Copyright © 2006 Pilothouse Consulting Inc. All rights reserved. Overview Scale out architecture Servers, services, and topology in Central Administration

Copyright © 2006 Pilothouse Consulting Inc. All rights reserved.

Overview

• Scale out architecture

• Servers, services, and topology in Central Administration

• Web application service and web application management

• SQL Server– Types of SharePoint databases– Content database tables overview


Scale-out Architecture

SQL Content DB

Web Server Web Server

Rich Clients (Office) Web Browser

Load Balancer

Email

SQL Content DB SQL Config DB


Services on Servers

• Server Farm can consist of one or more servers.

• Each server can run one or more of the following services– Windows SharePoint Services Web Application – Windows SharePoint Services Incoming E-Mail – Central Administration– Document Conversions Service– Excel Calculation Services – Office SharePoint Server Search


Demo: Topology and Services

Demo: Topology and Services

1. Examine Topology and Services section in Office Server Central Administration


Web Server

• IIS is responsible for HTTP listening, port resolution.

• Sites are not related to IIS metabase information (For example http://server/courses/chemistry101 info is not stored in the metabase)


Application vs. Safe Pages

• Application page is an a template page from _layouts virtual directory with following characteristics:– it is available within every site – only one copy of this page on the server– It is not accessible through Designer when editing a

site– It is accessible through IIS

• Safe page is a template page that comes from site definitions (For example: default.aspx in “Team Site” template).– it exists only on sites where it’s been specified by a

template or created by a user– many copies can exist on the server– It is accessible through Designer when editing a site– It is not accessible through IIS


Demo: Web Server

Demo: Web Server

1.Examine a website in IIS. Notice that sites and sub-sites are not stored there.

2.Find “_layouts” virtual directory – application pages

3.Examine the application pool settings

4.Examine Service Account Settings in Office Server Central Administration


SharePoint Web Application Management

• SharePoint Web Application is an IIS website that has a SharePoint Web Application Service running

• Before creating any site collections, administrator must create a new web application

SERVERSERVER

Web

Application

Web

Application

Web

Application

Web

Application

Site Collection 1 Site Collection 2 Site Collection 3


Types of Web Applications

• Basic Web Application – such as default web site (Training Intranet) or external site (extranet.company.com), stores site collections where end-users and site administrators work

• Central Administration – used by system administrators to manage the server farm

• Shared Services – manages features that are common to all web applications such as search, user profiles, business data catalog

• Personal Sites – contains personal user site collection (one per user)


Demo: SharePoint Web Application Management

Demo: SharePoint Web Application Management

1.Create a new web application

2.Extend a web application

3.Examine SharePoint Web Application and SharePoint Site Management sections


SQL Server

• SQL Server provides unified storage by storing all user and config data with exception of search indices and site definitions (XML files)

• Configuration Database – info about web farm configuration

• Content Database (Site) –sites, lists, list items, and documents

• Profile Database – user profiles and audience targeting

• Services database – search configuration info

• Single Sign On (SSO) – credentials to access other line of business apps


Content Databases

• SharePoint allows multiple content databases per web application in order to manage backup performance and ease administration (population of dbs is round-robin). In SharePoint 2003 MS recommended the content database size not exceed 50 GB.

• Preallocate database size in SQL Server for performance


Demo: Content Database Structure

Demo: Content Database Structure

1. Examine content database tables

2. Create a new content database for a web application


Database Best Practices

• Read-only– Editing SharePoint data directly is dangerous– Data integrity not enforced by schema– Editing stored procedures is not recommended

• Additive changes– New tables– It is not recommended to add foreign keys to

SharePoint tables

• Upgrades will break your application or your changes can break the upgrade

Documents

Copyright © 2006 Pilothouse Consulting Inc. All rights reserved. Overview Scale out architecture Servers, services, and topology in Central Administration