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Windows SharePoint Services version 3
What's New for IT Professionals in Windows SharePoint Services version 3
Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint® Services (version 3) has many new features and
enhancements that can help IT professionals deploy and maintain Windows
SharePoint Services solutions. Together, these
new features and enhancements provide IT organizations with better control over
information resources; individually these
new features and enhancements provide functional benefits that help reduce
administrative overhead and help IT administrators work more efficiently and
effectively. The changes that impact IT organizations and IT professionals the
most include:
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An improved administration model that centralizes configuration and
management tasks, and helps IT organizations delineate and delegate
administrative roles.
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New and improved compliance features and capabilities that help
organizations secure
resources and manage business-critical processes.
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New and improved operational tools and capabilities that drive down the
total cost of ownership (TCO).
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Improved support for network configuration.
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Improved extensibility of the object model that makes custom applications and
components easier to deploy and manage.
Administration model enhancements
Windows SharePoint Services includes
several enhancements to the
administration model that help IT organizations implement management plans and
perform administrative tasks more effectively and efficiently.
Centralized configuration and management
Windows SharePoint Services now has a centralized configuration and management
model, which includes a centralized configuration database
and two new services that automatically propagate and synchronize
the centrally-stored configuration settings
across all of the servers in your server farm. The new configuration and management
model allows you to centrally manage your server
farm without having to manage farm settings
on a server-by-server basis. For example, if you create a Web
application on one of your Web servers,
the Web application is automatically propagated to all of your Web servers. You no longer have to create and configure
individual Web applications on each of your Web servers.
To facilitate this centralized configuration model, Windows SharePoint Services
relies on two new and enhanced
services: the Windows SharePoint
Services Administration service and
the Windows SharePoint Services Timer service.
The Windows SharePoint Services Timer service
acts as the heartbeat for the server
farm and is responsible for running timer jobs that propagate configuration settings across a server
farm. The Windows SharePoint Services Administration
service works hand in hand with the Windows SharePoint Services
Timer service and is responsible for carrying out the
actual configuration changes on each of the servers
in your server farm.
Two-tier administration model
Windows SharePoint Services now has a two-tier administration model that makes
it easier for IT organizations to differentiate administrative roles and assign
administrative responsibilities.
Tier 1
Encompasses all of the administrative
features and functionality for centrally managing the
server farm. Tier 1 administrative
tasks are typically performed by an organization's IT administrators and can
include a wide range of tasks such as farm-level resource management tasks,
farm-level status checks and monitoring, and farm-level
security configuration. For example, a tier 1 administrator
might be responsible for creating new Web applications and site collections,
managing incoming and outgoing e-mail settings
for the farm, and managing server
farm topology.
Tier 2
Encompasses all of the administrative
features and functionality for managing sites within a
server farm. Tier 2 administrative tasks are typically
performed by a business unit site administrator and can include a wide range of
site-specific management tasks such as Web Part management, access management,
and content management. For example, a tier 2 administrator might be responsible
for creating a new list on a site, configuring access permissions for users,
and modifying site hierarchy.
Farm-based
Central Administration user interface
The SharePoint Central Administration Web pages have been redesigned and
reorganized, allowing easier implementation of administrative tasks and
procedures. These changes include the following new features:
Administrative task list
Shows you the key tasks that need to be done, explains why the actions are
needed, and provides a link directly to the SharePoint Central Administration
Web page where the task can be performed.
Home page topology view
Provides a concise
view of the servers that are running
in a farm and the services that are
running on each server.
Services on Server Web page
Provides an easy way to manage the services that are running on an individual server.
Flat menu structure
The SharePoint Central Administration home page consists of just two top-level
navigation pages: an Operations page that lists tasks affecting farm resource
usage, and an Application Management page that lists tasks specific to a single
application or service within the farm.
Delegation of administrative responsibilities and roles
Because
the multi-tier administration model provides a clear delineation of
administrative tasks, IT managers can better delegate administrative
responsibilities to the appropriate users
and administrators within an organization.
