.”
Now let’s specify the service account for the 80 port.

• In Security group, click Configure service accounts.

• Click OK. It’s configured successfully!

You can check it in IIS.

• Finally, you can access one site collection of this web application to make sure it’s OK.

In addition, you can directly change the password of service account.

We always encounter with such problem that we cannot connect to database when access one site collection. Sometimes the reason is just that the password is changed in Active Directory or it has expired. So you can conveniently tackle this problem by changing password just here.

The post How to configure service account in SharePoint 2013 appeared first on BoostSolutions.

Why use apps in SharePoint 2013?

Isolation prevents unauthorized access to users’ data. The isolation level determines the limit to potential breaches in security. By default, apps are deployed to their own web site in a special, isolated domain, rather than to your farm or a sandbox. Processes run in that domain.

Apps for SharePoint can be hosted by a provider, auto hosted by Windows Azure, hosted by SharePoint or a combination of these three. All of these can leverage SharePoint components. Custom code can only be run in provider-hosted or Windows Azure auto hosted options.

Install and update the App

1. A user finds an app in the SharePoint Store or App Catalog.The App Catalog can be created in Central Administration.
2. A user can add an app to his or her site. Other users can also do the same.
3. The app developer releases an update to an app in the SharePoint Store or App Catalog.
4. Users are notified of an update and decide whether to upgrade the app on their sites.

Uninstall and remove the App

1. A user decides not to continue using the app and uninstalls it. The app instance and all data are deleted.
2. SharePoint Store administrators discover an issue with the app and want to remove it.
3. Store administrators disable and remove the app. Data from the app is retained for recovery purposes.

Reference: Microsoft

The post SharePoint 2013 App Tutorial (Basic) appeared first on BoostSolutions.

The SharePoint 2013 Upgrade Model allows administrators to create true “SharePoint 2010 sites” instead of Visual Upgrade sites. This method is fundamentally different from Visual Upgrade in that there is actually a “14″ root folder that is deployed and all SharePoint 2010 features and files are also deployed.

SharePoint 2013 allows you to run your sites in 2010 and 2013 mode with different functionalities and features. When creating new sites, you can choose which version you would like to use: 2010 or 2013. SharePoint 2013 introduces a new concept called Compatibility Level. Right now the Compatibility Level value is either 14 or 15. When deploying this solution from SharePoint 2010, just deploy them in the old way by using Add-SPSolution and Install-SPSolution as you did in SharePoint 2010. In this way the solutions will be deployed within the 2010 mode. If the Compatibility Level is not specified in the PowerShell command, then the value of the “SharePointProductVersion” attributed in the manifest file of the solution will be used as the Compatibility Level. With the “CompatibilityLevel” parameter in the Install-Solution command you can deploy the solution to either 2010 mode, 2013 mode or both.

Example
Install-SPSolution -Identity [SolutionName].wsp -GACDeployment -CompatibilityLevel 15
Install-SPSolution -Identity [SolutionName].wsp -GACDeployment -CompatibilityLevel {14, 15}

How to install a farm solution in 2010 and 2013 mode programmatically

By using the .Net Reflector, I found an internal method SPSolutionLanguagePack.CreateSolutionDeployTimerJob that can help us to work it out. See the following code snippet.

public void Deploy (Guid solutionId, Collection applications, int maxCompat)
{
    SPSolution solution = SPFarm.Local.Solutions[solutionId];
    SPSolutionLanguagePack languagePack = solution.GetLanguagePack(0);
    SPCompatibilityRange compatibilityRange = new SPCompatibilityRange(14, maxCompat);
    Type deployType = languagePack.GetType();
    Type[] argumentTypes = new Type[] { typeof(DateTime), applications.GetType(), typeof(SPSolutionDeploymentJobType), typeof(bool), typeof(bool), typeof(bool), compatibilityRange.GetType() };
    ParameterModifier[] modifiers = new ParameterModifier[] { new ParameterModifier(7) };
    MethodInfo deployMethod = deployType.GetMethod("CreateSolutionDeployTimerJob", BindingFlags.Instance | BindingFlags.NonPublic, null, argumentTypes, modifiers);
    object[] args = new object[] { GetImmediateJobTime(), applications, SPSolutionDeploymentJobType.Deploy, true, true, false, compatibilityRange };
    deployMethod.Invoke(languagePack, args);
}

Reference
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff607534.aspx
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee617150.aspx

The post How to install a farm solution, in 2010 and 2013 mode, for SharePoint 2013 appeared first on BoostSolutions.

