| While troubleshooting tips and techniques may be found dispersed throughout this book, here we capture both an approach to troubleshooting, and the most common (or unusual!) issues with implementing a SharePoint Portal Server solution. Note that issues relating specifically to SharePoint Team Services are not covered herein, save for issues associated with coexisting or integrating with SharePoint Portal Server. As SharePoint Portal Server consists of server-based and client-based solution stacks, it makes sense to approach troubleshooting in a manner that initially maintains a separation between the two. Later, we will analyze the entire end-to-end solution, including integration points. In effect, though, by verifying that the individual solution stack layers are sound, we create a foundation upon which to base additional analysis. So, what is a solution stack? Simply put, it is the "layers" of technology that sit one on top of the other in support of a solution. Generally speaking, this might include the following: Of course, each of these could be further broken down into even more detailed layers. For example, hardware is usually broken down into the individual servers supporting SPS (for example, two dedicated indexing servers configured a particular way, and two dedicated crawling servers configured another way, on perhaps another server platform), as well as the disk subsystem supporting each server. Further, multiple stacks typically exist. For example, the general SPS client solution stack might consist of an HP desktop running Microsoft Windows XP, HP's OS client drivers version 4.4, Internet Explorer 6.x, and so on. The general SPS 2001 server solution stack, on the other hand, might consist of a Compaq DL760 server with firmware and OS drivers from SmartStart 5.3, running Windows 2000 Advanced Server with Service Pack 2, and SharePoint Portal Server with Service Pack 1. One of the keys to a sound technology solution is assembling a solution stack that is supported by all of the various technology firms involved in the solution. Assembling such a supported configuration is not trivial! This is one of the reasons why so much time is put into vendor and overall solution selection ”minimizing the number of technology players while bringing together an end-to-end solution is the ultimate goal. Here, we are interested in SharePoint Portal Server's solution stack, but you can apply this same approach to any technology or solution. That is, Exchange 2000 has its own unique solution stack, as does an Oracle iProcurement solution or an SAP R/3 on SQL Server 2000 solution. The solution might differ, and the solution stack will certainly differ , but the approach to building a supported and well-performing solution remains constant. The solution stacks for the server and client components look like this: SharePoint Solution Stack Client components/browser Various integration points SharePoint features/functionality SharePoint dashboard SharePoint workspace SharePoint Portal Server install SharePoint prerequisites installs DB-specific updates Database engine HW-specific drivers OS service packs /patches Operating system Disk subsystem firmware Disk subsystem hardware Server firmware Server/CPU/RAM hardware Network infrastructure Cooling infrastructure Power infrastructure  | 
