Blog: Posts http://www.riolinx.com/en/blog/Lists/Posts/AllPosts.aspx RSS feed for the Posts list. Sat, 25 May 2013 19:06:24 GMT Microsoft SharePoint Foundation RSS Generator 60 en-US Blog: Posts http://www.riolinx.com/en/blog/_layouts/images/siteIcon.png http://www.riolinx.com/en/blog/Lists/Posts/AllPosts.aspx Extradium 2010 v2.5.4.0: New Auto Sign In feature http://www.riolinx.com/en/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=38 Body:

A lot of customers have lately started to tell us that the standard Extradium Sign In Web Part (see below) really doesn't cut it for internal users.

 

And they're right. For an internal user who is already authenticated on the network, having to click on "Sign in with Windows credentials" on an extranet site hosted in their domain (or trusted by the DMZ domain) is a bit cumbersome, if not annoying.

In the latest version of Extradium 2010 (v2.5.4.0), we have finally decided to provide a solution for those customers, based on OrbitOne's SharePoint 2010 automatic sign-in project on CodePlex.

Now, why don't we just recommend our customers to use that solution instead of embedding it in our product? For 3 basic reasons:

  1. We think it's more convenient for our customers (and the deployment is a bit more easier – see below)
  2. OrbitOne's solution relies on a custom sign in page, which conflicts with Extradium's own default sign in page.
  3. We wanted to offer more flexibility, even in "anonymous" scenarios, where the top-level site is anonymous and secured content is available in sub-sites (or other site collections). That's why the code that performs the auto sign in runs in the context of Extradium's Sign In Web Part, not just Extradium's Sign In Page.

How do I set it up?

It's easy: just install or upgrade your current installation of Extradium. There is no need to register OrbitOne's custom PowerShell commandlet, as it relies in the SharePoint PowerShell Registration folder (C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\CONFIG\POWERSHELL\Registration)

How do I configure it?

This piece is completely similar to OrbitOne's solution, so you'll have to run a few PowerShell commands to configure your auto sign in settings:

  1. First, retrieve the sign in configuration object:

    $config = Get-SPSignInConfiguration -webapplication http://[yourwebappurl]

  2. Add a mapping (the first parameter must define an IP address sub-mask and must therefore end with at least one star):

    $config.ProviderMappings.Add("192.168.20.*","Windows Authentication") or better:

    $config.ProviderMappings.Add("192.168.20.*","AD") if you're using an non-English version of SharePoint.

    $config.Update()

  3. To remove a mapping:

    $config.ProviderMappings.Remove("192.168.20.*")

    $config.Update()

  4. To clear all mappings:

    $config.ProviderMappings.Clear()

    $config.Update()

  5. To view all mappings:

    $config.ProviderMappings

If you need more information, please take a look at the CodePlex documentation or write us at http://support.riolinx.com.

Category: Extradium
Published: 5/7/2013 11:22 AM
]]> Raphael Londner Extradium Tue, 07 May 2013 18:22:55 GMT http://www.riolinx.com/en/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=38 SharePoint 2013 Licensing for External Users: What’s new? http://www.riolinx.com/en/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=37 Body:

I recently found out that Microsoft made a significant modification in their licensing model for extranet and internet uses of SharePoint 2013 and wanted to share that update with you, since it may impact your deployment options of SharePoint outside the firewall.

If you remember how things worked in SharePoint Server 2010, you had to either buy specific SharePoint Server CALs for all your external users or buy the SharePoint External Connector (which cost about $35,000 a pop, oops, per server). The FIS version of SharePoint 2010 ("For Internet Sites") already included the External Connector, so you didn't have to purchase it separately, but I believe the server license price was also substantially higher than that of the Standard and Enterprise Editions.

The good news with SharePoint 2013 is that those requirements are all gone and you no longer have to pay any user CAL or external connector. This is all laid out very clearly and neatly in a Microsoft Volume Licensing Brief available at http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/about-licensing/briefs/SharepointServer2013.aspx . The SharePoint 2013 Licensing page also mentions this, albeit more concisely.

The Volume Licensing Brief includes 2 neat graphics that specifically highlight the Extranet and Internet scenarios:

 

Note that in the Internet scenario, both internal and external users are considered anonymous users, so if you have any internal, authenticated users in an otherwise mostly Internet scenario, then you'd have to purchase CALs for those internal users.

 

While this very reasonable decision is definitely good news for companies that still want to host their SharePoint Extranets on premise and will drive the deployment of SharePoint Server 2013 instead of SharePoint Foundation 2013, my understanding is that you still have to purchase the following licenses, no matter what:

  1. Windows Server license (of course)
  2. Windows Server internal user CALs (if any)
  3. SQL Server license (unless you use SQL Server Express)
  4. Windows Server External Connector (still mentioned in the Product Use Rights document), for each server in the farm including the server(s) running SQL Server.
  5. SharePoint Server license (if you use SharePoint Foundation only, then there is no such license)

While hosting a SharePoint extranet doesn't become completely free (especially with regards to the Windows Server External Connector), it is significantly cheaper now to host SharePoint Server extranets (vs. SharePoint Foundation-only extranets).

Category: SharePoint
Published: 4/30/2013 12:20 PM
]]> Raphael Londner SharePoint Tue, 30 Apr 2013 19:20:08 GMT http://www.riolinx.com/en/blog/Lists/Posts/ViewPost.aspx?ID=37