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This is one of the quickest blog posts I've done ever, in the past to do screen shots I've used "snip it" which does a magic job
But now I'm going to be using the insert screenshot function in office 2010 (word), it's easy follow the next couple of quick steps
- Go to the insert tab in the ribbon
- Click on screenshot
And you are done! |
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We are looking for another Project Manager to join our Wellington team and an Account Manager to join our Auckland team.
Project Manager (Wellington) Project Manage This!
Starting Date: Immediate (flexible)
Applications Close: 13 May 2010
Role: Permanent, full-time
We are looking for an Intermediate/Senior Project Manager to join our team at Provoke Solutions. We want someone with a wealth of knowledge and experience in IT Project Management, proven vendor experience in a fast paced and competitive environment and someone who is ready for a challenging, self managing role to sink their teeth into!
In this role, you will actively manage projects on a day-to-day basis; ensuring delivery within time, budget and quality constraints. To ensure this, you will have excellent communication skills, attention to detail, drive and follow through. You will be confident in a leadership role and be able to balance both internal and external stakeholders while proactively ensuring project traction.
Skills required:
- Prince2 Practitioner preferred
- A history of leadership within project teams
- Knowledge of analysis tools and methodologies (e.g. SDLC)
- Demonstrable ability to identify, mitigate and manage risk
- A track record of effective change management at a project and program level
- The ability to multi-task, prioritise and be proactive
- Proven ability to manage successful delivery to customers
- Highly motivated attitude and be able to work autonomously
If you are looking to work for leaders in the online space who can release your online potential, contact Provoke today. Work-hard, play-hard in a team-based environment second to none. We are setting the benchmark in New Zealand and the Asia Pacific region and want you to be part of it!
For further information, a full job description, or to apply for this role please contact recruitment@provoke.co.nz don't forget to say Brendon sent you!
Account Manager (Auckland) Bring out the animal within... come and work for us!
Starting Date: Immediately (flexible)
Applications Close: 12 May 2010
Role: Permanent, full-time
Are you a self starter who loves a challenge? A hunter who is not afraid of risks? Do you want to be part of a successful company where you can take total ownership? Does the thrill of sales excite you? If so, we want to hear from you!
Provoke Solutions is a one-of-a-kind IT Services Company. From all aspects, we are dynamic, vibrant and different to other competitors in our industry. We are looking for someone with personality and vibe to join our Auckland team as an Account Manager. No two days will be the same in this role, it is busy, challenging and most importantly, rewarding!
Ideally you will have an established network in the Auckland IT market, a proven track-record dealing with the Private and Public Sector, sound communication skills and the drive to form lasting relationships with both clients and our team. Experience with the preparation of written sales documents and responding to tender documents would be advantageous, along with exposure to the core Microsoft technologies required for Provoke products and services.
If you are looking to work for leaders in the online space who can release your online potential, contact Provoke today. Work-hard, play-hard in a team-based environment second to none. We are setting the benchmark in New Zealand and the Asia Pacific region and want you to be part of it!
For further information, a full job description, or to apply for this role please contact recruitment@provoke.co.nz don't forget to say Brendon sent you! |
| Purpose/Objectives
This post outlines a physical architecture for deploying Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 for an Internet + extranet scenario.
Summary
This scenario is for a pubic website. The web site's core content management functionality will be built and configured using Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010.
Technologies and software related to this document are as follows.
- Windows Server 2008 R2
- Internet Information Services 7.0
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP 1
- Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010
- Microsoft Treat Management Gateway (TMG)
- Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5
Scope
This post outlines the architecture for a public web site from a SharePoint product implementation perspective.
Conceptual Physical Architecture
The conceptual architecture for the first phase of the public web site is based on building a "Publishing Site" with a focus on using SharePoint out of the box capabilities.
The architecture separates the web presentation layer and data backend layer when deployed.
The SharePoint deployment architecture topology recommended for this scenario is a deployment based on the Small Server Farm topology with some variations for security and hosting. This SharePoint architecture topology is split across multiple servers as follows.
