Mastering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 E-Book

C. A. Callahan

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 1663

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0 is the latest version of the collaboration tool found in Windows Server 2003 R2 and also the underlying technology of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007. In this comprehensive book you'll go under the hood of WSS 3.0 and discover how to make it easy to share documents, track tasks, create common workspaces where teams can work collectively, set up discussion groups, and more. Includes essential techniques for site creation, administration, customization, security, and disaster recovery, and practical steps for migrating from 2.0 to 3.0.

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Half Title Page

Title Page

Copyright

Publisher’s Letter

Dedication

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Introduction

Contents of the Book

Behind the scenes: The making of Mastering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

There’s SharePoint and There’s SharePoint

Part I: Preparing for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

Chapter 1: Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Under the Hood

Software Requirements

Installing SharePoint: Single Server and Server Farm

SharePoint Sites and Databases

SharePoint Service Accounts and Services

User Account Modes

Authentication Types

Authentication Methods

SharePoint Search

SharePoint and Email

Alternate Access Mapping

Managed Paths

User Accounts and Permissions

Hardware Requirements

The Bottom Line

Chapter 2: Installation

Preparing for the SharePoint Installation

Basic Installation

Advanced Server Farm Installation

The Bottom Line

Part II: Using Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

Chapter 3: Introduction to the SharePoint Interface

Team Site Home Page

Content Pages

A Quick Look at a List

The Bottom Line

Chapter 4: Introduction to Web Parts

Exploring Web Parts

Using Edit Mode

Working with Web Parts

The Bottom Line

Chapter 5: Introduction to Lists

What Is a List?

Create a New List Item

View a List Item

Edit a List Item

Modify a List View

Modify a List

Enter Data via Datasheet View

Create a New List View to Group by Category

Create a New View to Filter by Category

Customize a List

Explore Prebuilt Lists

Create New Lists with Existing Templates

Create a Custom List

The Bottom Line

Chapter 6: Introduction to Libraries

What Are Libraries?

Upload a Document

Create a New Document

Add a Required Field to a Library

Edit a Document with a Required Field

Opening or Viewing the Library with Windows Explorer

Require Check Out

Versioning

Create a Document Library

Send To

Content Types

Picture Library

Wiki Page Library

Form Library

The Bottom Line

Chapter 7: Sites, Subsites, and Workspaces

Definitions and Concepts

Creating a New Subsite

Site Settings

Additional Default Site Templates

Even More Sites

The Bottom Line

Chapter 8: Site Collections and Web Applications

Site Collections

Web Applications

The Bottom Line

Part III: Administering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

Chapter 9: Central Administration: Operations

Central Administration Organization

Operations

The Bottom Line

Chapter 10: Central Administration: Application Management

Overview

Sharepoint Web Application Management

Application Security

Workflow Management

SharePoint Site Management

External Service Connections

The Bottom Line

Chapter 11: Users and Permissions

What Are Users, Groups, and Permissions?

Individual Permissions

Permission Levels

Users and Groups

Applying Permissions

Planning User Access

The Bottom Line

Chapter 12: Maintenance and Monitoring

Performance Monitor

IIS Logs

Event Viewer

Backing Up and Restoring SharePoint

Backup and Restore Using Other Tools

Suggested Recovery Scenarios

The Bottom Line

Part IV: Special Topics in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

Chapter 13: STSADM: A Look at the SharePoint Command Line Tool

STSADM Setup Information

STSADM.EXE Inline Help

STSADM-Only Tasks

Site Template Management with STSADM.EXE

Managing Web Parts with STSADM

Managing Features and Solutions with STSADM

Web Application Management

Database Management

Search Management

Site and Subweb Management

Security Management

Farm Management

The Bottom Line

Chapter 14: Migrating from WSS 2.0 to WSS 3.0

Migration Basics

Preparing for the Migration: What do I Need in Place?

Performing the Migration: Can I Get My Hands Dirty Now?

Post-Update Steps: Testing for success

The Bottom Line

Chapter 15: Advanced Installation and Configuration

Advanced Installation

Advanced Configuration

The Bottom Line

Appendix: The Bottom Line

Index

Acquisitions Editor: Thomas CirtinDevelopment Editor: Lisa ThibaultTechnical Editors: James Kelly, Kevin Lundy, Daniel Galant, Vanessa WilliamsProduction Editor: Christine O’ConnorCopy Editor: Kathy CarlyleProduction Manager: Tim TateVice President and Executive Group Publisher: Richard SwadleyVice President and Executive Publisher: Joseph B. WikertVice President and Publisher: Neil EddeBook Designer: Maureen Forys and Judy FungCompositor: AptaraProofreaders: Nancy Hanger, Nancy Riddiough, Ian Golder, and Amy McCarthyIndexer: Ted LauxCover Designer: Ryan SneedCover Image: Pete Gardner / Digital Vision/ gettyimage

Copyright © 2008 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN: 978-0-470-12728-5

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Callahan, C. A., 1967–Windows SharePoint services 3.0 / C.A. Callahan.p.   cm.Includes index.ISBN 978-0-470-12728-5 (paper/website)1. Intranets (Computer networks)  2. Web servers.  I. Title.TK5105.875.I6C345   2008004.6′82-dc22                                    2007032142

TRADEMARKS: Wiley, the Wiley logo, and the Sybex logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates, in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Microsoft, Windows, and SharePoint are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

Dear Reader

Thank you for choosing Mastering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. This book is part of a family of premium quality Sybex books, all written by outstanding authors who combine practical experience with a gift for teaching.

