Is your farm struggling to serve your organization? How long is it taking between page requests? Where is your bottleneck in your farm? Is your SQL Server tuned properly? Worried about upgrading due to poor performance? We will look at various tools for analyzing and measuring performance of your farm. We will look at simple SharePoint and IIS configuration options to instantly improve performance. Mr. Culver will discuss advanced approaches for analyzing, measuring and implementing optimizations in your farm.

• SharePoint 2010 Performance: Boost the Performance of SharePoint Today!
• SharePoint 2010 Extranets & Authentication: How will SharePoint 2010 connect you to your partners?

/// <summary>
/// Display the QueryString Collection and Form Collection information for a ASP.Net Page
/// </summary>
private void RenderRequestInfo() {

//Iterate the Request.QueryString collection
Page.Response.Write(string.Format("<b> Request.QueryString ({0})</b><br />", Page.Request.QueryString.Count.ToString()));
foreach (string queryItem in Page.Request.QueryString) {
Page.Response.Write(queryItem);
try {
Page.Response.Write("='" + HttpUtility.HtmlEncode(Page.Request.QueryString[queryItem]) + "'<br />");
} catch (Exception ex) {
Page.Response.Write(string.Format("=[Error during render.] {0}<br />", ex.Message));
}
}
Page.Response.Write("<br />");

//Iterate the Request.Form collection
Page.Response.Write(string.Format("<b> Request.Form ({0})</b><br />", Page.Request.Form.Count.ToString()));
foreach (string formItem in Page.Request.Form) {
Page.Response.Write(formItem);
try {
Page.Response.Write("='" + HttpUtility.HtmlEncode(Page.Request.Form[formItem]) + "'<br />");
} catch (Exception ex) {
Page.Response.Write(string.Format("=[Error during render.] {0}<br />", ex.Message));
}
}
Page.Response.Write("<br />");
}

1. Change each alternate access mapping for your WSS3 or MOSS deployment in Central Administration:




• Open Central Administration, "Operations" Tab, "Alternate access mappings" link


• Modify each mapping item to reflect your newly chosen server name





2. Use stsadm.exe to invoke the "renameserver" command option:




• Open a command prompt window


• cd "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN"


• stsadm -o renameserver -newservername <newname> -oldservername <oldname>




3. Rename your Server via Change Name Operation in Windows Server 2003:




• Start Menu | Control Panel | System, "Computer Name" tab, "Change" button.


• Input your new server name




4. Reboot the server NOW.


5. Update the MOSS farm creadentials




• After reboot, open command prompt


• cd C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN


• stsadm -o updatefarmcredentials -userlogin <domainuser> -password <password>




6. iisreset /noforce


7. Check all application pool identities in IIS, update where the old machine name is still there.


8. If you already have a search index drop this, and rebuild it


9. Congratulations, your server is now renamed.

In SharePoint 2003, the following limitations were well known (1):

• 64 Single line of text and Choice (drop-down menu or radio buttons)
• 31 Multiple lines of text and Choice (check boxes (allow multiple sections))
• 32 Number and currency
• 32 Hyperlink
• 16 Date and time
• 16 Lookup
• 16 Yes/No
• 8 Calculated

I found Microsoft literature specifying the following “guidelines for acceptable performance” for columns (2):

• 2,000 per document library
• 4,096 per list

“This is not a hard limit, but you might experience library and list view performance degradation as the number of columns in a document library or list increases.”

• 8 datetime (DateTime)
• 12 float (Number, Percentage)
• 16 int (Integer)
• 16 bit (Boolean)
• 32 ntext (Note)
• 64 nvarchar (Text, Url, Choice)
• 8 sql_variant

1 - To read more about the SharePoint 2003 limits: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;823555

2 - To read more about the SharePoint 2007 (MOSS) limits: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262787.aspx

3 - To read more about the performance testing of columns: http://www.sharepoint-tips.com/2006/06/sharepoint-2007-column-limits.html

Several blogs out there talk about the need to close and/or dispose of the SPSite and SPWeb objects. I took this to heart but then I started receiving the occasional error stating:

"Trying to use an SPWeb object that has been closed or disposed and is no longer valid."