- Web Front End Server
- Application Server
- SQL Server Data Backend
To complement the business requirements and content publishing separate sites will be setup to provide a content authoring environment.
The deployment topology provides separation of servers to provide dedicated roles for the applications. The following diagram illustrates the deployment topology.
Server Requirement Summary
Below is a summary of the requirements for each server in the conceptual solution, the server specifications are approximations based information know at the point of documenting creation
Server Role | Component | Minimum requirement | - SP 2010 Web Server (WFE)
| Processor | 64-bit, two - core, 2.5 GHz minimum per core | RAM | 4 GB for developer or UAT use
8 GB for single server and multiple server farm installation for production use | Hard disk | Disk array 1 - 80 GB for installation
Disk array 2 - 60 GB for logs | - SP 2010 Application Server
| Processor | 64-bit, Two -core, 2.5 GHz minimum per core | RAM | 4 GB for developer or UAT use
8 GB for single server and multiple server farm installation for production use | Hard disk | Disk array 1 - 80 GB for installation
Disk array 2 - 60 GB for logs
Disk array 3 – 250 Index store | - SQL 2008 R2 SP 2010 Database server
| Processor | 64-bit, four-core, 2.5 GHz minimum per core | RAM | 4 GB for developer or UAT use
8 GB for single server and multiple server farm installation for production use | Hard disk | Disk array 1 - 80 GB for installation
Disk array 2 - 500 GB for logs
Disk array 3 – 500 GB to 1 TB for data
Disk array 4 – 1 TB to 5 TB for backup | - Domain controller
| Processor | 64-bit, single-core, 2.5 GHz minimum per core | RAM | 1 GB for developer or UAT use
1 GB | Hard disk | Disk array 1 - 50 GB for installation
Disk array 2 - 20 GB | - SMTP Server
| Processor | 64-bit, single-core, 2.5 GHz minimum per core | RAM | 2 GB | Hard disk | Disk array 1 - 50 GB for installation
Disk array 2 - 50 GB for mail drop box | DPM 2010 server Backup
Ref :
http://bit.ly/DPMInfo
| Processor | 64-bit, two-core, 1 GHz minimum per core | RAM | 2 GB Recommended 4 GB | Hard disk | Disk array 1 - 3 GB for installation
Disk array 2 – 1.5 times the size of the protected data | Notes | DPM requires SQL to be installed on the server as well | Firewall TMG
Ref : http://bit.ly/TMGRequirements
| Processor | 64-bit, 1.86 GHz, 2 core (1 CPU x dual core) processor. | RAM | 2 GB | Hard disk | 2.5 GB available space.
This is exclusive of the hard disk space required for caching or for temporarily storing files during malware inspection.
One local hard disk partition that is formatted with the NTFS file system. | Notes | Multiple network cards required\configured |
SharePoint 2010 Hardware & Software Requirements
Ref http://bit.ly/SP2010HardwareRequirements
Hardware
The requirements in the following table apply to single server with built-in database installations and server farm installations that include a single server or multiple servers in the farm.
Component | Minimum requirement | Processor | 64-bit, four-core, 2.5 GHz minimum per core | RAM | 4 GB for developer or evaluation use
8 GB for single server and multiple server farm installation for production use | Hard disk | Disk array 1 - 80 GB for installation
Disk array 2 - 60 GB for logs |
Software
The requirements in the following tables apply to stand-alone installations and server farm installations that include a single server and multiple servers in the farm.
The Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products Preparation Tool — which you access from the SharePoint Server 2010 Start page — can assist you in the installation of the software prerequisites for SharePoint Server 2010. Ensure that you have an Internet connection, because some of these prerequisites are installed from the Internet. For more information, see
Deploy a single server with SQL Server (SharePoint Server 2010), Deploy a single server with a built-in database (SharePoint Server 2010), and
Multiple servers for a three-tier farm (SharePoint Server 2010).
