Administration & Maintenance
Proper administration of software solutions often doesn't get much credit. Customers and users expect a software solution to be easy to install and hope that it will look after itself just fine. Well, one end of the spectrum certainly is to install a little utility software to a desktop machine, and that should certainly give you no trouble. But architecting, installing, customizing and then maintaining a SharePoint solution certainly means the other end of that spectrum. Not that SharePoint is unnecessarily complex and cumbersome, but it does have its "specifics" with certain concepts, and it builds on a good amount of base-level technologies that all need to be carefully considered.
Also not to forget, one of the main strengths of the SharePoint 2007 release is that can be integrated well with other Microsoft server solutions, as well as other Line of Business applications like CRM, ERP or PIM. Doing so results in even more complexity when designing such an overall Enterprise IT architecure - one that is only more complex in a linear fashion though, rather than exponential. Yet, it is still complex in the end.
How complex is it to Architect and Manage a SharePoint solution?
Well, it depends on what you're planning to do with it. If you want to set up a plain vanilla test installation and play around with it, or all you need is a stand-alone internal Collaboration server for a single team or small company, you could have it up and running literally within a couple of hours: simply by using the SharePoint installer and afterwards the SharePoint Wizard. But if your installation requires secure access, or serves many teams and several of the SharePoint solutions - like Web Content Management, Records Management or Business Intelligence - you should note that professional planning is highly advisable before you even start the deployment. In other words, as little as 2 days might be enough to get a small installation going, and 2 months will probably be the high side for a more encompassing "standard" installation. That is, of course, assuming that the person doing the setup knows what needs to be done.
SharePoint can be set up as a "Stand-alone Server", but I recommend not to do so unless you absolutely know you'll never need to extend it to improve performance, as it cannot be easily scaled up into a multi-server solution. Plus, in order to really understand what you're installing, you should really educate yourself on the concepts behind SharePoint. You should familiarize yourself with what service accounts will be running and what services are provided. Also, it will help you to better manage the data on your servers if you know exactly what databases are being used, as almost all data is stored in databases with MOSS 2007. In short, even for your test installation, it probably is a good idea to set it up as a Server Farm, with only a single server in the farm.
SharePoint builds on a whole stack of technologies. You should be somewhat familiar with Microsoft's SQL Server, which is the "default" choice in conjunction with SharePoint. Then you need to know about the authentication system you use. Here, SharePoint very bluntly pushes you to use Windows authentication which often - but not necessarily - will be an Active Directory installation, and with that you of course need to have knowledge of your DNS setup and network topology. Also, as SharePoint makes good use of email services, usage of an SMTP server is required too - which does not necessarily mean Microsoft Exchange. A good understanding of Microsoft's IIS (Internet Information Server) is also helpful. Last but not least, it wouldn't be a Windows solution if you didn't have to sometimes use command line utilities, like the famous stsadm. If you're a Windows IT Administrator, you're probably already knowledgeable about these systems anyway.
So, while some have been able to set up a SharePoint server and make some basic use of its libraries in a very short time, setting it up in its entirety is a not-so-small undertaking. Probably the best indication of this are the four downloadable books Microsoft provides on planning and deploying a SharePoint server solution which add up to over 1,000 pages.
As with most IT projects, the bulk of the complexity is caused when multiple decision makers, user groups and roles are involved. At the same time, SharePoint is also designed to separate out different parts of administration, which typically can be dealt with by separate teams or individuals. This makes implementation a whole lot easier.
The Team Players
One of the first things you learn when you study computer science is to solve complex problems by "breaking them down" into smaller problems. Microsoft has pretty much taken that road by modularizing SharePoint and by defining roles, not just for using the solution, but also for the administration side.
Obviously, IT Administrator(s) are involved in the setup of the server(s) and installing SharePoint, as well as connecting it to the related server products, like the SMTP server. The IT Administrators then also need to do the basic configuration.
To reduce complexity, SharePoint defines the concept of Site Collections, as an umbrella for Sites (e.g. websites) that can inherit the Site Collection settings. Therefore, as a next level down, Site Collection Administrator(s) take over from where the IT Administrators leave it. Each Site and even the enclosed Libraries or Lists can then be managed by separate Site Owner(s), but it could all also easily be handled by the Site Collection Administrator. As you probably sense, the concept of inheriting permissions makes it even more valuable to plan usage of the whole system upfront. The better your initial assessment is, the less your administrative work will be later.
With the new SharePoint 2007 release, Microsoft has also introduced the SharePoint Designer application. This reflects another separation: the Web Designers now have their own application to set up portal and website structures, master pages, layouts, style sheets and even workflows, while the Content Contributors use the browser for in-place editing to populate the content into the web pages, lists and libraries.
The IT Tasks
After installing SharePoint as a "Server Farm" the IT Administrator has to complete a number of tasks to set up the server(s), services, web applications and also the new Shared Services Provider(s). The "SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration" is the central tool for the IT Administrator to configure SharePoint. The Homepage lists all the tasks the Administrator has to complete before content should be populated, with the first tasks revolving around creating web applications and a ShareService Provider, which somewhat loosely couples the services for User Profiles and MySites, Search and Index, Audiencing, Excel Services, and the Business Data Catalog. Typically, these services make sense to install on separate "mid-tier" servers, rather than putting them on the web frontend server(s) or the database server(s). Again though, for starters, it is absolutely fine to use a single server to host all these services.
