Lync Server 2013

Lync Server 2013 Preview: New High Availability and Disaster Recovery Features

http://blogs.technet.com/b/nexthop/archive/2012/08/29/new-high-availability-and-disaster-recovery-features-in-lync-server-2013-preview.aspx

Lync Server 2013 Preview features and how to configure them

http://msunified.net/2012/08/01/lync-server-2013-preview-features-and-how-to-configure-them

Download Microsoft Lync Server 2013 Preview

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/hh973393.aspx

Lync Server 2013 for IT pros

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/lync/fp123621.aspx

Microsoft's Lync Server 2013: Skype federation, hybrid voice and more

http://www.zdnet.com/microsofts-lync-server-2013-skype-federation-hybrid-voice-and-more-7000001415

New Features in Lync Server 2013 Get Detailed

http://news.softpedia.com/news/New-Features-in-Lync-Server-2013-Get-Detailed-282907.shtml

Lync Server 2013 Preview – 5 Feature Changes Coming

http://lyncinsider.com/unified-communications/lync-server-2013-preview-5-feature-changes-coming

Lync Server 2010/2013 and Cisco/Nortel/Avaya integration

http://jasonshave.blogspot.in/2012/08/lync-server-20102013-and.html

Microsoft Lync Server 2013 Adds Touch Support - Killer Enterprise Tablet UC!

http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/microsoft/microsoft-lync-server-2013-adds-touch-support---killer-enterprise-tabl.asp

Lync Server 2013 Preview features and how to configure them « msunified.net

http://johnacook.wordpress.com/2012/08/01/lync-server-2013-preview-features-and-how-to-configure-them-msunified-net

Step by Step Enabling Lync Server 2013 Enterprise Voice Features, Response Groups and Managers – Part 5

http://windowspbx.blogspot.in/2012/08/step-by-step-enabling-lync-server-2013.html

Install Lync Server 2013 prerequisites on Windows Server 2008R2

http://y0av.wordpress.com/2012/07/31/install-lync-server-2013-prerequisites-on-windows-server-2008r2

Downloads for Lync 2010

Find links below to the most current downloads for Lync 2010 products.

Servers Lync Server 2010 Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Trial Group Chat Lync Server 2010 Group Chat Lync 2010 Group Chat Admin Tool Tools and resources IM an Expert for Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Lync Server 2010 Best Practices Analyzer Lync Server 2010 Capacity Calculator Lync Server 2010 Planning Tool Lync Server 2010 Resource Kit Tools Lync Server 2010 Stress and Performance Tool Lync Server 2010 Visio Stencil Lync Server 2010 Web Scheduler

Clients Lync 2010 Lync 2010 Trial (32-bit) Lync 2010 Trial (64-bit) Group Chat client Lync 2010 Group Chat Attendant Lync 2010 Attendant (32-bit) Lync 2010 Attendant (64-bit) Attendee Lync 2010 Attendee - Admin mode install Lync 2010 Attendee - perUser mode install

Downloadable documentation Primary collections Lync Server 2010 Documentation Help File - A Microsoft Help (CHM) file that contains all Lync Server 2010 topics that appear in the TechNet online library. Lync Server 2010 welcome page - A library topic that contains lists of individually downloadable server documentation topics (organized by deployment lifecycle stage). Additional documents IM an Expert for Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Documentation Lync 2010 Release Notes Lync Server 2010 Release Notes Lync Server 2010 Planning Tool Readme Lync Server 2010 Edge Server Reference Architecture Diagrams

Device-based clients Lync 2010 Phone Edition Lync 2010 Phone Edition for Aastra 6721ip and Aastra 6725ip Lync 2010 Phone Edition for HP 4110 and HP 4120 Lync 2010 Phone Edition for for Polycom CX500, Polycom CX600 and Polycom CX3000 Lync 2010 Phone Edition for Polycom CX700 and LG-Nortel IP Phone 8540

Full Text Search in SQL: Error Full-text catalog ('Catalog Name') in database ('DBNAME') is low on disk space. Pausing all populations in progress until more space becomes available. Reason code: 1. Error: 0x80041828(The disk has reached its configured space limit.). To resume populations, free up disk space.

We all know our server systems are highly alerted with all different kind of alerts. Today we got an LMS alert (configured with the low disk space counter).  Whistle looking at the disk space it was the SQL Log file which used almost 98 % if the disk space. 

