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WestNet: Microsoft SharePoint Services
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WestNet will provide SharePoint Services Planning,
Installation and Consulting Services
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Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is
a versatile technology that organizations and business units of
all sizes can use to increase the efficiency of business
processes and improve team productivity. With tools for
collaboration that help people stay connected across
organizational and geographic boundaries, Windows SharePoint
Services gives people access to information they need.
Built on Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Windows SharePoint
Services also provides a foundation platform for building
Web-based business applications that can flex and scale easily
to meet the changing and growing needs of your business. Robust
administrative controls for managing storage and Web
infrastructure give IT departments a cost-effective way to
implement and manage a high-performance collaboration
environment. With a familiar, Web-based interface and close
integration with everyday tools including the Microsoft Office
system, Windows SharePoint Services is easy to use and can be
deployed rapidly.
Introduction to Getting Started with Windows SharePoint
Services 3.0 technology
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is a versatile technology that
organizations and business units of all sizes can use to
increase the efficiency of business processes and improve team
productivity. Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 gives people
access to information they need by using tools for collaboration
that help people stay connected across organizational and
geographic boundaries.
This Getting Started guide for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
covers what's new in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, provides
references to evaluation content, and includes several
end-to-end deployment scenarios to get you started quickly with
an evaluation environment for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.
The following list describes each topic in this guide.
• "What's new for IT professionals in Windows SharePoint
Services 3.0" introduces the new capabilities and features in
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.
• "White paper: Evaluation guide for Windows SharePoint Services
3.0" provides a reference to a download location for the
evaluation guide for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. The
evaluation guide covers key features, overviews of the product,
and a product tour.
• "Determine hardware and software requirements (Windows
SharePoint Services)" describes the minimum and recommended
hardware and software that are required to run Windows
SharePoint Services 3.0.
• "Plan browser support (Windows SharePoint Services)" describes
the functionality available and level of support for Windows
SharePoint Services 3.0 features that you can expect when using
several common Web browsers.
• "Install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 on a stand-alone
computer" provides end-to-end installation instructions for
setting up Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 in a stand-alone
environment. This installation scenario is ideal for evaluating
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 functionality, or for hosting a
very small installation of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.
• "Deploy in a simple server farm (Windows SharePoint Services)"
provides end-to-end instructions for installing Windows
SharePoint Services 3.0 in a simple server farm. A simple server
farm consists of one or more Web servers and one or more
database servers running Microsoft SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server
2005 database software.
• "Roadmap to Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 content" provides
you with an overview of the content available on the
Microsoft.com Web site that can help you understand and use
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 as you go beyond the basics that
are presented in this guide.
What's new for IT professionals in Windows SharePoint
Services 3.0
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 has many new features and
enhancements that can help IT professionals deploy and maintain
Windows SharePoint Services solutions. Together, these new
features and enhancements provide IT organizations with better
control over information resources; individually these new
features and enhancements provide functional benefits that help
reduce administrative overhead and help IT administrators work
more efficiently and effectively. The changes that impact IT
organizations and IT professionals the most include:
• An improved administration model that centralizes
configuration and management tasks, and helps IT organizations
delineate and delegate administrative roles.
• New and improved compliance features and capabilities that
help organizations secure resources and manage business-critical
processes.
• New and improved operational tools and capabilities that drive
down the total cost of ownership (TCO).
• Improved support for network configuration.
Improved extensibility of the object model that makes custom
applications and components easier to deploy and manage.
Administration model enhancements
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 includes several enhancements to
the administration model that help IT organizations implement
management plans and perform administrative tasks more
effectively and efficiently.
Centralized configuration and management
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 now has a centralized
configuration and management model, which includes a centralized
configuration database and two new services that automatically
propagate and synchronize the centrally-stored configuration
settings across all of the servers in your server farm. The new
configuration and management model allows you to centrally
manage your server farm without having to manage farm settings
on a server-by-server basis. For example, if you create a Web
application on one of your Web servers, the Web application is
automatically propagated to all of your Web servers. You no
longer have to create and configure individual Web applications
on each of your Web servers.
