Google Vs Enterprise SharePoint 2013 Search

Why Enterprise Search Implementation is more sufficient at Enterprise level not google search

This article is more on thoughts.

As working on SharePoint 2013 Contextual search project. Meaning of Contextual is different in different prospective.

SharePoint Technology point of View, Contextual Meaning is Set Limit and Boundaries.

More Details: - If I search with in List, So List is my Context - system should search with in list only or if I am search with in Sub-Site, So Sub Site is my Context - system should search with in Sub site.

So this type of process is easy and where we can easily set limit and boundaries.

I have very informative article on that, which explained very nicely.

http://manojmittalblogs.blogspot.in/2015/06/configure-contextual-search.html

Now Story starts:-

Business says: - Contextual meaning User Context (Not User Segment): means: - What is user skill, Department, expertise, area of interest etc.

User Skill, Department, Expertise, area of Interest and lots more, these properties exists in use profile and we can access and use as input parameter for my search.

After Interval of the Story:-

We came to know, one more contextual meaning I.e. what are happening activity around the user i.e. what s (he) doing day-day basis.

Elaborate:-

What document, I am sharing with others and what people are sharing with me.

What type of conversation, I having with people and people having with me etc?

Then I thought, I should explore more on Exchange API, LYNC API, and OneDrive API etc. from where I will take the latest happening activity keyword and which will become the input for my search output.

It may consist confidential info also. I should carefully take care those also. Lots of other activity need to do for the same don’t know whether organization will allow me to take those information or not.

Now twist comes.

We are not “Google”. We are searching at Enterprise or Organizationa level. Google is not having profile page and not having relevant keyword related user, so It take the relevancy key words from other social media and shows the result but at enterprise level we have enough data related to user. We should utilize those only.

Conclusion:-

Now the Use case exists:-

We have enough user data at the organization level which is exists in our system itself and which is exposed also in authorized environment. We should do the Proper ranking as per the weightage of the keyword and business requirement.

Please share your thought for the same.

Call Back Error in SharePoint People Picker Control.

Most of the blog says its permission issue: - at least for us it was not.

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sofocle/archive/2011/05/17/sharepoint-2010-people-picker-issue-quot-there-was-an-error-in-the-callback-quot.aspx

As per above article – I check all the permission and User Policy – Everything was properly set, UPSA was also working fine

Issue: - When I was checking for user in address book or people picker

When I was adding the user in SharePoint group – It was throwing the Unexpected error:-

Architecture Structure of Server:-

Why I am explaining the architecture server – It’s very important because most of people doesn’t know how to check the logs in all server.If we have proper farm setup with multiple server – We should check the Logs in all server.

Here is Power shell command which give consolidated result from all sharepoint server.

Merge-SPLogFile –Path “E:\SPLogs\MergedLogs.log” –Correlation 3ae2a6c0-da14-43a1-afda-5bb6bbff3d43

Resolution:-

Steps Followed:-

Restart SharePoint Timer Services
Remove the Attached DB from Web Application using Central Admin
Created DB with same Name.
After Configuring the DB – Unable to browse site. – It was showing “Page Not Found”.Scared what happen suddenly.
Finally - Clear the SharePoint Configuration Cache. Location “Drive:\ProgramData\Microsoft\SharePoint\Config\GUID”
Deleted all log files
Modify the Cache.ini with any numeric value put like 1 and save.

It seems like some services stuck in between or some configuration cache issue. After following the above steps.

SharePoint Site was browsing fine and people picker was also working fine without any fail.

Happy Coding.

Shrink the Content DB Log files

Don't know how many people faced these type of issue - Not able to proceed any thing in the share Point site - Reason "DB space is Full" - How to create the space. what we can compress or not - so that at least work can continue unless until - administrator doesn't add new disk or add more space to existing space.

Locate the database that has the log file and use either of the following sets of steps to shrink the transaction log file down to a reasonable size.

Option 1:- Manual Steps :-

Open the SQL Server Management Studio.

Expand the Databases node and expand User Databases
Right-click the database, and click Properties, which opens the Database Properties dialog box.
In the Select a page pane, click Options.
View the current recovery model in the Recovery model list box, which should be set to Full
Click the dropdown arrow in the recovery model section and select the Simple recovery model
Click OK.
Right-click on the same database name and click Task-> Shrink-> Files
Use the File type drop-down menu and choose Log
You can use the default setting of Release Unused Space or select Reorganize pages before releasing unused space, and you can specify the file size by supplying a value in the Shrink file to option.

Note: the shrink may take some time depending on how large the file is and how much it has to shrink.

After the shrink completes, change the recovery model back to Full by clicking the recovery model dropdown arrow and selecting the Full recovery model

Option 2:- Using SQL Command:-

use [databasename];

alter database [databasename] set recovery simple;

dbcc shrinkfile (2,0);

alter database [databasename] set recovery full;

for example:

use WSS_Content;

alter database WSS_Content set recovery simple;

dbcc shrinkfile (2,0);

alter database WSS_Content set recovery full;

Happy Coding !!