Having trouble integrating data from multiple SharePoint lists? SharePoint Data Connector, by BoostSolutions, will help you complete your tasks quickly and efficiently.

The following scenario will help you to understand how Data Connector, as a lightweight out-of-the-box data transfer tool, combines data from multiple SharePoint lists.

Assume that you have the following business requirements when using SharePoint:

• You have a list for the project team members, which contain all the projects information
• A second list, for the finance, contains the budget and actual costs of the projects
• You would like the data in the two lists to be integrated into one list, as a project overview, for your general manager
• You want the data in the project overview list to be updated automatically by schedule

Data Connector will fulfill your requirements and here is how it works.

1. The following are the two lists you want to combine

The Project Info list:

The Project Cost list:

2. You need to create an empty list named Project Overview. This list will be used to receive data from the above mentioned two lists. The column name and type in this list should be the same with the other two lists

3. In the Project Overview list, click the List tab on the Ribbon and then click List Settings
4. In the List Settings page, click the Data Connector Settings under the General Settings section

5. We will need to create two jobs on the Data Connector Job Center page

One job is used to connect data from the Project Info list and the other is used to connect data from the Project Cost list.

6. Click Create Job on the Data Connector Job Center page
7. In the General Settings tab:

• Type the name that you want for the job in the Job Name section
• In the Direction section, select From external data to list
  
• In the List section, the Project Overview list has been selected by default
• Since the Project Info list is in the same SharePoint site collection, select SharePoint 2010 as the External Data Type
• Enter the URL of the Project Info list
• Enter the name and password of the user who has Contribute permission to the Project Info list. And then click connect
• By default, the columns with the same name and type will be automatically mapped. And you can specify the Project Number as the key column to uniquely identify items
• Then specify the Run Options

8. In the Schedule Tab,

In order to ensure the job updates automatically, you should enable background update, and set the Schedule as every day at 9:00 AM.

9. In the Notification tab, select Send Notification email when an error occurs and enable logging to monitor the running process of the job

10. Click Save on the top or bottom of the page, and you will return to the Data Connector Job Center page
11. Create another job named Project Cost to Overview in the same way

12. Then, run the two jobs in the Data Connector Job Center page by clicking Run

13. After running the two jobs, enter the Project Overview list, and you will find the list that you want. The two lists have been successfully integrated into one

The post How to integrate multiple SharePoint lists into one list appeared first on BoostSolutions.

Before one decides if they should deploy SharePoint, it would be nice to see what options you have in terms of version and some basic costs. For most people monetary cost is a large factor in deploying SharePoint. In fact it could be the deal breaker when deciding whether to purchase and deploy SharePoint. Although SharePoint 2013 Standard and Enterprise can still be prohibitively expensive, from a software, licensing and hardware standpoint; SharePoint Online can be a more palatable alternative on the climb up to hosting SharePoint on your own servers and SharePoint Foundation a cheaper basic version when one has their own servers. Below I have recreated the chart from Microsoft’s website and other sites (see resource list below).

I have not include the cost of the different versions of standalone SharePoint as there are a number of factors that can raise or lower the price of SharePoint. Instead, I suggest you visit Microsoft License Advisor to get a quote for the configuration of the SharePoint you want to set up. For SharePoint Online, Plan 1 costs $3 (US)/month/user and Plan 2 costs $7 (US)/month/user.

Resources:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/collaboration-tools-compare-sharepoint-plans-FX103789400.aspx
http://www.khamis.net/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?List=6c8a23d1-47ea-47e5-b56f-2bc57cb95b93&ID=96&Web=d64cd8b3-a3f4-40d8-8d93-6aa6dc82fcda
http://blog.blksthl.com/2013/01/14/sharepoint-2013-feature-comparison-chart-all-editions/
http://blog.sharepointedutech.com/2013/01/06/sharepoint-2013-version-comparison-chart/
http://www.scribd.com/doc/130865150/SharePoint-2013-Comparison-Chart
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/sharepoint-products-and-free-trial-online-collaboration-tools-FX103789417.aspx?WT%2Eintid1=ODC_ENUS_FX103479517_XT103977432&WT%2Eintid2=ODC_ENUS_FX103789323_XT103977432

Please email us if you have any comments or questions: inquiry@boostsolutions.com.

