SharePoint 2010 service applications and a Key ECM Enhancement with Managed Metadata Services

Managed services are the practice of transferring day-to-day related management responsibility as a strategic method for improved effective and efficient operations.

SharePoint 2010 includes a fundamental architectural change from the previous version with the introduction of “Service Applications”. Service Applications are actually nothing more than a logical concept-In a nutshell I will say it is a collection of INDEPENDANT service, which are easier to manage, have their own database so it is easily recognisable in SQL. Most of them were available in older version (MOSS 2007) as SSP but in SharePoint 2010 Service application feature comes with more functionality and usability. Each of these applications represents a fundamental change to the functional decomposition of services within a farm, the single biggest factor in delivering platform hygiene for distributed application platforms.

Planning farm architectures it gives more flexibility to architectures as some of these applications can be shared across a farm. Sharing service applications across Web applications and farms greatly reduces the resources required to provide these services across multiple sites.

Service Applications in SharePoint 2010 (Source Technet)

Service applications	Description
Access Services	Lets users view, edit, and interact with Access 2010 databases in a Web browser.
Business Data Connectivity service	Gives access to line-of-business data systems.
Excel Services Application	Lets users view and interact withExcel 2010 files in a Web browser.
Managed Metadata service	Manages taxonomy hierarchies, keywords and social tagging infrastructure, and publish content types across site collections.
PerformancePoint Service Application	Provides the capabilities of PerformancePoint.
Search service	Crawls content, produces index partitions, and serves search queries.
Secure Store Service	Provides single sign-on authentication to access multiple applications or services.
State service	Provides temporary storage of user session data for SharePoint Server components.
Usage and Health Data Collection service	Collects farm wide usage and health data, and provides the ability to view various usage and health reports.
User Profile service	Adds support for My Site Web sites, profile pages, social tagging and other social computing features.
Visio Graphics Service	Lets users view and refresh published Visio 2010 diagrams in a Web browser.
Web Analytics service	Provides Web service interfaces.
Word Automation Services	Performs automated bulk document conversions.
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Subscription Settings Service	Provides multi-tenant functionality for service applications. Tracks subscription IDs and settings for services that are deployed in partitioned mode. Deployed through Windows PowerShell only.

Some services are provided by other Microsoft products, including the services listed in the following table.

Service application	Description
Office Web Apps services: Word Viewing Service PowerPoint Service Excel Calculation Services	Office Web Apps is a Web-based productivity offering from Microsoft Office 2010 suites. Office Web Apps services include companions to Microsoft Word 2010, Microsoft Excel 2010, Microsoft PowerPoint 2010, and Microsoft OneNote 2010. These Web-based applications are stand-alone applications focused on offering access to Word 2010, PowerPoint 2010, Excel 2010, and OneNote 2010 documents through any browser across multiple platforms, lightweight creation and editing capabilities in standard formats, sharing and collaboration on those documents through the browser, and various Web-enabled scenarios. Documents created by using Office Web Apps are no different from documents that were created by using the corresponding desktop applications. The associated services are used to prepare documents for viewing and editing in a Web browser.
Microsoft Project Server 2010	Microsoft Project Server 2010 hosts one or more Microsoft Project Web Access instances, exposes scheduling functionality and other middle-tier calculations on Microsoft Project data, and exposes Web services for interacting with Microsoft Project 2010 data.

This one is really a good blog about SharePoint Service application (In a Nutshell: SharePoint 2010 Service Applications)

Managed Metadata Services:

ECM (Enterprise Content Management) was always important aspect of SharePoint Product. When we talk about SharePoint ECM, few things always come in mind –Meta data, Content Type, site column…

In SP 2007 Metadata structure was not highly developed. Users are restricted to –

• Use a choice or lookup field (scoped to web, or possibly deployed as Feature which can give broader reach but more maintenance problems)
• Build a custom field type
• Buy a vendor’s solution (which will involve a custom field type somewhere)
• Attempt to simply guide authors to use the correct terms in textbox

Managed Metadata Services is one of the new features of SharePoint 2010 service application that
will provide enterprise management of metadata terms and content types for SharePoint 2010.  This will allow organizations to share metadata taxonomies and terms across multiple SharePoint webs and site collections.  In addition, Microsoft is finally allowing content types to be shared across webs and site collections using the same service.  This will provide a much more unified view of data across the organization.

Different departments or groups may have their own site collections for managing their SharePoint application, but everyone in the organization can be using common content types and metadata.  This will make unified search and retention across the organization much simpler as common terms can be used to search from data across the enterprise. Managed Metadata Services will be a huge leap for the management of metadata, and will enable powerful search and filters in SharePoint 2010.

In Fabian Williams Blog, He has described the total structure and taxonomy of Managed metadata in a 2 part series. I didn’t actually find anything to add after I have read his blog.

Part 1 of 2 – Focusing on Managed Metadata, Term Store, Navigation and Search

Part 2 of 2: Focusing on Content Organizer, Routing Rules, Content Types and Search

Scheduling STSADM SharePoint 2007 backup Strategy using Windows Task Scheduler

There are various third party SharePoint Product available in the market to do detailed backup of SharePoint site. But not all the project/Organisation can afford a third party product.

There are two kinds of OOB Backup Strategies in Office SharePoint Server 2007:

1. Using Central Administration –> Operations –> Backup and Restore

2. Using STSADM –> – o backup –url [site path] –filename [where to save the file]

STSADM command line option is more reliable compare to SharePoint CA backup.

I have created this script creates which takes daily backup of a site collection. I have found few more script online and many of them didn’t work for me. The script does the following

1. Determine the lock status – (This is for sites which is large in size If any changes made to the site collection during the backup process, the backup can become corrupted. The preferred approach would be locking the site collection using the Setsitelock command of STSADM till the backup process is complete. Once the backup process completes, reset the site collection to its default state)
2. Locks the site collection
3. Creates a file name using current date
4. Creates backup
5. Unlock the site collection

SCRIPT:

@echo off

@echo

@echo This script will backup your site: [Site Name]

@echo

cd c:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\BIN

@echo locking site collection before the backup process starts

@echo off

stsadm -o getsitelock -url http://<Your Site Collection>

stsadm -o setsitelock -url http://<Your Site Collection> -lock readonly

@echo site collection is now locked

@echo off

stsadm -o backup -url http://<Your Site Collection> -filename C:\Back\Backup_%date:~-4,4%%date:~-7,2%%date:~4,2%.bak -overwrite

@echo backup completed

@echo off

stsadm -o setsitelock -url http://<Your Site Collection> -lock none

@echo Site lock removed

Copy the above code and do the necessary changes and Save it as a .bat file in a preferred location.