On further investigating we got to know it was SQL FULL Text search log file 'SQLFTXXXXXX.LOG'.

Now the next question click to the mind is what Full Text Search is:

Full-Text Search in SQL Server lets users and applications run full-text queries against character-based data in SQL Server tables. Before you can run full-text queries on a table, the database administrator must create a full-text index on the table. The full-text index includes one or more character-based columns in the table. These columns can have any of the following data types: char, varchar, nchar, nvarchar, text, ntext, image, xml, or varbinary(max) and FILESTREAM.

Ref: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms142571.

We were unable to check what is logged in the file due to heavy size. While working in troubleshooting with further on this we decided to check which data base is configured to use the Full Text Search.

How to check which DB is using the Full Text Search:

Log on to SQL Management console -> Expand Databases -> Go into the Database properties of the  database -> Select File -> and check if ‘Use full-text indexing  box is checked which is related to full text indexing.

We decided to turn off- the full text indexing, however needed it to validate if this is the same setting used in other SharePoint Environment.   After validation, we decided that we need to have this enabled to have the events logged. 

If you decide to turn off the full text indexing you can enable and disable the Full Text Search on the a database. 

Ref: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms142536(v=sql.105).aspx.

We decided to delete the file by creating a new reference with the same name and have the logs generated from the starting.

One issue was resolved to clear up the space on the SQL Server drive. It leads to another issue of indexing not happening.

We noticed that File Size (SQLFTXXXXXX.LOG) again started to grow with the Error message.

Full-text catalog ('Catalog Name') in database ('DBNAME') is low on disk space. Pausing all populations in progress until more space becomes available. Reason code: 1. Error: 0x80041828(The disk has reached its configured space limit.). To resume populations, free up disk space.

Tried to run the different catalogs views to check the missing file reference from the Full-text index file.

Ref: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms142549(v=sql.105).aspx        http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms186903(v=sql.105).aspx

On checking the event viewer logs, the below event was recorded in the logs after every 10 min. This seems to be a serious problem.

Event Type: Error

Event Source: MSSQLSERVER
Event Category: (2)
Event ID: 9901
Date:  8/29/2012
Time:  3:28:53 PM
User:  N/A
Computer: WHGVSQL1
Description:
Full-text catalog ('Catalog Name') in database ('DBNAME') is low on disk space. Pausing all populations in progress until more space becomes available. Reason code: 1. Error: 0x80041828(The disk has reached its configured space limit.). To resume populations, free up disk space.

Checking further on the error message, we found that this error message is related to Log file not available.

Ref: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc645729(v=sql.100).aspx

          http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc645864(v=sql.100).aspx

Whereas on finding reference to the error message. Error: 0x80041828(The disk has reached its configured space limit.) This was pointing to the low space on the disk.

Ref: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms690603(v=vs.85).aspx   

All disks were having enough disk and we did check the DB automatic growth from DB properties. It was set to unrestricted. 

The first reference article was pointing to the situation similar of us as log file is not available. So concentrated the search with one point in mind. As you all know Microsoft is only own of their kind, we found explanation on the occurrence of the error message, which explains:

An I/O error related to data integrity has occurred for the specified database. Either the log or data portion of the database could be damaged. SQL Server has made the log for that database unavailable to prevent further data integrity problems. The I/O error that led to the 9001 message should be reported in the SQL Server error log and/or the Windows event logs.

This error could occur because of a failed ROLLBACK operation. In rare circumstances, the ROLLBACK could fail because of the server is completely out of memory, out of buffer pages, or out of log space.

You can refer to the reference article: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/support/ee/transform.aspx?ProdName=SQL+Server&ProdVer=2000.80.760.0&EvtID=9001&EvtSrc=MSSQLServer&LCID=1033 for

 further details.

Hope this piece of information help you all in troubleshooting issue with Full- Text Search. 

.NET Interview Questions

What is .NET?

.NET is essentially a framework for software development. It is similar in nature to any other software development framework (J2EE etc) in that it provides a set of runtime containers/capabilities, and a rich set of pre-built functionality in the form of class libraries and APIs

The .NET Framework is an environment for building, deploying, and running Web Services and other applications. It consists of three main parts: the Common Language Runtime, the Framework classes, and ASP.NET.

How many languages .NET is supporting now?

