The next great STSADM command... fix many of your problems!

There is something I've been working on for a few weeks trying to fix a handful of the issues that seem to always creep up in every SharePoint project... more specifically Publishing site projects. You know... the things we deal with in the URLs, creating infrastructure objects, moving them between environments, ... etc. The command is meant to make things a bit easier.

It does quite a bit more, but I promised a handful of folks at the MVP Global Summit three weeks ago that I'd release it to the world (as a free download), at minimum a beta version, before the end of the month. Well, looks like I missed that by an hour or so, but I at least wanted to share it ASAP, so here you go just a bit past the last day of March.

Dustin recently tipped my hand this was coming as I showed an early version to him and a few others at the MVP Global Summit. Couldn't resist but I had to get input from one of my local Florida SharePointers at the Orlando Code Camp last weekend. So far, feedback has been quite positive and I'm very optimistic at the final results. Now... I only have three problems:

I need testers! I only have so many virtual environments to test it on. I'm hoping my readers will help me test it... will you?
Document the damn thing! Yeah, this post just won't cut it. Hopefully, the output generated as the command runs will do enough for you.
What do I call this dang thing? For now, it is the AC's Site Fixer. Sounds hokey... and it is... just not that creative.

So, what I need now are testers. Anyone want to help me test this little puppy? If so, I've included a link to a solution package for you to download here: ACsWssSiteFixerCustomCommand.zip (yes, the name as WSS in it... that will get fixed in a future release).

To test, download the ZIP and extract the WSP out onto your SharePoint environment. Next, enter the following command to add the solution to the farm's solution store:

stsadm.exe -o addsolution -filename [path to WSP]\ACsWssSiteFixerCustomCommand.wsp

The last step is to deploy the solution, which you can do via SharePoint's Central Admin website or using this command:

stsadm.exe -o deploysolution -name ACsWssSiteFixerCustomCommand.wsp -allowgacdeployment -local

The solution deployment does two things: (1) deploys an assembly to the GAC that contains the custom command and (2) copies the necessary XML file to the [12 hive]\CONFIG directory making STSADM aware of the new command.

Now, to run it, simply enter the following command (Again, please don't run this on production sites, only development sites. It will make NO changes to your site, but it will generate and return a wealth of information.):

stsadm.exe -o acsitefixer -url http://[URL of a WCM site]

Sit back and watch it work... should take no longer than 60 seconds... just make sure you watch everything it reports... especially the last bit if it was successful or not. Just as Dustin said in his post,I hope you say "thank you, Andrew, for you have saved my SharePoint sites!"

I'll repost back later this week on an updated version after I've received some feedback, as well as release the cleaned up source code. Oh, if you do decide to test, please make sure you drop a comment on this post. I'll hold off moderating all of them for a few days, but I'd like to know who you are. Thanks!

posted on Sunday, April 01, 2007 1:03 AM

Feedback

# re: The next great STSADM command... fix many of your problems! 4/1/2007 8:37 AM Cornelius J. van Dyk

Hey AC,

I'll be testing this out this week.
How about SPSiteFix as a name?
Thanks for sharing...

Later
C

# re: The next great STSADM command... fix many of your problems! 4/1/2007 1:56 PM Todd Bleeker

I'll test it but can you explain what I should expect? What does it do?

# re: The next great STSADM command... fix many of your problems! 4/1/2007 2:14 PM The MossMan

I'll have to wait until Monday to try... I'm far too lazy to spin up a VM on sunday. I'll let you know how it goes, can't wait to see it in action on my own setup.

# Awesome stff! 4/1/2007 3:03 PM J Ross

Very slick! Another unique innovation from Andrew Connell. Two thumbs up.

# re: The next great STSADM command... fix many of your problems! 4/1/2007 3:13 PM Todd Bleeker

Holy cow! I had no idea that my SharePoint sites contained all that junk.

I remember when people were upset that Bill Gates horse took up over a MB of disk space in a Windows 95 Easter egg. That can't hold a candle to the junk that your tool discovered.

Thanks AC!

<Todd />

# re: The next great STSADM command... fix many of your problems! 4/1/2007 10:37 PM Bob Fox

Well maybe the Buzzboy will want to claim this priceless GEM as his own but my god Andrew...... you are one of the most clever individuals I have ever met. This tool ROCKS!!!

Thank you so much for putting in all the effort here.

# re: The next great STSADM command... fix many of your problems! 4/2/2007 12:13 AM Sezai Komur

What an AWESOME solution !!!

Must have taken Andrew a while to put this one together?

I will definetely be making use of this.

have any of you other testers found any issues with this yet?

# re: The next great STSADM command... fix many of your problems! 4/2/2007 5:20 AM Andrew Florendine

Nice. You can't beat a game of Global Thermonuclear War on a Sharepoint Server !

# re: The next great STSADM command... fix many of your problems! 4/2/2007 9:06 AM AC [MVP MOSS]

Sezai-
So far a few typos hve been found, other than that it's pretty tight so far!

# re: The next great STSADM command... fix many of your problems! 4/2/2007 9:23 AM David MCKenzie

no issues found
whew!

# re: The next great STSADM command... fix many of your problems! 4/2/2007 10:28 AM Cornelius J. van Dyk

Darn it!
I can't believe I fell for yet another April Fools joke... hook, line and sinker! :-)
I fell for it last year when Scoble posted he's going to Google as well...
http://scobleizer.com/2006/04/01/announcement-im-going-to-google/
Anyway, good one Andrew...

How about calling it... SPFooledCorneAgain instead! :-)

Later
C

# re: The next great STSADM command... fix many of your problems! 4/2/2007 4:13 PM Dennis Jensen

Is it a virus or a joke? Looks like a war games joke.. I hope it is anyway !

I just get stuff like this in my command window ????

-------------------------------
List Games

FALKEN'S MAZE GUERRILLA ENGAGEMENT
BLACK JACK DESERT WAREFARE
GIN RUMMY AIR-TO-GROUND ACTIONS
HEARTS THEATREWIDE TACTICAL
BRIDGE WAREFARE
CHECKERS THEATREWIDE BIOTOXIC AND
CHESS CHEMICAL WAREFARE
POKER GLOBAL THERMONUCLEAR WAR
FIGHTER COMBAT
-----------------------------

# re: The next great STSADM command... fix many of your problems! 4/2/2007 6:40 PM Ian Morrish

Thanks for this fantastic tool. Testing in a virtual environment went so well that I'll be deploying in production as soon as it RTM's ;-)

# re: The next great STSADM command... fix many of your problems! 4/3/2007 7:56 AM Cornelius J. van Dyk

Article pulled as requested...

# re: The next great STSADM command... fix many of your problems! 4/4/2007 8:01 AM Cornelius J. van Dyk

Activity seems to have died down on this post so I'm reposting my article again. ;-)

Later
C

# re: The next great STSADM command... fix many of your problems! 5/14/2007 5:19 PM Robert

I just ran across this post. Are there any updates to the code since April?

# re: The next great STSADM command... fix many of your problems! 7/24/2008 9:14 AM SP

Must not be in there anymore...

stsadm.exe -o acsitefixer

Missing operation name or the operation name is invalid.

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