Chapter 3: Configuring and Managing Windows SharePoint Services

Overview

In the previous chapter, you learned about the different installation scenarios available and how to set up WSS to work with either SQL Server 2005 Express or MS SQL Server. In this chapter, you learn more about configuring and managing installed WSS, including how to activate and configure the search feature. In order to successfully manage the WSS environment, you need to understand important concepts in the context of that environment, such as web sites, site collections, and the security model. The objective in this chapter is to give you the knowledge needed to set up the WSS environment so that it will match the needs of your users.

Before you start configuring WSS, check to see if your server has the Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration setting activated, because this may cause a strange problem. You will find this setting in the Windows Components Wizard (see Figure 3-1), accessed via the Add or Remove Programs applet in the Control Panel.

Figure 3-1

If this setting is active, you may have problems performing SharePoint administrative tasks on the WSS server itself, depending on how your Internet Explorer is configured. If the WSS virtual server is defined as something other than the zones Local Sites or Trusted Sites, you will not be able to run scripts or execute code necessary for some parts of the SharePoint administration. The effect will be that on remote clients you can do everything, whereas on the WSS server itself you will experience problems. You can solve this in two ways:

• q Uninstall Internet Explorer Enhanced Security.

• q Define the URL to the virtual IIS server that WSS uses as a Trusted Site in Internet Explorer.

The last option is the most secure. By default, your WSS virtual server should be listed as a trusted site. If it isn't, you can adjust that by following these steps:

1. Open Internet Explorer.

2. Go to Tools Internet Options Security.

3. Click Trusted Sites and the Sites button.

4. Add the URL address for your virtual server (for example, http://srv1) as a trusted site.

Important 

If the WSS sites don't use SSL encryptions, you must first uncheck "require server verification (https:) for all sites in this zone."