Automate your Backup

Create a new Windows Scheduled Task by going to Start–> Control Panel –> Scheduled Tasks –> Add Scheduled Task

Follow the wizard and schedule the .bat file created above to run at a frequency of your own choosing.

SharePoint 2010 Training and Resources

Microsoft has released a whole bunch of SharePoint Training and Resources Video and Documents. They are really helpful to get to know the new product and the new functionality comes with it.

Moreover, SharePoint 2010 product page on Microsoft website is a great resource to learn about the new Product.

SharePoint 2010 Overview

• Eval Guide @ http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=110318ec-0238-4811-8fc7-ec4399d3c100&displaylang=en
• Virtual Machine available @ http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9728417
• Walk-through Guide @ http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=8c619bef-008b-4af2-9687-8a05848fea97

SharePoint 2010 Developer Resources

• Dev Eval Guide @ http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=cffb14e8-88a9-43bd-87aa-4792ab60d320&displaylang=en
• Dev Getting Started @ http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/ee513147.aspx
• Dev Advanced Training @ http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/ff420377.aspx
• Dev Virtual labs @ http://blogs.msdn.com/pandrew/archive/2010/05/12/sharepoint-2010-developer-virtual-labs-online.aspx

SharePoint 2010 IT Pro Resources

• IT Pro Eval Guide @  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=167123
• IT Pro Getting Started @ http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/ee518660.aspx
• IT Pro Advanced Training @ http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/sharepoint/ff420396.aspx
• A great summary of IT Pro resources by Jie Li @ http://blogs.msdn.com/opal/archive/2010/05/12/sharepoint-2010-it-pro-learning-resources.aspx

Migration strategies and Step by Step – Migrating from MOSS 2007 to SharePoint 2010

I was reading a post from Apoorv Durga, about migration strategies on software development. It is a fantastic post. It is really true that many of the migration falls due to poor planning or sometime negligence towards the basic. SharePoint 2010 lunched yesterday and a very interesting product from Microsoft. Many organisations already considering migrate from the existing version of MOSS 2007 to SP 2010.

Organisations need to be very careful as most organizations do not undertake a migration effort with the rigor and discipline that they normally would for a software project. The result is often a failed migration. The following table maps the activities that you carry out in a software development phase with the activities that should be carried out for a migration project.

Activities in Software Development	Activities in Migration
Requirement Analysis Functional Specifications	Conduct Site/Content Inventory Identify content types Identify content that will not be migrated Identify content parameters like type, owner, size, last modified, name, location, audience, importance and so forth Analysis of the above Frequency and complexity Relationships “Common-ness” between different content items Taxonomy and Metadata assessment
Architecture Design High Level Design Low Level Design	Map content from source to destination Map metadata from source to destination Map users and roles Identify gaps and strategies for them Decide how much of manual and how much of automated migration can be done Decide big bang Vs Incremental migration Prototype or Proof-of-Concept Design of import and export scripts Test and QA plans
Implementation Coding Unit Testing	Development of migration scripts and utilities Unit Testing of these scripts and utilities The actual migration (both automated and manual) Post extraction refinement
System Testing Integration Testing Regression Testing User Acceptance Testing	Test and QA different migration scenarios: default values getting populated properly data type mapping between source and destination user and roles mapping Performance testing of scripts User Acceptance Testing Content Quality
Deployment	System roll over System roll out Post migration refinements

Depending on whether you use Waterfall, Iterative, RUP, Agile or some other methodology, there will be variations in the way you carry out some of the migration activities. However, the point is that you should treat content migration just like you would treat any other project and give it the respect it deserves.

Migrate MOSS 2007 to SharePoint Server 2010 (Taken from

sharepointmonitor)

Microsoft recently released SharePoint Server 2010. Microsoft claims that migrating from SharePoint 2007 to 2010 is easy and straightforward, however, migrating from SharePoint 2003 to 2007 the process was painful and difficult and there were several incompatible elements that had to be dealt with.

The sample intranet site presented in this article is hosted on Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit (which is required for SharePoint 2010) with SQL 2008 Express 64-bit.

First, let’s look at the SharePoint 2007 site we migrate. For this demonstration I created a simple MOSS 2007 Enterprise environment based on the Collaboration template, which contains some generic web parts we’ll test on SharePoint 2010, Document Center and Search Center. I setup and double checked the search, because I wonder if the migrated SharePoint would be able to use the search database crawled in the previous, 2007 version of SharePoint. Search is an important issue for migrating SharePoint installations with large amount of data where a full crawl of the content may take weeks.

My Intranet Site in MOSS 2007

Now, install SharePoint Server 2010 right on the existing installation. In the Setup window, we can view the server requirements, installation guide etc. We will skip this part and proceed straight to the Installation.

SharePoint Server 2010 installation screen

First we need to install software prerequisites. We may already have all required components since we are already running MOSS 2007, but to be sure, we’ll go select this option.

The preparation tool window that launches checks our server for the required components, and installs them if needed. The components that will be updated are:

• Application Server Role and IIS Role
• SQL Server 2008 Native Client
• Microsoft “Geneva” Framework Runtime
• Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0
• Microsoft Chart Controls for Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5
• Microsoft Filter Pack 2.0
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services ADOMD.NET

Let’s open the preparation tool. After reading the short tool description and accepting the terms, the preparation tool will start updating the server immediately.

SharePoint Server 2010 Preparation Tool

After successful configuration, the summary screen will be displayed and the tool will likely request a reboot of the system.