To facilitate this centralized configuration model, Windows
SharePoint Services 3.0 relies on two new and enhanced services:
the Windows SharePoint Services Administration service and the
Windows SharePoint Services Timer service. The Windows
SharePoint Services Timer service acts as the heartbeat for the
server farm and is responsible for running timer jobs that
propagate configuration settings across a server farm. The
Windows SharePoint Services Administration service works hand in
hand with the Windows SharePoint Services Timer service and is
responsible for carrying out the actual configuration changes on
each of the servers in your server farm.
Two-tier administration model
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 now has a two-tier
administration model that makes it easier for IT organizations
to differentiate administrative roles and assign administrative
responsibilities.
Tier 1 Encompasses all of the administrative features and
functionality for centrally managing the server farm. Tier 1
administrative tasks are typically performed by an
organization's IT administrators and can include a wide range of
tasks such as farm-level resource management tasks, farm-level
status checks and monitoring, and farm-level security
configuration. For example, a tier 1 administrator might be
responsible for creating new Web applications and site
collections, managing incoming and outgoing e-mail settings for
the farm, and managing server farm topology.
Tier 2 Encompasses all of the administrative features and
functionality for managing sites within a server farm. Tier 2
administrative tasks are typically performed by a business unit
site administrator and can include a wide range of site-specific
management tasks such as Web Part management, access management,
and content management. For example, a tier 2 administrator
might be responsible for creating a new list on a site,
configuring access permissions for users, and modifying site
hierarchy.
Farm-based Central Administration user interface
The SharePoint Central Administration Web pages have been
redesigned and reorganized, allowing easier implementation of
administrative tasks and procedures. These changes include the
following new features:
Administrative task list Shows you the key tasks that need to be
done, explains why the actions are needed, and provides a link
directly to the SharePoint Central Administration Web page where
the task can be performed.
Home page topology view Provides a concise view of the servers
that are running in a farm and the services that are running on
each server.
Services on Server Web page Provides an easy way to manage the
services that are running on an individual server.
Flat menu structure The SharePoint Central Administration home
page consists of just two top-level navigation pages: an
Operations page that lists tasks affecting farm resource usage,
and an Application Management page that lists tasks specific to
a single application or service within the farm.
Delegation of administrative responsibilities and roles
Because the multi-tier administration model provides a clear
delineation of administrative tasks, IT managers can better
delegate administrative responsibilities to the appropriate
users and administrators within an organization.
New and improved compliance features and capabilities
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 includes new and enhanced
features that provide IT organizations with better control over
information resources. These new and enhanced compliance
features include:
Policy management
You can now configure policies for Web applications based on the
domain or the server authentication zone. For example, you can
create intranet and extranet authentication zones to restrict
access to information based on how users access information. You
can also use authentication zones to create access control lists
(ACLs) that include a group of users from different
authentication providers.
Auditing and logging
Auditing and logging can now be configured for all actions on
sites, content, and workflows.
Item-level access control
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 provides item-level access
control and security settings that allow site administrators and
IT administrators to control which people or groups have access
to sites, document libraries, lists, folders, documents, and
list items. In addition to controlling access to Web page
content, item-level access also allows administrators to control
which user interface (UI) elements are visible or actionable.
This feature, known as UI trimming, also reduces Web page
clutter and makes Web pages easier to navigate.
Administrator access control
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 now prohibits IT administrators
from viewing site content unless the IT administrator is granted
site collection administrator privileges. In addition, an event
is written to the Event Viewer application log whenever an IT
administrator changes site collection administrator privileges.
New and improved operational tools and capabilities
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 includes several new and
improved tools and capabilities that help IT organizations
implement operational plans and tasks. These features and
capabilities include:
Backup and recovery support
Several new and improved features make it easier to perform
backup and recovery tasks. A multi-stage recycle bin allows
users to retrieve inadvertently deleted documents, reducing
dependence on IT departments for document retrieval functions.
The recycle bin also allows administrators to manage the
lifecycle of deleted items in the recycle bin.
The backup and restore functionality is also enhanced, providing
support for Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), which allows
better integration with non-Microsoft backup and recovery
programs. In addition, the backup and restore functionality in
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 allows you to back up and
restore the data that is stored in your SQL database, such as
your configuration database, content and configuration data for
Web applications, and search databases. Also, backup and
recovery functionality is provided natively at the command line
through the Stsadm command, and it is provided in the user
interface.
