Category Archives: SharePoint 2016

SharePoint Framework On-Premise Deploy via Gulp

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SharePoint 2016 Server has support for SharePoint Framework, however there are some features missing that are present in SharePoint Online.

When first learning SharePoint Framework (SPFx), the tutorials provided by Microsoft are geared towards using SPFx in SharePoint Online.  A lot of the knowledge and concepts transfer to SharePoint 2016 Server, however I found a key feature missing: Asset deployment.

SPFx solutions expect you to host your assets (html, javascript, css) in some location that is accessible from your SharePoint site.  In SharePoint Online, the deployment gulp task that comes packaged with SPFx can (and by default, does) deploy your assets to the SharePoint Online App Catalog site.  With SharePoint 2016 Server, asset deployment is your responsibility.  I did not like this at all – I wanted a simple, configurable script/task to run that would deploy my assets where I wanted them to go.

First the setup.  Read more

MinRole Enhancements Announced at Microsoft Ignite

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Duane OdumSome great news for the guys and gals managing small scale SharePoint 2016 Farms – MinRole installation just got a lot more feasible.

When MinRole was originally announced, I looked at it as a great justification to make the move to SharePoint 2016. Imagine, no longer needing to take down production SharePoint environments in order to apply patches… Sign me up!

Unfortunately, when the requirements came out for the MinRole setup, many organizations could not justify setting up 8 servers to create a High Availability SharePoint Farm.  

Microsoft responded to customer feedback today at Ignite in a big way with the announcement that Feature Pack 1 for SharePoint 2016 (available in November) will include an option for creating a High Availability SharePoint 2016 Farm with just 4 servers.  By combining the Web Front End and Distributed Cache roles as well as the Application and Search roles Microsoft is really opening the door for small/mid organizations to treat their SharePoint 2016 environments as “first class citizens”. 

I am truly excited by this announcement.  As a consultant I often times find myself struggling to keep the customer happy with the overall cost of a system while still following best practices. This enhancement not only makes small to mid-size SharePoint 2016 Farm Administrators lives easier, it makes mine a bit easier too. 

For a full listing of details on Feature Pack 1 please reference the Office blog Announcing Feature Pack 1 for SharePoint Server 2016—cloud-born and future-proof

First Impressions: Development for SharePoint Framework

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Mike BerrymanYesterday I attended a Microsoft Webinar introducting the new SharePoint Framework, and here are my first impressions:

For a few years now Microsoft has been encouraging developers to customize SharePoint with client-side technologies (Javascript, HTML5) instead of server-side (C#).  The new SharePoint Framework is another step in that direction.  Currently we 3 general options for customizing SharePoint.

  • Server-side code (not available in SharePoint Online)
  • Apps/Add-Ins
  • Directly customize/modify pages with SharePoint Designer

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