The user interface of the SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration includes pages named "Operations" and "Application Management", and linked from here is the "ShareServices Administration". These three sections comprise most of the setup functionality involved for the IT Administrator. As much as they present themselves in a grouped-up organized fashion, if you don't understand how several of the links can relate to each other, their usage can easily turn into an adventure game. E.g. "Alternate access mappings" is listed on the Operations page, while "Authentication providers" are listed on the Application Management page. And while "Alternate" suggests that it is an optional functionality, these "Alternate access mappings" along with "Zones" and "Authentication providers" are actually very fundamental to the SharePoint concepts and really are to be used in conjunction.
A similar treasure hunt also applies to the Search and Index functionality. There are several places where the IT Administrator needs to configure the search and index server, either to a web application, content database or shared services provider. Beyond setting up these services, it is also important to know that the IT Administrator needs precise instructions on what users will need to search on, as the fundamental crawl settings and the Managed properties - that users can search on - are set up in the Shared Services Provider.
Backup and Restore is probably the most common job for any administrator, and while it is essential, it still often doesn't get done. In other words, it is important that the software makes it easy to set up this job, and SharePoint does well here: the whole server farm can be backed up in one step. But be aware, there are still a few devils in the details, which you might want to read up on. Amongst them are:
Backup and restore will not back up or restore the following:
• Custom solutions deployed
• Alternate access mapping
• Internet Information Services metabase
• Backup and restore will back up, but not restore, the following:
• The configuration database
• The Central Administration Web application
• The Central Administration content database
The IT Administrators also might need to install any site or workspace Templates, and they have to create and configure the Site Collections. If you haven't looked at the 40 Templates Microsoft has just added to the free Windows SharePoint Services v3, you might want to do so. Some look quite attractive. My favorite is the SalesLeadPipeline.wsp :-)
The biggest feature though, doesn't get mentioned on the user interface: Stability. MOSS 2007 has been running very well for us for almost six months. Even searching the web and knowledge base on stability problems didn't uncover too many issues or bugs for a system of the size of SharePoint. This certainly will be something to watch as more and more and also larger installations are put into place over time.
Of course, work doesn't stop here for the IT Administrators. There are plenty of other things to consider, plan and implement, like managed code, forms and data connections etc. All in all, just the new stuff in the 3rd generation of SharePoint is enough to justify booking a course with one of the many training companies, or to use the help and services of a SharePoint system integrators, to get you kick-started.
The Content Tasks
MOSS 2007 now includes the formerly separate Web Content Management functionality, but it also adds a whole lot of new and valuable concepts to it. My favorite here is the multi-language capability. Many companies these days need to support their websites in at least two languages, and as the WCM part of MOSS 2007 is priced right for the "mid-market" it will probably achieve a good market penetration. The so-called Variations have to be set up by the Site Collection Administrator.
Also very important, Audit settings can be determined centrally by the Site Collection Administrator, whereas the Audit log report along with the Site Collection Usage reports allow monitoring of the success of the site collection and its sub-sites quite well.
Site Collection Administrators also manage Templates, Web parts, Workflows, as well as the Search settings for the whole site collection.
The Site Owners are responsible for the whole look and feel. This also includes the user access to the site, and the site's navigation functionality, along with the master page and the layout pages that the content contributors can choose from when adding pages.
The default groups (roles) in SharePoint probably fit the needs of most small and medium size companies. Large companies should be able to extend this definition quite easily, which usually will affect other areas like workflows too: e.g. whenever pre-defined single level of approvals is insufficient.
The bulk of content administration typically occurs at the library and list administration level. Versioning, Audience targeting, Content scheduling, Workflow settings, Information management policy setting, as well as RSS and email settings are all to be determined here. Not to forget, though, that Content Types, Columns (Metadata) and Views are also managed here too. Being able to contribute content to several of the libraries and list types, like the Calender, via email is another favorite of mine.
It is very helpful that across the different types of content, or libraries and lists, the administration pages are structured very similarly. It should take the Site Collections Administrators and Site Owners very little time to become familiar with this user interface. But while I find it quite intuitive to use, some flavors of an adventure game exist here too, like when you need to select the "Tree view" link to get to the setting to switch off the "Quick Launch".
As mentioned before, the Web Designers have their very own tool now with SharePoint Designer. It is a very powerful application and lets you manage the structure and content of a whole site collection. It is also a great tool to design master and layout pages and to connect them with cascading style sheet settings. And as with many of the other Office applications, like InfoPath, SharePoint Designer also does well when managing SharePoint content in general, such as when adding the contents of a Page library as input for the navigation on a site. Simply drag the page library into the navigation area of a layout page to do so.
Summary
Once you have understood the main concepts behind SharePoint 2007 it is quite simple to deploy it. As with all things in life though, practice makes perfect. So most users will benefit from the help of a system integrator who routinely does these installations.
As mentioned earlier, the biggest hurdle is usually that settings need to be made, not just in the SharePoint administration user interface, but also in other server solutions or other parts of the system . If you're familiar with all the technologies involved, all should be smooth. If you're not, then even a small thing can get you stuck, like when you don't know that you shouldn't set up the SharePoint server on a Domain controller!