Breaking down our troubleshooting methodology into phases of an implementation also makes sense. In most cases, these high-level phases look something like the following: Each of these phases may be further broken down into subphases as appropriate. For example, server installation typically consists of hardware sizing, hardware installation, hardware configuration, applying firmware updates, operating system installation, application of service packs /patches, installation of a Web browser, and so on before SharePoint Portal Server is ever even loaded. Obviously, the input and outcome of each one of these subphases impacts the next phase ”the solution stack builds upon itself, and becomes increasingly complex. A number of significant points become clear: -
A near infinite number of combinations of hardware, firmware, operating systems, drivers, and so on exists. -
Only a finite number of combinations of the above actually work together in terms of providing an end-to-end supported solution! Later in this chapter we will look at each of these, and drill down into greater detail. First, however, we need to spend a few minutes looking at our general approach to troubleshooting. |