Microsoft

This week I’ve worked on a Sitecore upgrade from version 8.0 update 4 to version 8.1 update 2. Overall, following the documentation provided by Sitecore it was pretty smooth. I did run into a couple of things worth sharing. One of the first things I ran into was an issue with the Update Installation Wizard. […]

The term DevOps is still relatively new to the technology industry. The definition of DevOps isn’t really as clear as is for Agile Development Methodology. For many teams and organizations DevOps is a sort of unobtainable mythical beast; a unicorn if you will. Although, DevOps is obtainable for any team so long as the necessary […]

At Build 2016 last week, Vittorio Bertucci, Program Manager at Microsoft presented a session titled, “Microsoft Identity: State of the Union and Future Directions”. https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Build/2016/B868 Most Identity conversations usually discuss Forests, Domains, and Active Directory Administration. This talk is for developers and Vittorio makes that clear in a very humorous way from the beginning. Microsoft’s vision […]

Just a quick post today on something that doesn’t seem to be well documented and could be helpful… AAD Connect is basically Microsoft’s third version of their Directory Synchronization tool for Office 365. While AAD Connect includes more of a “wizard-type” interface for configuration of components such as AD FS, it’s also the current Directory […]

A couple of days ago I accidentally removed broken links in the Core database of a new Sitecore instance using the Remove Broken Links tool at http://{your-sitecore-url}/sitecore/admin/RemoveBrokenLinks.aspx. The next time I logged into Sitecore, I got the following exception: After some digging around I found that the Remove Broken Links tool erroneously deleted the Model property of the ExperienceAnalyticsLineChart […]

GeoIP is quickly becoming a necessity for the analytics functionality of Sitecore. With GeoIP we can personalize content based on the user’s location to present the most relative information and provide a more engaging user experience. Starting with Sitecore 8.1, the necessary config files and dlls are included in the base install. Prior to 8.1, […]

There are many ways to collaborate and communicate in Office 365.  Exchange Online (EXO) and SharePoint Online (SPO) and Yammer and Office Groups and Skype for Business and Office Video and OneDrive for Business (ODFB), oh my!  We all know how and when to use Email and IM but what about all these other workstreams?  How do you decide […]

One of the sessions that I attended at Build 2016 was titled “DevOps at Scale: A True Story”. It was a really interesting presentation from Microsoft’s Principal Group Program Manager for Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) about how they use their own product, VSTS, to build VSTS! Other Microsoft divisions also “dog food” VSTS quite […]

With the latest versions of Sitecore, MongoDB has become a requirement for the analytical experience. Different versions of MongoDb are only compatible with certain versions of Sitecore. I’ve found this information from Sitecore that outlines the versions of MongoDb that are compatible with the versions of Sitecore. Below is the compatibility chart presented in the previous […]

Cloud Hybrid Search is not a new concept.  How it’s being deployed and the end user experience is what’s new. What once took a 10 page TechNet article to setup, is now just ensuring you have your prerequisites in order, executing 2 PowerShell scripts, and a few configuration steps.  No downtime replacing the STS cert either.  […]

I’ve been working with the Azure Service Bus quite a bit lately and have discovered some catches to working with it. These aren’t technology catches, but rather related to the SDK and tooling support surrounding the Azure Service Bus features. Even though Azure Service Bus has been around almost since the beginning, for years, it […]

It seems like every week I see a new phishing story coming through my social media feeds. The stories are all basically the same, someone with access to financials in an organization receives an email from “an executive” and follows instructions to wire thousands, hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars overseas. While I’m admittedly […]