Sybex was founded in 1976. More than thirty years later, we’re still committed to producing consistently exceptional books. With each of our titles we’re working hard to set a new standard for the industry. From the paper we print on, to the authors we work with, our goal is to bring you the best books available.

I hope you see all that reflected in these pages. I’d be very interested to hear your comments and get your feedback on how we’re doing. Feel free to let me know what you think about this or any other Sybex book by sending me an email at [email protected], or if you think you’ve found a technical error in this book, please visit http://sybex.custhelp.com. Customer feedback is critical to our efforts at Sybex.

Best regards,

Neil EddeVice President and PublisherSybex, an Imprint of Wiley

To Charles for his patience, strength, and determination. This will teach you to brag about a book before it is written. Thanks for having my back.

Acknowledgments

I’d like to thank the people who helped me out during the, at times, overwhelming quest to write this book. Most books are not written alone, but this particular book has a fair number of people who stepped up to assist when deadlines were tight and the work was hard. I’d like to show my gratitude for:

The reviewers, who reviewed my edits for me after I had pneumonia and found myself in the terrible predicament of having no time to do them personally: Karla Carter (Chapters 5 and 6), Brian Bridson (Chapters 4 and 9), Gareth Rowlands (and his wife Sheila Graven, Chapters 3 and 14), James Finley, (who reviewed his own work, Chapter 13), and, of course, Charles Firth, who reviewed Chapters 7, 8, 10, 11, and 12 (good job, man).

The people who tackled the task of writing a Chapter or two: Ron Freeman, who wrote Chapter 14 at lightning speed; Bill Chapman, who laid the foundation of Chapter 11, and Charles Firth, who filled it in; James Finley who wrote Chapter 13; and Charles Firth again for also writing Chapters 7 and 8 (now you can see why the book is dedicated to him).

The editors, Lisa Thibault (development) and Jim Kelly (technical), for their tireless efforts to provide comments and feedback. The production editor, Christine O’Connor, who didn’t expect the whirlwind of reviewers and technical editors; yet handled the situation with kindness and grace. The additional, and extraordinary, technical editors; Vanessa Williams (thanks for the advice and support); Daniel Galant, who truly is gallant (thanks for answering my call for help); and Kevin Lundy, who inherited a lot of work at the very end of the project and did an amazing job. And, especially, Kathy Carlyle, to whom I’ve never even spoken; for doing a fast, outstanding job as copy editor. Thank you for that.

I appreciate the efforts you all have made. For better or worse, we have created a book. Each person on this page left their mark on the work they did, and I thank them for it.

About the Author

CA Callahan, MCSE, MCSA, MCT, is the founder and principal trainer for CallahanTech, providing customized training and courseware for businesses and IT professionals. A Microsoft Certified Trainer since the Windows NT Server days, Callahan teaches fellow IT professionals about the latest Microsoft technologies. She’s a frequent presenter at conferences and expos, including Windows/Office Connections and LinuxWorld/NetworkWorld Expo; with a brief stint instructing handson labs at Microsoft TechEd. Previously, she traveled across the US on behalf of Microsoft to do TechNet Security Briefings, and has become passionate about network access security, disaster recovery, and virtualization. An avid beta tester, she has participated in such notable betas as Server 2003 (as well as SP1 and R2), Server 2008, Vista, Virtual Server, and Data Protection Manager. Callahan is a contributing author of Windows Vista: The Missing Manual with David Pogue as well as Mastering Windows Server 2003 and its Upgrade Edition for SP1 and R2 with Mark Minasi.

Introduction

This book started off as a single 200-page chapter in someone else’s book. Almost a year later, and a different version of SharePoint, this book was born.

Mastering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 was intended for IT administrators to get a handle on Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Most of us don’t have time to waste struggling with the ins and outs of a new product. We just need it to work. SharePoint is a really complicated beast; poorly documented, with oddly named settings, in even odder places. It’s not for the faint of heart.

SharePoint is several things at once. It is a developer’s platform, leveraging ASP .NET 2.0 and the Windows Workflow Foundation. It is a robust front end over the power of SQL 2000 or 2005 on the backend. And finally, it’s a web collaboration tool, a useful front end to help increase the productivity of the IT worker. It’s a network product, installs on a server, and inevitably ends up being the responsibility of the server administrator.

When I started using Windows SharePoint Services (WSS), I just couldn’t find any detailed, accurate, WSS-only documentation. There was almost nothing reliable out there that was for administrators using WSS (not the paid for SharePoint Server product). Most of the documentation, especially the books, that I could find about WSS were written for developers. There was almost nothing for the busy administrators who have an entire network to run, for whom WSS is just another server role.

So when I was asked to write about WSS for IT professionals, I couldn’t say no (well, I considered it, but I finally agreed because the cause was good). That’s why this book is here. I wrote it because it was the book I needed when I started out. It is the book I would have bought if it had been available when I was looking. I tried to fill it full of suggestions, tips, tricks, and concepts that would help you navigate through the maze of hype about SharePoint to reach the truth–what it really is, what it really does, and how to use it. The intent was not particularly to hold your hand, but to show you, administrator to administrator, what Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is all about.