The post Comparison of SharePoint 2013 versions appeared first on BoostSolutions.

Hi, guys, maybe you want to sign as another user to test, in Sharepoint 2007 and Sharepint 2010 we can do this easily, however, Sign as Different User interface is hidden by default in SharePoint ?2013. Next, I will introduce one way to show Sign as Different User interface.
First, enter following path:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\15\TEMPLATE\CONTROLTEMPLATES

Then, find the file “Welcome.ascx”
At last, add following XML node after the XML node which id=”ID_RequestAccess”

Text="<%$Resources:wss,personalactions_loginasdifferentuser%>"
Description="<%$Resources:wss,personalactions_loginasdifferentuserdescription%>"
MenuGroupId="100"
Sequence="100" UseShortId="true" />

Just like following picture display

Now, return you site and refresh the page, click people dropdown control, you will see Sign as Different User interface same as following picture

The post How to add Sign in as Different User in SharePoint 2013 appeared first on BoostSolutions.

SharePoint 2013 Client Object Model is a set of libraries and classes with which you can consume SharePoint data through a specific object model that is a subset of the SharePoint Server Object Model.

This figure shows the overall architecture of the Client Object Model.

Object Model supports multiple platforms. In fact, you can use it on any solution that can run JavaScript code or in any .NET-managed application, even in a Silverlight solution. Behind the scenes, all these platforms consume a WCF service called Client.svc, which is published under the /_vti_bin/ folder of the current site.

Next let’s talk about JSOM.

JSOM or JavaScript Object Model is a set of .js files built for ECMAScript-enabled platforms. The main .js files that are available are:

• SP.js
• SP.Core.js
• SP.Ribbon.js
• SP.Runtime.js

These files are deployed in the SharePoint15_Root\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS directory. The default master pages of SharePoint define a ScriptManager control, which automatically includes references to these .js files. You could also reference them by yourself.

For Security reasons, if you use the Client Object Model within a custom ASPX page, you will need to include the FormDegist control by yourself.

Next let us look at an example as an introduction on how to use JSOM.

In order to retrieve a List instance and show its Title property, first you should reference the SP.js file. You can use the SharePoint:ScriptLink control to reference .js files. SharePoint:ScriptLink control accepts a set of arguments, including the following:

• LoadAfterUI – Loads the script after the code of the UI
• Localizable – Indicates if the current page can be localized
• Name – Defines the relative path of the .js file to include in the page

Next you need to define a script block that uses the object model.

The core of the block is in the method retrieveContacts. In this method, we get a reference to an SP.ClientContext instance by using the get_current() method. We can also get it by using a constructor that accepts the server-relative URL of the target site. Then we can get the current site and get the target list by the current site. Finally, use the asynchronous pattern when executing the query against the SharePoint server.

For learning more about JSOM, please reference:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/zh-cn/library/hh372944(v=office.14).aspx

The post Introduction to SharePoint 2013 JavaScript Object Model appeared first on BoostSolutions.

PowerShell is one kind of script language which is based on .NetFramwork and is used for automatic management. For any operation completed within the UI in the SharePoint platform; you can also use SharePoint PowerShell to do the same thing. Not only can this improve work efficiency, but also helps you to further your knowledge about SharePoint. In this blog I will introduce how to create some SharePoint objects using PowerShell. Note that you will not only create these objects, but also use this as an opportunity to learn SharePoint cmdlet.

Generally, we know SharePoint nouns such as web application, site collection, sub site, list, etc. We can use these nouns as part of a command; just add “sp” and the noun, it should look like this: spwebapplication, spsite, etc. You can then further add some verbs to these noun parts of a command, such as new, set, get, remove, etc., to start forming commands.

Now let’s try creating one site collection.

