SharePoint 2013 SP1 issue.

In the great tradition of SharePoint SP's causing issues (2007 SP2 expiration bug), it looks like SP 2013 was feeling left out.  Based on this link, the recently released 2013 SP1 may cause your farm to prevent future CU or product specific updates from being deployed.

So if you have already deployed this solution, I am sure MSFT is working on a fix that will be available shortly, but that does not create any warm fuzzies about the nature of what we as admins are doing to the farm every time we deploy a hotfix/CU/SP.  For the time being the SP download page is offline, I will try to monitor it and post an update when its back.

Thanks to my former co-worker, Stephanie Pollack for passing this along.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2817429

SharePoint Administrator

A reader, Larry, posted this comment below on one of my blog entries regarding a SharePoint Admin Checklist and made me think about the various roles of the SharePoint product.  So instead of burying my response in the comments I decided to make a new entry about it.
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 Larry said...

This looks like an interesting topic - anyone aware of a book or site that goes into detail explaining specifics on how to do these things? New admins won't know how to determine whether iis is running well, or what to do if the top level is not reachable, etc.

January 15, 2014 at 1:10 PM

Larry, you have brought up a great point with your comment.  The SharePoint platform, while easy to set up for any IT or tech savvy individual, is fairly complex behind the scenes.  For myself I started off as a Systems/Server Admin and just fell into supporting the product, and have stayed more on the SharePoint Administrator side of things where my IIS, SQL, and Server OS knowledge helps out in keeping SharePoint up and running smoothly.

There really isn't a standard definition for what a SharePoint Administrator is, or a SharePoint Developer, Architect etc etc.  Most companies try to fit these roles with anyone who has "SharePoint" on their resume, without understanding the various needs.  Can one person fill all roles?  Absolutely.  But good luck finding that person in your area for your budgeted salary.

Microsoft does try to help, using the following guide for the myriad of roles within SharePoint:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/wael/archive/2010/12/16/sharepoint-governance-individual-roles-and-responsibilities.aspx

But anyways, back to your point about "new admins".  I say the best way to learn these things is by doing, whether by playing around on a Sandbox/Test environment or by taking a Windows Server Admin course, or application specific IIS or SQL courses as part of the learning process.  The Microsoft site again has information around the architecture of the product, this should give some help in understanding the various components of SharePoint.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb892189(v=office.12).aspx

Hope this helps, and as always, everyone feel free to comment below.

Cheers.

Bryan