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!!!

"Alert Me" missing from SharePoint Ribbon

This Post will help you on how to enable the Alert Me button in SharePoint Library or List ribbon.

So, you have done with fresh SharePoint installation and create Web App, root site collection. Its time you start exploring Document library options.

You think of configuring a alert but  you noticed the "Alert Me" option missing from your ribbon.

 

To enable the button, Go to Central Admin > System Settings > Configure Outgoing email settings.

Enter the details of SMTP server and addresses.Click OK

 Now, Alert me option will be visible on the SharePoint ribbon for list and library.

 Hope it helps :)

Happy SharePointing :)

Hide default attach option in List.

I got a request from one of my client that he want to hide the default attach option in the list.

This applies to SharePoint Online,2013 and 2010. Two way of doing this one from GUI and other from Powershell. I will using GUI in this blog.

So lets get started :)

1. Open you list and click on New Item. Verify that attachment is enabled.

2. On ribbon,click on List tab and click on List Settings.

3. Now, Click on Advanced Settings.

4. Scroll down and look for attachments.
5. Select Disabled and Click OK.

 6. Click New item to verify and attachment option is gone from your list.

Very straight forward steps .Hope it helps :)

Happy SharePointing :)

Creating App Catalog in SharePoint Online

Today, we will create a App Catalog in SharePoint Online.

So lets get started :)

Steps:

1. Go to the SharePoint Admin center page and Click on Apps.

2. Click on App Catalog.

3. Select "create a new app catalog site"  and click OK.

4. Now fill out the required field like title, web site address etc.
Note: I am using this for demo purpose only, so i didn't assign any resource to Quota you can assign it according to your requirement. 

5. Click Ok

Your done with creating a App Catalog in SharePoint online. Steps are very similar to what we do in SharePoint 2013.

Hope it helps :)
Happy SharePointing :)

How to create an UPN

This Post will help you on how to create an UPN.

What does UPN stands for ?

UPN stands for User Principal Name.

Why we need to create an UPN?

While configuring ADFS (Federated Service) if we desire to use different domain from our internal domain then we require to create UPN.

Example:
Internal Domain Name : SharePoint.local
Desired Federated Domain : SharePoint.com

How to create an UPN Suffix?

It is very simple to create hardly take 2 minute to create one.

Go to DC and search for Active directory domain and trust and open it.

Now, right click on the Active Directory Domain and Trusts. Select Properties.

Enter your UPN suffix you want to create, click ADD and apply,ok to save it. 

You are done with creation of new UPN.

Happy SharePointing :)

Disable default “send an email invitation”

Whenever we shared anything like site collection or subsite the email option is select by default and we have to uncheck it most of the time.

This post will help you to disable default “send an email invitation”

So lets get started :)

 

Browse to this location on your SharePoint server.

C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\Web Server Extensions\15\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS

And search for filename “aclinv.aspx”.

Edit in notepad or visual studio. Look for below labels and change the “Checked to False” it will be true by default.

After changing it save the file and refresh your SharePoint site.

Now, check the default “send an email invitation” will be disabled.

Note: This has to be done on all SharePoint Server and no iisreset or server restart is required.

Hope it helps :)

Happy SharePointing :)

KickStart an Azure

What is Azure?

Azure is a Services Platform, a comprehensive set of storage, computing, and networking infrastructure services that reside in network of datacenters.

                                                                                  OR

Azure is basically nothing but on demand data center for everyone which means you only get what you demand for.

If you need a service for 15 minutes or 15 days, you will get and you pay accordingly.

Azure save us from the infrastructure cost, weekly or monthly maintenance of it and we don’t have to worry about the unexpected issue with server as Microsoft provide 99.9% uptime for it. 

So, Azure comes with 3 services: -

·         IAAS – Infrastructure as a Service

·         PAAS – Platform as a Service

·         SAAS – Software as a Service

Below Image with help you understand how these service work (I got this image from google search).

In first row, you can see Packaged Software which nothing else but your On-Premise Infrastructure.

So, if you have it then you must manage/maintain everything starting from Networking to Application.

For example: We do monthly patching of the server, we have make sure storage is in place for back-up, we should do all networking set-up etc.

IAAS:  In this we don’t have to worry about networking, storage, server and virtualization these will be taken care by Microsoft. Rest of the things we have to maintain (ex: O/s should be updated at regular interval).

PAAS: In PAAS we only maintain application and data. Rest will be done by Microsoft. So, we make sure that our date application up and running, our data has been backed up without any issues.

SAAS: In this we don’t have to worry about anything, everything will be done by Microsoft patching, updates, data backup at regular interval etc. The best example of SAAS is OFFICE 365.

Hope it helps you in understanding Azure as a services

Happy SharePointing :)