Preparation Tool Summary Screen

When Finish button is clicked the system will reboot automatically. After the reboot, the Preparation Tool launches again and finishes the rest of the steps. Now our system is ready to install SharePoint Server 2010, so select that option from the setup pane.

We will be prompted to enter the license key

Product Key window in SharePoint Server 2010 Setup

After the key we have to read and accept licence terms. Next screen advise that MOSS 2007 was detected.

SharePoint Server 2010 Setup Screen – Upgrade Window

As advised in the above screen we need to run the stsadm command now to ensure our intranet can be successfully migrated. Open cmd.exe console in administrator mode.

Start – Cmd.exe in Administrator mode.

Navigate to the MOSS 2007 Bin Directory, which is located by default at C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\bin directory.

Cmd Window in the MOSS 2007 bin folder.

Enter stsadm -o preupgradecheck. This command does not perform any repairs, but \only checks for and reports issues with possible solutions to apply before the migration. As the command executes we will see the output continuously displayed on the screen with different status notifications. In this check, some notifications were “Aborted due to internal error”. We will ignore this for now as the overall check was successful.

stsadm preupgradecheck output.

The browser will then open to display the html document with the summary of the output and details of every issue. As all components passed the test we are ready for the migration.

Go back to our SharePoint Server 2010 Setup window and click the Install Now button.

After the installation, we’ll see the final screen where we are informed that we must launch the SharePoint configuration wizard in order to update our content to latest SharePoint version.

SharePoint Server 2010 Installation Summary screen

Click Close to run SharePoint Configuration wizard. If you were expecting a wizard similar to the SharePoint 2007 wizard, you will be disappointed. We have now entirely new environment for SharePoint 2010 version and hence a new Configuration Wizard.

SharePoint 2010 Configuration Wizard

Click Next, and the below warning will be shown:

Warning Window in SharePoint 2010 Configuration Wizard

Click Yes and we will see a new feature of SharePoint 2010  –  Farm Passphrase.

Farm Security Settings Window

The Farm Passphrase will prevent server administrators from changing any data in our SharePoint 2010 installation when no password is provided. Administrations won’t be able to use content or configuration databases even if full database backups are obtained. Enter a password and continue with the configuration.

The next step is the Visual Upgrade.

Visual Upgrade Window

Here we decide the look and feel of the SharePoint site. You can upgrade all your farm to the SharePoint 2010 design right now. However we will not do this in this demonstration in order to be sure that everything will run fine in 2010 before modifying the design. SharePoint Server 2010 allow me to preview the look and feel of sites before switching to the new SharePoint design, so  select “Preserve the look and feel of existing SharePoint sites” option, which will maintain the original SharePoint Server 2007 design.

Next we’ll be presented with a summary screen where we can review our settings and then click Next to start the farm configuration.

SharePoint 2010 Configuration Wizard Summary Window

If everything went fine and without any errors, we’ll see the final screen.

Configuration Wizard Setup Finished Screen

Click finish and review the migrated site:

Our Intranet site on SharePoint 2010

Since we elected to preserve the original SharePoint 2007  design the site looks identical to the site prior to migration (except for the large Give Feedback button)..

We can now preview the new layout. From the Site Actions Menu, select Visual Upgrade.

Site Actions Menu

The configuration window will open, where we can select generic options about the site, such as the title, description, logo and the template.

Site Settings Window

Under the Visual Upgrade option, select “Preview the new SharePoint user interface” which will allow us to view the site in new 2010 design but we still have the ability to revert to the SharePoint 2007 layout if any errors are encountered. Click OK and view the results.

Site Preview of the SharePoint 2010 Design

We can view the new layout and it seems to work as expected. So go back to Visual Upgrade option and finish the migration completely.

Site settings screen – we’ve selected Use the New SharePoint User Interface option.

We are done! As you’ve seen, it is quite simple to migrate a SharePoint 2007 environment to SharePoint 2010.

Happy and successful migrations!

I was reading a post from Apoorv Durga, about migration strategies on software development. It is a fantastic post. It is really true that many of the migration falls due to poor planning or sometime negligence towards the basic. SharePoint 2010 lunched yesterday and a very interesting product from Microsoft. Many organisations already considering migrate from the existing version of MOSS 2007 to SP 2010

Third Party Workflow Solutions for SharePoint – Comparison

 

Workflow becomes an essential part of every business process. It gives business a faster management as well as automates redundant tasks and ensures uncompleted tasks are followed up.

In SharePoint Workflow is one of the most important aspects. Out-Of-The box SharePoint workflow often doesn’t fulfil the requirement for organisational process. There are two approach companies can take to resolve this, one build it in-house where organisation need to spend money on developers as well as time. Other approach can be buying a third party solution. Buying third party solution can be tricky sometime as there are significant amount of cost related to it and organisation should also keep in mind regarding values they are getting for the money.

I was preparing a documentation regarding third party SharePoint workflow product for the organisation I am working at right now. I already knew about Nintex and K2 Black pearl but while searching I have come across some more products which are cheaper and enough feature to fulfil the needs of this organisation.

I will try to put a comparison between those entire workflow products in a table below and I am sure this will help many businesses to choose the right product according to their needs.

(I was trying to Put everything in the same Table but after Publishing I can see it totally destroy my table in page view. I am making 2 tables instead, 1 with basic information and the other with the feature)

 

 

Product Name	website	Supporting Platforms	Pricing US $(approx)
Nintex Workflow 2007	www.nintex.com	MOSS 2007 • WSS v3 Also Works with Dynamics CRM • Project Server 2007 • SAP • PerformancePoint 2007 • BizTalk Server 2006 • Siebel • Oracle • PeopleSoft	Standard Edition is priced per server at $8,750.00 Enterprise Edition is priced per server at $17,500.00 Workgroup Edition is priced for 5 site activations at $3,000.00
K2	www.k2.com	MOSS 2007 • WSS v3	5,000.00
Virto Software	www.virtosoftware.com	MOSS 2007 • WSS v3	999.00
CorasWorks	http://moss.sharepointsolutions.com	MOSS 2007 • WSS v3	Not sure
Workflow Essentials	http://moss.sharepointsolutions.com	MOSS 2007	1,995.00
WorkBox SharePoint WorkFlow Manager	www.datapolis.com	MOSS 2007 • WSS v3	Not Sure
Kaldeera Workflow Designer 2009	www.kaldeera.com	MOSS 2007	2,000.00

