So, if you were following along, we ran aground on step 5 of 10 during the configuration wizard. I posted my error here on MSDN and got a response that Stand Alone mode is not supported on a DC.

This is odd because the Configuration Wizard never let me choose Complete mode; it just went straight into steps 1 – 10. It never asked me for my DB Access account or nothing.

So I reverted my VM back to a snapshot taken before I did the DCPromo and the SQL Server install. I installed SharePoint and the Configuration Wizard comes up and, this time, it asked me did I want Stand Alone or Complete?

So, “great” I said, I’ll install SQL Server and I’ll have complete after all. So I rework the SQL Server install and then the configuration wizard and select Complete.

When I get to the part where it wants my DBAccess acount UID and password, it barfs saying in complete mode the DBAccess account must be a domain account. Then, to twist the knife, the Configuration Wizard would not back out to where I could select Stand Alone mode. I tried to start it over and I tried to reinstall SharePoint and start it over, all to no avail.

So, I reverted once again to the pre-DC, Pre-SQL Server snaphot and was able to install SharePoint and run the Configuration Wizard into Stand Alone mode.

When it completed, it loaded the template selector page, not Central Admin. I chose the Publishing Portal and it build me an Adventure Works site with the old dorks from SharePoint 2007 team site and a couple of new dorks.

So what we’ve learned is that Microsoft wants to sell two Server 2008 licenses at a minimum to support a Complete mode setup.

hth!

-robot

With a solid domain controller and SQL Server running, it’s time to install SharePoint 2010.

In SQL Server, I connected to the server and opened the Security | Logins node. I right clicked and selected New. I added the db access account. On the Server Roles tab, I assigned it dbcreator and securityadmin roles.

For SharePoint, you can download the Beta package here.

I clicked on the .exe and I get the pretty new SharePoint Server 2010 dialog.

Under the prepare heading, I click Read The Install Guide. This is a link that points to Technet. Now I know you’re wondering who I am and what happened to Robot but I’m going to take a few minutes and read through it.

In the meantime, I click Install the Prerequisites. I get the SharePoint Product Preparation Tool that wants to check a bunch of stuff so I click Next. I accept the agreement and click Next.

It loads a bunch of stuff and gives me an Installation Complete page so I click Finish.

I take a deep breath and click Install SharePoint Server.

I enter the product key, accept the agreement and click Continue.

I accept the default file locations and click Install Now.

It runs and runs… Then I get a dialog that says Run Configuration Wizard so I click Close.

The SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard opens. I click Next. It warns me that some services will be stopped. I click Yes.

It counts configuration tasks.. 1 of 10, 2 of 10, 3, 4, 5…

I get: Configuration Failed and it’s pointing me to a PSCDiagnostics.log that’s about a thousand pages long. About five minutes into the install I got a warning:

Found registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Shared Tools\Web Server Extensions\14.0\WSS\Services\Microsoft.Office.Server.Administration.DiagnosticsService, but the SubKeyCount is zero

I get the same warning two more times in the next 20 seconds. Then, about seven minutes into the install, I get this:

Calling SPServiceInstance.Provision for instance Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance, service Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchService
02/23/2010 17:16:14  11  ERR                  Task services has failed with an unknown exception

Then a bunch of errors:

02/23/2010 17:16:14  11  ERR                  Exception: System.ServiceProcess.TimeoutException: Time out has expired and the operation has not been completed.
   at System.ServiceProcess.ServiceController.WaitForStatus(ServiceControllerStatus desiredStatus, TimeSpan timeout)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Win32.SPAdvApi32.StartService(String strServiceName)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWindowsServiceInstance.Start()
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.Administration.SPWindowsServiceInstance.Provision(Boolean start)
   at Microsoft.Office.Server.Search.Administration.SearchServiceInstance.Provision()
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.ServicesTask.InstallServiceInstanceInConfigDB(Boolean provisionTheServiceInstanceToo, String serviceInstanceRegistryKeyName, Object sharepointServiceObject)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.ServicesTask.InstallServiceInstances(Boolean provisionTheServiceInstancesToo, String serviceRegistryKeyName, Object sharepointServiceObject)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.ServicesTask.InstallServices(Boolean provisionTheServicesToo)
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.ServicesTask.Run()
   at Microsoft.SharePoint.PostSetupConfiguration.TaskThread.ExecuteTask()