Let’s assume you know the noun, but you do not known the correct command. You can get it with this command.

spsite -?

When you enter this command you will get all the commands that include spsite, like this:

Let’s assume that you now know which command to use, but still do not know the specific parameters. You can use the

New-SPSite -?

command to get further information about the specific parameters, like this:

If you want to see a more detailed example of the entire command, then use the

get-help new-spsite -examples

command, like this:

We will use the second example,

New-SPSite http://farm05:9999/sites/testing

-OwnerAlias "farm05\spfarm05" -Name "Testing" -Template "STS#1"

After executing this command, one site collection will be created and the web template will be Team Site. You can get all the web templates with the Get-SPWebTemplate command.

I will not introduce other objects, but will assume that you understand the basic idea of how to create them, even if you are a newbie.

The last thing I will introduce is how to batch create test data, such as different lists in one team site.

You can do this with a loop. First you can get the count of different list templates and think about the value of the list name. Here we will use the template’s name as the list name; this way you will know every list’s template clearly after you create them. With the index, you can get a list template. Finally you will need to use the following statement:

$listcount=$web.ListTemplates.count

for($x=0;$X -lt $listcount;$x++)

{

$listname=$web.ListTemplates[$x].name

$web.lists.add("$listname","created by powershell",$web.listtemplates[$X]

}

By default, this will not display the list on quick launch.

But if you modify one property of all the lists in one loop, you will be able to complete it.

$lists=$web.Lists

$lists |foreach-object

{

$_.OnQuickLaunch="True"

$_.update()

}

After executing the above command, you can access this web to check the created lists, as shown in this screenshot:

Now you too can create great things using SharePoint PowerShell.

The post How to create site collections and webs in SharePoint 2013 with PowerShell appeared first on BoostSolutions.

Today I am going to show you how to create a cascading drop down list in SharePoint 2013. As we know, SharePoint has provided the capability to implement a cascading drop down list for forms out-of-the–box and it’s just a matter of configuration. You can follow the instructions in the article Implement Cascading Drop Down for Forms in SharePoint.

After reading the article, you will realize that you have to customize your forms using Microsoft InfoPath. But the way it was introduced in the article makes it seem like you cannot apply it to a document library. Fortunately, you have another great way to create a cascading drop down list — BoostSolutions Cascading Lookup column. This software allows you to create cascading drop down lists the same way you deal with the lookup columns in out-of-the-box SharePoint, with no code and no InfoPath forms. You can download the BoostSolutions Cascading Lookup column for a 30-day free trial here: BoostSolutions Cascading Lookup column download.

BoostSolutions Cascading Lookup is compatible with SharePoint 2007, SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2013. It offers a lot of great features:

1. Set composed filters on the source list to filter items in the lookup field.
2. Cross Site Lookup — It allows you retrieve information from any site in the site collection.
3. Autocomplete — Enables users to quickly find and select item from the drop down list as values are typed, leveraging both searching and filtering.
4. Multiple parent-child relationship — No limitation on number of cascading levels.
5. Conversion between SharePoint Lookup column and Cascading Lookup column (settings safety and data safety).

Try it out for yourself.

The post How to Create a Cascading Drop-Down List in SharePoint 2013 appeared first on BoostSolutions.

When you first download and install BoostSolutions products onto your server you must first install BoostSolutions Foundation. This component is essential to managing licenses for BoostSolutions products in a centralized location. Foundation comes prepackaged with BoostSolutions products and will install automatically if you do not already have it on your server. But you also have the option to install it separately before you install any other BoostSolution product. This tutorial we will discuss how to install Foundation onto your server before installing any other product from BoostSolution.

First download and extract the file. Next open the file and double-click on setup.

A foundation installation wizard window will open. Click next to continue.

The installation wizard will perform a System check to ensure you can install BoostSolutions Foundation. Click next to continue.

This window shows you the EULA. To continue to the next screen you must accept the terms of the License Agreement. Click next to continue.

You can select the web application deployment targets. Click next to start the installation.

BoostSolutions Foundation will start installing.

The installation is now complete. Click next to see the details of the installation.

You have now successfully installed Foundation.

