Marcus World

TF249064 - Sharepoint - TFS 2010 -> Purgatory

2012-02-06T20:44:00.000Z

Over the past couple of weeks I have been looking to add SharePoint integration to an inherited TFS 2010 install. I thought it would be easy enough as WSS was installed & working, but I was wrong, very wrong. I ended up on quite an odyssey attempting to fix the TF249064 error which occurred when trying to add SharePoint integration via the TFS admin console.

Below is the path I ended up taking to finally get what I was after. In retrospect it may have been that TFS was installed in 'Basic' configuration which is not supposed to transition to offering SharePoint integration, nonetheless the approach below got it working in the end & I thought it might be useful to note down here what I did.

1.) Repaired original TFS installation using installation disc.
- I hoped this would add the SharePoint integration if it could recognize that WSS was already installed; to no avail.

2.) Uninstalled & reinstalled WSS, after downloading the installer.
- same reasoning as point 1.

3.) Manually copied over the missing TeamFoundationIntegrationService webservice from a correctly configured machine.
- after reading several other websites about how to fix TF249064, I stumbled on the idea of actually testing the web service URL - http://MyTfsServer_vti_bin/TeamFoundationIntegrationService.asmx. Lo & behold it wasn't actually there at all. I promptly copied it over from a correctly working test server I had setup previously, & was able to finally lay TF249064 to rest. (This may have made steps 1 & 2 irrelevant.)

4.) Installed TFS Extensions for Sharepoint.
5.) Run the Extensions Wizard from TFS Admin console.
- I still received issues during configuration in point 3, & I finally installed & configured the extensions, even though my test machine hadn't required them.

6.) Added Sharepoint site to TFS admin (finally!).
- at long last TFS was able to recognize that SharePoint was there.

7.) Ensured Reporting Server had correct permissions.- some issues with portal creation were down the the reporting server permissions:
User does not have required permissions. Verify that sufficient permissions have been granted and Windows User Account Control (UAC) restrictions have been addressed

8.) Opened VS after using power tools to prevent opening of last TFS server; (visual studio 2010 clr20r3 lcid 1033).
- a nasty & exceedingly annoying crash when VS opened & immediately attempted to load Team Explorer, finally solved using Power Tools:
How to specify Visual Studio Team Explorer collection on start-up?

9.) Added new SharePoint project portal, at long last:
Adding the SharePoint portal afterwards

10.) Install Visual Studio Scrum template for SharePoint using the following commands:
- to ensure the SharePoint website integrates to the Microsoft Scrum template 1.0 process template used in the Team Project.

TFS 2010 team project portals - looking for Scrum

11.) Update elements.xml file to ensure Activation/Deactivation in the SharePoint website:
File specified in the modules section of this template already exists.
- remove additional dashboard webparts that were created.
- location of the template files that need to be edited:C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\TEMPLATE\FEATURES\TfsScrumDashboard

12.) Set permissions for other team members to access the portal.
- otherwise they'll receive a permission denied screen.

And that was that!
One of those painful trial-&-error experiences I wish IT had less of, albeit a useful learning curve understanding how TFS & SharePoint work together, & thanks to the authors of all the many pages I ended up reading & using. Now I just have to upgrade to SharePoint 2010...

Changes in the Land, by William Cronon

2011-11-12T04:47:00.001Z

Reading now.

Professional Team Foundation Server 2010, by Ed Blankenship, Martin Woodward, Grant Holliday, Brian Keller

2011-11-12T04:34:00.001Z

Reading now.

Leadership Insights: 15 Unique Perspectives on Effective Leadership, by Various

2011-11-12T04:28:00.001Z

Another Harvard Business Review article collection about leadership & management, with results of various studies over the years & tips on how to apply the theory to practical situations:

