SharePoint Admin Utility

If you've used SharePoint 2003 (either SharePoint or WSS), you'll know there are way too many places out there to find administration level information about a site, portal, user, server, virtual server, etc. I don't think it should be so hard to find this info... so, I'm I've started a proof of concept for a oober-admin tool. I'm still in the process of defining all the requirements... and I fully expect (and taking the approach) of adding more and more features to this app as I progress. I also haven't decided if it will be freeware, shareware, open source, commercial, etc. I've shared my intention with some of the recent Resource Kit authors, including the main ones, and they are interested as well. I know there are already some tools out there (like this one), but I want a fully inclusive one.

As I said, right now I'm in the mode of throwing together a click-through as well as a feature list. If you have input, please comment to this post. I plan to start working on an article at some point in the near future that will have a list of all the planned features, a roadmap, screenshots, and downloads (unless I decide to go with the open source/freeware route where it will then be hosted either on GotDotNet or SourceForge. Watch this post for updates in the future.

Here's a very short list of things I'm planning (the list is very long, this is the quick version:

System Requirements/Architecture

Windows Forms client app (not web app or web parts)... I don't want it to be easy to gain access to this or open to the world... this admin tool should be very restricted.
Two modes: connect to SharePoint server via local host (run interactively on server) OR communicate with SharePoint server via a collectin of web services.
WinXP/Office2003 look and feel UI

Application Requirements

Full user information... such as what sites they have access to, what sites they own, remove user from all sites, reassign ownership of sites they own, view their alerts, etc.
Full site information... ownership, users, web part pages, web parts, ghosted pages, site groups, database info, etc.
Full portal information... same as site info
Full server information... database info, IIS info (virtual servers, app pools), config settings, etc
Console application wrappers... I hate using STSADM.EXE so this app will have a WinForm wrapper for STSADM.EXE.

That's just a few features... more will be posted later. Please send in your feature requirements and if you're interested in being involved!

posted on Monday, July 26, 2004 11:18 AM

Feedback

# re: SharePoint Admin Utility 5/16/2005 8:12 PM Have you checked out Active Dire

http://www.thedotnetfactory.com

# re: SharePoint Admin Utility 9/21/2005 7:53 PM This is an excellent Sharepoint

A SharePoint portal 2003 utility to show all portal sites, manage site users and roles globally in one common interface. This utility will eventually also manage Sharepoint portal areas, area users, site groups and cross site groups globally in one common interface. The Site Permissions System provides integrated SharePoint management that can help you address your company's business needs and increase productivity. When IT managers are faced with large SharePoint installations, permissions management can be time consuming and cumbersome; Site Permissions Manager can help. With one common interface an Administrator can delegate Active Directory permissions to their sites easily and quickly, whether its one site or twenty. Site Permissions Manager can also provide “Top-level Site Administration” for each of the sites listed, cutting down management time with other SharePoint administrative tasks.

# re: SharePoint Admin Utility 12/5/2005 5:33 PM jasmin

We just started using a utility by webfox.ca called Backup Elite SC which can help you move sites/sub sites (while keeping users and permissions intact), as well helps move lists/doc libraries and items from one site to another, or one server to another server. http://www.webfox.ca

good day :)
jas

# re: SharePoint User Manager (Version: X1.0) 11/30/2004 11:01 PM Share Points

# re: SharePoint Admin Utility 10/31/2004 3:31 AM Andrea Doyon

Yes!

2:30 AM and i'm still working on a backup / restore procedure on 2 differents server for SharePoint...

I don't know if you can handle that in your apps, but one thing is not cover if you have setup server in the DMZ without active directory : user info mapping between SharePoint and the System.

When you restore to another server with a backup of the database file, all site work fine except user info lost theirs link. (Even if the server have the same name) I suspect this is related to the User Info table on the site itself, wich have a display name (server\user) but a binary ID linked to the windows account.

If a UI enable us to remap that, it will be so great. Not only for backup / restore but to transfer sharepoint permission from windows account to another. (Wich is logical, think about it. Setup and intranet where and employee is in the approval process. The employee is sent to another division but his sharepoint role must be transfert to another employee... Having this meta relation is quite usefull)

Sorry for my english, i'm french.
- Andrea

# re: SharePoint Admin Utility 12/1/2005 2:11 AM Ethan

Try this tool

http://www.idevfactory.com/products/uspm/

# re: SharePoint Admin Utility 2/1/2005 9:30 AM Robin

Hi,

what about user management with AD support? So you can add users remotely on a single SPS server which has been cut off the intranet.

# re: SharePoint Admin Utility 9/29/2004 6:06 PM Bill Richardson

How about the ability to MOVE sites? It's a real pain right now, but it really shouldn't be that big of a deal to enum the components of a site, then create a new one in the right area and recreate the old site using the webservices. I might be available to work with you on that if you need help.

# re: SharePoint Admin Utility 7/19/2007 11:45 AM Darron

Hey Andrew,
I want to move my sites to a new server
i did the following
stsadm -o backup -url http://pegasus -filename techback.dat

i want to restore this site to http://antlers another sever
how to i do this?
i tried
stsadm -o backup -url http://antlers -filename techback.dat
but i get the web application at http://antlers could not be found

i am running stsadm from pegasus should i do this from antlers

# re: SharePoint Admin Utility 7/19/2007 11:48 PM AC [MVP MOSS]

Darron-
Please post your question to the SharePoint Admin/Setup newsgroup. Bit offtopic here.

# re: SharePoint Admin Utility 11/27/2007 3:24 PM küresel ısınmaya hayır

Try this tool

http://www.idevfactory.com/products/uspm/ ?

# re: SharePoint Admin Utility 2/20/2008 4:38 AM Eilev

Hi

Looking forward to a solution like this. What I am really missing in Sharepoint today is.

User admin
What groups a user is meber of
Members in a group
Add and remove users easy

# re: SharePoint Admin Utility 3/6/2008 6:40 AM chain saw

Make it open source, man. I know that this might sound like I'm some super-geeky open source fanatic, but open source is really on its way up. I'm not really a programmer or anything, but I know that as an end-user of Linux etc. I find Open Source to be the best thing ever. It truly allows for real growth and development... ie. things just go further, and things just work. So, if anything, I'd encourage you to go open source.

# re: SharePoint Admin Utility 3/7/2008 9:33 AM AC [MVP MOSS]

Chain-
I never got through with this project so there was nothing really to share.

# re: SharePoint Admin Utility 3/18/2008 1:56 PM youtube

Thanks for responding Jeff. That's a good point about usability.

# re: SharePoint Admin Utility 10/7/2009 11:08 AM web development company

Quite inspiring,

great help on here from the article and the user comments.

Thanks for writing about it

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