When .NET was introduced it came with several languages. VB.NET, C#, COBOL and Perl, etc. The site DotNetLanguages.Net says 44 languages are supported.

How is .NET able to support multiple languages?

A language should comply with the Common Language Runtime standard to become a .NET language. In .NET, code is compiled to Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL for short). This is called as Managed Code. This Managed code is run in .NET environment. So after compilation to this IL the language is not a barrier. A code can call or use a function written in another language.

How ASP .NET different from ASP?

Scripting is separated from the HTML, Code is compiled as a DLL, these DLLs can be executed on the server.

What is smart navigation?

The cursor position is maintained when the page gets refreshed due to the server side validation and the page gets refreshed.

What is view state?

The web is stateless. But in ASP.NET, the state of a page is maintained in the in the page itself automatically. How? The values are encrypted and saved in hidden controls. this is done automatically by the ASP.NET. This can be switched off / on for a single control

How do you validate the controls in an ASP .NET page?

Using special validation controls that are meant for this. We have Range Validator, Email Validator.

Can the validation be done in the server side? Or this can be done only in the Client side?

Client side is done by default. Server side validation is also possible. We can switch off the client side and server side can be done.

How to manage pagination in a page?

Using pagination option in DataGrid control. We have to set the number of records for a page, then it takes care of pagination by itself.

What is ADO .NET and what is difference between ADO and ADO.NET?

ADO.NET is stateless mechanism. I can treat the ADO.Net as a separate in-memory database where in I can use relationships between the tables and select insert and updates to the database. I can update the actual database as a batch.

What is an application server?

As defined in Wikipedia, an application server is a software engine that delivers applications to client computers or devices. The application server runs your server code. Some well known application servers are IIS (Microsoft), WebLogic Server (BEA), JBoss (Red Hat), WebSphere (IBM).

Compare C# and VB.NET

A detailed comparison can be found over here.

What is a base class and derived class?

A class is a template for creating an object. The class from which other classes derive fundamental functionality is called a base class. For e.g. If Class Y derives from Class X, then Class X is a base class.

The class which derives functionality from a base class is called a derived class. If Class Y derives from Class X, then Class Y is a derived class.

What is an extender class?

An extender class allows you to extend the functionality of an existing control. It is used in Windows forms applications to add properties to controls.

A demonstration of extender classes can be found over here.

What is inheritance?

Inheritance represents the relationship between two classes where one type derives functionality from a second type and then extends it by adding new methods, properties, events, fields and constants.

C# support two types of inheritance:

§  Implementation inheritance

§  Interface inheritance

What is implementation and interface inheritance?

When a class (type) is derived from another class(type) such that it inherits all the members of the base type it is Implementation Inheritance.

When a type (class or a struct) inherits only the signatures of the functions from another type it is Interface Inheritance.

In general Classes can be derived from another class, hence support Implementation inheritance. At the same time Classes can also be derived from one or more interfaces. Hence they support Interface inheritance.

Can you use multiple inheritance in .NET?

.NET supports only single inheritance. However the purpose is accomplished using multiple interfaces.

Why don’t we have multiple inheritance in .NET?

There are several reasons for this. In simple words, the efforts are more, benefits are less. Different languages have different implementation requirements of multiple inheritance. So in order to implement multiple inheritance, we need to study the implementation aspects of all the languages that are CLR compliant and then implement a common methodology of implementing it. This is too much of efforts. Moreover multiple interface inheritance very much covers the benefits that multiple inheritance has.

What is an Interface?

An interface is a standard or contract that contains only the signatures of methods or events. The implementation is done in the class that inherits from this interface. Interfaces are primarily used to set a common standard or contract.

When should you use abstract class vs interface or What is the difference between an abstract class and interface?

I would suggest you to read this. There is a good comparison given over here.

What are events and delegates?

An event is a message sent by a control to notify the occurrence of an action. However it is not known which object receives the event. For this reason, .NET provides a special type called Delegate which acts as an intermediary between the sender object and receiver object.

What is business logic?

It is the functionality which handles the exchange of information between database and a user interface.

How to troubleshoot a damaged presentation in PowerPoint 2007 and PowerPoint 2010

You may experience unexpected behavior when you work with a Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 or PowerPoint 2010 presentation. This behavior may occur because the presentation is damaged. This article contains step-by-step methods to try that may help you partially restore or fully restore your presentation. 

