Installing Service Packs

[sgwisby]

I need to update my SharePoint Portal Server 2003 with the following updates and was wondering if there is a particular order I should install the updates:
Windows Server 2003 SP1
Windows SharePoint Services SP1
Windows SharePoint Portal Server 2003 SP2

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
David

 

[sgwisby]

HAs anybody updated their SharePoint Portal software to SP2?

 

[globalstrata]

You have to be careful about this. If you have done a lot of changes to the site code and XMLs, you may loose changes.


Gladys Rodriguez
GlobalStrata Solutions
Computer Repair, Website Design and Computer Consultant
Small Business Resources

 

[sgwisby]

Thanks Globalsrtata.
Is there any particular order that I should install these services packs, if I decide to install them?

Thanks

 

[Thomas2000]

Hello,

We are running SP2 on all our sharepoint servers here. However I installed that when I also did a "total makeover" of our entire sharepoint environment (i.e I installed everything from Scratch).

As globalstrata say, be very careful, if you have made any changes to existing templates and sitedefinitions, those will be overwritten aswell.

If you have issues with SharePoint that are resloved in SP1 or SP2?

Also if possible, do this in a test environment.

Cheers,

 

[sgwisby]

Thanks Thomas.
I have not installed either SP1 or SP2 and have not experienced any problems. I have made changes to templates, site definitions and addes custom cascading style sheets.
With all the caveats of SP2 maybe I should leave well enough alone.
Would you suggest installing Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1?
Thanks
David

 

[ouzojd]

FYI - I already had Win2k3 SP1 installed for the initial installation of SPS, late last year I installed Wss SP2 and yesterday I did SPS SP2. All OK, no problems after a reboot of the server.

SPS SP2 fixed my issue for users not being able to browse the areas by clicking on the plus sign in Office Apps in the Save As box.

Cheers.

 

[sgwisby]

Thanks, Ouzo. I assume, from reading responses to thie post, that you have not made any changes to site definitions, xml or templates.

Again, Thanks for your input.
I have noticed your wealth of knowledge has been of great assistance to many on this board and your efforts have not gone unnoticed.

David

 

[ouzojd]

Sorry I should of said what I have changed, I have a custom area template. I have also changed the css files extensively. As for my efforts, only trying to help where I can, no effort required.

 

[sgwisby]

So you did not have any issues installing SP2 after making changes to the templates and css files?

David

 

[ouzojd]

No, all is working good. All the colours and branding are still there, the only template I have was just a blank area containing the Area Details web part in the top zone and a document library web part in the middle zone.

I use this so when a user creates an area it is ready to go for them. (we use areas as our primary storage for all company docs which is why the navigation fix was important for us).

The alert email notification was what I was concerned about most as I have had issues in the past but that still works too.

 

[globalstrata]

I think ouzojd is misunderstanding what "templates" refer to. At the beginning I had the same problem, I thought that the Themes were the templates. What Microsoft call templates or site definitions files are the XML files that control the configuration of the site. They are located at:

Local_drive:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\60\TEMPLATE\1033\

For example: WEBTEMP.XML, ONET.XML, SCHEMA.XML. You can find more information about this type of customization by going to the following URL:

Customizing SharePoint Sites and Portals: Using Templates and Site Definitions, Part 2

If you have not done any advanced changes to these files, then you have nothing to worry about.



Gladys Rodriguez
GlobalStrata Solutions
Computer Repair, Website Design and Computer Consultant
Small Business Resources

 

[ouzojd]

I created my own area template by copying the SPSTOPIC folder giving it my own name and then changing part of the onet.xml file that has the webparts in it to



<Module Name="Default" Url="" Path="">

<File Url="default.aspx" Type="Ghostable">

<AllUsersWebPart WebPartZoneID="TopZone" WebPartOrder="0"><![CDATA[<WebPart xmlns="

http://schemas.microsoft.com/WebPart/v2"><Assembly>Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal,

Version=11.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=71e9bce111e9429c</Assembly><TypeName>Microsoft.SharePoint.Portal.WebControls.CategoryDetail</TypeName><Title>Area Detail Part</Title><Description>Area Detail Part</Description><PartOrder>0</PartOrder><FrameType>None</FrameType><AllowMinimize>true</AllowMinimize><AllowRemove>true</AllowRemove><IsVisible>true</IsVisible></WebPart>]]></AllUsersWebPart>

<View List="101" BaseViewID="1" WebPartZoneID="MiddleLeftZone" WebPartOrder="0" />

</File>

</Module>.

I can now choose to use this a the area template for subareas created etc.