New and improved compliance features and capabilities
Windows SharePoint Services includes new and enhanced features that provide IT
organizations with better control over information resources. These
new and enhanced compliance features include:
Policy management
You can now configure policies for Web applications based
on the domain or the server
authentication zone. For example, you can create intranet and extranet
authentication zones to restrict access to information based
on how users access information. You
can also use authentication zones to
create access control lists (ACLs) that include a group of users from different authentication providers.
Auditing and logging
Auditing and logging can now be configured for all actions on sites, content,
and workflows.
Item-level access control
Windows SharePoint Services provides item-level access control and
security
settings that allow site
administrators and IT administrators to control which people or groups have
access to sites, document libraries, lists, folders, documents, and list items.
In addition to controlling access to Web page content, item-level access also
allows administrators to control which user
interface (UI) elements are visible or actionable. This feature, known as UI
trimming, also reduces Web page clutter and makes Web pages easier to navigate.
Administrator access control
Windows SharePoint Services now prohibits IT administrators from viewing site
content unless the IT administrator is granted site collection administrator
privileges. In addition, an event is written to the Event Viewer application log
whenever an IT administrator changes site collection administrator privileges.
New and improved operational tools and capabilities
Windows SharePoint Services includes
several new and improved tools and
capabilities that help IT organizations implement operational plans and tasks.
These features and capabilities
include:
Backup and recovery support
Several new and improved features make it easier to perform backup and recovery
tasks. A multi-stage recycle bin allows users
to retrieve inadvertently deleted documents, reducing dependence on IT
departments for document retrieval functions. The recycle bin also allows
administrators to manage the lifecycle of deleted items in the recycle bin.
The backup and restore functionality is also enhanced, providing support for
Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), which allows better integration with
non-Microsoft backup and recovery programs. In addition, the backup and restore
functionality in Windows SharePoint Services allows you to back up and restore
the data that is stored in your SQL database, such as your configuration database, content and configuration data for Web
applications, and search databases. Also, backup and recovery functionality is
provided natively at the command line through the Stsadm command, and it is
provided in the user interface.
Upgrade and migration support
The following features have been added to make upgrades faster and easier:
Gradual upgrade support
By performing a gradual upgrade you can gradually upgrade data and functionality
on a server that is running Microsoft
Windows SharePoint Services (version 2) and Windows SharePoint Services. This is
particularly useful if you are
upgrading a complex environment and you do not want to interrupt business processes.
Migration support Windows
SharePoint Services provides support for migrating content. You can migrate
content for an entire Web site or you can migrate content on a more granular
basis, such as lists and documents. In addition, you can migrate content
incrementally. Migration mode support cannot be used
to migrate customized settings,
features, solutions, or computer settings;
migration mode support can only be used
to migrate content.
Reparenting
This allows you to dynamically rearrange a hierarchy of SharePoint sites and is
typically used during a migration.
Previously, in Window SharePoint Services (version 2), you needed to back up and
then delete a site from its current location, and then restore the site in the
new location to move a site.
Monitoring support
Improved instrumentation is provided through Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM)
management packs. MOM packages support centralized monitoring and management of
configurations ranging from single server and small server
farms to very large server farms.
Host header mode
Host header mode, a new feature in Windows SharePoint Services, allows you to
create multiple domain-named sites in a single Web application. In Windows
SharePoint Services version 2, when scalable hosting mode was enabled, you could
extend only one Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) Web site. Now,
with host header mode, you can have host header-based
site collections on multiple Web applications, so you're no longer limited to
extending just one IIS Web site. In fact, you can have a mix of path-based
and host header-based site
collections in the same Web application. In addition, you do not need to specify
whether you want to use host header
site collections when creating the configuration database. Instead, you can now specify whether site
collections should be host header-based
or path-based when creating the site
collection.
Server renaming
Windows SharePoint Services now has the command Stsadm renameserver
command that makes it easier to rename your Web servers
and your back-end database servers. When you run Stsadm renameserver, the configuration database for your farm is updated so that any URLs or
references to the old server name are
now mapped to the new server name.
Credential management
You can now manage service account credentials, such as the application
pool identity for your application pools, through the SharePoint Central
Administration site. In addition, when you change the user
account under which a service runs,
Windows SharePoint Services uses the
Windows SharePoint Services Administration service
and the Windows SharePoint Services Timer service
to stop and start Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) services across your farm so that the credential
changes immediately take effect. You can also change just the password for a service account through the command line.