Contents of the Book

So, intrepid IT Professional, Administrator, Student of all things server related, this book was written for you. It takes you through what an administrator should know, part by part, chapter by chapter:

Part I: Preparing for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

Chapter 1, “Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Under the Hood”: The concepts you need to be prepared for before installing SharePoint; from what installations to expect, to performance and capacity planning, to features that may take extra effort or resources to use.

Chapter 2, “Installation”: The different ways to install SharePoint, how to do it, and why.

Part II: Using Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

Chapter 3, “Introduction to the SharePoint Interface”: The landmarks and terminology of the interface itself.

Chapter 4, “Introduction to Web Parts”: What web parts are, what they are for, where you can put them, what the built in ones do, and how to configure them. All without leaving the browser. No development here.

Chapter 5, “Introduction to Lists”: What lists are, really. How they work, what they do, how to customize them, build your own, and reuse preexisting lists and templates. Takes a glance at workflows.

Chapter 6, “Introduction to Libraries”: What libraries are. How they work, how to customize them, how to make your own. There are several types of libraries, not all of them work they way you expect them to.

Chapter 7, “Sites, Subsites, and Workspaces”: What subsites and workspaces are, how to create them, and how to use them. What site templates are, and how to use the application templates for SharePoint version 3.0 from Microsoft.

Chapter 8, “Site Collections and Web Applications”: What site collections and web applications are. Moving up to the big stuff; learn how and why to create new site collections or even new web applications, extend existing web applications, and how alternate access mapping works.

Part III: Administering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

Chapter 9, “Central Administration: Operations”: The first of two reference chapters covering the Central Administration pages and how to administer SharePoint. Explains what Central Administration is, and how to use it. What settings are on the Operations page and what each one does, from Servers on the server farm, to Data retrieval service.

Chapter 10, “Central Administration: Application Management”: Primarily about how to manage web applications, this reference chapter covers what settings are on the Application Management page in Central Administration. How to use them, when to use them, and what they’re for.

Chapter 11, “Users and Permissions”: An in-depth look at individual permissions and their levels, user and group management, and configuration of authorization options. Includes using Policy for Web Applications to secure web applications, restricting site collections using permissions and groups, as well as securing lists and list items.

Chapter 12, “Maintenance and Monitoring”: How to monitor, back up and restore SharePoint. How to recover from disaster; from using the recycle bin to recover a lost list item, to rebuilding the server farm.

Part IV: Special Topics in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

Chapter 13, “STSADM: A Look at a SharePoint Command Line Tool”: How to manage SharePoint using the command line administrative tool, STSADM. See how to do more than the Central Administration web site will allow–there’s always more power at the command line.

Chapter 14, “Migrating from WSS 2.0 to WSS 3.0”: How to migrate to Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 from Windows SharePoint Services 2.0. Get tips and tricks about the different types of migration options.

Chapter 15, “Advanced Installation and Configuration”: How to do some of the more advanced configuration, from network load balancing to using Active Directory Account Creation mode to enabling Directory Management Service. Do the fancy administrative tasks that others hesitate to do.

In order to write about SharePoint, I found myself writing about doing SharePoint. So there are lots of screenshots and step by step instructions. The way to learn about SharePoint is by using it. It really doesn’t make sense until you do. So this isn’t a high level book all about the theory of SharePoint–that would be too easy. No, this is largely a real life scenario, tutorial kind of book, chronicling what I know about SharePoint, as quickly as possible.

This book is intended to give you solid insight into how things work, how to do them, and how to understand them well enough that you can take ownership of SharePoint as an IT administrator. It was a slow, painstaking process to explore all those dark places, set all of those settings, and take all of those screenshots. But the hope is; that if I do it here, however briefly, you will see how it works and then you can apply it in your environment. Of course, despite my best efforts, there were simply some topics I could not cover in the time I had to write the book. But I wanted to give you enough information, enough confidence, that if there was something I didn’t do in the book, you would be able to do it without me.

Because of the time constraints, not all chapters were written by me; I had to ask for help. Four remarkable men came forward to give me a hand, and I would like to thank them. Charles Firth, when it looked like I simply would never, ever finish, stepped up and wrote two chapters: Chapter 16, “Sites, Subsites, and Workspaces,” and Chapter 17, “Site Collections and Web Applications.” Chapter 18 turned out to be a beast, overlapping my content in Chapter 19 considerably. Bill Chapman gave me a hand with Chapter 20, “Users and Permissions.” He laid the groundwork for quite a bit of information, and Charles built on it from there. James Finley wrote Chapter 21, the STSADM chapter. I have to give him full credit for that chapter. He did a thorough job introducing the command line tool and covering all those odds and ends that you just can’t do in Central Administration. And finally, Ron Freeman, who wrote the Migrating from WSS 2.0 to WSS 3.0 chapter, Chapter 22. That chapter had some serious hardware requirements, crossing multiple machines, as well as multiple versions of SharePoint. Thanks again to those fine gentlemen for the work they did.

Behind the scenes: The making of Mastering Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

As for the writing of the book: It was done entirely on a MacBook Pro, running Bootcamp, written entirely using a virtual machine running Word 2003 (the publisher’s template required it).

