WSS Beta 2 Questions

[MHY]

Currently evaluating WSS beta 2, here are my questions:

1. Installed WSS onto a WIN2003 server with an existing test website, can't access this site after installing WSS why?

2. On a follow up to the above, I created a new site using IIS 6.0, now I can't access the WSS site, why?

3. Does this mean that WSS and any other website can't be on the same server?

4. I'm curious as to how WSS uses MSDE, however I cannot connect to it using SQL Enterprise. I've checked the status of the MSSQL$SHAREPOINT service, and it is Started.

5. Is the release product of WSS a free download if you have a WIN2003 server license?

Thanks in advance for any answers to the above.

Mike Yamashita
Analyst
Dept. Of Education - State Of Hawaii

 

[DJCordel]

Well, I may have a few answers for you, but not all of them. First up...your existing test site that was on the server when you installed WSS: If this was the default site in IIS, then WSS will take control of that site and you will no longer have access to it unless two things, one: you remove WSS from that virtual server, or two: you specify the directories that SharePoint controls for that virtual server.

Next up, access to the site.....Not sure why you can not access them, but I would check a couple of things: Host Header Names, Port Numbers, and Permissions to the sites. Do you have access to the admin console?

As far as the MSDE/Win2003 licensing: Yes, it is free to download, and you do not need additional licensing under Win 2003 as long as you are not authenticating your users. Although, that kind of defeats the purpose of having SharePoint if you cant secure the information being stored in your sites. If you authenticate your users, then you will have to have a seperate CAL for each user connected to SharePoint. If you are a Web Hoster, then I would look into special licensing that is set up for that scenario, where you can purchace an unlimited license for a monthly fee. This is the one I use and it works very well for me. That way I know that no matter how many people I have signing into SharePoint, I am covered in the eyes of Microsoft.

Last but not least.....Having multiple sites on the same server: Yes, you can have multiple standard sites and multiple SharePoint sites running on the same server. You will just need to come up with a naming scheme, or use seperate IP addresses for each site. I use the host headers and it seems to work very well for me. I point all domains at the same IP, and then let IIS determain which site to serve based on the host headers

Anyways....Hope any of that helped!

-Jason