Improved support for network configuration
Windows SharePoint Services includes enhanced support for network configuration,
including:
Alternate access mappings
Alternate access mappings (AAM) provides a mechanism for mapping newly-added
front-end Web servers to your Web application. For example, if you
install and configure Windows SharePoint Services on a single front-end server, and a user
browses to your server, the server
will render the content that is in your Web application. However, if you add subsequent
Web servers to your server
farm, the newly-added servers will
not have alternate access mappings configured to your Web application.
Pluggable authentication
Windows SharePoint Services adds support for non-Windows-based
identity systems by integrating with the pluggable Microsoft ASP.NET forms
authentication system. ASP.NET authentication allows Windows SharePoint Services
to work with identity management systems that implement the MembershipProvider
interface. You do not need to rewrite the security administration pages or manage shadow Active
Directory directory service accounts.
Extensibility enhancements
Windows SharePoint Services has several extensibility enhancements that make it
easier to create custom applications that are well integrated with Windows
SharePoint Services features, functionality, and user
interface elements.
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Site definitions have been enhanced so that sites are no longer locked
or bound to your original template choice. For example, you can now
enhance a document workspace site with features from a team site.
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Administration tasks and functionality can be extended to custom
applications. For example, if you create a custom database by extending a database
that was created by Windows SharePoint Services, you can have the custom
database automatically appear
in the backup and restore user
interface.
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Enhancements to the Windows SharePoint Services Timer
service make it easier to create and manage timer jobs
that control custom services.
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In addition, Windows SharePoint Services hosts the Windows Workflow Foundation,
which allows the creation of customized workflow solutions and the use
of structured workflows on document library and list items. In conjunction with
the Windows SharePoint Services application templates, the Windows Workflow
Foundation allows you to create robust workflow-enabled business applications.
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 Note:
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This content is preliminary content for a
preliminary software release.
It might be incomplete and is subject to change.
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A pre-upgrade scan tool is available that you must use to scan your sites before performing an upgrade.
If you have not run this tool, and you attempt to run
setup and upgrade your environment,
setup will exit and prompt you to run the tool.
Some of the issues reported by this tool for each SharePoint site include:
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The existence of any site templates that have been
customized for a particular site. You need to know which site templates
have been customized, so that you can verify the customizations again
after upgrade.
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The existence of orphaned objects.
Objects such as list items, lists, documents, web
sites, and site collections can be orphaned, or in other words, may
exist, but not be associated with a particular site. Because
orphaned objects do not work in the old version, they also won’t work
after the upgrade. If you perform an in-place upgrade, the orphaned
items will still exist but not work. If you perform a gradual upgrade,
orphaned items will not be copied to the new site. It is recommended
that you clean up any orphaned objects before upgrading.
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 Tip:
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Members of the Administrators group on the
front-end Web servers
can recover orphaned items before the upgrade by using the tool
available from the Microsoft Web site <Link to come>.
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The existence of custom Web Parts.
The existence of custom Web Parts should be
reported to the appropriate site administrator or developer before
upgrading, in order to give them time to investigate. Customized Web
Parts may need to be rebuilt or redeployed after the upgrade.
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Note:
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Heavily obfuscated custom Web Parts may
need to be rebuilt and redeployed by the site administrator or
developer after the upgrade.
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Note:
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It is highly recommended that the
server administrator pre-scan all front-end Web
servers before upgrade and resolve any problems
that can be resolved before scheduling the upgrade.
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Use the information gathered from the
pre-upgrade scan tool to determine:
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Whether to perform an in-place or gradual upgrade.
The
Determine upgrade approach (Office SharePoint Server)
topic provides information to help you decide which type of upgrade to
perform. The report generated by the pre-scan tool is important to take
into consideration when making this decision. Generally, if you find a
significant number of issues, you should use gradual upgrade rather than in-place upgrade, so
you can address them.
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Whether to upgrade some or all site collections
that contain customized sites.
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Which sites may need to have customizations
reapplied or redone after upgrade and may take longer than others in the
review stage.
