Overview of Portal Provisioning Process

RapPort consists of a set of ASP pages, scripts, and ActiveX® DLLs distributed across two or more servers. Figure 14.2 illustrates the provisioning process. The process begins when a user requests a site. The process ends with notification to the user that the site is ready.

Figure 14.2. Logical Provisioning Process

You can divide the portal provisioning processes into four phases:

  • Submitting a request for a site
  • Creating a workspace
  • Copying the workspace template
  • Specifying security and creating a virtual server

The following sections describe each of these phases.

Submitting a Request for a Site

RapPort provides a page for users to submit requests for a site or intranet portal. This site includes a SharePoint Portal Server workspace and its associated dashboard site. This submission page serves as a data collection application that stores all the user input for use later in the provisioning process. Figure 14.3 illustrates the steps in request submission process.

Figure 14.3. Request submission process

The following procedure describes how to request a site.

To submit a request for a site:

  1. On the default RapPort home page, click Request a Site. The RapPort Setup Wizard opens.
  2. Under Site URL, type the virtual server name of the portal you want to create.
  3. Click Check Availability. RapPort checks the availability of the name.

    If the name is not available, RapPort displays the following message:

    "The Site URL requested is already registered. Please specify another URL."

  4. Under Description, type a brief description of your portal.
  5. Under Domain, click the domain or region where you want the portal located.

    You do not need a valid Windows NT domain to deploy RapPort.

  6. Under Template, click the workspace template you want to apply.
  7. Click Next.
  8. After specifying a name for your portal, you must associate users or groups (security principals) with roles in the workspace. You must assign at least one person to the role of coordinator for each workspace. To do this, under Permissions, click Add. RapPort displays the Select Users or Groups Web Page dialog box.
  9. Type the user name or e-mail address of the person you want to add, and then click Find.
  10. RapPort displays the user name in the list below. Confirm that this is the correct user name. Select the name of the user, and then click Add.
  11. Click OK to close this dialog box and return to the RapPort Setup Wizard.

    If you have arranged for a dedicated server for your workspace, under Advanced Settings, click Dedicated Server. This dedicated server must have the destination server components installed or the wizard reports an error. RapPort displays the Advanced Settings Web Page dialog box. Type the name of the server where you want to install the workspace. Click Submit to submit the server name and close the dialog box. If you have not arranged for a dedicated server for your workspace, RapPort creates your workspace on a shared server by default.

  12. To complete the request process, click Finish.

RapPort displays a summary request, as shown in Figure 14.4. In addition, RapPort Admin sends an e-mail message confirming the portal request to the user. For more information about e-mail notifications in RapPort, see Status Messages.

Figure 14.4. RapPort wizard request summary

Creating a Workspace

The workspace creation process creates a new workspace on a destination server. This process begins when RapPort starts AutoSetup on the RapPort server, and ends when it stops and restarts the services on the destination server. Figure 14.5 illustrates this process.

Figure 14.5. Workspace creation process

RapPort runs AutoSetup as a scheduled task on the RapPort server. For optimal performance, it is recommended that you avoid scheduling AutoSetup during peak usage. RapPort always gives the workspace the same name as the virtual server name to ensure a unique identity among all destination servers. In addition, this provides a friendly workspace name for users. AutoSetup determines the destination server to host this workspace by using the first available server based on the region (domain) selected and the current workspace count is less than the capacity defined. RapPort creates the new workspace on the destination server.

Copying the Template

After creating the workspace, RapPort preloads content from the template selected by the user into the new workspace. This process begins after RapPort creates the workspace and ends when RapPort copies all the template content into the new workspace. Figure 14.6 illustrates this process.

Figure 14.6. Template instantiation process

When applying the template, RapPort deletes any existing content from the new workspace. For example, a standard SharePoint Portal Server workspace contains categories defined as Category 1 through Category 5. RapPort deletes these categories.

Assigning Roles and Creating Virtual Servers

The final stage includes setting security, creating the virtual server, and notifying the appropriate users of the status of the portal request. This process begins after RapPort copies all template content to the new workspace and ends when RapPort sends the notification requesting a WINS/DNS entry for the new virtual server. Figure 14.7 illustrates this process.

Figure 14.7. Roles, virtual server setup, and notifications

When submitting a request for a site, the person chooses roles to associate with users. The RapPort server uses this information to assign users to roles for the workspace on the destination server. It also creates a new virtual server on the destination server by using the site name as specified by the user who submitted the request. Lastly, it sends two notifications to the appropriate users. First, it sends a message to the address you specify during the RapPort installation for virtual server addressing. This message requests a WINS/DNS entry be created for the new virtual server. The message includes the name and IP address of the server on which it resides. After this person or group completes this entry, users can access the portal at http://virtual_server_name instead of http://server_name/workspace_name. The RapPort server also sends the user an e-mail notification that the workspace is ready. At this point, the user can begin to add content and customize the workspace as needed. Figure 14.8 shows a sample e-mail.

Figure 14.8. E-mail notification that the portal is ready

The RapPort server repeats the process for each request. After the RapPort server completes all requests for new portals, it remotely restarts Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) on each destination server that received new portals to clear any inconsistencies or cached data. After they are restarted, the destination servers and their workspaces are available to users. Typically, all of this occurs at night so workspaces are ready the following day by scheduling AutoSetup to run during night.



Microsoft Sharepoint Portal Server 2001 Resource Kit
Microsoft SharePoint(TM) Portal Server 2001 Resource Kit (Examples & Explanations Series)
ISBN: 0735615624
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2001
Pages: 231

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