Visual 2010 Macro: Automate “Attach to Process” to IIS Worker Process (w3wp.exe)

If you take a look at my post a few months ago about my own development environment, maybe you didn’t notice that I posted a link to a macro. This macro I’ve created myself to help me build SharePoint solutions faster than normally we do, rather than we do an “Attach to Process” on the menu and search which w3wp, or even worse, by attaching it to all w3wp which we don’t need.

So, in the code below, I put 2 functions, AttachW3WP(string AppPoolName) and AttachProcess(string ProcessName). Same way, you can create another function, call that function to attach to particular w3wp process with specific Application Pool Name.

This should work with IIS 7.0 above, as IIS 6.0 (or even IIS 5.1) I’ve never tested it out.

Attach To Process

1. Imports System
2. Imports EnvDTE
3. Imports EnvDTE80
4. Imports EnvDTE90
5. Imports EnvDTE90a
6. Imports EnvDTE100
7. Imports System.Diagnostics
8. Imports System.Linq
9. Imports System.ComponentModel
10. Imports System.Collections
11. Imports System.Collections.Generic
12. Imports System.Management
13.  
14.  
15. Public Module RdzMacros
16.     Dim DebugPanel As String = "Debug"
17.     Dim Ow As OutputWindow = DTE.ToolWindows.OutputWindow
18.     Dim Owp As OutputWindowPane
19.     Dim SetName As String = "ApplicationPoolName"
20.     Dim Titl As String = "AttachW3WP"
21.  
22.  
23.     Private Sub PanelInit()
24.         Try
25.             Owp = Ow.OutputWindowPanes(DebugPanel)
26.         Catch ex As Exception
27.             If Owp Is Nothing Then
28.                 Owp = Ow.OutputWindowPanes.Add(DebugPanel)
29.             End If
30.         End Try
31.     End Sub
32.  
33.     Private Function GetAppPoolName() As String
34.         Dim sRet As String = ""
35.         Try
36.             sRet = DTE.Solution.Globals(SetName)
37.         Catch ex As Exception
38.         End Try
39.         Return sRet
40.     End Function
41.  
42.     Private Sub AttachW3WP(ByVal AppPoolName As String)
43.         PanelInit()
44.         Dim attached As Boolean = False
45.         Dim proc As EnvDTE.Process
46.         Dim ProcessName As String = "w3wp.exe"
47.         Dim PID As Integer = 0
48.         Dim CmdLine As String = AppPoolName 'GetAppPoolName()
49.         If String.IsNullOrEmpty(CmdLine) Then
50.             MsgBox("Set Application Pool Name first via 'SetApplicationPoolName' macro.", MsgBoxStyle.Critical, Titl)
51.             Exit Sub
52.         End If
53.  
54.         Owp.OutputString(String.Format("Search for IIS Worker Processes with AppPool '{0}'...", CmdLine))
55.         Dim wmiQuery As String = "select CommandLine,ProcessID from Win32_Process where Name='" + ProcessName + "'"
56.         Dim searcher As ManagementObjectSearcher = New ManagementObjectSearcher(wmiQuery)
57.         Dim retObjectCollection As ManagementObjectCollection = searcher.Get
58.         For Each retObject As ManagementObject In retObjectCollection
59.             If retObject("CommandLine").ToString().ToLower().Contains("\" + CmdLine.ToLower() + "\") = True Then
60.                 PID = Convert.ToInt32(retObject("ProcessID").ToString())
61.                 Owp.OutputString(String.Format("Found the ProcessID: {0}...", PID.ToString))
62.                 Exit For
63.             End If
64.         Next
65.  
66.         If PID > 0 Then
67.             For Each proc In DTE.Debugger.LocalProcesses
68.                 If proc.ProcessID = PID Then
69.                     proc.Attach()
70.                     attached = True
71.                     Exit For
72.                 End If
73.             Next
74.         End If
75.         If Not attached Then
76.             MsgBox("w3wp.exe with Argument '" + CmdLine + "' is not running!", MsgBoxStyle.Exclamation, "MiKrosok Pisual Studio 2010")
77.         Else
78.             Owp.OutputString(String.Format("ProcessID {0} already attached to VS debugger!", PID.ToString))
79.             Owp.Activate()
80.         End If
81.     End Sub
82.  
83.     Private Sub AttachProcess(ByVal ProcessName As String)
84.         PanelInit()
85.         Dim attached As Boolean = False
86.         Dim proc As EnvDTE.Process
87.  
88.         For Each proc In DTE.Debugger.LocalProcesses
89.             If proc.Name.ToLower().Contains(ProcessName.ToLower()) Then
90.                 proc.Attach()
91.                 attached = True
92.                 Exit For
93.             End If
94.         Next
95.         If Not attached Then
96.             MsgBox("'" + ProcessName + "' is not running!", MsgBoxStyle.Exclamation, "MiKrosok Pisual Studio 2010")
97.         Else
98.             Owp.OutputString(String.Format("ProcessName {0} already attached to VS debugger!", ProcessName))
99.             Owp.Activate()
100.         End If
101.     End Sub
102.  
103.     Public Sub AttachOWSTimer()
104.         AttachProcess("owstimer.exe")
105.     End Sub
106.  
107.     Public Sub AttachOSCAR()
108.         AttachW3WP("SharePoint - 80")
109.     End Sub
110.  
111.     Public Sub AttachK2WorklistService()
112.         AttachW3WP("K2WorklistService")
113.     End Sub
114.  
115.     Public Sub AttachCommonWorkflowServices()
116.         AttachW3WP("CommonWorkflowServices")
117.     End Sub
118.  
119.     Public Sub AttachEIS()
120.         AttachW3WP("SharePoint - 80 - EIS")
121.     End Sub
122. End Module