For those who like the nitty gritty details, here is a run down of the background of the book as far as network and resources go. The SharePoint network I used throughout the book was run on the MacBook Pro in either Virtual PC 2005 or on a Virtual Server R2. My coauthors accessed virtual machines configured like my own using my Virtual Server in order to have screenshots and step by steps that matched the domain, server, and user naming structure that I was using for the book.

Well, mostly.

James Finley’s in New Zealand (which is on the other side of the planet from where I am writing), and internet access to my machines was a bit intermittent. So if his screenshots aren’t identical to my set up, that’s why.

The network configuration for the book:

Internal Active Directory Domain: dem0tek.lcl

Email domain: dem0tek.com (and a brief foray during a sidebar with dem0share.com)

Servers:

RR1.dem0tek.lcl: It was the SQL 2005 server for SharePoint. For convenience sake, it was also the Routing and Remote Access Server for the virtual network. I installed Word 2003 and Snag It (by Techsmith) on that machine and wrote all of my content there.

DC1.dem0tek.lcl: It was the domain controller and the POP3 email server. For the Directory Management Services section of Chapter 23, I rebuilt the network, and installed Exchange 2003 on DC1 to manage email as well.

SP1.dem0tek.lcl: First SharePoint server on the network. It was the Basic installation server used in Chapter 24.

SP2.dem0tek.lcl: Second SharePoint server on the network. This server is the one installed using the Advanced, Server Farm Configuration and used RR1 for its SharePoint databases. Used for most of the book, it should be familiar to readers.

SP3.dem0tek.lcl: SharePoint server installed specifically to play second fiddle to SP2. SP3 was the server added to the SharePoint server farm in Chapter 25 to demonstrate load balancing and SharePoint services management.

SP4.dem0tek.lcl: Used in Chapter 26 as well, this SharePoint server was installed to use Active Directory Account Creation mode. And a fine job it did at that.

There are a number of user accounts that show up throughout the book but in fact there are numerous users for the dem0tek network that didn’t really get any recognition. Doing my best to create fictitious names that were truly fictitious, I created names in a few broad categories, most notably herbs and semi-precious stones (believe it or not). The herbs were, by and large, the Information workers (although several of them, particularly Saffron, are power users). The semiprecious stones were staff and IT technicians. Because most of my work was done at the administrative level, I tended to login as an administrator or site collection owner, but there were other accounts available to log in with if necessary. You might recognize Saffron, Jasper, and Citrine when you see them.

So now you know what was going on in the background during the writing of this book. For more information, questions, or suggestions, please feel free to email me at [email protected]. I’ve also got a blog if you’d like to stop by at http://servergrrl.blogspot.com. I created it specifically to support this book. It is there that I will write all the stuff that I didn’t get a chance to here (including late breaking information, like changes caused by Service Pack 1 or Server 2008); add more concepts, fix any errata that may turn up (hey, we’re all human here), and more. And if this book ends up with a second edition, you can hear about it there, and even offer me suggestions as to what should be in it, that second time around.

There’s SharePoint and There’s SharePoint

I tend to refer to Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS 3.0) as SharePoint in this book for readability, convenience, and because I am not fond of using the same acronym in practically every sentence for more than a few hundred pages. However, there are two kinds of SharePoint: Windows SharePoint Services and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS). And because of that, you will see WSS being used only when I need to make it clear which kind I am referring to. It should stand to reason that I will default to SharePoint meaning WSS, since that is the topic of the book.

There is a lot of confusion about the difference between WSS and MOSS. Many people seem to confuse the two. Remember, MOSS is an add-on to WSS. Users who have access to MOSS tend to consider WSS only as a means to use the more extensive MOSS. They never realize that the features they use daily are not the parts they paid for.

Just to be clear, using WSS and MOSS is not entirely an either/or situation. They are basically two different products, but there is a relationship there.

WSS is free and is a complete product by itself. After WSS is installed, it will work perfectly fine on its own.

However, if you buy and install MOSS, WSS 3.0 is installed first and then MOSS is installed on top of WSS (this is an automated part of the MOSS installation). Microsoft Office SharePoint Services 2007 requires Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 to be installed before it will even run.

WSS does not need MOSS, but MOSS does need WSS. Windows SharePoint Services 3.0’s functions are the foundation of all things MOSS. Without WSS, MOSS would not work. They are considered to be two different products, but MOSS is an add-on to WSS. When you pay for MOSS, you pay for the extras it offers in addition to the usefulness of WSS.

WSS 3.0 Features

So what can WSS 3.0 really do? Here’s a brief overview of WSS capabilities. There may be features like smart tags that you might not be familiar with right now, but don’t worry, they are covered in depth later in the book. This is to give you an idea of what to look forward to, clearly define what WSS can do without MOSS, and possibly introduce you to something that you might need that you didn’t realize it was capable of.

Real-Time Presence and Collaboration If Microsoft Office (2007 is recommended) is installed and Microsoft’s instant messenger is running, Online Presence will allow users to see if their buddy’s from SharePoint are online. In addition, Smart Tags will be available wherever a user name is displayed, offering users a menu to send email or instant messages, and to call that user. Office Communicator and Live Communication Server also help facilitate Online Presence.

Consistent User interface With WSS 3.0, the SharePoint interface has been improved, enhancing the consistent look and feel of SharePoint sites, lists, and libraries with automatic breadcrumbs, improved Quick Launch bar, Tree view, Top link bar for navigating sites, and more descriptive menus. The enhancements allow users to more easily navigate backward and forward through sites and pages.

