Chapter 14 -- Deploying SharePoint Portal Server across Multiple Sites Using RapPort

Chapter 14

Rapid Portal (RapPort) allows you to use predefined templates to build intranet portals quickly and inexpensively that take advantage of the search, document management, and collaboration features of Microsoft® SharePoint^™ Portal Server 2001. RapPort portals deploy quickly and are easy to maintain. Each portal consists of a SharePoint Portal Server workspace and related dashboard site. Portals can reside on a single dedicated server, or multiple portals can reside on shared data center servers within an organization.

This chapter presents a technical overview of the RapPort deployment. It reviews the process, called portal provisioning, required to create multiple intranet portals by using RapPort. In addition, this section provides planning information, installation procedures, administration tasks, and key procedures for using RapPort to deploy SharePoint Portal Server across multiple sites.

In this chapter, the words portal and site are used interchangeably to refer to a Web portal, created using SharePoint Portal Server. A portal creating using SharePoint Portal Server includes a workspace and a dashboard site. For more information about SharePoint Portal Server, see Chapter 3, Introducing SharePoint Portal Server.

For more information about the benefits of using RapPort in a corporate environment, see Chapter 28, KMIT: Deploying SharePoint Portal Server across Multiple Sites. For more information about developing a customized RapPort solution, see Appendix B, For More Information.

This chapter assumes that the reader is familiar with SharePoint Portal Server, has read the documentation relevant to SharePoint Portal Server, and, ideally, has experience editing Extensible Markup Language (XML) files. In addition, it assumes that the reader has experience modifying settings by using the Registry Editor and Internet Service Manager.