Go to central admin in your SharePoint environment. You will notice the addition of BoostSoutions Software and under that License Management Center. You can click on the License Management Center to manage licenses for BoostSolutions products once you install them. For more information on how to use the License Management Center refer to the tutorial here.

SharePoint 2013 Central Admin

SharePoint 2010 Central Admin

Please email us if you have any comments or questions: inquiry@boostsolutions.com.

The post How to install BoostSolutions Foundation appeared first on BoostSolutions.

SharePoint administrator can add a new user profile property, which can be mapped to an AD attribute. For example, user profile property “First Name” is mapped to “givenName” in AD which is a “string (Single Value)” type:

If you want to add a new user profile, go into the Add User Profile Property page by clicking “New Property” list. A new property type must be specified first:

After specifying the property type, the AD attributes will be filtered based on the type. For example, if the “date” type is selected then the AD attributes will show like this:

All AD attributes which can be mapped as date will be listed.

The post AD Properties can be mapped to user property appeared first on BoostSolutions.

SharePoint Server 2013 includes a Workflow Manager (SharePoint 2013 Workflow Platform) feature which introduces new capabilities for authoring, hosting and managing workflows.

Workflow Manager brings a new class of workflow to SharePoint Server 2013. Workflow is built by using Workflow Manager which can take advantage of several new capabilities. These include enterprise features such as:

• High Density and Multi-Tenancy
• Elastic Scale
• Activity / Workflow Artifact Management
• Tracking and Monitoring
• Instance Management
• Fully Declarative Authoring
• REST and Service Bus Messaging
• Managed Service Reliability

Note: As a SharePoint Server 2013 workflow administrator, you should be familiar with Windows PowerShell. After you have installed the Workflow Manager service, you will need to configure it to communicate with your SharePoint Server 2013 farm. This pairing is accomplished by using Windows PowerShell cmdlets. Windows PowerShell is used exclusively when you manage and monitor Workflow Manager.

You can download the Workflow Manager 1.0 from: http://www.microsoft.com/en-hk/download/details.aspx?id=35375 .

After you install Workflow Manager 1.0, you will find that there is a web site in the IIS Manager which provides the workflow SOA function. The following is the screenshot highlighting the Workflow Management Site:

For more information about Workflow Manager 1.0 please see this link: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj193528 .

You can install and configure workflow for SharePoint Server 2013 step by step using the following link:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj658588.aspx

Reference:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj219638(office.15)

The post What’s new in SharePoint Server 2013 Workflow appeared first on BoostSolutions.

There are a lot of login authentications in SharePoint, different ways of certification for SharePoint user is different, as well as property.

In SharePoint 2010 you can get user login name by using:

public static SPPrincipal EnsurePeople(SPWeb web, string peopleName)
        {
            SPPrincipal principal = GetPeople(web, peopleName);
            if (principal != null)
            {
                return principal;
            }
            else
            {
                try
                {
                    SPUser user = null;
                    SecurityUtility.RunWithSystemAccountPrivileges(web, delegate(SPWeb delegateWeb)
                    {
                        delegateWeb.AllowUnsafeUpdates = true;
                        user = delegateWeb.EnsureUser(peopleName);
                        delegateWeb.AllowUnsafeUpdates = false;
                    });
                    return user;
                }
                catch
                {
                    return null;
                }
            }
        }
		 public static string GetDecodeUserName(string userName)
        {
            if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(userName))
            {
                SPPrincipal people = PeopleUtility.EnsurePeople(SPContext.Current.Web, userName);
                if (people != null)
                {
                    string loginName = people.LoginName;
                    if (SPClaimProviderManager.IsEncodedClaim(loginName))
                    {
                        SPClaim claim = SPClaimProviderManager.Local.DecodeClaim(loginName);
                        SPOriginalIssuerType issuerType = SPOriginalIssuers.GetIssuerType(claim.OriginalIssuer);
                        switch (issuerType)
                        {
                            case SPOriginalIssuerType.ClaimProvider:
                            case SPOriginalIssuerType.Forms:
                            case SPOriginalIssuerType.SecurityTokenService:
                            case SPOriginalIssuerType.TrustedProvider:
                            case SPOriginalIssuerType.Unknown:
                                userName = SPClaimProviderManager.Local.DecodeClaim(loginName).Value;
                                break;
                            case SPOriginalIssuerType.Windows:
                                userName = SPClaimProviderManager.Local.ConvertClaimToIdentifier(loginName);
                                break;
                            default:
                                break;
                        }
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        userName = people.LoginName;
                    }
                }
            }

            return userName;
        }

In sharepoint 2013 you can get user login name by using:

