Sharepoint Portal Server Basics

1. Sharepoint Portal Server Basics

2. Introduction • Sharepoint server belongs to Microsoft family of servers • Integrated suite of server capabilities • Hosted Application – i.e. runs on a windows server O/S • Support for Intranet, extranet access available • Improves organizational effectiveness by sharing information, content management

3. Beneficiaries of Sharepoint • Business Manager – Can access contents (files) that are confidential from remote place if provided with proper credentials – Minimizes operation cycle time and travel time • IT Professional – High availability, security of artifacts – Simplicity in accessing contents • End user – Alerts through email – Dash boards to compare results – Message boards to discuss matters

4. Features • Document Management – Can create, upload, modify, check in and check out, delete documents – Centrally store documents and access them from anywhere. • User Management – Create users, groups, change password • Content Management – Can create sites and sub sites for every entity like testing team, development team, guests etc and provide contents appropriate for them

5. Architecture

6. Creating a Top level site • Follow these steps to create a top level site – Open IIS and create a virtual directory and assign a port number other than 80 (as it will be used by http request) – In the sharepoint administration, click on “Extend Virtual Server” under server administration, click Ok in the new page that was opened after giving administrator details, sharepoint server details – Click on “Create Content db” under server administration. In the landing page click ok, after selecting server and db.

7. Top level site – contd… • Select the virtual server that was created (virtual directory port will be listed) • Give a name for the site and click OK • The url for the site will be displayed • Click on the url. • A new window will be opened with the template selection screen • Select a template for the site and give OK

8. Logging in to a sharepoint site

9. Sample Site

10. Managing Users • Add the users to the sharepoint portal group – Go to Computer Management – Select users and groups – Under groups, select Sharepoint user group and right click on it to add new user. – In the new user dialog box, give the user details as DomainName\UserName and press OK. That user will be associated to the group – We can also create local users in the computer and make them access sharepoint

11. Users (Contd..) • Log in to the sharepoint site – http://servername:portnumber/site/default.aspx as an administrator • Navigate to Settings tab in the top of the site • Click on Manage Users • Click on Add Users and give the user details, email Id, select the sharepoint group to which the user will be associated and click Ok. • Email will be sent to the user along with the link to the sharepoint site

12. Managing Groups • Users can be assigned to the default groups present in sharepoint – Administrator : Has overall control of the site – Contributor : Can contribute items for the site – Web Designer : Can add new pages – Reader : Can only view the contents • We can also add new groups and assign access rights for the groups • Click on Manage groups in the Settings page and click on Add New Group to add new group

13. Creating Sub sites • To add a new sub site, click on the “Create” link • Click on “Sites” link on the page • Give a name for the sub site and click OK • Choose a template for the site and the new site will open up • Go to Site administration page and click on add users • Enter user detail and associate the user with the Administrator group

14. Configuring Email Server • Open Sharepoint central administration window • Click on Configure email settings link under “Server Configuration” • Give name for the smtp server • Click Ok • Now all mails related to the sites operation will be routed via the email server specified.

15. Databases used • Configuration DB: – This is the database that contains all configuration information related to the server database connection etc • Content DB: – This database contains the sites, subsites data – For each site a new content db is created • Component Services DB: – This contains details regarding the sharepoint services like alerts, messages, site quota, content db details etc

16. Creating Site Templates • Choose a sharepoint site that we need to save as a template • Go to Site Administration page • Click on “Save Site as Template” link • It will ask a name for the template and an option to save the data of the site page too. Give a name for the template • The site will be saved as a template and can be used while creating a new sharepoint site

17. Viewing Statistics • In the site administration page, we have options for – Viewing site usage • Who have accessed the site • When the site has been accessed • How many hits have been there for this site – Viewing site quota • How much space available for a site • How many users can be created for a site • How many users have been added • How many space has been used, by which module etc

18. Web Parts • Web parts enhance the site’s functionality • They are all additional component that can be added to the site • We can add custom parts to the site • Custom parts can be created using visual studio and they can be saved as dwp files • Search, Browse, Upload are few of the available web parts • They can be added by administrator, using Site Settings -> Add Web Parts link

19. Anonymous Access • Go to Sharepoint administration console • Click on Anonymous Access setting • Give the portal name for which anonymous access need to be given • Check the Allow Anonymous Access check box and give OK • We need to be careful before giving anonymous access as anyone will be able to crawl through the site content

20. Intranet / Extranet setting • We can give separate intranet name or extranet name for the portal site • Click on Configure Site settings for intranet / extranet access on the central administration page • Give the sharepoint url for the default url • Give names for intranet (inside a company), extranet (outside a company) accesses and give Ok • Now we can access the portal site using the new names given

21. Back up and Restore • There is a sharepoint Back Up – Restore utility that allows us to take back up of a sharepoint database, portal site and restore the same in another machine or in the same machine in case of any calamity • This is for disaster recovery

23. Back Up • The available components are listed and we can select a component and take a back up. • Back up will create two files – XML configuration file that tells about the server from which back up was taken, status of the operation etc • Back up file with an extension SPB (Share Point Backup) that has the data

25. Restore • Available components that are ready for restore will be listed • We need to mention a configuration file (XML file) to restore • Once the information about XML file is given and component for restore is selected, restore will begin • The status will be communicated to the administrator

26. Back up / Restore Command line utility • The following tool comes along with sharepoint • They are located in the bin folder in the path where sharepoint is installed – Spsbackup : takes back up of all sites and dbs – Spsadm : takes back up of windows sharepoint service site collections – Smigrate : migration and upgradation tool used for migrating database or portal site from one system to another or from one version to another

27. Third Party Recovery tool • Veritas – Back Up Exec10.0 – Sharepoint server level back up • CA – Brightstor ARC Serve Back Up – Back up and restore of sharepoint db hosted on various SQL server across enterprise – Advanced document level back up and restore support • Ave Point – DocAve – Item level back up and restore • CommVault – GA – Galaxy – SPS 2003 DB level backup and recovery – Webstore back up and support