So there are three related issues when it comes to
trying to allow larger files to be upload to a SharePoint WSS v3 or MOSS 2007
system:
1 1)
Several settings that specify the maximum file
size allowed for uploading. We’ll call these settings “Max File Upload Size”
settings though the actual property/attribute/setting label may be different in
each area you’ll configure. Details are below….
2 2)
Several settings that specify the maximum
timeout period (usually in seconds) for either the upload period or the http
session. We’ll call these settings the
“timeout” settings though the actual property/attribute/setting label may be
different in each area you’ll configure. Details are below….
3 3)
Several settings that are related to the
SharePoint site/document indexer for the search shared service provider. WE’ll call these settings “search crawler”
settings though the actual property/attribute/setting label may be different in
each area you’ll configure. Details are below….
The relationship between these items is as
follows: the bigger the document/file
that you want to upload, the longer it will take, especially for users on
low-bandwidth connections. First, to
control how much stuff can be shoved into the SharePoint server, WSS3/MOSS2007
(and 2010, too!) ship with caps on the uploadable size. When we raise that value we increase the odds
that some users will appear to the server to have “gone missing” while
uploading large (i.e. slowly) files. Thus
the need to raise the timeout settings. Also,
because of the long lags during file uploads, the user’s security
authentication may expire during the time they wait for the file to
upload. Increasing the security
validation period can prevent forcing them to login again to see the result of
their upload attempt. Obviously there
are security ramifications for changing this (at the Web Application’s zone. Note
that one could forego these timeout config changes until/if users start
complaining about failed uploads. The
(minor) ramifications of these changes to timeout settings are beyond the scope
of this doc so for now we are just going to assume it’s easier to be proactive
and do the timeout settings at the same time as the max file upload size
setting mods, but do note that the timeout setting is optional until users have
problems with the upload of the now allowed larger limit. Finally, there is typically much desire for
uploaded documents to be crawled by the SharePoint Search indexer so documents
can be located by users using the search tools in SharePoint. But just as there are problems introduced by
allowing big files to be uploaded, similar problems are introduced by not
putting some sort of cap on the size of a file that the crawler/indexer will
try to “chew.” 16MB is the limit out of
the box for WSS3/MOSS20007. Often times
(e.g. video file uploads, CAD drawings), it is not necessary or desired to
raise this limit. But if the documents are text based, you may want to raise
this limit to allow the data in the file beyond the 16MB point to be
indexed. I have had problems with
raising the value though. Let me know if
you get it to work. J For now, I have ended up leaving it at the
default value and been ok with the note that gets put in the ShPt log file
about a too large file being unable to be indexed.
All the changes we are going to make can easily be
rolled back AS LONG AS YOU MAKE BACKUPS OF THE ITEMS PRIOR TO MODIFYING THEM –
i.e. create a copy of *.config files and rename them (e.g. “Web.Config” copied
to become “Web-ORIG as of yyyy-dd-mm hhmm.configOLD”), backup a registry node
to a reg file prior to making mods, record ShPt settings in the Central Admin
or SSP Search GUI with screenshots stored in a WordPad file. Also be aware that there are typically
SEVERAL Web.config files on a SharePoint server AND there is a difference
between a Web.config and an Application.config file. You may need to modify several Web.Config
files and the exact path cannot be provided as it changes depending on how the
ShPt server has been configured. Ergo,
when you see a path that mentions a virtual directory (e.g.) you must do the
translating for your server AND make sure you alter the proper virtual
directory for the ShPt site(s) you are
making the mods for. Go slow, take notes
of before/after and THINK!!!! I.e. the ass you save may be your own.
Max File Upload Size (MFUS) limit mods:
1 1)
First, calculate the value in bytes the size you
want to raise the limit to. E.g. 500MB =
(500 * 1028 * 1024) = 524288000 Bytes.
2 2)
Open up Central Admin and for each Web
application that contains the site(s) you are increasing the MFUS limit, open
the “Web Application General Settings”
page. Increase the “Maximum Upload Size” setting to your desired MFUS limit in MB.