SPClaimProviderManager claimManager = SPClaimProviderManager.Local;
		SPClaim userClaim = claimManager.ConvertSPUserToClaim(user);
		string loginName = claimManager.ConvertClaimToIdentifier(userClaim.ToEncodedString()); // given a Windows user encoded claim, this method will return a string in the DOMAIN\USERNAME format.

Articles for reference:

How Claims encoding works in SharePoint 2010 – Writen by Wictor Wilen, SharePoint MCA, MCSM, MCM and MVP

SPClaimProviderManager Methods by Microsoft

The post How get SharePoint user login name in SharePoint 2010/2013 appeared first on BoostSolutions.

SharePoint Active Directory Import (AD Import) is one of the new features in SharePoint 2013. It enables you to import user information from Active Directory into SharePoint User Profile Application.

This article will introduce how to configure SharePoint Active Directory Import in Central Administration, what the limitations of this feature are and how AD Information Sync can overcome these limitations.

• How to configure SharePoint Active Directory Import
• Key Limitations of SharePoint Active Directory Import
• About AD Information Sync

I. How to configure SharePoint Active Directory Import

Before we begin, we will assume that you have already provisioned the User Profile Service, have created the User Profile service application and have gathered the required information about your environment.

This section has 4 parts that will help you to configure AD Import:

• Enable Active Directory Import

• Configure Synchronization Connections

• Map AD attributes with User Profile Properties

• Start Synchronization

Enable Active Directory Import

1. Enter SharePoint Central Administration. Under the Application Management section, click Manage service applications.
2. On the Manage Service Applications page, click User Profile Service Application.
3. On the Manage Profile Service page, in the Synchronization section, click Configure Synchronization Settings.
4. On the Configure Synchronization Settings page, in the Synchronization Options section, select Use SharePoint Active Directory Import option, and click OK.

Configure Synchronization Connections

1. On the Manage Profile Service page, click Configure Synchronization Connections. You will enter the Synchronization Connections page.
2. On the Synchronization Connections page, click the Create New Connection button.
3. On the Add new synchronization connection page, enter the connection name in the Connection Name text box.
4. From the Type list, select Active Directory Import.
5. Complete the Connection Settings section using the following steps:
   1. In the Fully Qualified Domain Name box, enter the Fully Qualified Domain Name of the domain.
   2. In the Authentication Provider Type box, select the authentication provider type.
   3. If you select Forms Authentication or Trusted Claims Provider Authentication, select an Authentication provider from the Authentication Provider Instance box. The Authentication Provider Instance box lists only the authentication providers that are currently used by a Web application.
   4. In the Account name box, enter the synchronization account in the form: DOMAIN\user_name. The synchronization account must have Replicate Directory permissions or higher in the root OU of Active Directory.
   5. In the Password box, enter the password for the synchronization account.
   6. In the Confirm password box, enter the password for the synchronization account again.
   7. In the Port box, enter the connection port.
   8. If a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection is required to connect to the directory service, select Use SSL-secured connection.
   9. If you want to filter objects to be imported from the directory service, in the Filter in LDAP syntax for Active Directory Import box, enter a standard LDAP query expression to define the filter.
6. In the Containers section, click Populate Containers and then select the containers from the directory service which you want to synchronize. All OUs selected will be synchronized along with their child OUs.
7. Click OK and a newly created connection will be listed on the Synchronization Connections page.

