Features difference between SharePoint 2013 vs 2016

This article is to list out difference between SharePoint 2013 and SharePoint 2016.

As you all know SharePoint 2016 has too much to offer to Administrator or Developer. As an Administrator. I love the changes that Microsoft done in SharePoint 2016.

So, lets gets started ;)

SharePoint 2013 VS SharePoint 2016.

I will try to explain all the Yes in SharePoint 2016 row which are not present in SharePoint 2013.

App Launcher

It helps SP 2016 to match the Office 365 experience by providing users almost identical interface to navigate both SharePoint 2016 and Office 365.

Min Roles

With SharePoint 2016, we can select the specific role of a server and according to the role service will be enabled on that servers. So, we don’t have to worry about individually running SP services on Specific SP Farm.

Min-Role Farm Topology

Six pre-defined role are available for creating a new farm or joining to an existing farm. SP automatically configures the services according to the role selected.

Zero Downtime Patching

In order to take advantage of zero downtime patching your farm must have a High Availability, HA, topology.

Integrated Project Server

Project Server 2016 is installed with SharePoint 2016 but it will be licensed separately.

If you like the article, please comment. Happy SharePointing!!!

Service Application created using Powershell only

This Article will be focused on the service application in SharePoint 2013 which we can’t create by going to Central Admin > Application Management > Manage Service Application > Click New.

We will be covering the service applications that are created using PowerShell or using a different method.

Below is the list of Service application that we can easily create from GUI (Central Admin > Application Management > Manage Service Application > Click New.)

•          App Management Service (new in 2013)
•          Business Data Connectivity Service
•          Excel Service Application
•          Managed Metadata Service
•          Performance Point Service Application
•          Search Service Application
•          Secure Store Service
•          Machine Translation Services (new in 2013)
•          User Profile Service Application
•          Visio Graphics Service
•          Word Automation Services
•          Access Services App databases (new) (2010 and 2013)
•       Work Management Service Application

We won’t we talking about the above-mentioned Service application.

The service application we going to created/install are listed below:

• PowerPoint Automation Services
•  State Service
•  Subscription settings
•  Usage and health Data Collection

There are two ways of creating/ installing these apps

1.      Using Farm Configuration Wizards

2.      PowerShell

Let’s start with the first option.

•  On the Central Administration, click Configuration Wizards
•  Click on “Launch the Farm Configuration Wizard”

•  On Farm Configuration wizard, click on Start the wizard

•  On the services configuration page, in the Services section, select the Service mentioned above.
•   Click Next.
•  Complete any other configuration steps for the server farm.
•  On the final page of the Farm Configuration Wizard, click Finish.

Let’s talk about the second option which is PowerShell.

Make sure you run SharePoint Management Shell as an Administrator.

•  PowerPoint Automation Services

New-SPPowerPointConversionServiceApplication -Name "PowerPoint Automation Service Application" -ApplicationPool "App Pool name"

# PowerPoint Automation Service Proxy

New-SPPowerPointConversionServiceApplicationProxy -Name "PowerPoint Automation Service Application Proxy" -ServiceApplication "PowerPoint Automation Service Application" AddtoDefaultGroup

• State Service

$serviceApp = New-SPStateServiceApplication -Name “State Service Application”

 New-SPStateServiceDatabase -Name “SharePoint_Service_State” -ServiceApplication $serviceApp

   #State Service Proxy

 New-SPStateServiceApplicationProxy -Name “State Service Application Proxy” -ServiceApplication $serviceApp -DefaultProxyGroup

•  Subscription settings

New-SPSubscriptionSettingsServiceApplication -ApplicationPool “SharePoint Web Services Default” -Name “Subscription Settings Service Application” -DatabaseName “SubscriptionSettingsDB” | New-SPSubscriptionSettingsServiceApplicationProxy

•  Usage and health Data Collection

New-SPUsageApplication -Name "Usage and Health Data Collection"

$proxy = Get-SPServiceApplicationProxy | where {$_.TypeName -eq "Usage and Health Data Collection Proxy"}

$proxy.Provision()

Hope it helps.

Let me know in comments if I missed out on any service application

Happy SharePointing J

Dirsync tweaks Post Installation

Note: Please perform below tweak in test before moving to Production.

After Setting up sync between On-premises Active directory with Office 365. There are few tweaks which can help us getting work done quickly and in a clean way.

Tweak 1: Changing time between sync cycles

Tweak 2: Limiting the number of synced objects

Changing time between sync cycles

By default, the sync cycles are set up for 3-hour intervals. To reduce the time between sync follow below steps:

1.       On the server, where the Dirsync tool is installed go to the location “C:\Program Files\Windows Azure Active Directory Sync folder”.

2.       Open the “Microsoft.Online.DirSync.Scheduler.exe.Config” file with the Notepad.

3.       Search the following string: <add key=SyncTimeInterval value=3:0:0 />

4.        3:0:0 means 3 hours we have changes it to 0:5:0 means 5 minutes. (Change it accordingly)

5.       Save changes in the file and restart the Windows Azure Active Directory Sync Service in system services.

Now, the sync cycle will run after every 5 minutes.

Limiting the number of synced objects

On-premises can have large number users and we want only few users or group to use Office 365. Below steps can help you to sync a specific OU only. It will be good if you create a separate OU (office 365) for user who will be using it.

 So, let’s get started

1.       On the DirSync server open the C:\Program Files\Windows Azure Active Directory Sync\SYNCBUS\Synchronization Service\UIShell location.

2.       Open miisclient.exe.

3.       Open the Management Agents tab

4.       Right-click Active Directory Connector and select Properties.

5.       Navigate to Configure Directory Partitions and click the Containers button.

6.       In the next window enter credentials of the AD administrative user:

7.       Select the OU container of your choice and click OK.

8.       Click OK again to return to the Management Agents tab.

9.       Right-click the Active Directory Connector agent and click Run.

10.   Select Full Import Full Sync and hit OK.

11.   On operation tab, full sync will be running you can check for the status.

 Now, we have fully synced specific OU with Office 365. So, any change on active directory object will be sync to the cloud.

Hope it helps.

Happy SharePointing!!!