Minimum requirements
Environment | Minimum requirement | Database server in a farm | One of the following:
- The 64-bit edition of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 with Service Pack 3 (SP3) with Cumulative update package 3 for SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 3 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=165748).
- The 64-bit edition of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) and Cumulative Update 2 with Cumulative update package 2 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=165962). This cumulative update consists of two parts; ensure that you download both files. When you install Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP1 on Windows Server 2008 R2, you might receive a compatibility warning. You can disregard this warning and continue with your installation.
| Front-end Web servers and application servers in a farm | - The 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 Standard with SP2. If you are running Windows Server 2008 with SP1, the Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products Preparation Tool installs Windows Server 2008 SP2 automatically.
 Note:
You must download an update for Windows Server 2008 before you run Setup, or Setup will not run.
- For Windows Server 2008 with SP2, see FIX: A hotfix that provides a method to support the token authentication without transport security or message encryption in WCF is available for the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=160770).
- For Windows Server 2008 R2, see FIX: A hotfix that provides a method to support the token authentication without transport security or message encryption in WCF is available for the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=166231).
The RTM version of the Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products Preparation Tool will install these updates.
- Web Server (IIS) role
- Application Server role
- Microsoft .NET Framework version 3.5 SP1
- Microsoft "Geneva" Framework
- Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 (x64)
- Microsoft Filter Pack 2.0
- Microsoft Chart Controls for the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5
- Windows PowerShell 2.0 CTP3
 Note:
On Windows Server 2008 with SP2, the Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products Preparation Tool cannot install Windows PowerShell 2.0 CTP3 if Windows PowerShell 1.0 is on the computer. You must uninstall Windows PowerShell 1.0 before the Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products Preparation Tool can install Windows PowerShell 2.0 CTP3.
- SQL Server 2008 Native Client
- Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services ADOMD.NET
- ADO.NET Data Services v1.5 CTP2
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Installing software prerequisites
To install Windows Server 2008 or Microsoft SQL Server, you can go to the Web sites listed in this section. You can install all other software prerequisites through the SharePoint Server Start page. Most of the software prerequisites are also available from Web sites listed in this section. The Web Server (IIS) role and the Application Server role can be activated manually in Server Manager.
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A nice new feature in SharePoint 2010 is reusable content fragments, in essence it allows you to have a list of small content fragments that you can drop into your content time after time. To add items just find the list called reusable content and add your new items.
Adding an Item
Using a Reusable Content Fragment
The SharePoint List Description
Items in this list contain HTML or text content which can be inserted into web pages. If an item has automatic update selected, the content will be inserted into web pages as a read-only reference, and the content will update if the item is changed. If the item does not have automatic update selected, the content will be inserted as a copy in the web page, and the content will not update if the item is changed. |
| Better together is a saying that I have heard from Microsoft in the past and SharePoint 2010 and Office 2010 is not different. Here is an example of using PowerPoint to build a simple theme that can be deployed into SharePoint 2010.
The process is easy all you need to do is great you theme in PowerPoint 2010 and save it as an office Theme.
Go to the Theme Gallery in site settings
Upload your new Theme by clicking add
After upload is complete check to insure your new theme is in the list
Now navigate back to site settings and select site theme under look and feel
Now you can select and modify your new theme as you wish
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Since first seeing SharePoint 2010 and hearing that Silverlight is "baked in" I have been keen to see what issues you may run into when you have not installed Silverlight and thus what the impact of not having SL installed. Don't get me wrong Silverlight is one of the first things that I install on any PC I have, but this is not the case for many corporate desktops today.
The word from people at Microsoft is that by not having Silverlight on the client PC computer (as we all know that SharePoint now likes Firefox and safari) will only effect the richness of your experience and of course limit which web parts are effective ie don't use things like the Silverlight media webpart etc.
Places I have seen Silverlight
- When you navigate to "More Options…." you get the following
- Silverlight is also big in the mysites – this is for the organizational chart
- Inserting Video or audio, the media webparts
- The Silverlight webpart
What's the solution's you ask? Add Silverlight to the corporate image, that's the solutions! I'm sure there are more places in SP 2010 that Silverlight is used but this gives you an idea some of the places.