The Manager's Job, by Henry MintzbergManagers & Leaders: Are They Different?, by Abraham Zaleznik.
What Leaders Really Do, by John P. KotterWhat Makes a Leader?, by Daniel Goleman.
Why Should Anyone Be Led By You?, by Rob Goffee & Gareth Jones.
Narcissistic Leaders, by Michael Maccoby.
Good Communication That Blocks Learning, by Chris Argyris.
A Survival Guide For Leaders, by Ronald A. Heifetz & Mark Linsky.
Where Leadership Starts, Robert A. Eckert.
Leadership: Sad Facts & Silver Linings, by Thomas J. Peters.
Leadership in a Combat Zone, by William G. Pagonis.
The Hard Work of Being a Soft Manager, by William H. Peace.
We Don't Need Another Hero, by Joseph L. Badaracco, Jr.
The Job No CEO Should Delegate, by Laurence A. Bossidy.
Are You Picking the Right Leaders, by Melvin Sorcher & James Brant

As with the previous compilation the articles could merge into each other, possibly due to some overlap in the research findings or maybe because there's not all that much to know about leadership & management. Certainly towards end I felt that using one's own instincts & experience were probably more valuable than any number of 'how to be a great manager' books would be. In which case the best advice from one of the articles was to 'be yourself, only better', which seemed fair to me!

Available from Google Books or WorldCat.
Finished mid November 2011.
3/5

Decisive Leadership, by Various

2011-11-12T04:26:00.001Z

A selection of Havard Business Review articles about leadership, what it is & how do be more effective in a leadership role.

Harvard Business Review Article Collection:Stop Wasting Valuable Time, by Michael C. Mankins.
Delusions of Success: How Optimism Undermines Executives' Decisions, by Dan Lovallo & Daniel Kahneman.
What You Don't Know About Making Decisions, by David A. Garvin & Michael A. Roberto.
How Management Teams Can Have a Good Fight, by Kathleen M. Eisenhardt, Jean L. Kahwajy, & L.J. Bourgeois III

Not bad but they tended to blend in together so maybe best to read them separately as the need arises rather than all in one go.

Available via Google Books or WorldCat.
Finished early November 2011.
3/5

Moving to the United States of America and Immigration, by Mark A. Cooper

2011-11-12T04:20:00.001Z

Dreadful attempt to cover a useful topic, so bad it's almost unreadable. Just about every sentence has grammatical errors & every section has factual errors so that whatever is being discussed is drowned out by its awfulness. Obviously no editor ever read this before publication which leads me to think it must be self-published, & the author apparently never bothered to proof read his own book either! The less infantile sections of English on display read suspiciously like they have been cut & pasted in from various websites or copied verbatim from company advertising brochures. There are also huge gaps in what the book covers, for example no mention on the US's infamous & complicated healthcare system, nor a single line about the US's history or government structure & function, which is relevant because of the inclusion of a citizenship exam at the back. Other topics are covered in far too much detail, for example buying a house in the US, presumably because the author is a real estate broker!
But it's impossible to escape from the awfulness of the grammar, factual inaccuracies & lack of any quality control, for example the chapter on sport had baseball sections that were repeated 3 or 4 times, & the chapter on driving stated that the US drives on the left! By the end I couldn't trust a word of it & felt duped that I had bought the book in the first place. Now it's best use is probably as kindling because I'm even too embarrassed to donate it to a charity shop! If you're thinking of buying this travesty of a book please just look on the internet & use one of the numerous forums out there, or best of all use the US government's own guide, Welcome to the United States: A Guide for New Immigrants. Finished 03/11/11
0/5

The Big Year, by Mark Obmascik

2011-11-12T04:17:00.001Z

Entertaining true story detailing how three avid birders ended up unintentionally competing with each other to see as many birds in one year as possible. The differences in personality & list-building methods are described as well as their epic travels. There are also numerous sections which nicely describe some of the target birds including one excellent chapter on migration including one bird's-eye-view whilst actually making its migration flight. In short, enough birds for birders & enough human interest for non-birders, & for me a lot of dreams of travelling to the locations mentioned to build a list of my own. Finished October 2011.
4/5.

