News

Microsoft Adding SQL Server 2014 Support to SharePoint 2013

• By Kurt Mackie
• March 24, 2014

Microsoft last week announced a few changes -- some good and others less so -- coming to SharePoint, in addition to the new collaboration features expected to come in the second half of this year to SharePoint Online.

The next SharePoint Server release is planned for next year.

SQL Server 2014 Support. SharePoint Server 2013 will be capable of supporting SQL Server 2014 when Microsoft releases the next SharePoint cumulative update next month, according to an announcement on Friday. SQL Server 2014 is currently in the release-to-manufacturing (RTM) stage, and is expected to hit general availability on April 1.

SP1 Slipstream Version. For IT pros who waited a bit to deploy SharePoint Server 2013 Service Pack 1, there's good news. Microsoft earlier this month provided a slipstream version of SP1, which was described as being available from MSDN for download in this blog post. However, the SP1 slipstream version apparently wasn't available when Microsoft first released it back in late February. For Microsoft's explanation on the delay, see this post.

SharePoint Foundation 2013 Fix. Microsoft announced on Thursday that it fixed a problem affecting SharePoint Foundation 2013. A March Public Update release fixes a problem associated with "search WebPart" functionality. SharePoint Foundation is the basis for SharePoint sites and is offered by Microsoft at no cost.

OneNote Sync Workaround. Microsoft announced this week that it had rolled out free OneNote versions for the Mac and Windows. However, syncing that note-taking app with SharePoint Server for the first time apparently takes a few extra steps. Microsoft describes how to do that in this post.

Office 2013 Document Retrieval and VPNs. Microsoft suggested a workaround for some organizations that have experienced problems using Office 2013 to retrieve documents from SharePoint Server due to virtual private network configurations.

Office Web Apps and Forms-Based Authentication. Organizations using forms-based authentication in the "extended zone" of a Web app will see errors when trying to view or edit documents using an Office Web App. The problem is considered to be "a known issue" with SharePoint, but Microsoft has no estimate on a fix, according to its announcement. In the meantime, Microsoft recommends configuring forms-based authentication using the "default zone" as a workaround.

OneDrive For Business Storage Limits. Microsoft bumped up the storage limit of OneDrive for Business to 1 terabyte. Previously the upper limit was 100 GB. In addition, the SharePoint site collection limit was increased from 100 GB to 1 TB. Microsoft removed a 25 TB limit for a SharePoint Online single tenant as well, "which means you can purchase as much pooled storage as needed in your tenant," according to Microsoft's announcement. Microsoft is planning to roll out a "standalone" One Drive for Business plan next month and it recently released a new OneDrive for Business for iOS 1.2 app.