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Note that when you run the pre-upgrade scan tool, the metadata on all lists and
libraries in your sites is updated. This means that most or all lists in the
environment will show that they have been updated after the pre-upgrade scan
tool is run. The dates for individual list items and documents are not changed
by this process.
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Note:
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You must be a member of the Administrators group
on the local computer to run this tool.
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1.
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Download
the pre-upgrade scan tool from <Link to come> and save the
download package to a folder on one of the front-end Web
server in your server
farm, on your standalone server.
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Note:
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As of Beta 2TR, the download for the pre-upgrade
scan tool is not yet available on the Microsoft Web site. To get this
utility, you can install version 3.0 to a test server, search
for the file prescan.exe, and run it against your version 2.0 server.
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1.
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Extract
the two files (prescan.exe and preupgradescanconfig.xml) from the
download package.
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2.
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On the
command line, change to the folder that contains prescan.exe, and then
run the following command to scan all servers
in your server farm:
prescan.exe /c prescanconfig.xml /all
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Note:
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Templates used by
SharePoint Portal Server 2003 can be incorrectly identified
during the pre-upgrade scan as custom templates unless you use
the prescanconfig.xml file when you perform the scan. This file
contains additional logic to identify the portal templates as
standard templates used by SharePoint Portal Server 2003, rather than
custom templates based
on Windows SharePoint Services v2.
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If you
have already installed the new version, but have not yet run the
SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration wizard, you can run
the prescan tool from the following folder on your hard disk: c:\program
files\common files\microsoft shared\web server
extensions\12\bin.
Running
the scan can take several
minutes or a few hours depending on the amount of content in your
environment.
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3.
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After
the scan has completed, a summary report is displayed in the command
line window.
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If there were any errors or if any upgrade issues were found for your sites, you
can review the full report to see the
details. The report is named PreupgradeReport_uniqueID_Log.txt and is
located in the temp directory of the user
who ran the tool (for example, c:\Documents and Settings\User1\Local Settings\Temp). There is also a
prescan.log file in the same directory. This prescan.log file simply notes the
time or times when the prescan tool was run.
After you run the pre-scan tool, you can review the reports to find and
troubleshoot issues. You can also share the relevant pre-scan test results with
other members of the upgrade team. For example, report issues such as customized
site templates or custom Web Parts to the appropriate site owner, Web designer,
or developer before scheduling the upgrade to give them time to investigate the
issue and take preliminary steps. A designer or developer may decide that it is
prudent to rebuild a heavily obfuscated Web Part before the upgrade occurs. Site
owners can then verify any customizations have been done to their sites,
including site templates and changes to core ASPX files, and note any potential
issues.
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Note:
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This content is preliminary content for a
preliminary software release.
It might be incomplete and is subject to change.
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You can create the upgrade definition file and custom site definitions on a
separate development environment. Then, you can use
the following process to deploy the upgrade definition files and custom site
definitions to your server.
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 Important:
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This step must be performed after installation,
but before running the SharePoint Products and Technologies
Configuration wizard.
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Before performing this procedure, you should have created the upgrade definition
files and custom site definitions. For more information, see
Develop new custom site definitions and create upgrade definition files (Windows
SharePoint Services)
and the Software Development Kit (SDK).
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1.
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Save the
upgrade definition files to the %WinDir%/Program Files/Common
Files/Microsoft Shared/Web server
extensions/12/Config/Upgrade folder.
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2.
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Save the
custom site definitions to the %WinDir%/Program Files/Common
Files/Microsoft Shared/Web server
extensions/12/TEMPLATE\\folder, whereis the locale ID for the language
that the template is in, for example, 1033 for US English, andmatches
the site definition name, for example ACTION.
Name the new folder using all capital letters.
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3.
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Save the
webtemp.xml files for your custom site definitions to the %WinDir%/Program
Files/Common Files/Microsoft Shared/Web server
extensions/12\TEMPLATE\1033\XML folder. Name the files WEBTEMP.XML,
wherematches the site definition name; for example, WEBTEMPACTION.XML.
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4.
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You
might need to reset Internet
Information Services (IIS) to recognize the new site definitions. To reset IIS, run the following command on the command
line: iisreset /noforce
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5.
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If you
have a server farm, repeat
these steps for all servers
in your farm.
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