Joel Oleson recently posted his top 10 enhancements coming with SQL 2012.  This is a fantastic read, summarizing some key points that are going to make a big impact on your SharePoint architecture and administration.  There has been a lot of talk about Denali’s “Self Service” BI capabilities but seeing features like Cloud Scaling, SSRS as a Service Application, and PowerShell for SQL are making me drool like a puppydog over bacon strips.

For more information on SQL 2012 please visit http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/future-editions.aspx

Is the convenience and cost savings of a hosted SharePoint environment offset the loss of flexibility and features?  ”It depends.”  Come on!  This is SharePoint!  You didn’t think there would be a straight answer did you?  In fact, the question itself isn’t even cut and dry.  It is possible to run hybrid environments, in the cloud and on premises, where the different environments work together but handle different core workloads.  You could run a dedicated environment, giving you more features and administrative control.  You can even run your own private cloud!  In my scenario, where we need the flexibility of custom development as well as scaling and capacity management, we are looking to the hybrid environment for the best of both worlds.  As with anything it has pitfalls of its own.  Authentication, navigation, information architecture, service applications (they can’t be federated in standard), etc…

As I explore this new world of silver linings, unicorn rainbows, and externally managed collaboration environments I will post my findings.  In the meanwhile, please enjoy these documents with actual information.

Office 365 Service Descriptions

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=13602 – specifically this document: Microsoft SharePoint Online for Enterprises Service Description.docx

SharePoint Online Developer guide

http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=17069

SharePoint Online Developer Resource center

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/gg153540

SharePoint Online Administration Guide

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint-online-enterprise-help/sharepoint-online-administration-center-guide-HA102480154.aspx

Resolution:  This error is a fun one, and by fun I mean painful.  I researched a lot of various solutions but the most consistent answer was as follows.  Please note that this is not a guaranteed resolution, but a common one:

1. Delete your search applications
2. Run the Farm Configuration Wizard to create a search service application
3. Rec-create your search service applications as needed
1. Note: you may receive the same error when initially created.  Give it a few minutes.

To show this inheritance, replace:

<SharePoint:SPLinkButton runat="server" NavigateUrl="~site/" id="onetidProjectPropertyTitle"><SharePoint:ProjectProperty Property="Title" runat="server" /></SharePoint:SPLinkButton>

With

<asp:SiteMapPath      

runat="server"      

SiteMapProviders="SPSiteMapProvider,SPXmlContentMapProvider"      

RenderCurrentNodeAsLink="false"      

NodeStyle-CssClass="breadcrumbNode"      

CurrentNodeStyle-CssClass="breadcrumbCurrentNode"      

RootNodeStyle-CssClass="breadcrumbRootNode"      

HideInteriorRootNodes="true"      SkipLinkText=""/>

Source: http://sharepoint.stackexchange.com/questions/11480/breadcrumb-not-showing-parent-site

Issue:

Error exporting the list named “Announcements” at the URL: Lists/Announcements

If you rename the list and try to save as a template again it will just give the same error with a different list, in alphabetical order.  When you look at the correlation ID you see:

SPSolutionExporter: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to

an instance of an object.

at Microsoft.SharePoint.SPContentType.Serialize...

This is the one of the first lines in the log for your correlation ID.  When you look at the content types for your subsite, you see some of your custom content types but none of the defaults.  When looking at the root web for the site collection you see the same.

Resolution:

Run the SharePoint 2010 Management Shell as Administrator.  Run the following command to disable the default content type feature:

Disable-SPFeature –Identity ctypes –url http://SiteCollection

Then enable the content type feature:

Enable-SPFeature –Identity ctypes –url http://SiteCollection

If you look at your content types, they should now all be there.  Try saving the subsite as a template again, it should succeed.

Content from http://vimleshtiwari.blogspot.com/2011/01/addremove-sharepoint-group-using-power.html

What site did you use as the site collection root?  If custom, what was the site used for your template?  Turns out that not all site definitions have the TaxonomyFeatureStapler, including the Blank Site.  This feature is required to work with the Managed Metadata service.

There is a powershell command to add the missing feature:  Enable-SPFeature –Url “http://sitecollection” -Identity “TaxonomyFieldAdded”

Additional information: http://www.novolocus.com/2011/04/06/why-blank-root-sites-dont-work-with-the-managed-metadata-field/

• WSS_Content on Database Server/Cluster

Solution:  This occurs when the recovery mode is set to Full and a transaction log backup has not occurred for quite a while.  As part of a transaction log backup the sql logs are truncated.  If this does not occur for a while, the log files will continue to grow.  Even after a transaction log backup, the log files will remain at the enlarged size until shrunk.  While this should in theory be accomplished with Full recovery models, experience has proved it is easiest to switch to Simple recovery and then run the shrink command. 

NOTE:  This should NOT be done until a full backup and transaction log backup has been done, otherwise data may be lost!

1. Backup the WSS_Content database and logs
2. Convert database to Simple recovery mode
3. Shrink the database
4. Convert the database back to Full recovery mode