A blog by Pilothouse Consulting
Posts tagged Training Environment
SharePoint Training DVD Labs Updated and Fall Schedule is Up
Aug 14th
We have updated the labs with minor bug fixes that we found over the last three months. You can get the latest updates
If you are interested in a class our SharePoint Training Fall Schedule is up:
Virtual Image User and User Profile Creation PowerShell Script Update
Aug 12th
For user profiles demos, it’s nice to have some sample profiles in there. For SharePoint 2007 image, we used a script to populate Active Directory users with the proper information and then just do an import to SharePoint. For SharePoint 2010 image, instead of using Active Directory. we are using local user accounts, so the script had to change. Now we take the user profile information from the same CSV file that’s used to create local accounts.
Here is the PowerShell script:
# SharePoint 2010 Workstation create users and user profiles script
# Pilothouse Consulting, Inc. Feel free to distribute and modify it.
$computer = [ADSI]"WinNT://$env:computername"
$userslist = import-csv users-list.csv | Select username, fullname, firstname, lastname, department, jobtitle, manager, skills, email
foreach($singleuser in $userslist)
{
$user = $computer.Create("user", $singleuser.username)
$user.SetPassword("Training45")
$user.SetInfo()
$user.FullName = $singleuser.fullname
$user.Description = "SharePoint sample user"
$user.SetInfo()
}
$site = Get-SPSite "http://abcuniversity"
$serverContext = Get-SPServiceContext $site
$upm = New-Object Microsoft.Office.Server.UserProfiles.UserProfileManager($serverContext)
foreach($singleuser in $userslist)
{
$accountName = "abcuniversity\" + $singleuser.username
if ($upm.UserExists($accountName))
{
$up = $upm.GetUserProfile($accountName)
}
else
{
$up = $upm.CreateUserProfile($accountName)
write-host "user" $accountName "profile created"
}
$up["FirstName"].Value = $singleuser.firstname
$up["LastName"].Value = $singleuser.lastname
$up["PreferredName"].Value = $singleuser.fullname
$up["Department"].Value = $singleuser.department
$up["Title"].Value = $singleuser.jobtitle
$manager = "abcuniversity\" + $singleuser.manager
$up["Manager"].Value = $manager
$up["SPS-Skills"].Value = $singleuser.skills
$up.Commit()
write-host "user" $accountName "profile updated"
}
Here is the CSV file:
username,fullname,firstname,lastname,department,email,jobtitle,manager,skills
davegreen,Dave Green,Dave,Green,Graphic Design,DaveGreen@abcuniversity.com,Professor,bettytwain,Presenting
lucysmith,Lucy Smith,Lucy,Smith,Chemistry,LucySmith@abcuniversity.com,Professor,martharollings,Researching
bobjohnson,Bob Johnson,Bob,Johnson,Graphic Design,BobJohnson@abcuniversity.com,Student Researcher,davegreen,Researching
davesmith,Dave Smith,Dave,Smith,Graphic Design,DaveSmith@abcuniversity.com,Student Researcher,bobjohnson,Researching
martharollings,Martha Rollings,Martha,Rollings,Chemistry,MarthaRollings@abcuniversity.com,Department Head,administrator,Researching
judybright,Judy Bright,Judy,Bright,Chemistry,JudyBright@abcuniversity.com,Student Researcher,lucysmith,Presenting
tracywright,Tracy Wright,Tracy,Wright,Chemistry,TracyWright@abcuniversity.com,Student Researcher,lucysmith,Researching
alexbrown,Alex Brown,Alex,Brown,Chemistry,AlexBrown@abcuniversity.com,Professor,martharollings,Presenting
kellybrennan,Kelly Brennan,Kelly,Brennan,Chemistry,KellyBrennan@abcuniversity.com,Student Researcher,lucysmith,Researching
georgemason,George Mason,George,Mason,Graphic Design,GeorgeMason@abcuniversity.com,Student Researcher,davegreen,Researching
gregwalter,Greg Walter,Greg,Walter,Math,GregWalter@abcuniversity.com,Student Researcher,lisasimmons,Researching
clairejohnson,Claire Johnson,Claire,Johnson,Math,ClaireJohnson@abcuniversity.com,Department Head,administrator,Presenting
lisasimmons,Lisa Simmons,Lisa,Simmons,Math,LisaSimmons@abcuniversity.com,Professor,jeffbridges,Researching
jonstew,Jon Stew,Jon,Stew,Graphic Design,JonStew@abcuniversity.com,Professor,jeffbridges,Researching
bobbush,Bob Bush,Bob,Bush,Math,BobBush@abcuniversity.com,Student Researcher,lisasimmons,Presenting
marysimmons,Mary Simmons,Mary,Simmons,Math,MarySimmons@abcuniversity.com,Student Researcher,lisasimmons,Presenting
donnabridges,Donna Bridges,Donna,Bridges,Graphic Design,DonnaBridges@abcuniversity.com,Professor,bettytwain,Researching
jeffbridges,Jeff Bridges,Jeff,Bridges,Math,JeffBridges@abcuniversity.com,Department Head,administrator,Researching
jerryboss,Jerry Boss,Jerry,Boss,Graphic Design,JerryBoss@abcuniversity.com,Professor,bettytwain,Presenting
bettytwain,Betty Twain,Betty,Twain,Graphic Design,BettyTwain@abcuniversity.com,Department Head,administrator,Presenting
administrator,SharePoint Admin,SharePoint,Admin,Chemistry,administrator@abcuniversity.com,SharePointer,davegreen,SharePoint
You can modify the scripts for your own demo environment, or if you going through SharePoint Training DVD labs, just run these on the current image. All the future images will sample user profiles.
SharePoint 2010 requirements are ahead of most laptops for training purposes
Jun 21st
In the last public SharePoint 2010 class we had to provide preconfigured laptops to about 70% of the students. Surprisingly many laptops with 4GB of RAM and Intel processors do not support virtualization on the chip and many come with 32 bit OS which wastes about 1 GB of RAM.
I am still surprised that Microsoft is pretty much killing Virtual PC by not allowing guest 64 bit operating systems when many of its new products are 64 bit only. We’ve used Virtual PC since 2003, but now it’s all VMWare as it’s the only viable solution for training. Sure MS recommends other options that we ruled out after spending enough time to realize that they would be a nightmare in a classroom environment.
- Booting from a VHD. If you do it right it works well. If you mess it up (and don’t back up the boot record), you are in real trouble
- Using Hyper-V. Well, how many people do you know that run Server 2008 on their laptops?
- Installation of all software on Windows 7 is possible, but not something that you should expect from a student before class.
Setting up VMWare image takes 10-20 minutes which is about how much time you have before someone gets frustrated with setup. Hopefully, people will keep upgrading their laptops to processors that support virtualization, solid state drives, and 64 bit operating systems. This way we don’t have to ship big boxes to/from DC.