Setting a SQL alias on every SharePoint server is a common task when you are installing SharePoint. You use the SQL Server Client Network Utility (cliconfg.exe) for this. This tool is available on every SharePoint server because it’s part of the SQL Server Native Client prerequisite. Setting a SQL alias is a best practice because it makes… Continue reading Add a SQL Alias using PowerShell
Tag: PowerShell
Toggle audience targeting using PowerShell
Audience targeting in SharePoint is a great way of hiding irrelevant information from users and likewise, only show relevant information. You could create a list with a lot of items and target those items to specific groups of users. Users who are targeted will see the items while other users will not see them… audience… Continue reading Toggle audience targeting using PowerShell
Get Web Template Usage in SharePoint
Having a SharePoint platform which is widely adopted and used is cool. But as a SharePoint administrator I’m also interested in how this platform is used and where it’s used for. One of the things I like to do is to find out which kind of sites are used and how many of them exist.… Continue reading Get Web Template Usage in SharePoint
SharePoint 2016 Fast Site Creation vs. Traditional site creation
Creating site collections in SharePoint has always been a task which requires some patience. It can take a lot of time to create a site. With the release of SharePoint 2016, a new feature is introduced that listens to the name “Fast Site Creation”. I’m not going to explain what it does because there are… Continue reading SharePoint 2016 Fast Site Creation vs. Traditional site creation
User Profile Sync DB is read-only in SharePoint 2016
When you provision a new User Profile Service application in SharePoint 2016, you will notice that the Sync DB name and server is read-only and that you cannot change it. I don’t know why exactly Microsoft made it impossible to change the name of the Sync database in the UI. Has it something to do… Continue reading User Profile Sync DB is read-only in SharePoint 2016
Get a document from an unattached SharePoint content database
Retrieving a lost document in SharePoint is easy. You go to the recycle bin and you restore it. That is, if it hasn’t been deleted more than 60 days ago. But what do you do when you need to retrieve a specific document which has been overwritten with an older version and yes, Murphy is in town…… Continue reading Get a document from an unattached SharePoint content database
SharePoint 2016 farm configuration using PowerShell
With the arrival of SharePoint 2016, farm configuration changed a bit. A new feature was added which allows you to choose the role of the server when you create a new SharePoint farm, or when you are joining a server to an existing farm. This feature is called MinRole. In PowerShell, there are 2 cmdlets which are involved… Continue reading SharePoint 2016 farm configuration using PowerShell
Get User Profile Synchronization Connection Information using PowerShell
Working with a user profile synchronization connection in the User Profile Service is always a struggle. The control which allows you to select the containers is a big mess. If you have a large AD and you need to check which containers are selected… you better have a coffee machine in the vicinity. I wrote… Continue reading Get User Profile Synchronization Connection Information using PowerShell
Export/Import the SharePoint Root Authority Certificate using PowerShell
Installing SharePoint is mostly a repetitive process with lots of small tweaks and actions. One of those small actions you need to do after adding a server into a SharePoint farm, is adding the “SharePoint Root Authority” Certificate to the Trusted Root Certification Authorities store of the server. You would think this happens automatically during the configuration… Continue reading Export/Import the SharePoint Root Authority Certificate using PowerShell
Change UPN Suffix using PowerShell
A few weeks ago, I was implementing AD synchronization between an on-prem Active Directory and Office 365. One of the prerequisites is that the UPN (User Principal Name) suffix for the users which are synchronized to Office 365, has to be a public domain name. The domain I was working with, was a local domain (.local).… Continue reading Change UPN Suffix using PowerShell