 

 

Features of Different Workflow Products-

Product Name	Features
Nintex Workflow 2007	Product Features:   Graphical Web Interface Browser based client (no desktop software required) Easy to use drag and drop workflow designer Visual workflow progress Advanced Workflow Features Delegation and escalation capability Scheduled and timed workflows Rich Notification via E-mail, Instant Messenger and SMS Rapid approval through Nintex LazyApproval™ Predefined templates for common processes Built for SharePoint Deep integration with MOSS 2007/WSS3.0 Automate common SharePoint tasks Built on Windows Workflow Foundation (WF) Integrate SharePoint with Non SharePoint Systems Connect with third party Enterprise Workflow products Account Provisioning BizTalk integration Enterprise reporting
K2	Features: Manage list items, documents, libraries, Web content, sites and workspaces, and records. Build processes that move information and documents between libraries and lists across SharePoint sites and servers. Surface information through process portals. Integrate with SharePoint workflow. Surface tasks through the K2 Tasklist Web part. Leverage existing functionality and information via Web and Windows Communication Foundation services. Applications can be set up to handle simple tasks or to manage complex scenarios.  SharePoint forms are automatically created, based on process design. Reports provide visibility into the business Wizards guide users through configuration of check-in, check-out, move, copy and deletion of documents and list items, as well as e-mail notifications.  Workflows are accessed through standard SharePoint menus. Workflows can be initiated manually or as a result of events. Tasks are available in SharePoint task lists and can surface tasks federated across all sites, processes and SharePoint servers. Tasks can be surfaced in Outlook through SharePoint task synchronization. Tasks are available through the Office Business Bar.
Virto Software	With Virto SharePoint Workflow Kit you can New e-mail activities including sending emails with List Item/HTTP attachment and using SMTP-Server Sending direct messages to Twitter Instant messaging to Jabber, Miranda and GTalk Sending SMS Text activities (capture, replace, validate, format, translate) InfoPath activities HTТP-Activities (receive HTML, send HTTP Post) Key Benefits of Virto SharePoint Workflow Kit No-code and Ready-to-use Activities Easy Deployment (Just add them into your SharePoint Designer) Enhanced Capabilities for your Custom Workflow Creation
Coras Works	CorasWorks Workplace Suite for SharePoint allows organizations to design, build, and maintain collaborative web–based solutions on SharePoint in a fraction of the time, and at a fraction of the cost. It is a system of modular software products for Microsoft SharePoint. Whether you are building from the ground up, need ready–built solutions, or enhancing already–deployed SharePoint solutions, the Workplace Suite can provide you with an end–to–end set of collaborative features and capabilities to meet your specific needs. And best of all, the Workplace Suite is further supported by CorasWorks’ full line of software and service offerings. With a variety of modular web parts, more than 50 pre-built “starter” solutions for rapid development, and application design patterns and templates, you can quickly and easily build a wide range of collaborative web–based solutions. Add to that, a complete set of documentation, training, technical support and an online knowledge base, and the result is a dynamically integrated, role-based Workplace delivering business solutions to teams and managers. All by tying together the right people, information, and processes.
Workflow Essentials	Workflow Essentials contains custom workflow activities and conditions for SharePoint that you will find indispensable. With Workflow Essentials installed, you’ll have over two dozen additional activities and conditions to choose from.  These activities will allow your SharePoint Designer workflows to create SharePoint sites, move and copy list items, query user properties from both SharePoint and Active Directory, send e-mail attachments, manipulate item permissions, and much more. SharePoint Group Add User to SharePoint Group Convert String to Date Copy List Item Extended Create Site Delete Item Permission Assignment FTP Upload Item  Function With Query Get Site User Property Get User Department Get User Display Name Get User Manager  Get User Title Grant Permission on Item Loop Through List Items Reset Item Permissions Inheritance RSS Feed  Send E-mail Extended Send E-mail with HTTP File Attachment Send E-mail with List Item Attachment Start Another Workflow Text Capture Text Replace Text Validate
WorkBox SharePoint WorkFlow Manager	WorkBox is an advanced platform designed to create and manage business processes. It is a practical tool to define simple documents flow such as flow of invoices, absences, sick leaves, business trips as well as modeling complex business processes based on company’s IT systems. Thanks to implementation of state workflow model, processes may be modeled in extremely easy and legible way.   Designed for managers and analysts aware of processes within the company WorkBox has been designed to satisfy the needs of a business user. It facilitates processes definition and implementation by the managing staff. No technical knowledge is needed to use it. No need for programming The implementation of processes does not require coding. Workflow designing goes through dedicated graphical editor. Graphic user’s interface WorkBox has a graphic designer which supports processes definition. All the processes are presented in a legible and vivid way. Thanks to the designer, creating and editing already existing processes becomes extremely easy. Integration with SharePoint Great advantage of WorkBox is it’s seamless integration with SharePoint platform. Processes are implemented on the SharePoint itself, therefore, a user taking part in a process can simultaneously perform process tasks and inform about progress by the means of SharePoint. WorkBox works on MOSS 2007 as well as on WSS 3.0 environment. Flexibility WorkBox has the ability to extend its functionality. As it has an open architecture, other companies may program additional functionalities (for example data connectors for ERP or CRM systems) and implement them in the WorkBox environment, enabling users to use it from workflow designer level.
Kaldeera Workflow Designer 2009	Kaldeera Workflow Designer 2009 provides an easy way to implement a flexible solution for SharePoint that will improve your users experience and lead to faster portal adoption. Advanced enhancements that Kaldeera 2009 will provide to your SharePoint environment: 100% Silverlight technology Full integration with MOSS 2007 & WSS 3.0 Enhanced workflow actions (includes xPath and XML) Field-based workflows Task approval and task delegation “Drag & Drop” technology to design workflows Cross-browser (IE 6/7/8, Firefox 2/3, Safari 2/3 … ) Workflow Import / Export Enhanced security Traceability and monitoring SharePoint SP2 ready

 

Planning for SharePoint Server 2010 Implementation

SharePoint 2010 comes with lots of interesting feature to make life easy for all. SharePoint 2010 is huge package compare to its early version of MOSS 2007 mostly due to the 64 bit system and lot more added services.