Collaboration Site Templates WSS 3.0 includes easy-to-use, easy-to-create team sites, document workspaces, meeting workspaces, blogs, wikis, and even blank sites.

Wikis New to WSS 3.0, this site template is a creative forum for brainstorming, using knowledge bases, or simply gathering ideas. Wikis make it easy to create, edit, annotate, link pages, and track contributions and changes in a dynamic, collaborative environment.

Blogs Also new to WSS 3.0, this site template is a publishing-oriented site intended for posting articles, making comments, and archiving, with RSS feed generation.

People and Groups List Another new feature for WSS 3.0, this list is a unified place to find people, add users, manage permissions, and create groups. It integrates with lists and libraries, and offers people-picker functionality. It allows more customizable fields for user information and is security filtered.

Calendars Enhanced for WSS 3.0, calendars allow shared views of events; supporting recurring events, all day events, and richer calendar views.

Email Integration In addition to being able to send out invitations, notifications, and alerts, WSS 3.0 can enable lists such as discussions, libraries, and announcements to receive incoming email and process them as list items. WSS 3.0 has extensible support for custom email handlers to add incoming email to custom lists as well. SharePoint’s incoming email can integrate with Active Directory and Exchange 2003 to create contacts for list and libraries, as well as SharePoint group distribution lists.

Task Coordination Enhanced with a Gantt Chart view for project tasks, the Tasks list supports lightweight task management with task assignment, scheduling, prioritizing, task relationships, and status.

Surveys Can be used to collect statistical data that is generated by user responses to custom lists of questions. WSS 3.0 Surveys come with useful graphical views and supports branching logic.

Document Collaboration Libraries allow users to save, upload, and store documents (as well as pictures, forms, and other files) online. Document libraries support required check out, versioning (major and minor), multiple content types, Explorer view, and workflows.

Issue Tracking Like task coordination, this type of list supports issue assignment, status, priority, issue relationship, and scheduling. It also comes with a default, three-part workflow, and category assignment.

Mobile Device Support Using a simplified text layout, WSS 3.0 can support page rendering on international and North American web-enabled phones. Most content pages have an alternate page rendered specifically for Mobile Device user access.

Office Integration WSS 3.0 was built in conjunction with Office 2007 to offer the most integrated features ever available with SharePoint. Users can easily access and edit files stored in SharePoint, create links between lists and Access 2007, or upload and download lists and data from Excel 2007. Office also enhances smart tag and presence capabilities. Outlook 2007 further integrates with SharePoint, synchronizing with document libraries, calendars, and lists. It offers read/write access to calendars, tasks, discussions, and documents, and it can create meeting workspaces from Outlook Calendar events, and rollup views of calendars and lists across sites. It offers a unified view of tasks between Outlook and those in SharePoint. Office 2003 integration is still supported, but Office 2007 was designed to offer more robust features.

Search Search is managed by SharePoint in this new version, which offers a simple, clear, yet powerful user interface for search queries. Searches can include a site collection, or be narrowed down to just one list. Lists, libraries, and sites can be secured so that they are unsearchable, and search results will display only content that the user has the right to see. Users can query for keywords in the text of documents and lists, as well as in the metadata of SharePoint items.

Content Management When users edit a document, enhanced content management (integrated between Office 2007 and WSS 3.0) offers a content panel that makes it easier for users to edit the document properties while working on the document in Word.

Alerts Users can set alerts for changes in any list or library, and they can be notified by email when those changes occur, eliminating the need to check the list or library manually.

Task Notification This feature allows users to receive email notification if a task is assigned to them. Further, there is a new web part that can be used to display all tasks assigned to a user when they log in.

RSS Feeds New to WSS 3.0, every list and library is RSS enabled. This feature allows users with RSS-enabled readers to view changes to lists or libraries without visiting the SharePoint site.

Recycle Bin Also new to WSS 3.0, this feature enables users to restore items that were accidentally deleted. Administration of the lifecycle of deleted items is also available. In addition, there is a secondary recycle bin, for administrative recovery of items accidentally deleted from the Recycle Bin itself, for added security.

Backup and Restore (with VSS) Backing up and restoring SharePoint is another new feature available in the administrative interface for WSS 3.0, with improved functionality utilizing Windows Server 2003’s Volume Shadow Copy technology.

List Indexing Another new addition to WSS 3.0, this feature improves performance and capacity of large lists through the indexing of specific list columns.

Content Types Also new to WSS 3.0, Content types are generally list item templates, and can be associated with their own workflows and metadata and used in any list or library. Content types can also specify file types and their templates for document libraries, allowing users to be able to create several different types of files from the New button in one library.

Workflows Brand new to WSS 3.0 (thanks to the Windows Workflow Foundation), customizable structured workflows are supported for document libraries and lists. Workflows are a process management feature that triggers actions based on the status of library or list items.

Folder Organization Allow items to be organized in folders in documents libraries and lists in WSS 3.0. Folder organization can be used to make huge libraries or lists easier to view and manage or comfort users who are more familiar with file shares.

Item Level Security New to WSS 3.0, each item can have its own Access Control List, which offers more granular security.

Centralized Configuration Management Using ASP.NET 2.0, SharePoint supports a central administrative site. This site has been almost complete overhauled for WSS 3.0, per user feedback, is more logically organized, and has additional support for delegation and isolation of duties.