Hope it helps you.

Backup-Restore Content of SharePoint 2010 Problems

So, I see a different issues coming up when we try to backup-restore content of SharePoint from one server to another. Most commonly issues that I found is that we will stuck on this message:

“Your backup is from a different version of Microsoft SharePoint Foundation and cannot be restored to a server running the current version. The backup file should be restored to a server with version '4.0.145.0' or later.”

Sometimes it says exact version like above, sometimes with another number of version. To resolve it, there’s more approach that Microsoft has provided.

There are 2 approaches to do a backup-restore of SharePoint content itself:

1. SharePoint Site Collection backup.
2. SharePoint Content Database backup.

First approach and always be the best approach (I’ve done this many times never fails):
Make sure both destination and source server have to be the exact same version, both in the SharePoint version or SharePoint build number.

With that approach, both solution can be applied. But of course, sometimes we happen to find a different version both on source or destination for some reason. Again, you could compare both versions, which one is higher. If the source is higher than destination, definitely you can’t just do a backup-restore the content straightaway. You need to make destination at least the same version as source. But if the source is lower than destination, on most cases it will just restored without problem.

But, if you notice my last sentence, that doesn’t mean totally without problem. Say you have SharePoint pre-SP1 as a source, and SharePoint with SP1 as a destination. This scenario can’t be done! But why?

That’s a logical question, because normally if the destination is higher version than source, it’ll do just straightaway, but this is not. The reason behind this is just as simple as this, pre-SP1 and SP1 content database structure has a big change and no backward compatibility.

How we are gonna do this? So, there are 2 approaches.

If you do a content-database backup as I said above, your approach will be easier as 1-2-3:

1. Attach the pre-SP1 Content Database to an SP1 Farm. This can be done by adding the content database to the specific web application in SharePoint Central Administration.
2. You have to run SharePoint Configuration Wizard to update the content database to SP1 version. Or if it’s failed, try run PSConfig command to upgrade it (PSConfig.exe -cmd upgrade -inplace b2b -force -cmd applicationcontent -install -cmd installfeatures).
3. Detach the upgraded Content Database from that SP1 Farm. This can be done by removing the content database from specific web application in SharePoint Central Administration.
4. Recover content as unattached database by running PowerShell command (Get-SPContentDatabase -ConnectAsUnattachedDatabase  -DatabaseName <DatabaseName> -DatabaseServer <DatabaseServer>).

But if you only “able” to get the site collection backup file from stsadm or PowerShell (because say some companies are restricting us to do a database backup or it has to go with some crazy procedures), here’s what you need to do (which is painful):

1. Restore pre-SP1 site collection backup file to a new test pre-SP1 farm.
2. Upgrade the test farm to SP1 until you finished running SharePoint Configuration Wizard.
3. Perform a site collection backup from test farm.
4. Perform a site collection restore to destination farm.

Any other way would be:

1. Restore pre-SP1 site collection backup file to a new test pre-SP1 farm.
2. Without upgrading, detach Content Database of test pre-SP1 farm.
3. Attach pre-SP1 Content Database to an SP1 Farm.
4. Upgrade it by using SharePoint Configuration Wizard or PSConfig as I mentioned above.
5. Detach the upgraded Content Database.
6. Recover content as unattached Content Database.

Hope it helps, guys….

 

reference: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh344831(v=office.14).aspx

List of SharePoint Service Accounts

Hi guys,

Long time no blog since Aug 2012. Just want to share a little bit about SharePoint installation, List of SharePoint Service Accounts. These service accounts are grabbed from Microsoft Technet, and hope it useful for you.

