SharePoint is generally considered a robust platform for collaboration. However, like any complex tool, there can be challenges for those who work with it and manage it.
Below is a list of five common SharePoint challenges and various approaches to overcome them. Keep in mind that your top five may be different than what’s been presented here.
1. Consume SharePoint RSS feeds inside of SharePoint
Microsoft has provided SharePoint with an out-of-the-box RSS Reader Web part. This Web part natively allows you to include external RSS feeds, such as Google News in your SharePoint site. Unfortunately, because many SharePoint sites require authentication, the out-of the-box RSS Web part is not compatible with SharePoint RSS feeds unless you have Kerberos implemented in your organization.
To solve this problem, you can use one of the two methods listed below. Keep in mind that even though I am mentioning these tools, I am not necessarily endorsing them.
2. Double authentication prompts in Office or Internet Explorer
If you’ve ever been prompted more than once to enter your credentials when trying to download or update a document inside of SharePoint, you’re familiar with this challenge. Interestingly, Microsoft states that this “problem” is “by design.” In other words, the second authentication you might receive while retrieving a document in Microsoft Office—or any other application—even after you authenticated in Internet Explorer is on purpose.
The root of the problem is security context. When you authenticate in Internet Explorer, you are providing your credentials within the context of a single application—namely Internet Explorer.
When you click on a document and Word appears, you’ve just created another security context. When Word tries to open the document over WebDav, it needs credentials and will prompt you again. To fix this problem, do one of the following:
3. Enabling forms-based and Windows authentication for the same site
Often you need to allow two different communities of users to access your SharePoint. However, not all of the users will have identities in your Active Directory. The solution? Use forms-based authentication for external users and Windows authentication for your internal users. To enable both authentication types, follow these steps:
Remember, you must create a .NET membership database in your SQL Server using the .NET utility on your SQL Server: aspnet_regsql.exe -E –S local host -A m. For more information, go to the MSDN Patterns and Practices page.
4. Access denied for portions of central administration
Many SharePoint administrators have navigated to their SharePoint environment’s Central Administration site and then have only been able to access certain portions of the site. Interestingly, global Central Administration rights are not automatically granted to all users, let alone administrators of the SharePoint servers. To ensure you don’t receive an “access denied” message, check out the following:
5. Enabling SSL certificated on SharePoint
Enabling SSL on SharePoint does not really take much more than enabling SSL on any other ordinary website on IIS. If you need to enable SSL, just follow these simple steps:
About the Author
Shawn Shell is the founder of Consejo Inc., a consultancy based in Chicago that specializes in Web-based applications, employee and partner portals as well as enterprise content management solutions. He has spent more than 20 years in IT, with the last 10 focused on content technologies. Shell is also author of Microsoft Content Management Server2002: A Complete Guide (Addison-Wesley), and he is the lead analyst/author on the CMSWatch SharePoint Report.
01 Oct 2009