Site Management Sites can be easily deployed using site templates and definitions. They are easily customized, and they can be saved as templates to be used elsewhere. Also, new to WSS 3.0, site hierarchies can be reorganized, which means that subsites can be moved from under one site and placed under another. WSS 3.0 also offers additional support and security for sites using Alternate Access Mapping and Zones This allows SharePoint to respond to alternate addresses and apply the correct authentication requirements depending on the address’s zone.

Monitoring This feature provides usage analysis and diagnostic logging to enable administrators to better manage SharePoint resources.

Anxiety, Trepidation, and Licensing

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is considered to be a server component, like Internet Information Services (IIS), and it uses the server’s license model. No additional licensing is required.

However there is one possible caveat. There is something called an External Connector license required when external users are going to be authenticating to the domain and using SharePoint. In that case, the external user is using an account that is not a licensed account for that server, or using a machine that is not licensed for server access, depending on the server’s licensing model. Since those users are not covered under the Server’s license, they must be covered elsewhere, thus the External Connector license comes into play.

The External Connector license is a per server license for Windows Server 2003. It is purchased per server, not per client. This means, a server with this license can legally allow an unlimited number of external clients to authenticate and access its resources.

Keep in mind that a license is required for external users who are authenticating and using the resources on the SharePoint server. Due to the fact that the SharePoint server is an IIS web server, there is no license required for users if they are accessing the server anonymously, such as someone who is only looking and doesn’t need to contribute to the site.

The scenario in which the External Connector license (or any other license) is required varies, so definitely contact Microsoft Licensing to see whether or not the External Connector license is a requirement for you.

MOSS 2007 Features

In addition to WSS 3.0, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 offers features especially geared toward large business and enterprise customers. MOSS, as its former name SharePoint Portal Server implies, is fundamentally designed to pull together unrelated resources so they can be accessed from one portal location. Focused on business intelligence, processes, and document management; MOSS 2007 offers the following additions to Windows SharePoint Services’ extensive functionality:

Portal Site Templates Additional site templates are especially geared toward centralizing user access to other locations and applications: Enterprise, Corporate Internet presence site, Application Portal Site, and a Roll Up portal site. Enhanced CSS support is also available for extensive corporate branding of portal sites.

Socialization and Personalization Offers personalized public My Sites for each user. As well as web parts, such as the SharePoint sites and documents roll up web part (which can list colleagues, friends, and members of a common distribution group), and a social networking web part (which uses information from colleagues’ my site information to aggregate common interests). Convenient content authoring and publishing for users is also available through the browser.

Enhanced Search MOSS offers more robust search capabilities across enterprise content sources (sources beyond a single site collection, such as file shares, websites, other SharePoint servers, public folders, and Lotus Notes databases) and supports 200 different file types, relevance ranking, people search, and extensive search indexing administration and control.

Business Document Management With additional workflow features built-in (approvals, feedback, and signature collection), MOSS has enhanced document management sites with document libraries that enforce information rights policies with integrated rights management, auditing and retention policies, and legal document processing, as well as record repositories for archiving inactive documents.

Business Processes and Forms The enterprise version of MOSS offers enhanced support for business form use and management. Users can fill out InfoPath forms from the browser. Integrated heavily with InfoPath 2007, MOSS supports design-once development. It has a Form Import Wizard and centralized forms management and control.

Business Intelligence MOSS features an integrated business dashboard that assembles and displays information from different sources. The Enterprise version also offers integrated spreadsheet publishing and management, Excel services, data connection library, business data catalogs, business data web part and actions, a Report Center, and Key Performance Indicators.

Single Sign-On This feature integrates with Microsoft systems and line of business applications. It requires a separate credentials database. It allows users to log on to a portal site and have their credentials passed to other backend applications.

As you can see, MOSS is pretty powerful, but it becomes pretty obvious how much of MOSS’s functionality actually lies in the hands of WSS, and why it’s useful to understand WSS first.

Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server 2007, More Versions Than a Barrel of Vistas (Almost)

Microsoft went hog wild to get their money’s worth from MOSS. You can get a good deal on MOSS if you are a nonprofit organization or an academic institution. However, acquiring MOSS can still be expensive if you are not careful. To ease the burden of buying a product that may be overpowered for your needs, Microsoft added to the confusion by offering several different kinds of MOSS.

(Keep in mind that this information is offered to you to let you know what you would be getting into if you chose to use MOSS in your environment. However, WSS is still free and uses the Server’s licensing model, no extra CALs required.)

MOSS has one core product-Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. It can run as a Standard MOSS server or an Enterprise MOSS server, depending on what Client Access Licenses (CAL) you have (sneaky huh?). Interestingly, the CALs drive what features are available to the clients.

The Standard CALs don’t give you everything that the Enterprise ones do. And yes, that basically makes sense. That way, a Standard company doesn’t need to pay for Enterprise features it may never use. But here’s the catch: in order to use those Enterprise features, you must first buy standard CALs and then purchase Enterprise CALs as well. If you are an Enterprise customer, you can’t just choose to buy the Enterprise CALs to support the Enterprise features. You must have a Standard and an Enterprise CAL for each user to use the Enterprise features.