Upgrade and migration support
The following features have been added to make upgrades faster
and easier:
Gradual upgrade support By performing a gradual upgrade you can
gradually upgrade data and functionality on a server that is
running Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services (version 2) and
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. This is particularly useful if
you are upgrading a complex environment and you do not want to
interrupt business processes.
Migration support Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 provides
support for migrating content. You can migrate content for an
entire Web site or you can migrate content on a more granular
basis, such as lists and documents. In addition, you can migrate
content incrementally. Migration mode support cannot be used to
migrate customized settings, features, solutions, or computer
settings; migration mode support can only be used to migrate
content.
Reparenting This allows you to dynamically rearrange a hierarchy
of SharePoint sites and is typically used during a migration.
Previously, in Window SharePoint Services (version 2), you
needed to back up and then delete a site from its current
location, and then restore the site in the new location to move
a site.
Monitoring support
Improved instrumentation is provided through Microsoft
Operations Manager (MOM) management packs. MOM packages support
centralized monitoring and management of configurations ranging
from single server and small server farms to very large server
farms.
Host header mode
Host header mode, a new feature in Windows SharePoint Services
3.0, allows you to create multiple domain-named sites in a
single Web application. In Windows SharePoint Services version
2, when scalable hosting mode was enabled, you could extend only
one Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) Web site. Now,
with host header mode, you can have host header-based site
collections on multiple Web applications, so you're no longer
limited to extending just one IIS Web site. In fact, you can
have a mix of path-based and host header-based site collections
in the same Web application. In addition, you do not need to
specify whether you want to use host header site collections
when creating the configuration database. Instead, you can now
specify whether site collections should be host header-based or
path-based when creating the site collection.
Server renaming
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 now has the command Stsadm
renameserver command that makes it easier to rename your Web
servers and your back-end database servers. When you run Stsadm
renameserver, the configuration database for your farm is
updated so that any URLs or references to the old server name
are now mapped to the new server name.
Credential management
You can now manage service account credentials, such as the
application pool identity for your application pools, through
the SharePoint Central Administration site. In addition, when
you change the user account under which a service runs, Windows
SharePoint Services 3.0 uses the Windows SharePoint Services
Administration service and the Windows SharePoint Services Timer
service to stop and start Microsoft Internet Information
Services (IIS) services across your farm so that the credential
changes immediately take effect. You can also change just the
password for a service account through the command line.
Improved support for network configuration
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 includes enhanced support for
network configuration, including:
Alternate access mappings
Alternate access mappings (AAM) provides a mechanism for mapping
newly-added front-end Web servers to your Web application. For
example, if you install and configure Windows SharePoint
Services 3.0 on a single front-end server, and a user browses to
your server, the server will render the content that is in your
Web application. However, if you add subsequent Web servers to
your server farm, the newly-added servers will not have
alternate access mappings configured to your Web application.
Pluggable authentication
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 adds support for
non-Windows-based identity systems by integrating with the
pluggable Microsoft ASP.NET forms authentication system. ASP.NET
authentication allows Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 to work
with identity management systems that implement the
MembershipProvider interface. You do not need to rewrite the
security administration pages or manage shadow Active Directory
directory service accounts.
Extensibility enhancements
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 has several extensibility
enhancements that make it easier to create custom applications
that are well integrated with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0
features, functionality, and user interface elements.
• Site definitions have been enhanced so that sites are no
longer locked or bound to your original template choice. For
example, you can now enhance a document workspace site with
features from a team site.
• Administration tasks and functionality can be extended to
custom applications. For example, if you create a custom
database by extending a database that was created by Windows
SharePoint Services 3.0, you can have the custom database
automatically appear in the backup and restore user interface.
• Enhancements to the Windows SharePoint Services Timer service
make it easier to create and manage timer jobs that control
custom services.
In addition, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 hosts the Windows
Workflow Foundation, which allows the creation of customized
workflow solutions and the use of structured workflows on
document library and list items. In conjunction with the Windows
SharePoint Services 3.0 application templates, the Windows
Workflow Foundation allows you to create robust workflow-enabled
business applications.
WestNet Consulting Services, Inc. - (818) 288-8282
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