Tuesday, July 29, 2008

WSS Deployment Steps in SBS 2003 (book excerpt)

Installing Windows SharePoint Services
Take a bow. By this point, following the SPRINGERS methodology, you’ve already installed WSS. It was all part of the SBS 2003 setup process. But there are a few interesting things to share with you.
During the SBS setup phase, there are two areas in which you make decisions that affect WSS. Revisit Figure 3-20 at this time and observe the second line entry under Component Name column.
BEST PRACTICE: First things first. The WSS problem is solved and the fix is in. I’m talking about the infamous late November 2003 WSS hiccup in SBS 2003 (details on the five o’clock news and in the paragraph below). What occurred was a critical WSS-related component, a dynamic link library (DLL), failed if the installation occurred after November 24, 2003 (WSS failed to correctly install as a result).
So your solution can be simply stated: implement the fix as per
Kbase article 832880 (see at Microsoft TechNet at
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www.microsoft.com/technet and search on the article number). If you’re reading this book and have acquired SBS 2003 after February 1, 2004, the fix has likely been imbedded on Disc 3. If you ordered the SBS 2003 product previous to February 1, 2004, you’d be advised to order the updated Disc 3 at https://microsoft.order-4.com/ sbsrtmcd. More information on the WSS matter and fix at Microsoft’s SBS site: www.microsoft.com/sbs.
Also - the fix is “in” on the Windows Automatic Update site as of mid-December 2003, so when you correctly update your system on a regular basis, this fix will be incorporated. NOW WOULD BE A GREAT TIME TO RUN THE AUTOMATIC UPDATE PROCESS WE DISCUSSED IN CHAPTER FOUR!
Hmmm. I guess an original dynamic link library (DLL) that WSS relied on didn’t want to work past the end of Ramadan or had some problem with the pending Thanksgiving holiday in the US or who knows what? Anyway, please read the above referenced article if you have this problem in order to cure it.
So back to Figure 3-20 and the Component Name column, the entry, titled Intranet, relates to the installation and configuration of WSS. Revisit Figure 3­21 from the SBS setup chapter to see how you could redirect the location of the Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE).
BEST PRACTICE: What is really occurring is you are installing the SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (Windows), which is technically known as WMSDE. WMSDE does not have the 2GB data storage limitation or the five user logon limit of MSDE.
Clearly another WSS setup issue relates to some stuff in Chapter 4. Go back and look at Figure 4-10. You’ll recall that, as part of the SPRINGERS methodology, you select the lower radio button to select all Web services and allow complete access. That effectively configured WSS to be accessible from the Remote Web Workplace portal (which I discuss Chapter 8) across the Internet. Then there is the issue about setting the default home page for Internet Explorer
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(IE) browser to the WSS intranet page. On the server, revisit the discussion surrounding Figures 4-17 and 4-18 to learn how to set the browser default home page (basically prior to running the EICW you won’t see the WSS Home page). On a client computer, the default home page is set in (IE) when you run the Setup Computer Wizard (SCW). You typically encounter the SCW when you add a user (via the Add User Wizard) because the SCW is chained to the end of the add-user process. Specifically, in the SCW, there is an advanced screen found by clicking the Advanced button in Figure 4-24 that results in the Advanced Client Computer Settings dialog box seen in Figure 7-2. It is here you can see where the first entry, titled Internet Explorer Settings, will set the default home page to CompanyWeb (which is the default WSS portal in SBS 2003).
Figure 7-2
This is where the WSS intranet settings for http://CompanyWeb are constructed. Click More Information on this dialog box to learn more.
Document Management
Because I’m in charge here, we’ll start with the document management definition followed by getting our hands dirty with WSS document management functionality (I’ll get to the intranet stuff a little later). Specific to defining document management, here are common needs, concerns, and characteristics any organization will encounter:

• Organizing the documents used in the business. The methods used to establish storage locations can differ from one group to another within an organization, introducing unwanted complexity.
• Finding documents in the business. It can be very difficult to locate the documents you need.
• Workers collaborating on documents. Gathering and merging in­formation from several coworkers into a single document can be a challenge.
• Updating and tracking notifications. It is difficult and very time-consuming to keep track of updates to content sources you are using.
• Implementing approval processes. It can be difficult to accommo­date different approval scenarios and receive sign-off on documents in a timely manner.
• Securing documents in the business. It can be difficult to control ac­cess to documents and important content can be lost when documents are overwritten.
• Accessing documents.Accessing content from more than one local source can be difficult, making large amounts of information unavailable.
• Providing scalability and the ability to grow. When companies and knowledge bases are growing rapidly, it can be difficult to keep serv­ers responding quickly and to ensure enough disk space exists for documents.

BEST PRACTICE: That last point on storage requirements is an important one. You should look at the excellent SMB storage guidance as part of a series of Microsoft Partner IT Solutions Guides for SMB. Read Mary Jo Foley’s take on it at www.microsoft­watch.com/article2/0,4248,1399877,00.asp and the posting at the Microsoft Partner site at http://members.microsoft.com/partner/
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solutions/additional/ITinfrastructure.aspx. I discuss this great resource
more at the end of Chapter 11.
Now it is time to march forth, using the SPRINGERS methodology, to learn the document management capabilities of WSS at the keystroke level. You will first create a document storage structure, upload a document, perform check-in and check-out of the document, apply some settings to the document management function, and so on. Let’s get going.

1 comment:

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