The Fallout: How a guilty liberal lost his innocence, by Andrew Anthony

2011-11-12T04:00:00.001Z

Fantastic bit of politics regarding how the author's previous lifelong leanings to left-wing politics took a battering up to & particularly after the terrible events of 9/11. It sounds straightforward but it's much more subtle than that as the author describes his upbringing that formed his politics & how many things began to change his opinion culminating in a revulsion of how the so-called liberal intelligentsia reacted, or didn't, to the terrorist attacks. I found myself nodding in agreement at the well-thought, rationally explained & often politically un-correct arguments as I too have been appalled at some of the opinions & attitudes which now seem to define modern liberalism. It is no longer the kind of open-minded liberalism that I grew up with, for example it apparently condones authoritarianism at home & abroad, & has an evident hatred of anything from the West, as well as an apparent guilt-induced self-hatred. All in all a valuable wake-up call for many people that unfortunately wouldn't dream of reading it despite (another point the book makes) their politics supposedly being one of an accepting open-mind. Finished end of September 2011.
5/5

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot

2011-11-12T02:58:00.001Z

Intriguing but sad story of one woman's tragic contribution to science & the devastating impact it had on her family. The book is written from a very personal point of view by the author as she sets about telling the woman's story so that it often reads almost like a diary. Nonetheless it's a compelling read from both a science & human interest perspective & I'm not the first nor likely to be the last to recommend it. Finished September 2011.
4/5.

Malay Archipelago, by Alfred Russel Wallace

2011-06-18T20:38:00.002+01:00

Wonderful account of Wallace's travels through South East Asia, detailing the amazing sights, sounds & smells that he saw as he collected as many animal specimens as he & his hired helpers could shoot, including several Orang Utans. Obviously any account of the natural world as it was over a century ago now feels like a lost world but the sense of adventure & wonder is timeless, & the region's remoteness may ensure that much of what Wallace saw is still there even now. For me the highlights were the chapters describing the notorious Orang hunting & Wallace's marathon boat (more like a raft!) trip out across the Banda Sea to the remoter parts of the archipelago near Papua New Guinea in search of birds of paradise. As well as the natural wonder detailed Wallace's skill, intellect, resourcefulness & fortitude in the face of great travails & ill health come through vividly to make this one of the all-time great reads about one of science's greats.
5/5

Debunking History, by Ed Rayner & Ron Stapley

2011-06-18T20:34:00.001+01:00

Starts off well, dissecting various episodes from history to assess their accuracy against what's considered today's facts, but by the end of book a lot of what's discussed seems a bit mean-spirited & a bit pointless. Yes the legend isn't totally based in historical fact but that's the point: the stories are often an allegory to act as a warning or to celebrate down the ages. The main areas covered are the American & French Revolutions, World War 1 & 2, in particular Hitler & the Nazis feature prominently. The most disappointing aspect was the inclusion of a few contemporary "historic", not "historical" items including a couple of items featuring Tony Blair’s decision to invade Iraq for example. This seems to have been shoe-horned in to give it some additional selling power when it was published in mid-2000s. Reading it now that Blair is long gone it seems particularly tedious & unwelcome (as were the last days of his premiership) and it felt more like current affairs than history. Quite a few of the items overlapped, particularly the many on Hitler & WW2. However for me there were enough items of interest, in periods that I hadn’t read much about before, to keep me going until the end of the book.
2/5.

The Rise & Fall of the British Empire, by Lawrence James

2011-06-18T20:26:00.002+01:00

Absolutely brilliant page-turner that for this Brit read like one of the greatest stories ever told. Although 600+ pages in length the author’s erudite & concise writing whips you along so that it feels like the book is barely 200 pages in length. Indeed the story ends in 1995 just before Hong Kong was handed back & it cries out for an update. The story could have been a litany of battles on faraway shores & there is inevitably a great deal of this but what makes this book so good is how the author weaves British politics into the story, & it was the politics of the day that was ultimately responsible for the actions of its fighting men. It also details the wider aspects of the empire's impact on British society, how the empire was viewed throughout its history & how this has been reflected down the generations. It does not pay too much attention to those that were colonised; it's a story from the British perspective though there are some wonderful touches lent to it by quotations from contemporary sources & often from those that were colonised. The exhilaration from the sense of adventure during the empire's rise is followed by jingoism, bigotry & racism but throughout there was a keen sense of morality which was ultimately reflected in the mostly peaceful way that the empire was dismantled. The author then perfectly captures some of the feelings that occurred during the decline which particularly resonated with me. Once again I cannot praise this book highly enough for it's flowing & concise style, information packed & often moving story, one that should be taught in all the country's schools. I certainly wish I had been taught this sort of history at school!
5/5