Proper planning is most needed .before implementing SharePoint 2010. Without a proper structural plan the installation might fall apart or it won’t be able to provide much feature that it comes with.

Organisations need to map their solution design according to a farm size and set of hardware that supports their business goals. Also need to keep in mind about software boundaries and limits to get the most out of this beautiful product.

The biggest key changes of SharePoint 2010 compare to 2007 are-

	SharePoint 2007 (recommended max)	SharePoint 2010 (recommended max)
Items per view	2000	5000
Documents per library	5 million	10 million
Database size	100GB	200GB (up to 1TB for workloads)
Simultaneous Doc Editors	1 (no Multi user editing of Word, Excel, PPT)	10 (max at 99)
Column	2000 per doc lib, 4096 per list with (rowOrdinal)	New Row Wrapping (8,000 bytes)
Content Databases per Web App	100	300
App Pools per web server	8	10
Indexed (Crawl Count)	50 Million items per SSP	100 Million per search Application
Site Collections per Web App	50,000	500,000

Following information from Microsoft will help farm architecture designing a farm and how best to scale-

Database That Support SharePoint 2010 Products

Topologies for SharePoint Server 2010

SharePoint Server 2010 Capacity Management: Software Boundaries and Limits

Storage and SQL Server capacity planning and configuration (SharePoint Server 2010)

Capacity management and sizing for SharePoint Server 2010

SharePoint Server 2010 performance and capacity technical case studies

SharePoint Server 2010 performance and capacity test results and recommendations

SharePoint Search 2010-No Need of SSP

 

SharePoint 2010 not only coming with lots of interesting features but it will surely make life easy. I am particular happy to know no need of SSP (Shared Service Provider) with this version of SharePoint. SSPs were pretty handy in Office SharePoint Server 2007. They allowed us to create a configuration of profiles, audiences, Excel Services, BDC and search that we could share between two Web applications but my experience is not that sweet My SSP crushed and got fridge few time over the years.

What Happening with SSP?

In SharePoint 2010 Shared Service Providers (SSP’s) are replaced by Service Applications. Services are no longer combined into a SSP. Services are running independent as a service application.

Service Applications: services like Search, Managed Meta Data, and so on… are running independent. So SharePoint 2010 provides unboxed services. You can configure which services are running on an application server. Per web application you can configure which services are consumed.

The Picture below will give a good idea and comparison between SSP and Service application.

What Service apps are NEW and their functionality-

SharePoint 2010 architecture has been modified and they are lots of NEW Services available in SharePoint 2010. Some of the new Services and what they do below:

• Access Services – Allows viewing, editing, and interacting with Access databases in a browser.
• Managed Metadata Service – Provides access to managed taxonomy hierarchies, keywords, social tags and Content Type publishing across site collections.
• Secure Store Service –Provides capability to store data (e.g. credential set) securely and associate it to a specific identity or group of identities.
• State Service – Provides temporary storage of user session data for Office SharePoint Server components.
• Usage and Health data collection – This service collects farm wide usage and health data and provides the ability to view various usage and health reports.
• Visio Graphics Service – Enables viewing and refreshing of published Visio diagrams in a web browser.
• Web Analytics Service Application – Enable rich insights into web usage patterns by processing and analysing web analytics data.
• Word Conversion Service Application – Provides a framework for performing automated document conversions

 

More about SharePoint search can be found at-

What’s new in enterprise search (SharePoint Server 2010)

SharePoint 2010 Shared Service Architecture

Microsoft Office 2010 with Different Versions of Microsoft SharePoint

In my last Post I have tried to show the Comparison between Microsoft SharePoint 2010 with Different Versions of Microsoft Office. In this one I have tried to put together how Microsoft Office 2010 integrated with SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2007. Well, it looks clear that Office 2010 integrates best with SP 2010 and users can make the most of it. This topic is summery I have found in Microsoft site which based on the following areas-

• Collaboration Without Compromise
  
• Bring Ideas to Life
  
• Anywhere Access
  
• The Practical IT Platform
  

Collaboration without Compromise

 

	SharePoint 2010	SharePoint 2007
Coauthor Documents and Presentations Share ideas with other people simultaneously and see what areas of a document have changed.	With co-authoring, work together in Microsoft Office Word 2010 and Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2010, and see others’ changes tracked in documents hosted in SharePoint 2010.
Simultaneously Edit Spreadsheets and Notebooks Work together on content using a Web browser.	Work together in Microsoft Office Excel 2010 and Microsoft Office OneNote 2010 Web applications simultaneously and see others’ changes in real time.
Highlight Changes in Shared Notebooks Enable multiple people to add to and change the same shared notebook. Author names appear in near real time as changes are made.	Shared OneNote 2010 notebooks provide a clear trail of what other authors have changed since the last user opened the notebook.
Broadcast Slide Shows in PowerPoint Share a PowerPoint presentation over the Web for remote or networked viewers	Audiences do not need to have PowerPoint 2010 installed; they can see the presentation in high fidelity in a Web browser.
Save Documents and Presentations Directly to SharePoint Automatically discover SharePoint document libraries to make saving content easier and more intuitive.	People can save Office 2010 documents directly to the SharePoint 2010 document library from Office Backstage view.

