Project Server technical bits

Just a short post re the above SQL Reporting Services 2008 R2 error when running in Integrated Mode. I found that PWA Administrator users could run RS Reports without issue, but any Project Server users accessing the reports were greeted with rsAccessDenied -  The permissions granted to user 'mydomain\myAccount' are insufficient for performing this operation I checked my RDL details and confirmed that: - Report published to ProjectBICenter\Reporting%20Services doclib - DC published to ProjectBICenter\Data%20Connections%20for%20Performancepoint So my users should have permissions as these libraries inherit from the BI Center. After experimenting with these permissions for a little while, it turns out the SP permission required was "Contribute" permission.  Now that's a new one! So, I've: - Created a new SP group and granted Collaborate on the site/sublibraries - allocated my ProjectReportAuthors and Readers groups (AD) to this SP gr

setting up project server 2010 pwa as host header Note:  this is a guide specifically for creating a secondary web application.  For root web app configuration, step one is not required. this is my brief rough guide to PWA as a unique host-header site that differs from your web app host header in SharePoint: - create an ALIAS dns records for your web app and point this to the root domain record for your IP address = e.g. programmes - setup your web app and new iis site on port 80 with the host header record as created above - create a root site collection - now cross-check to IIS and ensure that the binding on your new iis site has the appropriate host entry - once done, create a new ALIAS DNS record that points to your web app site host header as the target host.  This will be your PWA host header URL = e.g. http://itchange - in IIS, create a new binding for the above host entry - now create your pwa site as normal ensuring that you use the correct w

What happens when someone kills your Application Server? So imagine the scenario: Three Server Solution - SQL - SharePoint 2010 and Project Server 2010 Application Server (Central Admin Host) - Wfe/ReportServer We wake one bleary Monday morning to find that some numpty has killed the application server and the users are baying for blood. Well surprisingly SharePoint handles this disaster recovery scenario particularly well.  Well.  Better than I thought it would to be honest. Rough steps: - quick SQL backup to be safe - Rebuild your application server - reinstall pre-reqs - reinstall SP, PS, SPFSP1, SPS+PSSP1, Cumulative Update and other stuff you usually put on there. - Run your configuration wizard to reattach to the Farm, and select Host CA Site The last step was what I was VERY wary of.  Would the server simply reattach to the Farm, even when there is no CA server available?   Bingo your back.... almost.... you are going to get errors

We all like Project Centre, with its lists of projects and useful fields, but sometimes you just want it to do a little more.  For example: - what if you could display some key milestones on the gantt - what if you could easily display colour-coded gantt bar by phases. The second point above (or variant of)  has been requested so many times and as of yet I have not seen anyone deliver such a report or view, so I decided to give it a go. Now, before we go ahead, the following is done with no coding and no complex Reporting Services reports.  I am sure (and have seen) some amazing report views in SRS similar to this requirement, but this is a Proof of Concept solution.  Go work out your own way :P So, a Portfolio Report: Ingredients: - Excel - SP2010 Farm with Excel Services configured - an ODC - Some formulas - Some conditional formatting Step 1:  Define This PoC is done working on the following: - There are 5 Phases for each project - The Gantt should include coloured bars by each

** WARNING ** following this post may kill your already sickly farm.... Imagine the scenario: - during some troubleshooting, someone deletes some EPM databases that they believe no longer point to a PWA Site (but actually do) or - when deleting a PWA Site, some environmental issue interrupts the process before it completes or - an issue occurred during PWA Site provisioning or - who knows what, sometimes bad things happen...... what you will see: Sharepoint will continually report events such as : An exception occurred while running the job scheduler.   Reason: Cannot open database "ProjectServer_Published" requested by the login. The login failed.  Login failed for user xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.  Technical Details: System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Cannot open database "ProjectServer_Published" requested by the login. The login failed.  Login failed for user xxxxxxxxxxxxxx     at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnection.OnError(SqlEx