Less than Optimal…

-robot

 http://blogs.msdn.com/opal/archive/2009/11/16/installation-notice-for-sharepoint-2010-public-beta.aspx

-robot

The SQL Server install didn’t go well. I tried to install the full suite and four of the five services failed.

So I reverted and thought I’d explore a different track.

First of all, I was trying to use the free SQL Server Developer Edition x64 that I got from the Heroes Happen Here Road Show. I know that version expires in 180 days but it was in hand and I had used it successfully before.

For this second try, I was considering alternatives. Microsoft offers this download that’s also good for 180 days. It’s a 1gb+ download so I started it and went to get some coffee.

Once it’s completed downloading, I run the setup.exe program. I check my prerequisites and it warns me about installing on a domain controller. Then I check the Installation tab and select New Installation. It runs the setup configuration check and I pass seven of seven. I click OK.

I specify Enterprise Evaluation and click Next.

I accept the terms and click Next and then Install.

Again, it warns me about the domain controller. It also mentions firewall rules saying:

..make sure the appropriate ports are open to enable remote access. See the rules documentation at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=94001 for information about ports to open for each feature.

Since I’m not looking for remote access at this point, I click Next.

I get a Setup Role page. It wants me to setup Analysis Services with SharePoint Integration. I’ll forego that for now, hoping just to get the database engine to start. I may have to retrace my steps to get this to work later. I click Next.

On the Feature Selection page, I just check the Database Engine Services, Full Text Search and the client tools and click Next.

The Installation Rules page tells me nothing will be blocked. This time, I pass five out of five. I click Next.

I leave the default instance checked and click Next.

It tells me I’ve got enough disk space and click Next.

I tell it to use the same account for all services. I enter the user name and password of the service account I created earlier which is a domain admin account. I click OK on the username box and then I click Next.

I select Mixed Mode authentication, enter an SA password. I add the current user as a SQL Server admin and click Next.

I let it send whatever it wants to Microsoft and click Next.

The Installation Configuration Rules page tells me I’ve passed four out of four. I click Next.

I get a summary and I click Install.

@Success (tipping my hat to my Domino programmer buddies)

I open SQL Server Management Studio, watch the progress lights and I get the SQL Server login window.

I try MyNewDomainController.MyNewDomain.com: No Good.

I try the IP address: No Good

My error, in both cases is:

Cannot connect to 192.168.1.20

A network-related or instance specific effor occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and then SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 – Could not open a conection to SQL Server)(Microsoft SQL Server, Error 5)

I found this from our new best friend Pinalkumar. At his suggestion, I check the services in the Configuration Manager. The SQL Browser and SQL Agent weren’t running so I started them both. Still no luck but, also at his suggestion, I try to connect to LocalHost. Again @Success. I can also connect to MyNewDomainController which is the computer name but not the FQDN which is MyNewDomainController.MyNewDomain.com. I noticed that the Browser service and the FT Scheduler Daemon were set to manual startups. I changed them to Automatic.

I look deeper into the Configuration Manager and I see that the SQL Server Network Configuration has a Protocols for MSSQLSERVER and, among those protocols, TCPIP and Named Pipes are disabled. I enable them and restart the services.

Also, I realize my network adapter was told to use external DNS so IP will not be looking to MyNewDomainController to resolve host names. So I added MyNewDomainController and MyNewDomainController.MyNewDomaincom to my hosts file pointing to the LAN IP address.

Finally, @Success one last time. I can connect to my SQL Server using computer name, FQDN, IP address and localhost.