3 3)
Using the integer amount in bytes for your new
MUFS limit, add the maxAllowedContentLength attribute and value in the
Web.config for each
virtual directory that maps to a site, zone, or Web application (extended or
base WA) in SharePoint, locate the Web.config file. A typical (EXAMPLE) path for such a
Web.config looks like:
a. C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\80
b. C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\11001
e.g. this...
web-ORIG as of 2010-08-02.config
</configSections>
<SharePoint>
…gets
turned into this...
</configSections>
<system.webServer>
<security>
<requestFiltering>
<requestLimits maxAllowedContentLength="524288000"/>
</requestFiltering>
</security>
</system.webServer>
<SharePoint>
Note that if doing timeout setting mods, you
will return to this file (but I’m breaking this into functional sections for
clarity of what affects what).
4 4)
If you are running on Windows Server 2008 (i.e.
Internet Information Server 7.0) or R2 (i.e. IIS7.5), the following (optional)
proactive change may also need to be
made.
a.
Add the same value for the maxAllowedContentLength
attribute IF IT EXISTS. The attribute,
its element (or even the whole section ) may be missing. If not, you can create
the attribute or make it look like <requestLimits
maxAllowedContentLength="524288000"/> for
the element and attribute (and any missing parent elements as shown in the
example above) to the application.config file, located at:
i. %windir%\system32\inetsrv\config\applicationhost.config
Timeout mods:
1 1)
If desired, to prevent user’s from having to
re-authenticate after a long file upload, increase the time that a logged-in
user is allowed to sit “idle” by going to ShPt Central Admin and on the
appropriate Web Application(s)’s “Web Application General Settings” page (i.e. http://YourSharePointServer[:CAport]/_admin/vsgeneralsettings.aspx
) and increasing the “Web Page Security Validation” settings “Security
validation expires’ value. Default is 30 minutes. 60 has generally worked for us in the past.
2 2)
for each Web site (aka Virtual Server) in IIS Manager ,
change the connection timout limit (in
Seconds) as appropriate for you new
MFUS limit. E.g. default "120" (i.e. 2 minutes) to "3600"
(i.e. 60 minutes). I.e. …
a.
Click Start, point to All Programs,
point to Administrative Tools, and then click Internet Information
Services (IIS) Manager.
b.
Right-click the virtual server that you want to
configure, and then click Properties.
c.
Click the Web Site tab. Under Connections,
type the number of seconds that you want in the Connection time-out box,
and then click OK.
3 3)
Modify the “layouts” Web.config (i.e. "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft
Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\TEMPLATE\LAYOUTS\web.config" by changing/adding
the executionTimeout attribute and a max allowed value of 999999 in the
Web.config’s httpRuntime element like so...
<location path="upload.aspx">
<system.web>
<httpRuntime maxRequestLength="2097151" />
</system.web>
</location>
to this...
<location path="upload.aspx">
<system.web>
<httpRuntime executionTimeout="999999" maxRequestLength="2097151" />
</system.web>
</location>
Note
that the value in maxRequestLength will probably be different. This value seems to be overridden by the <system.webServer> <security> <requestFiltering> <requestLimits maxRequestLength< attribute’s value. If you don’t find that to be true, you can
change it to match your MUFS limit but IN Kilobytes, NOT Bytes. E.g. 524288000 Bytes = 512000KB.
4 4)
add the executionTimeout attribute and a max
allowed value of 999999 in the Web.config for
each virtual directory that maps to a site, zone, or Web application
(extended or base WA) in SharePoint, locate the Web.config file. A typical (EXAMPLE) path for such a
Web.config looks like:
a. C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\80
b. C:\inetpub\wwwroot\wss\VirtualDirectories\11001
e.g. this...
<httpRuntime maxRequestLength="51200" />
becomes this...
<httpRuntime executionTimeout="999999" maxRequestLength="51200" />
Note
that the value in maxRequestLength will probably be different. This value seems to be overridden by the attribute’s value. If you don’t find that to be true, you can
change it to match your MUFS limit but IN Kilobytes, NOT Bytes. E.g. 524288000 Bytes = 512000KB.
