Wednesday, October 06, 2010

SharePoint 2010 Requires 4GB of RAM at a minimum

SharePoint 2010 (Foundation and Server) requires at least 4GB of RAM per server (front end, application server, index server, etc. etc). This is for test/demo/evaluation purposes. 8GB of RAM is required for a minimum production scenario.

That is what Microsoft says here and here and has been validated by experts in the SharePoint community like Spencer Harbar:

Joel Ward
Internal host being conservative w/RAM for our SP2010 test virtual machines. Changed app svr specs from 4GB to 2GB. How can I convince them?

Spencer Harbar
@ it just won't hack it - that's not conservative, it's suicidal!!!!
A server can be installed and run on less, but unintended consequences will follow. E.g. services not provisioned properly (I'm looking at you, UPS), poor performance, general mayhem.

4GB is the bare minimum. From what I have read and have been told, anything less will be taking your life into your own hands.

Does anyone have any validation or invalidation of this particular requirement? Has anyone be able to get certain server roles running on less than 4GB of RAM (WFE, APP, Office, Index)?

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Why do I collaborate?

Over the years, I've wondered why I get involved in projects with technologies like SharePoint. Is it just because of the technology? Do I like a challenge? Do I actually feel that collaboration is worthwhile?

Rob Preston from InformationWeek recently posted an article titled Why Some People 'Dread' Collaboration, which got me thinking: Are the SharePoint projects I've helped implement used effectively, or are they forced upon their audiences?

The answer is, of course, a little of Column A and a little of Column B.

Often we get so worked up in working with the technology that we forget why we're doing it in the first place. Often it's management forcing "collaboration" down their organization's throats because they read about it in a trade magazine. Or it's a business interest insisting that their extra services will solve all of the organizations problems. Or it's just a techie guy like myself wanting to do something way cool, well, just because.

Remember the "why." Why are we doing this?

Also, remember that these sorts of things don't get adopted overnight. It takes time. People need to learn the new systems. They need to realize why they are important. They need to have a real reason to use them, not a mandate to meet a quota. They need to share their enthusiasm with their peers. This is not something fabricated in a jiffy.

To end this thought for the night, here's a quote from Rob's article:
There are two kinds of collaboration: the kind that stimulates new ideas, solves problems, enhances teamwork, and distributes expertise; and the kind people use to cover their butts and show off in front of their peers and bosses. The first kind tends to propagate naturally, feeding off the culture of an organization; the second kind happens when the methods and tools are force fit, rendering collaboration an exercise unto itself.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

SharePoint Saturday DC May 2010

Just yesterday was the stupendous SharePoint Saturday DC 2010, held at the Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Virginia. This time there were almost 1000 attendees (929 officially) and over 80 presentations. Kudos to the team of coordinators: Dux Raymond Sy, Dan Usher, Gino Degregori, Jenn Davis, and all of the helpers throughout the day.

This time around I did a presentation titled Bringing Zest to SharePoint Sites Using Out-of-the-Box Technology alongside Ed Wells and Bethany Kaplan. We had a classroom of about 40+ chairs and ended up with about 50+ people packed in for the 9am session. Thank you to everyone who came out for our talk!

View slides on docs.com

View Slides on Slideshare

Presentation description

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

We're presenting at SharePoint Saturday DC - May 15, 2010

SharePoint Saturday DC is right around the corner. The next one will be held on Saturday, May 15th at the Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Virginia. The venue can hold upwards of 1000 attendees. This will be the biggest SharePoint Saturday ever! And it's all free!

I will be presenting a session along with my esteemed colleagues Edward Wells and Bethany Kaplan. Our session is titled Bringing Zest to SharePoint Sites Using Out of the box Technology. Here's a description of what we'll be covering:

This session will discuss ways to create enhanced solutions for SharePoint 2007 sites without always needing to create complex programming code or deploy solutions to the server. The audience for this session is SharePoint Power Users and Developers in scenarios where they do not have access or control to fully customize the instance of SharePoint they are using. We see this often while working for various government and commercial clients.

All too often, you are thrown into a situation where you have access to a SharePoint site collection or even just a single site and the only way to edit and enhance the site is through the browser interface. SharePoint Designer access is disabled or otherwise unavailable. Access to a programmer or the IT folks is limited or non-existent, so a compiled solution is out of the question or would take a very, very long time. But your users need functionality now. Your client wants the site to be useful now.

So what do you do?

There are quite a few ways to tackle the problem. We will discuss solutions in tiers:

  • First and foremost, SharePoint can do quite a bit out-of-the-box. Why not start there and see if you can accomplish what you need?
  • If it’s just not possible, the second tier includes solutions using JavaScript, jQuery, and other client site-code that can be deployed in places like the Content Editor Web Part.
  • The next tier up may be a mix of client site (jQuery) and/or server side (Solutions/Features) code.
  • The top tier, for the really complex scenarios, may include an extensively designed application that runs on top of or next to the SharePoint site.
We will cover a handful of specific scenarios we have encountered that can be tackled from tier 1 to tier 3 or 4, depending on the level of access and expertise that you have at your disposal. The focus of the demonstrations will be the first two tiers, with shout outs to tier 3 and 4 solutions where applicable.

We hope to see you there!

Monday, March 22, 2010

So...what about this newfangled iPad?

So, what about this new iPad? Is it going to revolutionize the mid-size handheld computing market? Will it kill the eInk-based eBooks? Or will it peacefully co-exist?

Unfortunately, I cannot see into the future. I would love to compare an iPad with the Kindle/Nook when the iPad finally becomes available next month. If I can get my hands on one, that is.

As a side note, we've tapered off the use of our Nook since January. My wife still likes reading books on it, but I've given up reading periodicals. The formatting and navigation is just that bad.

Maybe Mr. Malik will be right afterall. :-)