Newbie: SharePoint General Questions

[Stevehewitt]

Hi everyone,

I'm after some general advice and knowledge on SharePoint Portal Server.

I've read the usual MS marketing text about what it is, and from what I can tell is an internal CMS server with some funky integration.

We currently have it installed, however I am not convinced it's running correctly. (E.G We have documents 'in' SharePoint but searching for anything on the portal provides nothing. Not even our company name or a document title.)

So my questions are:

1. Is SharePoint meant to keep the documents within it's own DB (SQL) or is it just meant to catalogue the metadata for documents around the network. (E.G. Like Google)

2. Where can I find a good beginners guide to SharePoint. (Ideally online rather than a book)

3. Whats the difference between Portal Server and SharePoint Services?

4. I'm after a FAQ on best practices regarding administration and integration with other MS applications. Anyone help me out with a URL?


I would look at a course of or a book, however I'm very familiar with general MS technologies (Win2k3 Server, Exchange 2k3, SQL 2k, XP etc.) and after more details as to exactly what SharePoint is meant to be used for and it's benifits in the real world.

Thanks in advance,




Steve.

"They have the internet on computers now!" - Homer Simpson

 

[philhege]

Steve, have you configured search and indexing for the portal? Sharepoint can index portal content (including documents), network assets, and internal and external Web Sites. You just have to set it up correctly. It is out-of-the-box aware of Office document metadata, and you can add third-part iFilters for docs like PDFs, etc. All Sharepoint docs are in the SQL database (_SITE.dbo.docs) as image data type.

Look at MSD2D.com for SPS info. I'm partial to the dead tree stuff. Anything by Bill English is worth buying.

Portal Server is basically a framework and a wrapper for Sharepoint services. So you have a lot of canned functionality in SPS. WSS (or STS, or whatever the current buzzword is, and gee, I can't wait to deal with MOSS) is a collection of services, mostly document-oriented. You can publish a WSS site without extra expense. The last time I checked, facing a Sharepoint portal to the public Internet will set you back around $30-50K.

Also check out sharepointexperts.com for more info.

Good Luck!

Phil Hegedusich
Senior Programmer/Analyst
IIMAK

http://www.iimak.com

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I'll have the roast duck with the mango salsa.

 

[Stevehewitt]

Thanks for your reply Phil.

I'll do some digging around. I think I've got the vague differnece between WSS and SPS but I think I'll be best getting a test box and playing with it.

Cheers,




Steve.

"They have the internet on computers now!" - Homer Simpson