Map AD attributes with User Profile Properties

1. On the SharePoint Central Administration website, in the Application Management section, click Manage service applications.
2. On the Manage Service Applications page, click User Profile Service Application.
3. On the Manage Profile Service page, in the People section, click Manage User Properties.
4. On the Manage user Properties page, right-click the name of the property that you want to map a directory service attribute to, and then click Edit.
5. To remove an existing mapping, in the Property Mapping for Synchronization section, select the mapping that you want to remove, and then click Remove.
6. To add a new mapping:
   1. In the Add New Mapping section, in the Source Data Connection list, select the data connection that represents the directory service to which you want to map the user profile property to.
   2. In the Attribute box, enter the name of the directory service attribute to which you want to map the property.
   3. Click Add.
7. Click OK.
8. Repeat steps 4 through 7 to map additional properties.

Start Synchronization

1. On the SharePoint Central Administration website, in the Application management section, click Manage service applications.
2. On the Manage Service Applications page, click User Profile Service Application.
3. On the Manage Profile Service page, in the Synchronization section, click Start Profile Synchronization.
4. On the Start Profile Synchronization page, select Start Full Synchronization if this is the first time that you are synchronizing or if you have added or modified any synchronization connections since the last time that you synchronized. Select Start Incremental Synchronization to synchronize only information that has changed since the last time that you synchronized.
5. Click OK. The Manage Profile Service page will be displayed showing the profile synchronization status in the right pane.

II. Key limitations of SharePoint Active Directory Import

Although this feature can import AD profiles from Active Directory to SharePoint, there are some limitations:

• It is very complicated to configure the synchronization and it always gets stuck when starting.
• This feature can only import information to User Profile Application, but cannot import to other lists, such as Contact list.
• You cannot update your active directory with changes made in SharePoint; there is no “write back” function it only imports.
• After starting the synchronization, you have no idea if the synchronization is successful and you don’t know what problems, if any, occurred during synchronization.
• This feature is only supported on SharePoint Server 2013, not on SharePoint Foundation 2013.

III. About AD Information Sync

AD Information Sync is a flexible and powerful tool which syncs information between Active Directory and SharePoint. It supports many AD attributes from User, Contact and Computer objects. AD Information Sync overcomes many of the limitations found in SharePoint Active Directory Import.

• With AD Information Sync, you can create and configure a sync profile in one place with a simple user interface. It also helps you to get rid of the “stuck when starting” problem.
• AD Information Sync allows you to import Users Profiles from Active Directory to any SharePoint list. You can view and manage user profiles in SharePoint list.
• AD Information Sync provides you with a powerful attributes mapping function; you can configure attribute mappings in one page quickly and easily.
• With AD Information Sync, any modifications made in SharePoint list can be written back to Active Directory. This is easily done with one click; all you need to do is select the option.
• With AD Information Sync, you can monitor sync activities by viewing the logs. Logs will quickly let you know what has happened during synchronization.

The post Introduction of SharePoint 2013 Active Directory Import appeared first on BoostSolutions.

As we know, a User is created in the User Information List when a user is granted access to a site in SharePoint. But this list is hidden and we are not able to use the data directly. As well there may not be a lot of metadata in this list. Sometimes you may create multiple customer lists to store user information. How do you keep user data from multiple systems (Active directory and SharePoint) consistent? The obvious answer would be for IT administrators to manually update information between systems. But it would be hard, maybe even impossible if there is a lot of information, to keep data up-to-date and consistent. One easy method to ensuring that data is up-to-date and consistent is to use BoostSolutions Active Directory Info Sync and Data Connector.

I will demonstrate a scenario to clarify how to make this method work.

User Data

Data in Active Directory: User (Employee ID, Job Title, Gender, Department, Email, Mobile phone, Employee hiring/start date

Data in SharePoint list:

Employee Base Information in Administrative site: Employee ID (Key), Name, Job Title, Gender, Department, E-Mail, Mobile phone, Employee hiring/start date

Interested Candidates in HR site: Name, Birthday, Interview date, Interview Status, Institution(s) Graduated from, Major, Degree(s)

Employee Record in HR site: Employee ID(Key), Name, Job Title, Department, on board date, Institution(s) Graduate from, Major, Degree(s), Expiration date of Contract

Permissions in SharePoint List:

Employee Basic information is read-only for all Employees

Interested Candidates, Employee Record in HR site; contribute-only for HR employee

The process of hiring a new employee

Transferring User Data

Let us focus on how to keep user information consistent.