Pinalkumar also has some help with the Firewall settings but his screenshots show Windows Vista. One day, I’ll have to figure this one out.

I’ll restart and take a snapshot here before I backtrack to install Report Services and Analysis Services. Then we can try the SharePoint 2010 install.

HTH

-robot

So we have new VM domain controller and now we’ll try to get SQL Server to run.

I have the install disk in my metal server and so, in the VM, I have to uncapture the CD drive and then recapture it with the new disk.  It wants to auto start. I click OK and click Install Server Components.

I accept the license terms and click Next and then Install.

The Intstallation Center opens. I click New Installation. The wizard does a configuration check, I pass7 and fail none. I click Next.

I check the Database engine, Analysis Services and Reporting Services, the client tools,BIDS and Integration Services and click Next.

I accept the default instance and file locations and click Next.

I have to add a service account for the SQL Server Agent, the server itself as well as AS and RS. Start |  Administrative Tools | AD Users and Computers opens the ADU&C management console. I right click on Users and select New and then User. I give the new account a name and a logon name SVC_SQLServer. I give him a password and click Finish. Then I add him to the domain administrators group.

Back on the SQL Server Configuration wizard, I enter this account in the Use the same account for all fields and click Apply to all and then Next.

I allow for mixed mode security and enter an sa password. Then I add the current user, MyNewDomain\Administrator and my SQL Server service account, MyNewDomain\svc-sqlserver to the SQL Server administrators group and click Next.

I add the current user and the SVC_SQLServer acocunt to the Analysis Services configuration page and click  Next.

Then, I choose this option: Install the SharePoint mode default configuration. I let the server send whatever it wants to Microsoft. I click Next and it tells me it’s ready to install.

I click Install.

The database engine services, reporting services and analysis services fail. All I can do is click next. It points me to a .txt file in c:\program files\Microsoft SQL Server\100\Serup_Bootstrat\log\20200222_1720\MyDomainController)20100111_1720_Summary.txt.

That file tells me to check the logs to figure out what went wrong.

Not a great conclusion to a day’s work.

-robot

You guys know I’m no Windows expert; I’m way too easily frustrated. It’s great to have experts to lead us. I’m going to try this item from CodeProject.com to create a domain conttoller with the hopes of mapping the whole SPS 2010 instsall.

There’s alot of material to cover so this may take a few tries. I’m using the Server 2008 R2 x64 on a the Dell host I’ve talked about earlier.

Creating a new virtual machine is pretty easy in the Hyper-V manager. I told it to  give it 4gb RAM, give it a LAN connection and install an OS from the host CD drive when it starts up. The Windows Server install starts up and asks some rudimentaty setup questions. Click, click, click and you get a cool little status bar that says  2. Installing Windows.

This looks like it may take a little while. 5% in five minutes; makes the math easy.

brb… I’m expanding files…

Expanding files is a non-linear process since it finished in less than 20 minutes, The VM reboots and it comes up with an OK\Cancel screen that says I have to change my password. I click OK. My user name is Administrator and I have to enter a password twice.

It prepares my desktop and gives me a set of configuration tasks.

• Activate Windows
• Set Time Zone
• Configure Networking – It already read the DHCP since I told the VM to attach to the LAN.
• Provide computer name and domain – I don’t have a domain yet but I’ll name it MyDomainController and leave it in the default workgroup.

Reboot.

I check for and install 15 updates. This takes about 20 minutes and requries another reboot.

I get to Add Roles.

The Select Server Roles dialog wizard opens up. On the Server Roles tab, I check Active Directory Domain Services (ADDS). A second dialog box pops up asking to add the .Net Fx 3.5 features required for ADDS. I click Add Required Features button.

When I try to add any other roles, I get an error that says ADDS has to be added alone.

So, I uncheck ADDS and check the application server and the Web Server instead. When I click through the rest of the dialogs, these roles install and then I need to reboot.

