Estimate content database size

Keywords: Content database, SharePoint boundaries, Versioning

It’s not an easy task to estimate the total required storage for a content database in SharePoint 2013, since it depends on many factors as number of documents, versioning, amount of deleted files in recycle bin, Metadata used for each file and amount of list items. There is a formula for calculating the size and it should be used to give an approximation, not an exact value. The growth of the database must be measured during a time period to be able to establish a baseline.

Content Database size = ((D x V) x S) + (10 KB x (L + (V x D)))

D = Number of Documents
V = Number of Versions
S = Average Size of documents. Must be above Zero!
L = Number of List items
10 KB = Average size of metadata that SharePoint store for each file

D¹ = Number of documents = 200,000
V² = Number of non-current versions = 2
S = Average size of documents = 250 KB
L = List items = 600,000

Content Database size = (((200,000 x 2)) × 250) + ((10 KB × (600,000 + (200,000 x 2))) = 110,000,000 KB or 105 GB

^{1 - Calculated by assuming 10,000 users times 20 documents
2 - Assuming that the maximum versions allowed is 10}

Some reminders:
Maximum content databases per farm are 500
Maximum supported size of content database for general usage scenarios is 200 GB
Maximum supported size of content database for all other usage scenarios is 4 TB. Some conditions must be met when using content databases larger than 4 TB. Read more here:

Happy calculating

/Henrik A. Halmstrand

Access Request in SharePoint 2013

Keywords: Access Request, Outgoing E-mail settings, Access denied
Access request and invitations

Access request is a new feauture in SharePoint 2013 that make it possible to ask for permission to access a site! Without enabling access request, the user will recieve a message that this site is not shared with you! There will be no way of asking for permission to access the site except sending an email to the owner, and if the owner is unknown, then good luck! :)

To enable this feature, you need first of all to enable outgoing email settings from Central administration page. Without doing this the link will not appear beneath site settings—>Users and permissions!

Before enabling outgoint E-mail settings

After enabling outgoint E-mail settings

After that you need to enable Access request and specify an email address for the site owner:

When it’s done the users that visit the site and don’t have permission will recieve a message like this:

After sending the request this message will appear:

The user tells the owner why he/she needs to access the site! The owner of the site will be able to check all pending request from site settings—>Users and Permissions—>Access Request and invitations.

From the elipses the owner can choose to approve or decline the request. The owner can also choose to send a motivation for the decision taken:

When approved the user will recieve an email stating that permission has been granted to access the site!

Enjoy

/Henrik A. Halmstrand

Enable GeoLocation in SharePoint 2013

Keywords: GeoLocation, Bing Maps, Map view, SharePoint 2013

GeoLocation is a new functionality in SharePoint 2013 that makes it possible to add a users physical coordinates to a SharePoint list. Let’s assume that you have a contact list and want to show your customers location on a map. With GeoLocation you can achieve this easily.

GeoLocation need to be enabled in SharePoint and is not there OOTB. To enable it you need first to browse to http://www.bingmapsportal.com/ and obtain a trial key for 90 days! For commercial use you must obtain a key and pay the fee!

Sign in using your LiveID and obtain a valid Key. The key will be something like this:

Using SharePoint Management shell run the following line of PowerShell script:

Set-SPBingMapsKey –BingKey PutYourBingKeyHere

When done, you need to create a Site Column that can be used in a list. To do that, copy these lines into a file and call it CreateGeoLocation.ps1

$fieldXml = "<Field Type = 'Geolocation' DisplayName='Geo Location' Name='geolocation' Group='custom fields'/>"
#get spweb object
$web = Get-SPWeb "PutYourSite"
$web.Fields.AddFieldAsXml($fieldXml)
$web.Update()

Run CreateGeoLocation.ps1 and make sure that the script run correctly without any error messages!

This will create a site Column under custom fields. See below:

Using GeoLocation

To use GeoLocation you need to add a contact list app!

When the app is added, from List setting choose to add a column from existing site columns!

When done, add a new post to the contact list as below:

At the bottom of the page you will find two links, one is called specify your location and the other is Use my location! If you use the former one you need to browse to Bing map and find the latitude and longitude of your location:

Latitude for Stockholm, Sweden: 59.332329
Longitude for Stockholm, Sweden: 18.062929

Add those value to your GeoLocation field as below:

Then you are done! If you want to use latter alternative (Use my location) you need to enable “let apps use my location” beneath the “privacy” option! 

 

Create a Map View

To create a map view, create a new view of the list and choose map view. Choose only desired field and save the view. The view will be something like this:

Enjoy!

/Henrik A. Halmstrand