This article is intended for a beginning to intermediate computer user.

You may find it easier to follow the steps if you print this article first.

Problem Description:

When you try to open or change a presentation that is damaged, you may experience the following symptoms:

• When you try to open a presentation, you receive one of the following error messages:

§  This is not a PowerPoint Presentation

§  PowerPoint cannot open the type of file represented by file_name .ppt

§  Part of the file is missing. 

• You receive the following types of error messages:

§  General Protection Fault

§  Illegal Instruction

§  Invalid Page Fault

§  Low system resources

§  Out of memory

Methods to determine whether you have a damaged presentation

There are several ways to help determine whether you have a damaged presentation. You can try to open the file on another computer that has PowerPoint 2007 installed to see whether the unexpected behavior occurs on the other computer. You can try to create a new file in PowerPoint and see whether the unexpected behavior occurs with the new file. This section describes how to use existing presentations and how to create a new file in PowerPoint to determine whether the presentations have the same behavior.

Method 1: Open an existing presentation

·         In PowerPoint 2007 click the Microsoft Office Button. In PowerPoint 2010 click the File menu and then click Open. 

·         Click a different presentation, and then click Open. 

Method 2: Create a new presentation

Step 1: Create the presentation

§  In PowerPoint 2007 click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click New. In PowerPoint 2010 click the File menu. 

§  In PowerPoint 2007, click Installed Templates, and then click Introducing PowerPoint 2007. In PowerPoint 2010 click the File menu, click New, click Sample templates, and click Introducing PowerPoint 2010. 

§  Click Create. This process creates a presentation based on the template. 

§  In PowerPoint 2007 click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Save. In PowerPoint 2010 click the File menu and then click Save. 

§  Type a name for the presentation, and then click Save. 

§  Exit PowerPoint. 

Step 2: Open the new presentation

§  In PowerPoint 2007 click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click Open. In PowerPoint 2010 click the File menu, and then click Open. 

§  Click the new presentation, and then click Open.

Methods to try if you cannot open a presentation

Method 1: Drag the presentation to the PowerPoint program file icon

Windows Vista

·         Click Start, and then click Documents . 

·         In the Start Search  box, type  %programfiles%\Microsoft Office\Office12 (PowerPoint 2007), and then press ENTER. If you have PowerPoint 2010 installed type  %programfiles%\microsoft office\office14 (PowerPoint 2010), and then press ENTER. 

·         Locate the Powerpnt.exe icon in Windows Explorer. 

·         Drag the damaged presentation icon from one window to the Powerpnt.exe icon in the other window.

Windows XP

§  Click Start, and then click Run.

§  In the Open box, type %userprofile%\My Documents.

§  Click OK

§  Click Start, and then click Run. 

§  In the Open box, type %programfiles%\Microsoft Office\Office12 (PowerPoint 2007). If you have PowerPoint 2010 installed type %programfiles%\Microsoft Office\Office14 . 

§  Click OK. 

§  Locate the Powerpnt.exe icon in Windows Explorer. 

§  Drag the damaged presentation icon from one window to the Powerpnt.exe icon in the other window.   

Method 3: Try to open the presentation in PowerPoint Viewer.

Windows Vista

Step 1: Visit the PowerPoint Viewer download Web page

1.   Click Start

2.   In the Start Search box type iexplore.exe, and then press ENTER.

3.   Visit the following Microsoft Web site for PowerPoint 2007 Viewer

4.   http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=048dc840-14e1-467d-8dca-19d2a8fd7485 

5.   Visit the following Microsoft Web site for PowerPoint 2010 Viewer

6.   http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=cb9bf144-1076-4615-9951-294eeb832823 

Step 2: Install PowerPoint Viewer

1.   Click Download

2.   Click Run

3.   Click to select the Click here to accept the Microsoft Software License Terms check box, and then click Continue

4.   Click OK

If you are prompted for an administrator password or for confirmation, type the password, or click Continue

Step 3: Open the damaged presentation in PowerPoint Viewer

1.   Click Start , and then click All Programs

2.   Click Microsoft Office PowerPoint Viewer [2007/2010]

3.   Click Accept

4.   Click the damaged presentation, and then click Open

If you can open the presentation in PowerPoint Viewer 2007, the copy of PowerPoint 2007 installed on the computer may be damaged.