 

 

Bring Ideas to Life

		SharePoint 2010		SharePoint 2007
Project code-named “Gemini” “Gemini” for Excel 2010 provides streamlined integration and Web-based analysis in SharePoint. Use data from multiple sources and manipulate large data sets that have up to hundreds of millions of rows.			Publish and share analysis with less effort and enable others to enjoy the same Data Slicers and fast-query capabilities, even when working in Excel Services reports.
Publish and Share Information Through Excel Services Share analysis and results across the organization by publishing Excel 2010 spreadsheets to the Web or other SharePoint sites (intranet, extranet).			Use Backstage view in Excel 2010 to selectively publish selective parts of a worksheet, hide formulas, and stage data to SharePoint 2010.		Use Backstage view in Excel 2010 to selectively publish parts of a worksheet to SharePoint 2007.
Microsoft Office Access Design for the Web Microsoft Office Access 2010 applications developed in Design for Web mode can be designed and edited for publishing to SharePoint, so people can share, collect, and report on data.			Use Access 2010 to publish data, forms, logic/macros, and reports with nearly the same look and feel in the browser as in Access 2010 on a PC.
Automate Metadata Capture Provide better, automated metadata capture in SharePoint to make information more findable, perceptible, discoverable, navigable, manageable, and re-usable.			Use Word 2010 to provide better and more automated metadata capture from Backstage view, including document information either added automatically or typed quickly in AutoComplete fields.		Word 2010 provides automated metadata capture from Backstage view, including document information added automatically.
Use Office Backstage View Seamlessly connect Office 2010 applications with SharePoint to provide workflow integration, the ability to enter metadata, and social context.			By using Office Backstage view in Office 2010 applications, people can enter metadata, interact with workflows, access authors’ profiles, view recent content the author has created in SharePoint 2010, and more.		By using Office Backstage view in Office 2010 applications, people can enter metadata and interact with workflows.
Access SharePoint Templates Access Office 2010 document templates stored in SharePoint more quickly and easily.			People can access document templates stored in SharePoint 2010 via the New Document wizard in Office 2010 applications.
Apply PowerPoint Themes to SharePoint Make customization of SharePoint sites more flexible by using themes used in PowerPoint 2010 presentations.			People can apply themes to SharePoint 2010 sites by using the same themes as in PowerPoint 2010.
Use Reusable Workflows Support workflows to be used multiple times and provide workflow templates for later use in SharePoint.			SharePoint Designer 2010 supports reusable workflows and workflows attached to content types.
Visualize Workflow Allow a workflow designer to see the steps in a SharePoint workflow in a visual format.			Workflows developed as drawings and exported from Office Visio 2010 can be imported into SharePoint Designer 2010 for modification and deployment.
Use Forms-Based Applications Forms-based applications connect with back-end data and include workflow, reporting, custom Web pages, and other components.			Integrate InfoPath 2010 forms with back-end data by using external lists in SharePoint 2010, and include custom sandboxed solution code.
Provide the Office Ribbon for InfoPath Forms Web Services Provide the Fluent Office Ribbon interface for Web-enabled forms so people can easily find, access, and use the features they want when designing Web-enabled forms.			When used with SharePoint 2010, InfoPath Forms Services provides Web-enabled forms with their commands in a Ribbon interface.

 

Anywhere Access

		SharePoint 2010	SharePoint 2007
View and Edit Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, and Notebooks in the Browser Allow editing, even if applications are not loaded on a PC.	View and make light edits to documents through Office Web applications in a browser. Document formatting and content are maintained when changes are made in the browser and Web applications can be hosted on the premises running in SharePoint.
Mobile Access Enhancements View and edit documents from a mobile device even when on the go.	View Office 2010 documents from virtually anywhere by using Web applications, without losing fidelity, and make changes with limited editing capabilities.
Work Offline with an Improved Experience in Microsoft Office Access Edit Office Access 2010 forms, reports, queries, and macros offline and synchronize changes in SharePoint when reconnected to the network.	Data in SharePoint 2010 list is cached in the Access 2010 by default.
Collaborate Offline and Online Work offline with SharePoint contents and when reconnected to the network, changes are synchronized.	Work offline in SharePoint 2010 document libraries and lists through SharePoint Workspace 2010.
Fill In Forms Offline SharePoint list forms are synchronized so people can work offline.	SharePoint 2010 list items open in an InfoPath 2010 form that is hosted in SharePoint for edit in display mode.
Extend the Reach of Forms Fill in InfoPath 2010 forms in a Web browser, while online or offline, and from a mobile device.	The InfoPath 2010 forms solution offers embedded solutions that use InfoPath controls that can be hosted.
Publish Access Databases to the Web Securely publish database applications to the Web so IT managers can meet data compliance, backup, and audit requirements.	While publishing data, Access 2010 checks for incompatible objects and builds a report of any runtime differences between the client & server.

 

The Practical IT Platform

 

	SharePoint 2010	SharePoint 2007
Use Business Data Applications Design forms for SharePoint that create, read, update, and delete business data from a back-end system.	Business data applications start with an external list in SharePoint 2010 and use InfoPath Designer 2010 to create custom forms on top of the list.
Offline and Online LOB Integration Take LOB data offline and synchronize changes automatically when back online.	Synchronize LOB data in both directions between SharePoint Workspace 2010 and enterprise line-of-business systems by bringing LOB data into SharePoint 2010 Sites and then taking it offline via SharePoint Workspace 2010.
Enhance Information Security and Integrity with Digital Signatures Help ensure the integrity of information contained in forms with the controls necessary to enable single, co-sign, and counter-sign scenarios for the full form or portions of the form.	InfoPath 2010 and SharePoint 2010 support CNG digitally signed content.
Manage Forms More Easily More easily manage form versions, updates, and upgrades in SharePoint to ensure that team members are working in the correct version of a form.	Automate template version management with SharePoint 2010 and InfoPath 2010 to provide an improved process for checking for template updates.
Use Line of Business data in applications Provide a SharePoint-based framework for creating Office Business Applications.	Business Connectivity Services (BCS) provides the read/write capability to connect SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft Office client applications to external data sources (such as SQL, Oracle, SAP, CRM, Siebel, Web services, and custom applications).		Use Business Data Catalog within SharePoint to provide read access and surface line of business information in Office client applications
Business Connectivity Services: Use Data as Document Properties Insert LOB data as document properties to make critical information more findable, perceptible, and re-usable in SharePoint.	Expose BCS data as Word 2010 document properties and insert it into documents.
Package and More Easily Move SharePoint Applications Move InfoPath applications more easily from site to site and server to server.	Package InfoPath 2010 applications more quickly and easily packaged by using Windows SharePoint Services solutions (.wsp) and SharePoint site template (.stp) file formats.