After the reboot, I go back to add the ADDS role and click Next.

I get a page of information including that I have to run DNS and DCPromo.exe to complete my setup. I click Next and then Install. The progress bar takes a minute and I get the results page that indicates success.

I open a command window and run DCPromo.exe

I get the ADDS Installation Wizard. I check Advanced mode for good measure and click Next.

I get this schpeil about OS Compatibility. This is way complicated so I ignore it and click Next promising myself I’d go look at the KB article to which it refers.

I dot the Create a new domain in a new forest option and click Next.

It wants the fully qualified domain name of this new forest. I enter MyNewDomain.com and click Next.

The wizard checks for naming conflicts and gives me a NetBiosName: MYNEWDOMAIN. I click Next.

It asks me for a functional level. I choose Windows Server 2008 R2. Again, I’m flying blind here.

It tells me it needs a DNS server. It told me it would do this earlier so I leave the box checked and click Next.

Here it barfs on dynamic IP address. I never gave this box a static IP so I have to tell it I will by clicking on the No, I will assign.. option and it takes me back to the Installation Wizard.

I go to the Network and Sharing Center and click on the Local Area Connection and then on the Properties button. Click on IPv4 and then Properties. Here I claim a static IP address suitable to my router and add in the DNS servers that my host server uses.

I go back and click the No, I will assign.. button again.

Here, it warns me that the DNS servers I just picked do not recognize my new domain name. This is not surprising as I will have to update the internet using my registrar’s software.  I tell it I want to continue all the same.

I’ve only got the one hard drive so all my DNS files go on there. I click Next. I enter my new domain Restore Mode Admin’s password. I enter it twice and click Next here  and again on the Summary page.

Then I get a Finish page and I click Finish and reboot.

When the machine restarts, it prompts me for the MyNewDomain\Administrator password. I enter it and everything is good. Since this is a virtual machine, I go back to the Hyper-V manager on my host and take a snapshot. At this point, I think I can revet to this state at any time in the Hyper-V manager. This is good, because in the past, I have always screwed something up in the subsequent steps and wanted to start over. It’s good to know I can spin up a fresh domain controller any time I want. 

– robot

Where was I when they covered the Hypervisor? Apparently I my mind was wondering but, I looked here at social.technet.microsoft.com and see an explanation of this hypervisor thing. Seems it’s a low-level setting made available in the BIOS.

On the Dell, I press f2 as the machine boots and navigate down to CPU Info where there’s a Virtualization Technology setting set to…

yup, DISABLED.

I used the right arrow to change it to ENABLED and press escape, save and exit.

The machine reboots. But the article says do a “Cold” reboot which, to me, means unplug the damm thing. I shut down, pull the cord and count to 20, plug it back in and hit the on button.

After it starts, I open the Hyper-V manager, select the VM, right click and select Start. It seems to be working. It’s running; I click Connect, It’s applying settings.

Press CRTL + ALT + DELETE to log on.

I get an EULA and click OK. There’s a Warm Up program that bangs on all the pages and pre-compiles them.

I move away from the VM to my host and browse to http://intranet.contoso.com and in a moment… DORKS!

It’s not really an install but it’s running. Now, I wonder how I can get my dual monitors to work with my VM on my server that I’ve remoted to… It’s good to have goals.

hth

-robot

I was having trouble extracting the files I spent about six hours downloading yesterday from microsoft.com here. These are one .exe and fourteen .rar files, each around 700 mb.

So I put them in a folder and clicked on the .exe and it crapped out with an error:

CRC failed in Ext 2010-4a\Virtual Hard Disks\2010-4a.vhd Unexpected end of archive Packed data CR…

I had to truncate the whole message because I copied it into the Twitter search bar and found our new best friend @Ivor59. He suggested figuring out which one was faulty by checking the file sizes and, sure enough, the first one was a little short of capacity, around 65 Mb. The others were all 716,800 Kb except the last on which was 479,944 lb.