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Workflow is such an important concept that is often not leverage when people deploy SharePoint. Nintex workflow is the product that we use for pushing workflow out to out power users. Enabling people to build, deploy and manage their own workflows is a great way to drive SharePoint adoption.
Below is an example of how Nintex does approval notification via email, in addition to using a webpage to approve or reject workflow with Nintex you can reply to the email with a yes or no. This is a magic feature for the mobile worker!!!
Some screen shots of a Nintex workflow
Creating a new workflow
A workflow
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Author: Martin Cayford
Here i am, sitting at my desk looking out the window in some sort of self-induced trance. Lunch was excellent and not cooked by me. All the better for that. In Wellington today there are a few clouds, to be fair it's a common occurrence. I'm looking at the clouds and wonder how we can secure that cloud, cloud computing that is.
Cloud computing is still emerging in my view, and there is still a lot of work to do especially around the securing of cloud technologies.
I've been talking to customers & colleagues about cloud security and two key questions are continuing to pop up.
- How secure is it?
- Can i trust this cloud?
I'll take the devil's advocate approach and run with for the purposes of this blog. The cloud is not secure and we can't trust it. Easy answer, don't do it and keep away from the cloud. Find another way.
Except, the CTO is standing over me rattling off a continuous stream of reasons why cloud computing is so outstanding, all I have is "We don't know if it's secure". The CTO comes back with, lucky you're the security guy now get to it. As he walks off, there is a slight pause followed by "faster".
Back to Devil's advocate; assume the cloud isn't secure or trustworthy, we need some way to reduce this risk. About this for an idea, let's encrypt all the content we put in the cloud that will secure our content?
So now we need a solution that enables us to protect content so that only the people who are approved to consume our content can. Our current infrastructure consists of a mix of on-site & cloud solution, the protection solution can be either an on-site or cloud based solution. If we select an encryption solution that is in the cloud we could consider using a provided that is different to the provider of our data storage, this will segregate the two key functions of encryption and storage. With the cloud encryption option we need to then watch and hope that one provider doesn't buy the other provider.
Alternatively how about an encryption solution that integrates with Office, SharePoint, exchange and standalone files? Without having to install any client software, Active Directory Rights Management Service is the answer. With AD RMS you can protect content so only authorized users can consume content also with RMS (Rights Management Service) you can further restrict what authorized users can do with the content.
RMS helps to solve cloud security concerns. The cloud provider that holds the data has as far as they can see an encrypted blob and therefore your data is secure. You hold the keys to the castle, the RMS castle keys that is! The RMS keys are part of your internal network or another cloud provider, safely tucked away. Not sure if you can trust your cloud provider? Then maybe you should look at implementing RMS to secure your content whether your content sits in a free cloud base email, collaboration, storage or peer to peer solutions. Securing your content in the cloud with AD RMS is a great example of software + services, and the implementation of Process, People and Technology to resolve a business concern.
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| More progressive improvement in office (outlook) 2010, the ignore function has to be one of the small winners in outlook. With the click of a button the no longer to I have to see a conversation thread. This will save me heaps of time not having to tidy up after other peoples "noise" email habits! And i like the small changes to the Junk mail interface
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| I have just really started to get into Office 2010 and like so many other people Outlook is the office product I use the most, one of the things i have grown over the years to appreciate with Microsoft products is the way they deliver heaps of small improvements to my working life, the improvements may only save a minute here and a minute there but as we all know the minutes add up. Anyway here is an example in outlook 2010 of a small improvement
The scenario
I am using Outlook and reading an email, I then decide rather than a long winded email back I will call the chap that emailed me, so from outlook i just click on more actions in the top nav bar and right there in the drop down menu is the call option. This demonstrates the integration between Outlook and Office Communication server. Quick, simple and easy just the way I like it!
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