Comparison between Microsoft SharePoint 2010 with Different Versions of Microsoft Office

As SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft Office 2010 rolling out from beta version production the main concern for Organisation as well as developers is the compatibility between older versions with the newer version. Most of us already know SharePoint 2010 need 64 bit platform and to modify the site, SharePoint designer 2007 is not compatible as we must need to use SPD 2010 to do any changes.

SharePoint 2007 already have lots of important feature that go good with SharePoint and still will support many application with SharePoint 2010. I have try to trim down some information from Microsoft which features the comparison between different version of office and show what we will miss out if we don’t use Office 2010 with SharePoint 2010. The comparison based on the following areas-

• Collaboration Without Compromise
  
• Bring Ideas to Life
  
• Anywhere Access
  
• The Practical IT Platform
  

According to Microsoft –

SharePoint 2010 + Office 2007 (BETTER)- Microsoft Office 2007 provides contextual integration with Windows SharePoint Services and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, which allows people to interact with SharePoint sites without leaving their Microsoft Office programs, and provides two-way synchronization with collaborative information, documents, and business data stored on SharePoint sites.

SharePoint 2010 + Office 2010 (BEST) – Microsoft Office 2010 with SharePoint 2010 gives people the ability to view and edit with PCs, browsers, and mobile devices. This combination also includes greater capabilities for people to use Microsoft Office applications to edit documents and work with information from line-of-business (LOB) applications while offline, and then resynchronize when they’re reconnected to the network. The ability to co-author the same document or share a Microsoft Office OneNote® notebook reduces review cycles and enhances teamwork. Microsoft Office Backstage view puts many more SharePoint 2010 capabilities in the context of Office applications, including greater automation of metadata capture and streamlined access to document libraries and SharePoint workspaces.

Collaboration without Compromise

 

	Office 2010	Office 2010
Coauthor Documents and Presentations Share ideas with other people simultaneously and see what areas of a document have changed.	With coauthoring, work together in Microsoft Office Word 2010 and Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2010 and see others’ changes tracked as you work with documents hosted in SharePoint 2010
Simultaneously Edit Spreadsheets and Notebooks Work together on content using a Web browser.	Work together in Microsoft Office Excel 2010 and Microsoft Office OneNote 2010 Web applications simultaneously and see others’ changes in real time.
Share a Team Notebook Enable multiple people to add to and change the same shared notebook, and author names appear in near real time as authors make changes.	Shared OneNote 2010 notebooks provide a clear trail of what other authors have changed since the user last opened the notebook.		Partial Support.Share OneNote 2007 notebooks with other people, but without a complete audit trail.
Broadcast Slide Shows in PowerPoint Share a PowerPoint presentation over the Web for remote or networked viewers.	Audiences do not need to have PowerPoint 2010 installed; they can view the presentation in high fidelity in a Web browser.
Save Documents and Presentations Directly to SharePoint from Office Automatically discover the SharePoint document library to make saving the content easy and intuitive	People can save Office 2010 documents directly to the SharePoint 2010 document library from Office Backstage view.

 

Bring Ideas to Life

 

	Office 2010		Office 2010
Project code-named “Gemini” “Gemini” for Excel 2010 provides streamlined integration and Web-based analysis in SharePoint 2010. Use data from multiple sources and manipulate large data sets that have up to hundreds of millions of rows.	Publish and share analysis with less effort and enable others to enjoy the same Data Slicers and fast-query capabilities, even when they work in Excel Services reports.
Publish and Share Through Excel Services Share analysis and results across the organization by publishing Excel spreadsheets to the Web or other SharePoint site (intranet or extranet).	Use Office Backstage view in Excel 2010 to selectively publish parts of a worksheet, hide formulas, and stage data to SharePoint 2010.	Partial Support. Manually navigate to SharePoint sites and specify which components of the workbook will be visible when published to the Excel Services site.
Microsoft Office Access Design for the Web Microsoft Office Access applications developed in Design for Web mode can be designed and edited for publishing to SharePoint 2010, so people can share, collect, and report on data	Use Access 2010 to publish data, forms, logic/macros, and reports with nearly the same look and feel in the browser as Access 2010 on a PC.
Automate Metadata Capture Make information more findable, perceptible, discoverable, navigable, manageable, and re-usable.	Use Word 2010 to provide better and more automated metadata capture from Backstage view, including document information either added automatically or typed quickly in AutoComplete fields.	Partial Support .Use the document information panel to manually capture metadata from within Microsoft Office 2007.
Use Office Backstage View Seamlessly connect Microsoft Office applications with SharePoint 2010 to provide workflow integration, the ability to enter metadata, and social context.	By using the Backstage view in Office 2010 applications, people can enter metadata; interact with workflows, access authors’ profiles, and more. Because Backstage view is extensible, people can add custom actions to suit custom needs.
Access SharePoint Templates Access document templates stored on SharePoint 2010 more quickly and easily.	People can access document templates stored in SharePoint 2010 via the New Document wizard in Microsoft Office applications.
Apply PowerPoint Themes to SharePoint Sites Make customization of SharePoint 2010 sites more flexible by using themes as used in presentation decks	People can theme SharePoint 2010 sites by using the same themes as in PowerPoint 2010.
Use Reusable Workflows Support workflows that can be used multiple times, and provide workflow templates for later use in SharePoint 2010.	SharePoint Designer 2010 supports reusable workflows and workflows attached to content types.
Visualize Workflow Allow a workflow designer to see the steps in a SharePoint 2010 workflow in a visual format.	Workflows developed as drawings and exported from Microsoft Office Visio® 2010 can be imported into SharePoint Designer 2010 for modification and deployment.
Use Forms-Based Applications Forms-based applications connect with back-end data and include workflow, reporting, custom Web pages, and other components.	Integrate InfoPath 2010 forms with back-end data by using external lists in SharePoint 2010, and include custom sandboxed solution code.