Account	Category	Account Name	Purpose	Requirements
SQL Server Service Account	SQL Server		The SQL Server service account is used to run SQL Server. It is the service account to run SQL Server service, MSSQLSERVER.	> Domain user account.
SQL Server Setup User Account	SQL Server		The Setup user account is used to run SQL Server Setup.	> Domain user account. > Member of the Administrators group on each SQL Server on which Setup is run.
SQL Server Agent Service Account	SQL Server		The SQL Server service account is used to run SQL Server. It is the service account to run SQL Server Agent service, SQLSERVERAGENT.	> Domain user account.
Application Pool Account	SharePoint		The application pool account is used for application pool identity. Recommended action is to make this account specific to each SharePoint Web Application.	> Domain user account. > Registered Managed Accounts in Central Administration. > This account must not be a member of the Farm Administrators group.
Content Access Account	SharePoint		Content access accounts are configured to access content by using the Search administration crawl rules feature. This type of account is optional and you can configure it when you create a new crawl rule. For example, external content (such as a file share) might require this separate content access account.	> Domain user account. > The content access account must have read access to external or secure content sources that this account is configured to access. > For SharePoint Server sites that are not part of the server farm, you have to explicitly grant this account full read permissions to the web applications that host the sites. > This account must not be a member of the Farm Administrators group.
Default Content Access Account	SharePoint		The default content access account is used within a specific service application to crawl content, unless a different authentication method is specified by a crawl rule for a URL or URL pattern.	> Domain user account. > The content access account must have read access to external or secure content sources that this account is configured to access. > For SharePoint Server sites that are not part of the server farm, you have to explicitly grant this account full read permissions to the web applications that host the sites. > This account must not be a member of the Farm Administrators group.
Excel Services Unattended Service Account	SharePoint		Excel Services uses the Excel Services unattended service account to connect to external data sources that require a user name and password that are based on operating systems other than Windows for authentication. If this account is not configured, Excel Services will not attempt to connect to these types of data sources. Although account credentials are used to connect to data sources of operating systems other than Windows, if the account is not a member of the domain, Excel Services cannot access them.	> Domain user account.
My Sites Application Pool Account	SharePoint		The application pool account is used for My Site application pool identity. Recommended action is to make this account specific to each SharePoint Web Application.	> Domain user account. > Registered Managed Accounts in Central Administration. > This account must not be a member of the Farm Administrators group.
Server farm account or database access account	SharePoint		The server farm account is used to perform the following tasks: Configure and manage the server farm, act as the application pool identity for the SharePoint Central Administration Web site, run the Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Workflow Timer Service.	> Domain user account. > Additional permissions are automatically granted for the server farm account on Web servers and application servers that are joined to a server farm. > The server farm account is automatically added as a SQL Server login on the computer that runs SQL Server. The account is added to the following SQL Server security roles: 'dbcreator' fixed server role, 'securityadmin' fixed server role, 'db_owner' fixed database role for all SharePoint databases in the server farm.
Service Application Application Pool Account	SharePoint		The application pool account is used for service application application pool identity. Recommended action is to make this account to be used in all SharePoint Service Application across farm.	> Domain user account. > Registered Managed Accounts in Central Administration.
SharePoint Setup User Account	SharePoint		The Setup user account is used to run the following, SharePoint Setup and SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard.	> Domain user account. > Member of the Administrators group on each SharePoint server on which Setup is run. > SQL Server login on the computer that runs SQL Server. > Member of the following SQL Server roles: 'securityadmin' fixed server role and 'dbcreator' fixed server role.
SharePoint User Profile Service Account	SharePoint		The user account is used to run the User Profile Synchronization service. Configured under User Profile Service Application for a connection to Active Directory.	> Domain user account. > Registered Managed Accounts in Central Administration. > Replicating Directory Changes rights in Active Directory security management.
SharePoint Search Service Account	SharePoint		The user account is used to run the Search Service Application.	> Domain user account. > Registered Managed Accounts in Central Administration.

Maybe you wonder why we must separate service account to several accounts. The exact reason behind is, I don't know. But from what I have heard from Microsoft's employee when I was doing some troubleshooting, is that easier for them to do debugging if something goes wrong. SharePoint is the most crazy product that I've ever know! Integrating with so many softwares and services such as FAST Search, Performance Point, Forefront Identity Manager, and any type of Directories (Active Directory). Any type of users they trying to grab and make love with them. And now what they're trying to do is to make love with "many type" of developers. And, maybe we don't know exactly which one causing error, but they do know. So, doing this thing is quite important at the time they need it. Trust me, its hard to track while debugging some code issue without isolating the case!