The image below highlights how user data is transferred using BoostSolutions Active Directory Info Sync and Data Connector.

You need to:

• Schedule a job (profile) to ensure data is up-to-date and consistent.
• Enable logs to check if the data transferred correctly or if there were errors.
• If there are errors, email the administrator.

Key Configurations

Settings in AD Information Sync:

Settings in Profile:

Key Step:

In the Column Mapping section, you can select which AD attributes you want to transfer into SharePoint. AD information Sync will ensure your data is consistent between AD and SharePoint.

For more detailed information you can refer to the Active Directory Sync Tutorial: http://www.boostsolutions.com/active-directory-sync-tutorial.html

Settings in Data Connector:

Job Settings:

Key Step:

In the Direction section, decide whether list or external data is the source for your data.

In the Column Mapping section, the “key column” is one that uniquely identifies records and can be used to compare two data sources, thus ensuring data consistency. Checking this box means data is automatically synced and updated. You can select multiple columns to make them unique and ensure data consistency.

For more detailed information you can refer to the Data Connector Tutorial: http://www.boostsolutions.com/data-connector.html

Summary

You can expand your data sources based on your business type. Data Connector can connect to multiple external Data Types such as: SQL Server, Oracle and My SQL.

The post How to keep user information consistent between SharePoint and Active Directory appeared first on BoostSolutions.

For any messages (such as alerts, notifications and site invitations) to be sent out of SharePoint server, you need to configure SMTP server to send the messages. This server can be any SMTP-compliant server that you can connect to using port 25 from the SharePoint server. For SharePoint 2010/2013, it cannot be configured to send e-mail over encrypted port (such as Office 365 or Gmail). If you want to set outgoing mail settings for non-default port (25), you need to configure SMTP server on your server, and configure SMTP server settings in IIS 6.0 Manager.

Take Gmail as example:

1. Open Server Manager – Features tab, click Add Features. From the Features list, select SMTP Server and click Next button.

2. Follow the wizard, wait for installation complete.

3. And then Open Windows services, make sure that Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) service has been started.

4. Open IIS 6.0 Manager, right-click SMTP Server and click Properties.

5. Under General tab, select your local IP address.

6. Under Access tab, click Connection and select All except the list below option. And select All except the list below option for Relay Restrictions.

7. Under Delivery tab, click Outbound Security. And click Basic authentication, enter user name and password. (enter your Gmail account) and enable TLS encryption.

Note that if your Gmail turn on 2-step verification, you need to enter the application specific password here. (https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/185833?hl=en) Follow these steps to generate the application specific password.

a. Click your name or photo near your Gmail inbox’s top right corner. Click Account link.

b. Open the Security tab, and go to the App-specific passwords tab. If prompted for your Gmail password, enter your password over Password and click Sign in.

c. Click Select device and choose the Windows Computer.

d. Click Select app and choose Mail.

e. Select Generate.

f. Copy the App password (the 16 character code in the yellow bar), and click Done.

8. Open Outbound Connections, change the TCP port to 587.

9. Open Advanced Delivery, type smtp.gmail.com in Smart host. And then save the settings.

10. Open SharePoint Central Administration, click Configure outgoing e-mail settings in System Settings.

11. In Outbound SMTP server, type your local IP address. In From address, type your Gmail address.

12. Click OK to save the settings.

Fortunately, SharePoint Server 2016 adds support for SMTP servers that use TCP ports other than the default port (25).

Also, SharePoint 2016 supports send email to SMTP servers that use STARTTLS connection encryption. The SMTP server must support the TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, or TLS 1.2 protocol. (SSL 2.0 and SSL 3.0 protocols are not supported.) Follow the steps to configure the outgoing email settings in SharePoint 2016.

1. Open the SharePoint Central Administration and browse to System Settings > Configure outgoing e-mail settings.

2. In Outgoing E-Mail Settings page, configure the settings as followings:

Outbound SMTP server: SMTP server name

From address: your email address

Reply-to address: your email address

Use TLS connection encryption: Yes

SMTP server port: 587

3. Click OK button to save settings.

But unluckily, I cannot configure the outgoing email settings for Gmail SMTP server successfully. I will do more research, and introduce the how to figure it out later.

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