Meeting Market Demands with SharePoint
| Windows SharePoint Services provides the core componentthe enginerequired for the creation of websites that facilitate collaboration and is integrated with Windows Server 2003 and Office 2003. SharePoint Portal Server 2003 extends the functionality of Windows SharePoint Services to that of an enterprise portal solution by providing enhanced management, searching capabilities, and extensibility. Figure 1.3 provides an illustration of Windows SharePoint Services as a group of site collections of different sizes and of SharePoint Portal Server 2003 consisting of areas, site collections, and personal sites. As Figure 1.3 illustrates, the portal provides a number of different elements in a structured fashion, whereas Windows SharePoint Services is limited to site collections. This being said, Windows SharePoint Services still offers a wealth of document management and collaboration features, and it's used by many organizations getting started on the knowledge management path. Figure 1.3. Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server 2003 structures. Note in Figure 1.3 that each site collection in Windows SharePoint Services contains a house graphic, which represents the home page for that site collection, and several other icons representing the types of information that can be accessed from that home page. Documents that can be accessed from the home page include Microsoft documents (such as Project, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents) and other non-Microsoft documents stored in document libraries (such as PDF files), as well as pictures (such as TIF, JPG, and GIF files), lists, and forms. These are typically made available through Web Parts, which are discussed in more detail throughout the book. Other information, such as hyperlinks (or URL links), can be accessed from the site home page. What's more, other websites can be displayed in a window within the site. Suffice it to say at this point that a SharePoint site home page can provide access to a vast array of information. Several pages for each site collection are shown in Figure 1.3 because a site can have subsites (some of which are called workspaces) beneath it. Although there is no real limit to how "deep" a site collection can go, in most environments, the site administrators will strive to control the complexity of the overall structure. Server RequirementsSharePoint Portal Server 2003 and Windows SharePoint Services require Windows Server 2003 to run. Any of the different versions will workWindows Server 2003 Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition, DataCenter Edition, or Web Edition (with limitations)with the latest service packs. These servers must be in a Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, or Windows Server 2003 domain. The SharePoint products are built on the .NET platform, which is a development environment in which a common language runtime, framework classes, and an application development process are defined. ASP.NET is a set of technologies for building web applications and XML Web Services that allows developers to use a variety of different standard programming languages (25 at the time of this writing), including VBScript, JScript, .NET, C#, and Visual Basic. IIS version 6.0 must also be installed for the SharePoint 2003 technologies to function. Figure 1.4 shows the basic architecture for the product line. Several different database options are possible, as shown in Figure 1.4. Windows SharePoint Services can connect to SQL Server 2000 or MSDE, and SharePoint Portal Server 2003 can connect to SQL Server 2000 or WMSDE databases. Chapter 6, "Installing SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and Windows SharePoint Services," discusses the installation process in more detail. Figure 1.4. SharePoint software structure.
Database OptionsSQL Server 2000 is typically the database engine used for production environments, and either the standard or Enterprise versions can be used. For smaller organizations or for proof of concept testing and to limit the software costs, the Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine (MSDE) can be used with SharePoint Portal Server 2003 or the slightly different Windows SharePoint Services Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine (abbreviated as WMSDE) can be used. Web Parts DefinedWeb Parts are important to understand because they add functionality to SharePoint sites and portals. Web Parts are available for download and purchase or can be created or customized for specific uses. Visually, a Web Part consists of a title bar, a frame, and content, and is composed of a Web Part description file (.dwp) that is XML based and a Web Part assembly file (.dll). Web Parts are based on the .NET framework and ASP.NET and integrate with Web Services, Microsoft Office, and Microsoft BizTalk Server. The boxed region in Figure 1.5 is a Web Part that provides announcement information for users of the ProServices Team website. By clicking on the word Announcements in the title bar, the site user is taken to a web page dedicated to this information, where more items can be added, or edits can be made if the user has sufficient rights. Figure 1.5. Web Part on a SharePoint website. Web Parts provided by Microsoft include functionality such as document or image libraries, the ability to display an Outlook Inbox, a calendar, tasks, and many others. A number of third-party companies are developing Web Parts to provide enhanced functionality to the "out-of-the-box" portals and web pages that can be designed with Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server 2003. Specific Web Parts are discussed in more detail in Part III and specifically in Chapter 21, "Working with SharePoint Web Parts." Client RequirementsThe primary method of accessing the data and information in SharePoint is through a browser, so a wide variety of clients can access the information. Depending on the configuration of the SharePoint 2003 environment, these users can be internal to the company using company PCs, or working from the field, or home, and accessing SharePoint via the Internet or a virtual private network (VPN). Access to SharePoint 2003 sites is available from a number of different browsers:
Although no client software is required for access to Windows SharePoint Services or SharePoint Portal Server 2003 sites other than the browser, the use of the Office 2003 suite of applications enhances the features and functionality of the SharePoint 2003 sites. Portal site management, however, can be performed only from Internet Explorer 5.5 or above with the latest service packs. Chapter 7, "Configuring Client Access to SharePoint Resources," covers the different ways of configuring and tuning clients to effectively access SharePoint 2003 sites in more detail. |
EAN: 2147483647
Pages: 288