 

Anywhere Access

 

	Office 2010		Office 2007
View and Edit Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, and Notebooks in the Browser Allow editing, even if applications are not loaded on a PC.		View and make light edits to documents through Office Web applications in a browser. Document formatting and content are maintained when changes are made in the browser, because Web applications can be hosted on the premises, running in SharePoint.
Mobile Access Enhancements View and edit documents from a mobile device, even when on the go.		View Office 2010 documents from virtually anywhere with Web applications without losing fidelity, and make changes with limited editing capabilities.
Work Offline with an Improved Experience in Microsoft Office Access Edit Office Access forms, reports, queries, and macros offline and synchronize changes in SharePoint when reconnected to the network.		Data in Microsoft SharePoint 2010 lists is cached in Access 2010 by default.		Before working offline with data from SharePoint sites, people must manually create links between Access 2007 tables and SharePoint 2010 lists.
Collaborate Offline and Online Work offline with SharePoint 2010 contents and when reconnected to the network, changes are synchronized.		Work offline with SharePoint 2010 document libraries and lists through SharePoint Workspace 2010.		Work offline in SharePoint 2010 document libraries only through Microsoft Office Groove®.
Fill In Forms Offline SharePoint list forms are synchronized with the workspace so people can work offline.		SharePoint 2010 list items open in an InfoPath 2010 form that is hosted in SharePoint for edit in display mode.
Extend the Reach of Forms Fill in InfoPath forms from a Web browser, while online or offline, and from a mobile device.		The InfoPath 2010 forms solution offers embedded solutions using InfoPath controls that can be hosted.		Limited InfoPath 2007 controls work on Web-enabled and mobile forms
Publish Access Databases to the Web Securely publish database applications to the Web so IT managers can meet requirements for data compliance, backup, and audits.		While publishing data, Access 2010 checks for incompatible objects and builds a report of any runtime differences between the client and server.		While publishing data from Access 2007, people must manually check whether objects created in Access can be supported in the server or not.

 

The Practical IT Platform

 

		Office 2010	Office 2007
Integrate LOB Data Offline and Online Take LOB data offline, and then synchronize changes automatically when back online.	Synchronize LOB data in both directions between SharePoint Workspace 2010 and enterprise line-of-business systems by bringing LOB data into SharePoint 2010 Sites, and then taking that data offline via SharePoint Workspace 2010.
Use Business Data Applications Design forms for SharePoint 2010 that creates, read, update, and delete business data from a back-end system.	Business data applications start with an external list in SharePoint 2010 and use InfoPath Designer 2010 to create custom forms on top of the list.
Enhance Information Security and Integrity with Digital Signatures Help ensure the integrity of information contained in forms with the controls necessary to enable single, co-sign, and counter-sign scenarios for the full form or portions of the form.	InfoPath 2010 and SharePoint 2010 support cryptography next-generation (CNG) digitally signed content.
Publish Forms in a Single Click Avoid clicking through the Publishing Wizard every time you update forms published in SharePoint 2010	Use ―quick‖ publish functionality in InfoPath 2010 to publish forms to SharePoint 2010 in a single click.			Publish data from forms through a publishing wizard.
Manage Forms More Easily More easily manage form versions, updates, and upgrades in SharePoint 2010 to ensure that team members are working on the correct version of a form.	Automate template version management with SharePoint 2010 and InfoPath 2010 to provide an improved process for checking for template updates.
Use Line of Business Data in Applications Provide a SharePoint-based framework for creating Office Business Applications.	Business Connectivity Services (BCS) provides the read/write capability to connect SharePoint 2010 and Microsoft Office client applications to external data sources (such as SQL, Oracle, SAP, CRM, Siebel, Web services, and custom applications).			Use the Business Connectivity Services within SharePoint to provide read access and surface line-of-business information in Office client applications
Package and More Easily Move InfoPath Applications More easily move InfoPath applications from site to site and server to server.	InfoPath 2010 applications can be packaged more quickly and easily by using the Windows SharePoint Services solutions (.wsp) and SharePoint site template (.stp) file formats.

 

Comparison Between sharePoint Designer 2007 and 2010

SharePoint Designer 2010 RTM version has released today. It came as way powerful compare to the earlier version (2007) with lot more features and also allowing users a lot more to do with sharepoint features, contents, workflows etc.

Below the comparison between both version on SharePoint designer. Got this article from SharePoint 2010 site

• Greatly improved UI, which is very helpful
• You can now use the Ribbon, Quick Launch Navigator and Site Content Structure for Site information
• Using Site Content Structure, you can create a: Web Part page, MasterPage, list, and workflow
• Permissions can be set for individual users
• Saving and deleting site templates is now possible
• The ability to use XSLT List View Web Parts to show dynamic views of your data
• Support for attaching workflows to content types
• Support for workflow templates
• Create Content Types and attach to lists

Issues		SP Designer 2007	SP Designer 2010
UI in Sharepoint Designer	– See structure site information such as: Pages, list, Master page – Use Ribbon – Use Quick Launch Navigator – Show structure site information	– Yes – No – No – No	– Yes – Yes – Yes – Yes
Lists	– Can Add New/Rename/Delete list – See all structure of list – Add/Edit/Delete columns – New/Modify/Delete views – New/Modify/Delete workflows on current list – New/Modify/Delete Content Type – Modify Setting list – Add/Edit/Delete Custom Action (very useful!)	– Yes- No – No – No – No – No – No	– Yes- Yes – Yes – Yes – Yes – Yes – Yes
Site Content Struture	– Can Create/Delete subsite – Create pages, master page, lists for site – Add/modify Group – Edit Title/Description of the site and content of site – Manage site settings, save and delete site template – View all/manage content type – All pages stored in SitePages document=> easy to control.	– Yes – No- No – No – No – No – No	– Yes – Yes- Yes – Yes – Yes   – Yes – Yes
Use XSLT List View Web Parts	– Show dynamic views of your data via XSLT List View Web Parts	– No	– Yes
Workflows	– Workflows: more actions than SP Designer 2007  (Workflow Actions In SP Designer 2007) – Import workflows from Visio – Export workflows to Visio – List Workflow, Reusable and site Workflow	– Yes- No – No – No	– Yes- Yes – Yes – Yes
Content Types	– Create/Edit/Delete Content type – Setting for Content Type – Apply Content Type to list	– No – No – No	– Yes – Yes – Yes