I redownloaded the first one, the .exe, and now it’s 716,807 Kb which seems like it might be a full set of bits. I clicked it and now the extraction seems to be running…

Extracting Ext 2010-4a\config.xml
Extracting Ext 2010-4a\Virtual Hard Disks\2010-4a.vhd
Extracting from Ext 2010-4a.part02.rar
Extracting from Ext 2010-4a.part03.rar
Extracting from Ext 2010-4a.part04.rar
Extracting from Ext 2010-4a.part05.rar
Extracting from Ext 2010-4a.part06.rar
Extracting from Ext 2010-4a.part07.rar
Extracting from Ext 2010-4a.part08.rar
Extracting from Ext 2010-4a.part09.rar
Extracting from Ext 2010-4a.part10.rar
Extracting from Ext 2010-4a.part11.rar
Extracting from Ext 2010-4a.part12.rar
Extracting from Ext 2010-4a.part13.rar
Extracting from Ext 2010-4a.part14.rar
Extracting from Ext 2010-4a.part15.rar
Extraction Complete

And then the extraction wizard just went away

In it’s place, I have a folder with a config.xml file and three folders:

1. Snapshots – Empty
2. Virtual Hard Disks – One 32 Gb file: 2010-4a.vhd.
3. Virtual Machines – One <guid>.exp file.

I guess it’s time to figure out how Hyper-V works.

I followed the instructions I rewrote yesterday and created that internal network and imported the VM. I right clicked and selected Start and get an error:

‘Ext 2010-4a’ could not initialize. The virtual machine could not be started because the hypervisor is not running.

Great. What’s a Hypervisor?

hth

-robot

When I go here I get to the Overview and it’s missing suitable line breaks. Maybe it was written in the SharePoint 2007 rich text editor.

So I’m going to reformat it for you here:

This download contains a two Virtual Machine set for evaluating and demonstrating Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010.

Virtual machine “a” contains the following pre-configured software:

1. Windows Server 2008 SP2 Standard Edition x64, running as an Active Directory Domain Controller for the “CONTOSO.COM” domain with DNS and WINS

2. Microsoft SQL Server 2008 SP1 + CU2 Enterprise Edition with Analysis, Notification, and Reporting Services

3. Microsoft Office Communication Server 2007 R2

4. Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 Ultimate Edition

5. Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise Edition Beta 2

6. Microsoft Office Web Applications Beta 2 

7. FAST Search for SharePoint 2010 Beta 2 <

8. Microsoft Project Server 2010 Beta 2 

9. Microsoft Office 2010 Beta 2

10. Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2

Virtual machine “b” contains the following pre-configured software:

1. Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard Evaluation Edition x64, joined to the “CONTOSO.COM” domain 

2. Microsoft Exchange Server 2010

Active directory has been preconfigured over 200 “demo” users with metadata in an organizational structure. All of these user profiles have been imported and indexed for search within SharePoint Server 2010, with “contoso\administrator” granted administrator permissions.

SharePoint Server 2010 has been configured in a “Complete” farm using Kerberos authentication and the default SQL Server 2008 instance for data, and has a site collection created using the Team Site template at http://intranet.contoso.com/ and a FAST Search Center at http://intranet.contoso.com/search/.

Performance Considerations

1. If possible, unpack and run the VM image on a separate, fast hard drive (7200 RPM or better) from the operating system of the host machine.

2. If this is being done on a laptop, a second internal drive or external eSATA drive works best, though USB 2.0 (make sure it’s 2.0, 1.1 is too slow) or Firewire is acceptable.

3. For absolute best performance use a second internal SSD drive.

Passwords for all users in the CONTOSO AD are “pass@word1” (remove quotes) (including the Administrator account).