Refactoring, by Martin Fowler

2011-06-18T20:06:00.001+01:00

Seminal book, like a lot of Martin Fowler's books are, providing inspirational advice on writing better software from the software that's already been written. Key concepts are explained lucidly & often with humour, which is very difficult to do with a quite dry subject matter, but this is what makes Fowler's books invaluable for the time-pressed developer. There is much to be learned from this book even for a seasoned IT professional & as such it should appear on the reading list of everyone who is involved in the software profession.
5/5

:59 Seconds, by Prof Richard Wiseman

2010-12-08T21:17:00.003Z

A quite exhilirating romp through the results of various scientific studies on human psychology. What makes us tick & how we react under certain circumstances is analysed in regard to the evidence, & most often this evidence runs contrary to widely accepted views on what we're supposed to do. Never mind any other pseudo-scientific self-help books, this one is based on hard facts & as such is a cut above.
5/5.

Innumeracy, by John Allen Paulos

2010-11-09T21:48:00.005Z

Concise, witty & informative discussion on a lack of numeracy in most people. It explores the reasons why people may shy away from numbers & it details some of the principles that most people would find useful & should probably become more familiar with, & thereby shows that they are not all that difficult. I enjoyed the discussion on how maths should be taught in schools as well as the mental challenge posed by some of the (few & straightforward) proofs detailed. Another one that most people should have a quick read through on their path to enlightenment!
4/5.

After The Ice, by Steven Mithen

2010-11-09T21:44:00.003Z

Weighty & detailed tome describing stone-age man's cultural transition from hunter-gatherer to farmer societies across several regions of the world. The individual treatment of the world's regions at times leads to a bit of repetition when certain cultural patterns were repeated across those regions. I felt this was especially noticeable when presenting some of the low-level archaeological evidence, although this was perhaps due to my lack of deep interest in archaeology than any failing of the book's. However I also didn't immediately warm to the author's device of inserting a modern-day traveller into the vignettes that were described in order to translate the archaeological evidence into what the contemporary society would have been like. Due to the scale of the subject matter (the development of human civilisations across the globe) I appreciate why it was done & eventually felt that I would have been lost without the perspective it afforded. The book also did a really good job of capturing the genuine intrigue over how humans populated & settled certain continents & it attempted to interpret these puzzles using the evidence found in the archaeological record. It also highlighted the immense scale over which the cultural transitions occurred, sometimes tens of thousands of years passed without any discernable 'progress'. There was also an important thread that ran through the book as to what progress is & why it wasn't inevitable that we ended up where we are now. Ultimately though, for me, the book could have narrowed its focus & described more richly the societies under consideration but although large the book did keep my interest until the end.
3/5.

Waiting for the Barbarians, by J. M. Coetzee

2010-11-09T21:41:00.001Z

No less than a winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature & I can see why because this is a wonderful, gripping & at times harrowing book about one man's struggle with himself & an anonymous central authority & the brutal but asinine bureaucrats that mete out its imperial justice. It also provides a historical perpsective on why empires inevitably fail as some citizens 'go native'. Not bad for a book of 176 pages!
5/5.

The Call of the Wild, by Jack London

2010-09-30T18:03:00.001+01:00

My first reading of an old classic using Amazon's Kindle device, a device which has grown on me the more I played with it. The well-known story had me gripped from the start & I enjoyed the way the dog's consciousness was conveyed without becoming overly anthropomorpic & sentimental.
4/5.

A Short History of Progress, by Ronald Wright

2010-09-30T18:00:00.002+01:00

Concise and because of it, mind-blowing analysis of human culture & civilisations & how they risk destroying themselves through stupidity, greed & ignorance of history's lessons & 'progress traps'. The description of the millennia of human history before the present day made me appreciate for the first time how relatively tiny a timespan our current culture has existed for, & how inconsequential it would be for the planet's history if it ceased to exist. The description of the fall of the Easter Island civilisation after they cut down the last tree on the island resonated hugely in light of our continued preoccupation with reducing biodiversity as much as possible. The only downside was a slight tendency by the author to stray somewhat into polemical, particularly towards the end.
4/5.