In addition, you can buy separate types of MOSS altogether. MOSS for Search is basically WSS with the enhanced, enterprise-wide search capabilities of MOSS. Adding enhanced search capabilities to WSS will cost you the price of MOSS for Search and the Client licensing fees. MOSS for Internet Sites is meant to be used if your SharePoint server is Internet facing, and it is an add-on to WSS. It is licensed per-server license and, logically, doesn’t use CALs. It is basically the Server 2003 External Connector license for SharePoint.

If you are confused, just keep in mind:

To use MOSS you must buy it, of course. But when you buy it, you are really buying the core MOSS server license.

Once you buy MOSS, you must buy a CAL for each client in your business to access it. Just to use MOSS, you need the Standard CAL for each user. To use the Enterprise features, you must also have Enterprise CALs for each user.

If MOSS is going to be accessed through the internet by people who are not employees, you must have MOSS for internet sites for each server serving the public.

The other MOSS family products, such as MOSS for search or Microsoft Office Forms Server, are MOSS installations that are slightly modified or limited in order to use or enhance a particular feature of MOSS. They are for the business that doesn’t need (and may not be willing to pay for) all of the MOSS features. These products still use CALs though, even though they are not the full fledged product.

For quick reference, Microsoft offers the following MOSS core products:

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Server License. This is the core SharePoint server 2007 license. You can’t have MOSS without it.

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Client Access License, Standard Edition. There must be at least a Standard CAL for each client in order for them to even use MOSS.

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Client Access License, Enterprise Edition. This license is an add-on to the Standard Edition. You must have a standard CAL for each enterprise CAL. This license allows a client to use business intelligence enterprise services such as performance management dashboards and electronic forms.

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet Sites. This software may be used only for Internet-facing websites. The license is per server, so it doesn’t need separate CALs. Is basically the External Connector server license for MOSS. However, it was not meant to be taken advantage of by internal users.

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Search. This MOSS is an odd addition to the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server family. It isn’t really a full-blown MOSS server. When you buy it, you are literally adding MOSS search features to a standard WSS install.

Microsoft Office Forms Server 2007. This addition to the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server family is an add-on to WSS that creates better support for building InfoPath forms and displaying them for client use without the client needing to install InfoPath. It does have some enhanced InfoPath integration to create, edit, or upload forms. You pay for the web browser support for displaying InfoPath forms rather than buying InfoPath for the clients on your network that need it. It may seem like a single-trick pony, but it could save you money if you know it’s there. This functionality can be enabled as part of the Enterprise features of MOSS itself. Forms server simply isolates that capability for customers who don’t want to pay for full-blown MOSS.

A Brief History of SharePoint

It’s great to see a solid list or two about what products do, even if you don’t recognize some of the features or can’t see how they relate to you in the beginning. A features list can provide food for thought and a good reference for later. However, when reading a list of what something can do, you might not realize how incredible some of those features are or how this version really kicks the butt of the version before it. To really understand SharePoint, it helps to know its humble beginnings and how it got to its current greatness.

Windows SharePoint Services started out as SharePoint Team Services (STS) version 1 and was a feature that could be found only on the FrontPage 2002 CD (or as part of Office XP). It worked on both Windows XP and Windows Server 2000 and was basically a demonstration of how powerful sites and applications using IIS and FrontPage Server Extensions could be. STS set up IIS Web Sites with really useful and nifty lists, with the familiar document library, discussions, events, tasks, contacts, and links. It was pretty basic, but even at that level of usability, it was a hit. Despite it being so new, it was also surprisingly customizable using FrontPage.

Of course, people complained about STS. It stored documents in a file share and metadata in the content database, and it used a mix of ISAPI and FrontPage extensions to create pages, aspects on the pages, and web parts. It was a mishmash of bits, but it was a great start.

Meanwhile, in a different development track, Microsoft was trying to capitalize on the growing portal market by releasing SharePoint Portal Server 2001 (SPS). According to legend, this product was created independently and ironically only resembled STS’s functionality with added features. The two products were very different under the hood. SPS did not have many of the behind-the-scenes limitations of STS, and it was sort of a precursor to some of the backend functionality later found in the newer version of STS (WSS). SPS was definitely not free. Generally, it required a server license and a CAL for each user. Later, with the introduction of WSS, SPS version 2 was built to depend on WSS, while still costing extra money. This charging structure is still in place today, with a free, foundation SharePoint product, and then the much more expensive add-on Server product.

When Windows SharePoint Services came out, it was practically a rebuild of STS, but it did have STS at its foundation. The name change from SharePoint Team Services indicated that the product was not limited to team activities and may have helped encourage people to consider WSS a server product, and as such, affected by the Server’s licensing model. However, to this day, some of the program files still bear the initials STS.

WSS put the documents and other data in the same database as the metadata, and mostly used ASP.NET for the pages and components of its various parts. The later versions of WSS don’t work well with those FrontPage extensions on the IIS server. WSS uses its own very customized version of those extensions and will not install (or at least not properly) if the FrontPage extensions are enabled in IIS. WSS stepped out as a non-FrontPage–dependent product, being downloadable from the Internet or built-in as a server role in Server 2003 R2. The primary tool used to customize it was still FrontPage, but ironically people actually complained about having to buy FrontPage to edit it properly. Ah, how soon they forget that they used to have to buy the FrontPage CD to even get SharePoint.