Then the instructions:

a. Start Hyper-V Manager from Control Panel -> Administrative Tools

b. Confirm that the local host machine appears in the Hyper-V Manager list and select it if not already done

c. Under Actions, click Virtual Network Manager…

d. Confirm that you have created an Internal virtual network named “Internal”. Internal networks limit connectivity to only VMs and the host. If a suitable not, create one now using the following steps:

i. Click on Virtual Network Manager in the Actions pane

ii. Choose New virtual network in the Virtual Networks pane

iii. Choose Internal from the type list and click Add

iv. Enter a name of Internal and click OK

v. Start menu -> right-click Network -> Properties

vi. Click Change adapter settings

vii. Find the adapter with a description of Internal, right-click and choose Properties

viii. Double-click on Internet Protocol Version 4 and enter the following values:

1. IP address: 192.168.150.6

2. Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

3. Default gateway: (leave blank)

4. Preferred DNS server: 192.168.150.1

ix. Click OK

e. Close the Virtual Network Manager dialog.

a. Under Actions, click Import Virtual Machine…

b. Use the Browse button to select the folder where the virtual machine package was extracted. Do not check

c. Click Import and wait for the Import to complete – the import status will appear in the Operations column

d. Select the newly imported virtual machine and click Settings in the right pane of the Hyper-V Manager

e. Confirm (and correct if necessary) that the Network Adapter is connected to the Internal network from step 1d.

f. Close the virtual machine Settings dialog.

Now the “4a” machine amounts to an .exe file and 14 .rar files all but one of which is 700 Mb. So if you’re going to dowload them, give yourself some time.

You’re welcome.

-robot

I gotta be honest; I outsourced this server build.

What I did was go to the Dell.com clearance rack and found a refurbished PowerEdge 300 with the Quad-Core Xeon 2.8 gHz, 8 gb RAM and two 250 gb hard drives for less than $1000

I got my tech guy to install Server 2008 R2 x64 and Sql Server 2008 x64.  This software cost me $1750 through my local reseller. The install took a week (I was out of town) and I bought dinner him dinner at The Pit in exchange for the effort. You might think that was a deal but he’s actually a family of four and the BBQ there beat Bobby Flay on the Food Network.

Though the T300 is no longer available but you can find similar deals here on Dell.Com’s Deals space.

So let’s just say I got here under my previously stated budget of $3K. I did not get the cool $150 monitor though I wish I had. Continuing with this honesty thing, can we really have enough flat screen monitors? In many respects, I think the flat-screen, more than just about anything else (besides Flash) made geeks cool. If you disagree, think about what dorks we’d look like staring at those big monster, sterilizer CRTs all day.

So I’ve got this machine and it’s hooked to my router at home. I have static IP DSL through AT&T. On Server 2008, you get this “Initial Configuration Tasks” page where you get links to Configure Networking, Add Roles, and Enable Remote Control.

On networking, I added the machine’s local IP addresses, default gateway and DNS servers to the two connections.

The Add Roles link points to the Add Roles Wizard. This will allow you to check the Application Server, File Services, Hyper-V, and Web Server (IIS) roles that we’ll need. Check them and click through the wizard.

The Enable Remote Desktop link points to the Remote tab of the system properties where you can check allow connections… 

On my router, on the Port Forwarding tab, I point port 3389 to one of the IP addresses. Now, I can access my new server from anywhere on the internet.

The only thing I can’t do is connect to shares on other LAN computers. I’m not running a domain so when I get prompted for user name and password, nothing I enter allows me to connect. These other computers are a mix of XP and Server 2000 and connecting from them to this server seems to work just fine. Frustrating but I’m not sure this is a priority.

So with all this in place, let mess it all up. Stay tuned…

-robot

Well, this is a good thing. SharePoint 2010 can be installed on your workstation running Windows 7 or Vista. There are a number of requirements outlined on TechNet here.

Our sources tell us that Windows 7 is the preferred option and that the standalone and SQL Express options should be avoided.

And of course, if your programming a beta product, you might as well use a beta development suite so you’ll need Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 which is also offerred as a download even though it’s 2.1Gb or so. You can get that at MSDN here.

-robot