How to know Site Collection associated with which Content Database

Its like very simple and sweet post - How to know which site collection associated with which content database.

Power Shell Command:-

Get-SPContentDatabase | %{Write-Output "- $($_.Name)”; foreach($site in $_.sites){write-Output $site.url}}

Result look like this:-

We can easily convert the result into Text file using below command:-

Get-SPContentDatabase | %{Write-Output "- $($_.Name)”; foreach($site in $_.sites){write-Output $site.url}} > C:\sitecollections.txt

Result look like this:-

Happy Coding !!

SharePoint Farm Backup Size using Powershell

Farm Backup and restore activity - before performing any operation - Its very important to know the farm size

To know the Farm size is very easy - Just use below power shell command:-

Power Shell Command

Get-SPDatabase | ForEach-Object {$db=0} {$db +=$_.disksizerequired; $_.name + ” – ” + $_.disksizerequired/1024/1024} {Write-Host “`nTotal Storage (in MB) =” (“{0:n0}” -f ($db/1024/1024))}

The above command gives the result like this:-

Happy Coding !!

SharePoint Get Content Database Size using Powersell

During Migration activity - it become very import to know the size of Content Database - which we are going to migrate.

To know the Content Database size is very easy - Just use below power shell command:-

Power Shell Command:-

Get-SPDatabase | ForEach-Object {$db=0} {$db +=$_.disksizerequired; $_.name + ” – ” + $_.disksizerequired/1024/1024} {Write-Host “`nTotal Storage (in MB) =” (“{0:n0}” -f ($db/1024/1024))}

The above command give the list of all database with size in MB.

Happy Coding !!

How to get Document Library Size SharePoint2013

Get to know the document library size is very easy - just few click away:-

Step 1:- Go to document library -> Library setting -> Modify the All Document View (Default one).

Step 2:- Select the File Size Property from view

Step 3:- Go to little down in the same page expand the Total Section. Select File Size and Sum in the drop down as highlighted below and click ok.

Step 4:- Result will be available in KB (As I have 4k+ document in Library)

Happy coding..

Enable MultiValue check box Refiner SharePoint2013 Search

Refiner is used to filtering the search results and limiting search as per filter criteria.

SharePoint 2013 search has OOTB Single Selection and Multi Selection template, by default single selection template is applied to refinement panel.

It pretty easy to enable count and multi selection check box.

Step 1:-

Go the Search Result Page or any search vertical (It should be in search center)

Step 2:-

Edit Page and then edit Right hand side zone with Refinement and click "Choose Refiner" button from refiner property box.

Step 3:-

Refinement Configuration Pop Up will be open. It will show all available managed property which user can used for filtering the records.

L.H.S shows all available managed property and R.H.S shows all managed property will be available in search result pages for filtering the results.

User can select any property and apply OOTB display template as highlighted below i.e. Multivalue-Refinement Item. and click apply and check in the pages.

Step 4:-

Go to search result verticals and search any thing. Your changed refined will look like :-

Apply any filter with multiple check box and records start filtering accordingly.

Happy Coding..

Enable the Refiner Count in Share Point 2013

The refiner count show number of item exists in Search Result of that type. Its very easy to enable count number in refinement panel.

Its really enhance the search experience also. Don't why Microsoft has put as disable by default.

Enable Count for Refiner
The easiest configuration is to simply turn counts on for all refinements. This is achieved by modifing the Filter_Default.html and Filter_MultiValue.html display templates.

Step 1:-

Basically you need to change the Display Template for the Refinement Filter which is HTML file.
The File is located in the site collections MasterPage gallery folder, /_catalogs/masterpage/Display Templates/Filters

Step 2:-
Filter_Default.html and contains the definition for the refinement item.

Step 3:-
After Download the file Replace the below section:-

From -

Step 4:-

Change the name of the Display Template

Upload and Save the file at same location with Publish Version.

Step 5:-

Now Configure the Refinement Panel Web part with new defined template

Step 6:- Now Result should show the count in Refinement panel

Happy Coding and Simple Coding !!

Configure Contexual Search

Configure CONTEXTUAL Search

Before configuring it we need to understand the search basics about Result sources and Query Rules. There are some nice articles available on tech-net which explain these in detail:

Understanding result sources for search in SharePoint Server 2013

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn186229.aspx

Configure result sources for search in SharePoint Server 2013

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj683115.aspx

How to Customize SharePoint 2013 Search Results Using Query Rules and Result Sources

http://blogs.technet.com/b/mspfe/archive/2013/02/01/how-query-rules-and-result-sources-can-be-used-to-customize-search-results.aspx

Once you go through above articles next requirement is to customize your overall search experience and setting up contextual search. I came across a nice thread which explain this in detail

Setting up a full contextual search from within folders, document libraries or lists

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/bbfe1c92-78a1-4b1d-8549-46c89895689f/setting-up-a-full-contextual-search-from-within-foldersdocument-libraries-or-lists?forum=sharepointsearch