Service Packs were released for WSS, which meant it was going places. Service Pack 1 was released to provide numerous error fixes and performance and security enhancements. Then due to customer interest and the fact that version 3 was so far on the horizon, Service Pack 2 was released to appease the masses and whet their appetite for the version to come. This Service Pack made some significant changes to SharePoint’s performance; rolling together numerous hotfixes, correcting a number of undocumented (in the knowledgebase) issues, and improving the overall functionality of SharePoint itself.

There were still some functionality that could use improvement, such as a lack of security filtering (users could actually access settings pages, but not save the settings), no convenient way to tell what account was logged in, navigating between sites and subsites could be inconvenient, and the Administrative site layout made it difficult to find settings.

After Service Pack 2, came the long awaited Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, an upgrade of epic proportions. WSS 3.0 takes advantage of the strength and flexibility of ASP .NET 2.0, and requires the new Windows Workflow Foundation to offer workflow functionality to things such as document collaboration or issue tracking. Adding new and improved features that users have been clamoring for (such as required document check out, improved navigation, security filtering, improved Central Administration layout, wikis, blogs, RSS feeds, and content types), WSS 3.0 is significantly different from its predecessors.

In an ironic twist, Microsoft has “repurposed” good old FrontPage as the primary customizing tool of choice when working on SharePoint. It is no longer being sold solely as a web development tool and has been split into two different products, with one half of it being renamed “SharePoint Designer,” and intended for use specifically for customizing SharePoint. It was once the only way you could get STS, and is now specifically marketed to only edit SharePoint. Fitting don’t you think?

What Version is It?

Due to SharePoint’s varied past, there is some confusion concerning what WSS was actually called before version 3.0.

Microsoft considers the first WSS to be the second version of SharePoint Team Services, which is why the WSS installer is traditionally named stsv2.exe. But officially Microsoft always refers to whatever version of WSS someone is using as Windows SharePoint Services, even if they admit that the installer is called stsv2.exe and when you install the product, it calls itself Windows SharePoint Services 2.0.

So how do you tell the versions apart? Well, Windows SharePoint Services before any service packs, has the version number in Site Settings of 6.0.2.5530. If you were looking for that version online, you would find the installer file (called STSV2.exe) if you did a search for Windows SharePoint Services.

When you install Service Pack 1, the version number changes to 6.0.2.6361. Some people may have even called that version Windows SharePoint Services 1.0, which is considered a mistake. According to Microsoft there never was a 1.0 version. As far as they are concerned it’s either referred to as Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 or Windows SharePoint Services without a version, period. At least until WSS 3.0. To install this Service Pack 1 version of WSS, you would reasonably enough, search for Windows SharePoint Services with Service Pack 1. And when you found it, the installer would be called stsv2.exe (do you see a pattern here?).

When Service Pack 2 is applied to Windows SharePoint Services, the version number becomes 6.0.2.6568. This is also exactly the same version number as the Windows SharePoint Services server role on the Windows Server 2003 R2. This is the version known colloquially as Windows SharePoint Services 2.0.

And if you do want to download Windows SharePoint Services 2.0, you have to use the Windows SharePoint Services with Service Pack 2 installer (also called stsv2.exe) instead.

To make matters worse, each installation of WSS actually has two different representations of its version numbers. In Site Settings (internal to WSS), each version of Windows SharePoint Services prior to version 3 used a number syntax of 6.0.2.XXXX, with the last four digits actually pertaining to the version.

But if you ever went to Add/Remove Programs (which is obviously external to WSS), you would first notice that, no matter if installation is the base Windows SharePoint Services or Windows SharePoint Services with a Service Pack, WSS will always show up as Windows SharePoint Services 2.0. The next thing you’ll notice, if you click on Support Information for the Windows SharePoint Services entry, is that the version number will be displayed as 11.0.XXXX.0, with next to the last set of digits indicating the version number.

So that brings us to Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. This version has a completely new installation interface that indicates from the start that it’s Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. The installer is no longer refers to STS at all and is called SharePoint.exe. Further, the product, after installation, is depicted as Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 in Add/Remove Programs. And finally, the version number that is displayed in Site Settings is almost exactly the same as the version number displayed in the Support Information for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, ending the discrepancy between the two. The version number, in case you are wondering, is 12.0.0.4518 in Site Settings, and 12.0.0.4518.1016 in Support Information.

So for the record, SharePoint Team Services was version 1.0. Windows SharePoint Services, regardless of Service Pack, was version 2.0. And now, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is explicitly referred to by that version number. Now you know.

So that’s where SharePoint comes from and what it’s capable of doing today. This book will cover the ins and outs of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 to give you the best bang for your buck, the most information about what you can get out of the free version before you go out and buy the expensive add-on.

Now that you understand what SharePoint can do, let’s get into what SharePoint is made of, what makes it tick, what you need to know before installing it, and what to look out for when trying to make it work.

Part I

Preparing for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

Chapter 1

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Under the Hood

You’ve heard of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. You’ve probably seen webcasts and presentations about it, but what is it and why should it matter to you?

Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0 is a nifty web-based collaboration, data management, communication, idea-creating, problem-solving tool that costs you nothing. Windows SharePoint Services, which is usually referred to in the singular, needs to run on Windows Server 2003 (Service Pack 1 or higher, or Release 2 if you have it) and should be a server role in Server 2008 (which is in beta at the writing of this book).