The purpose of this blog entry is to clear this up (at least for me). The following link is to Microsoft's documentation on this matter: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa973248.aspx

In summary:

• If you create SPSite object using the "new SPSite()" constructors (any constructor override), then you need to call the "SPSite.Dispose()" method.
• If you create the SPSite object using SPControl.GetContextSite(), then you should NOT dispose of the object.

This is Microsoft's explanation as to why you should not dispose of the object when instantiated through using SPControl.GetContextSite():

"Because the SPWeb and SPSite objects keep an internal list that is derived in this way, disposing of the object may cause the SharePoint object model to behave unpredictably. Internally, Windows SharePoint Services enumerates over this list after page completion to dispose of the objects properly."

In my frustration, I sought out a solution on the web. I tried various methods for resize my existing virtual drive … some with more success than others. I am sharing the method which I found the easiest and least error prone for what I needed. Having said that, this may not work for you and you should backup your VM’s and data before attempting any of this. Try this at your own risk!

I found a program called Virtual DiskManager from RDPSoftware which does that trick. This program is a front-end for VMWare’s vDiskManager. The VM templates were created in VMWare Workstation 4.5. Currently (at the time of this writing), I am using VMWare Workstation 5.5. The following are the steps I took to resize my virtual drive from 8 GB to 30 GB (you can easily resize it to any size you require as far as I can tell):

Resizing the Virtual Hard Drive

1. Opened the original VM Template in VMWare and upgraded it to a 5.5 VM.
2. Create a full clone from the VM to eliminate any snapshots.
3. Run Virtual DiskFactory (VMWare DiskManager would work too) and click on the Expand tab.
4. Enter the desired target size (30 GB in my case).
5. Browse and choose the Virtual Disk Drive to resize.
6. Click on Expand Disk. Mine was disabled because I did step 5 and then step 4; Click on the browse button and close the dialog … it should enable the button.
7. Go get coffee while you wait
8. Once complete, you can use your newly resized VM Template. I have backed up these VM Templates so that I don’t have to perform these tasks again.

Now for the interesting part … if you open the VM (don’t do it yet) you will find that you have a 30 GB drive but you still have the 8 GB partition. In this example, I want to use all 30 GB but this poses a problem since the operating system is sitting on the primary partition; the same drive I want to repartition. My solution is to map this virtual drive as a secondary drive to a different temporary VM. I have created a separate temporary VM from the same VM template for repartitioning the resized virtual drives.

1. Create another VM instance (preferably from the same VM Template) to use for repartitioning.
2. Run Virtual DiskFactory (VMWare DiskManager would work too) and click on the Rename tab.
3. Rename the newly resized virtual drive to make sure it won’t conflict with the virtual drive from our repartitioning VM. I renamed my virtual drive to “RenamedDisk.vmdk”.
4. Run Virtual DiskFactory (VMWare DiskManager would work too) and click on the Convert tab. This step may not be necessary for you, you can try step #6. If you cannot add the drive, come back to this step.
5. Convert your virtual drive to a Growable … catch up on some emails and the latest YouTube videos.
6. Edit the Virtual Machine Settings and add the existing virtual drive (i.e. RenamedDisk.vmdk). Mine is now on IDE2.
7. Start the VM.
8. Go to the Administrative Tools and run the Computer Management console. Under Disk Management, make sure the second drive is recognized and has a drive letter. If not, add it and give it a drive letter.
9. Using the diskpart.exe tool from Microsoft and the “How to use DiskPart.exe”. Force the partition to take the new partition size. This is from the How-To with a couple modifications:
1. In a command prompt, run "diskpart.exe"
2. Type "list volume" to display the existing volumes on the computer.
3. Type "Select volume [volume number]" where volume number is number of the volume that you want to extend.
4. Type "extend [size=n] [disk=n] [noerr]" to extend the volume. For example, in my case I used "extend" to use all the space.
5. Once done, type "exit" to quit Diskpart.exe.
10. Now you can restore the resized, extended ad renamed virtual disk to the original VM location. You can remove the old drive reference and add the new drive as is, or you can rename the disk to its original name. The VM should load just fine, and the drive should have taken its specified size.