SMTP Configuration – Unspecified Error

 

Configuring a standalone development server that is running MOSS 2007 SP1, we wanted to point SharePoint at the local SMTP instance.

We needed to configure that SMTP instance to relay messages, but we were seeing ‘Unspecified Error’ if we tried making changes to the Access tab.

We had installed hotfix 946517 on the server, because we have it installed on the live servers, but it turns out that Microsoft have found that hotfix is the cause of the error.

The hotfix was removed, and the settings on the Access tab changed successfully.

We then re applied the hotfix.  This effectively locks us out of the Access tab again, but we can always request hotfix 950426, which looks like it was made available around the middle of August, although there is no KB article for it yet.

 

Technorati Tags: SharePoint 2007,SMTP,Error,Bug

3G Modem – The Journey Home

 

Right, so I got the 1745 from Waterloo, forgetting that it routes the exact reverse of the train up this morning, so still haven’t been near Woking.  I’m sure it is lovely.

Anyway…

Nothing more to report really in terms of signal, but some general thoughts.

Signal level, according to the 3Connect utility, never really went above 50%.  This is probably going to be down to the fact that I was sat in a big metal train.  It will also not have helped that the USB dongle is plugged, memory stick style, into the left side of my laptop, so depending on where I sit on the train, the aerial is not getting much of a chance!

I would swap the device to the socket on the other side of the laptop, but 3Connect doesn’t seem to recognise it unless it is in the original socket.  USB / Vista feature, I think.

The device comes with a USB extension lead.  At the risk of getting funny looks, I will do a bit of an experiment over the next couple of days, involving using the extension, and maybe some blu-tac.  I’m never sure how much difference a few inches makes with the kind of frequencies these things work at, but getting the device up towards the top of the laptop screen will at least put it in view of the window.

Longer term, maybe a bit of sticky back plastic velcro on the USB connector and the laptop lid…

That said, the E160G has a socket for an external antenna.  Or perhaps that’s taking things a little too far.

The whole 2G / 3G Orange roaming thing is interesting.  Orange 3G worked fine, but Orange 2G would work if it was connected to 3G already then downgraded to 2G, but making a ‘cold’ connection to Orange 2G didn’t seem to work.

I also noticed that in the event of a loss of signal, it didn’t seem to find a new signal for ages, yet if I closed and reopened 3Connect, it often found something straight away.  Likely to be due, again, to being in a train, moving at speed through network cells.

 

Technorati Tags: 3G,Mobile Broadband,Three,E160G

3G Modem – The first trip

Ok, so the train journey from Havant to London Waterloo.

It took me almost until Rowlands Castle to boot Vista and get the dongle plugged in and active.

Almost as soon as I got a 3G connection, we went into a dead spot.

Picked up 3G then HSDPA around Petersfield, which lasted about 5 minutes.

Total dead spot through Liss / Liphook, with an option to roam onto Orange 2G just after Liphook.

Nothing from Haslemere until around Witley, where the Orange 2G roaming option came back….. and then went again.

Plenty of Orange 2G around Godalming, except actually in the station.  Nothing at all there.

Passing Farncombe, some 3G coverage, at last, then HSDPA as well!

Good HSDPA coverage around Guildford, but this train goes up the scenic route via Guildford London Road, so we miss out Woking, then rejoin the main line at Surbiton.

Hmm, lost the lot just past Guildford London Road, but 3G coverage came back within a couple of minutes… then went again.

HSDPA came back a couple of minutes later and stayed almost until Oxshott, then dropped down to 3G.

Joining the main line near Surbiton, it was switching between Orange 3G and 2G.

Back to Three 3G by New Malden.

HSDPA kicked back in at Wimbledon.

Bit of a dead spot just before Clapham Junction.

Between Clapham and Waterloo, I took the opportunity to do a SpeedTest.  Getting about 260kbps down and 45kbps up on Three 3G.

 

The journey home tonight will most likely be a train that goes via Woking, so will update later.

 

Technorati Tags: 3G,Mobile Broadband,Three,HSDPA

New Toy: I just bought myself a 3G modem

 

I’ve been deliberating for some time about getting a 3G connection to use on the train between Havant and London Waterloo.  I have a three hour round trip that I do four days of most weeks.

I know from my own Orange phone and the work O2 one that there are various dead spots along the route some of which last for a few miles, so I didn’t really fancy signing up to a contract for 3G.  Instead I have gone the PAYG route.

I wandered into our local Three store today, and came out with a 3Gb Mobile Broadband Starter Kit.

Hardware

I had a choice of three different modems, all made by Huawei.  The E220 ’soap on a rope’, the E160G or the E169G, both USB sticks.  I went for the E160G in black (like the colour makes a difference!).