The Call of Cthulu, by H. P. Lovecraft

2010-09-30T17:58:00.001+01:00

A spooky old tale that introduces Lovercraft's classic mythology which has since spawned a whole genre. I read it using Stanza on my iPhone & enjoyed the book & the 'app', especially as both are free. The suspense builds up nicely although the ending gives you nothing more profound than a curiosity to read more because I felt there was no closure or gore-splattered finale.
2/5.

Where The Wild Things Were, by William Stolzenberg

2010-09-30T17:57:00.000+01:00

Compelling but grim read about the destruction of the world's predators by humans and the potentially devasting affect their absence has on the ecosystems they once inhabited. The book is almost exclusively about North America and it spends the first few chapters exploring the implications of detailed studies carried out in the Pacific Northwest, & the scientists involved. It also introduces the theory that humans were responsible for the extinction of the Palaeolithic megafauna around the globe & what might done in North American to help remedy it. Ultimately though after it had stated its main premise the book ended up being more valuable in providing sources for further reading rather than in much else it had to say. Granted there isn't much positive to be said about the continued human extermination of any predators worthy of the name, though I remain an eternal optimist that things might change!
4/5.

Microsoft Application Architecture Guide, 2nd Edition

2010-09-30T17:55:00.001+01:00

Comprehensive text describing Microsoft's preferred layered architecture with plenty of diagrams, suggestions & cross-references. It should be standard reading for every .NET architect and developer as its lessons are easily digested. However the book was spoiled somewhat by poor quality-control with frequent grammatical & spelling mistakes.
3/5.

The Lost and Left Behind, by Terry Glavin

2010-09-30T17:54:00.001+01:00

A very engaging and slightly different angle on the current environmental 'challenges' that the world, & humankind faces. It is the first book I've read that challenged my quixotic assumption that there will be one fine day, when humans & all other organisms will be able to coexist happily & that the gates to all the zoos will then be thrown open so that their inhibitants can run free to re-stock newly pristine wildernesses. This isn't going to happen. On the other hand the author does provide some (there aren't many out there) uplifting descriptions of how things might be different, & often of how things once were, however this is soon coloured with descriptions of mounting evidence that since the stone age humans have laid waste to any natural resources they've come across. Therefore the one clear thought I had on finishing this book is "this isn't going to end well", but if you can face up to that, it's a fantastic read with a wealth of cross-referenced material.
5/5.

SOA Principles of Service Design, by Thomas Erl

2010-05-06T21:41:00.002+01:00

If Marcel Proust, a famously meticulous & prolix author, were to write a computer book & then carefully remove all his erudition, colourful extended metaphors & aristocratic wit & replace them with some coloured diagrams & tables, then in my mind's eye, it would probably be a book not unlike this one. I found it difficult to get to the end of a paragraph without drifting off & thinking about something else (which didn't happen with Proust), let alone absorbing much of anything from the seemingly endless chapters. As an example of needless complexity, which I had been warned about after reading a previous book, this book has not been bettered in my experience, though the Concepts, Technology, and Design book by the same author comes close! The book discusses that apparently SOA services should be designed with eight fairly simple design principles in mind; principles which most software developers will be comfortable with. However this book takes over 500 pages to describe them and yet within all the waffle it does not even describe any practical instructions for how to apply them in the real world (because this forms another book) - though I did skip through the case studies so clues might have been there. Nevertheless I struggled through to the end, skipping various repetitive sections (& as mentioned the case studies), in the hope it would get better (it didn't) & again (as with the previous book) wondered who this is aimed at. Though I did realise why the unworkable nature of the SOA described within has lead to recent "SOA Is Dead" articles, because no company with a profit to make could contemplate such a lengthy & heavyweight, & apparently quite inflexible, process within a modern 'agile-centric' business.
1/5.

Consolations of Philosophy, by Alain deBotton

2010-05-06T21:38:00.004+01:00

One of my favourites, possibly my most favourite book & great to read it again. The earlier chapters feel like harder work but probably only because the latter chapters are so lucid & affirmational.
5/5!