Maintaining a SharePoint Portal and Site Environment

Within SharePoint itself, several components allow for a wide variety of internal maintenance, from parsing through diagnostic logs to the automatic cleanup and deletion of stale sites. Gaining an understanding of the maintenance capabilities of SharePoint itself is key to the establishment of a robust maintenance plan.

Diagnosing SharePoint Via SharePoint Logs and Events

Maintaining a trouble-free SharePoint environment can be a complex process. Proactive troubleshooting of issues when they arise can help to keep a SharePoint farm operating at peak efficiency. To assist with this concept, SharePoint enables the viewing and deleting of diagnostic logs. These diagnostic logs can be used to identify and troubleshoot issues that may arise within a SharePoint environment. To access this functionality, perform the following steps:

1.	Open SharePoint Portal Server Central Administration.
2.	In the Component Configuration section, click on the Configure Diagnostic Settings link.
3.	In the View Diagnostic Logs section, select a particular diagnostic log.
4.	Click View Log to view the log, as shown in Figure 18.1. Figure 18.1. Viewing diagnostic logs.
5.	After viewing, log files can be deleted by clicking on the Delete Unused Log Files link.

SharePoint Portal Server Central Administration can also be used to modify the settings created for the server logs. Parsing through these logs regularly should be part of any SharePoint maintenance plan.

Analyzing SharePoint Site Usage Data

SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and Windows SharePoint Services have the capability to allow administrators to intelligently view and monitor usage of individual sites. This capability allows an organization to intelligently determine which areas in SharePoint receive the most usage and which areas are not used heavily. The built-in reports can supply basic information, such as page hits, but can also include more advanced information, such as the number of unique users and the browsers used to access SharePoint site information. To view this data, a SharePoint administrator must first enable usage analysis processing as follows:

1.	Open SharePoint Server Central Administration.
2.	Under Component Configuration, click Configure Usage Analysis Processing.
3.	Check the box to enable logging.
4.	Specify log file location and number of log files to create.
5.	In the Processing Settings, check the Enable Usage Analysis Processing box.
6.	Specify the time range to run processing.
7.	Click OK.

When enabled, the usage data can be viewed by performing the following steps:

1.	As an administrator in the site or site collection, click on the Site Settings link.
2.	Under the Administration heading, click on Go to Site Administration.
3.	Under the Site Collection Administration heading, click on View Site (Collection) Usage Summary, as shown in Figure 18.2. Figure 18.2. Viewing site collection usage data.

To enable usage analysis processing:

1.	Open SharePoint Server Central Administration.
2.	Under Component Configuration, click Configure usage analysis processing.
3.	Check the box to enable logging.
4.	Specify log file location and number of log files to create.
5.	In the Processing Settings, check the box to enable usage analysis processing.
6.	Specify the time range to run processing.
7.	Click OK.

NOTE

Site usage data can be displayed for an individual site, or for the entire site collection, if the appropriate privileges exist for the user performing the procedure.

Identifying and Deleting Unused SharePoint Sites

A SharePoint environment is only as useful as its content. A major problem with web-based intranet and extranet solutions in the past was stale data. Websites would be created that would not be used and would eventually become out-of-date and misleading. Windows SharePoint Services addresses this problem by enabling automatic deletion of unused sites.

Automatic deletion, turned off by default, allows administrators to dynamically identify sites that have not been used and send emails to the appropriate site administrators informing them of the impending deletion of the site. The administrators then have the option of deleting the site themselves, or saving it from deletion. If they do not do anything, however, the site is automatically deleted based on thresholds set. This feature can prove useful in ensuring that SharePoint content is up-to-date and utilized.

To enable a site collection to dynamically delete old sites, perform the following steps:

1.	Open SharePoint Server Central Administration.
2.	In the section Portal Site and Virtual Server Configuration, click on Configure Virtual Server Settings from the Virtual Server List page.
3.	Select the virtual server to set automatic deletion on by clicking on the link.
4.	Under Automated Web Site Collection Management on the Virtual Server Settings page, click on the Configure Site Collection Use Confirmation and Deletion link.
5.	Select the options desired for site deletion, as shown in Figure 18.3, and click OK. Figure 18.3. Configure Site Collection Use Confirmation and Auto-Deletion settings.