All of the offered modems are capable of 3.6Mbps speeds, although the Three network only goes up to 2.8Mbps at best, if you can find HSDPA coverage.  The E220 has been around for a couple of years, and depending on what you read, it is not capable of 7.2Mbps speeds, but the E160G and E169G will be.

The 160 has the added advantage that it has a MicroSD slot, so I could add in up to 4Gb of storage.  As it stands, it has a built in storage partition containing the install media, including the drivers and the 3Connect utility.

Data

As you might expect from the package name, I get 3Gb of data allowance included, which is valid for 90 days from first use.  I can then add 1Gb for £10, 3Gb for £15, or 7Gb for £25.  These topups need to be converted to ‘Add-ons’, which are valid for 30 days.  This can all be done from the My3 section of the Three website.

Initial Setup

Setup is about as plug and play as anything can be – the install media is held on the device itself, and autoruns when plugged in.  No reboot required.

My3 Registration

At this point I registered on the My3 section of the Three site.  It sent a text message to the device, which was meant to include my password for My3, but it was all in Chinese characters?!  More on that later.

2nd Setup

I went looking for a ‘check for updates’ option or similar, without success.  I needn’t have worried – it was evidently already on the case (using my existing WiFi connection – I’d not hit the ‘Connect’ button yet), because it told me there was a mandatory update available.  That took a few minutes to download, then when I ran it, took a few minutes more to remove the initial install, reboot, then install the updated version.

It would  be very cool if that had updated the on-device storage with the updated install, but I doubt it.

I then did the ‘forgotten password’ option on My3, and this time, I got a text message in English.

Where from here?

Public holiday here in the UK, but off to London tomorrow, so will get to try out the modem in anger.

My initial testing at home was on 3G, but with low signal, giving a rather rubbish 60kbps, according to SpeedTest.

I also found that the device itself got very warm in the 10 minutes or so that I was testing it.  Will have to keep an eye on that.

 

Technorati Tags: 3G,Mobile Broadband,Three

SharePoint 2007 – Import Spreadsheet fails on top level site – works fine on sub-site

I’m seeing an error when trying to import an Excel 2007 spreadsheet to a list.

"Import to Windows SharePoint Services list
Method ‘Post’ of object ‘IOWSPostData’ failed"

A quick Google search showed that (unsurprisingly) plenty of other people have experienced the same problem.  Some are reporting that making a change to the code in one of the Excel Add-ins fixed the problem, but my testing showed that this just resulted in a different error.

"Cannot connect to the server at this time. Your table cannot be published"

Further testing on our environment showed that even without messing with the Excel Add-in, an import worked fine on a subsite, but not on a top level site (site collection root).

There are some custom site templates installed, so I initially suspected them, but have since proven the problem exists even with the Microsoft default templates.

Interestingly, an import works fine on a Personal Site / MySite, which itself is a top level site  / site collection.

I feel a call to Microsoft coming on…

Technorati Tags: SharePoint 2007,SharePoint,Excel

ECTS – missing ExternalCollaboration resx file

I came across this problem (amongst others) when deploying ECTS in a multiserver environment.

Technorati Tags: SharePoint,ECTS

Update 4 for IAG SP1 fixes detection of AVG 8 Antivirus on endpoints

I’ve just updated an IAG appliance with Update 4 for SP1, and I can report that the detection of AVG Antivirus 8 now works.

It may well be that detection of some other AV products work now as well, but I’ve only had time to test using my laptop so far.

The IAG was previously running Update 3, which failed to detect AVG at all.

The Microsoft description covers various other changes and known issues.

Technorati Tags: IAG,Intelligent Application Gateway,AVG

IAG 2007 and SharePoint ECTS – UPN logon format not supported

The External Collaboration Toolkit for SharePoint (ECTS) is something I’m using at the moment to provide Extranet capabilities for a SharePoint 2007 farm.

ECTS uses an Active Directory Application Mode (ADAM) instance to store credentials for external users, and it registers those users by taking their email address as their user name, e.g. joe@bloggs.com.

I am using an Intelligent Application Gateway (IAG) appliance to publish the extranet site to the Internet, but I was having some problems getting the authentication to work for the external users.

On the IAG, I created an authentication repository for ADAM, and it seemed to work fine, plus I could connect using LDP.exe from the IAG to ADAM.

However, when an external user was authenticating, the IAG was logging a failure to authenticate, with the phrase ‘Missing Credentials’ involved.

A PSS call later, it transpires that IAG does not currently support UPN logons, without a lot of customisation.  Out of the box, it is only designed to handle domain\username type of logons.

Waiting to hear back about the nature of the customisation required, but in the meantime, I’ve configured IAG to not authenticate, but instead just perform the session validation, then display the normal SharePoint logon form.  Not as secure as I wanted, but it works.

Technorati Tags: IAG,Intelligent Application Gateway,ECTS,SharePoint,ADAM