SharePoint 2010 – WSS 2010

We’ve seen some confusion in the newsgroups and elsewhere on the versions and editions of Windows that SharePoint 2010 will run on. This post is meant to clarify some of the most common questions we have seen.

SharePoint 2010 will support only 64-bit (x64) versions of Windows Server 2008 SP2 and Windows Server 2008 R2.  SharePoint will not install at all on 32 bit Windows, or any earlier version of Windows  such as Windows Server 2000 or Windows Server 2003.

SharePoint is not supported on ‘Server Core’ installations of Windows Server 2008 and R2. The Server Core installations of Windows server do not contain some of the components required for SharePoint to be configured or run.

To make developing for SharePoint 2010 easier, it is possible to install SharePoint on 64-bit versions of Windows Vista SP2  and Windows 7. Note that running production environments on these OSes are not supported and it will not be possible to upgrade deployments running on client versions of Windows to future versions of SharePoint.  Instructions on installing SharePoint 2010 on client versions of Windows are a bit more involved and we recommend reading the instructions at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee554869(office.14).aspx.

* Small and Essential Business Server editions of Windows install SharePoint as an optional component.

** Support for specific editions of Windows 7/Vista are yet to be finalized, but are likely to be ‘Business’/'Professional’ editions and above.

The list above is meant for informational purposes only. The official list of system requirements for SharePoint 2010 is located at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262485(office.14).aspx and includes additional details on prerequisites and other optional components.

Umesh Unnikrishnan

Program Manager, SharePoint

Tags: Administration, System

MetaVis (news, site) is a company whose goal is to help you manage and control your SharePoint environments. So if you are one of those companies who wants to use SharePoint for more than a gloried file share, the MetaVis Migrator for SharePoint is a tool you should consider adding to your arsenal.

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Tags: Administration, System, Upgrade

Management Packs allow users to monitor SharePoint 2010 with System Center Operations Manager. SharePoint Foundation Management Pack and SharePoint Server 2010 Management Pack enables monitoring of SharePoint Foundation 2010, SharePoint Server 2010, Search Server 2010 (These is separate management pack for FAST search), Project Server 2010 and Office Web Apps. Once management pack is imported to System Center console, based on console configuration it automatically discovers what SharePoint bits or servers are installed in the environment that is being monitored and start monitoring those components.

These 2010 management packs will be released to System Center Operations manager catalog and will also be released to web along with SharePoint 2010 RTM.

Out of box experience

SharePoint Management Packs monitors all prominent services, Shared Services, SharePoint Health Analyzer rules, Web Applications and SharePoint Servers. In SharePoint 2010 you can use it to monitor both physical (servers and services running on those servers) and logical (Shared Services, Web Application etc.) of SharePoint. You can monitor multiple farms, and even fix some issues automatically by running out of box tasks. You can also write your own tasks using System Center Wizard or Windows PowerShell script to enable this self-healing.

Primary takeaway of SharePoint 2010 MP is depth and breadth of monitoring and rapid detection and resolution. Here’re the improvements compared with the previous product.

These numbers illustrate significant improvements over 2007 management pack. 1200% and 300% change in number of classes and discovery represents improvement in depth and breadth of monitoring. Change in number of monitors indicates improvement in granularity of monitoring that enables quick isolation of issues. Detailed knowledge articles represent rapid diagnosis and resolution. Did you also notice knowledge articles are on TechNet, which means we will be able to improve these articles based on your feedback even after release!

In 2007 you can just monitor, one farm with multiple servers and some services. Diagram view below reflects a typical 2007 monitoring. Anything that is crossed was not available in 2007 management pack and remaining had limited depth of one additional level.

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In 2010 you can monitor multiple farms, multiple servers, services, shared services, SharePoint Health Analyzer rules (Which saves you a trip to central admin which also means that System Center Operation Manager console is your one stop shop for all monitoring requirements) and web applications.

Server Monitoring

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Service Monitoring

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Share Service Monitoring

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SharePoint Health Analyzer monitoring (One stop shop for both native and external monitoring)

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Web Application Monitoring

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Download Management Pack Beta for SharePoint 2010

SharePoint Foundation 2010: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=43d5ee9a-b9a6-441d-a35e-8a7b9b15e20c

SharePoint Server 2010: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=c8a9d749-b7a8-412a-b2db-f3e464ed3fcf

Tags: Administration, System

Here is a blog post to once and for all dispel the difference between scalability and performance!

Let’s imagine on non computer task. Let’s say the your business is to carry goods from point A to point B on the back of a donkey. Business is good, so you seem to be getting more and more requests to carry such goods. Soon enough you realize that you need a donkey that performs better! So you kill your donkey, and you get a body builder donkey! As business grows, his body builder donkeys in enough either! So you kill him, and instead you replace him with a really expensive Sylvester Stallone donkey. Business is getting even crazier, you kill the Sylvester Stallone donkey, and you get an Arnold Schwarzenegger donkey and you pump him with steroids! By now you’re donkey is really performant, but also really expensive!

What is important to realize here, is that the same purpose could’ve been achieved by numerous cheaper donkeys, by scaling your operation amongst the numerous cheaper donkeys. This means, a scalable architecture breaks down its tasks into equivalent activities, that any cheaper donkey can pick. The process of finding a stronger and stronger donkey is aiming for better performance! The equivalent of replacing weaker servers with stronger servers.

The process of distributing, distributable load across multiple servers, is referred to as scaling out your operation.

As you can see, scalability is a very different animal than performance. The end result is perhaps the same you’re able to support more business, and you’re able to support more users hitting your system. It is how you solve the problem, by providing better performance, or better scalability – is that also differentiates the cost. Numerous less powerful servers are almost always cheaper than a single very high performance supercomputer.

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Tags: Administration, System

In order to upgrade to SharePoint Foundation 2010 or SharePoint Server 2010, you must first be running Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 at SP2 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 at SP2, respectively. For customers running prior versions of SharePoint, including Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 and SharePoint Portal Server 2003, this means that you must first upgrade to Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP2 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 SP2 prior to upgrading to 2010 versions. Windows SharePoint Server 3.0 with SP2 is available as a free download, and trial versions of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 are available and supported for use in this upgrade/migration process:

SP2 Slipstream Downloads and Trial Versions

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (32-bit) with SP2

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=EF93E453-75F1-45DF-8C6F-4565E8549C2A

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (64-bit) with SP2

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9FB41E51-CB03-4B47-B89A-396786492CBA

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Trial Version (32-bit) with SP2

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=2E6E5A9C-EBF6-4F7F-8467-F4DE6BD6B831

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Trial Version (64-bit) with SP2

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=3015FDE4-85F6-4CBC-812D-55701FBFB563

Please note that the trial product versions are licensed for 180 days of use from the date of installation.

Upgrade Method

This upgrade process should be done using the Database Migration approach documented in the following links:

Windows SharePoint Services and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

Determine upgrade approach (Office SharePoint Server)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263447.aspx

Determine upgrade approach [Windows SharePoint Services]

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc287821.aspx

SharePoint Foundation 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010 (pre-release documentation)

Determine upgrade approach (SharePoint Server 2010)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263447(office.14).aspx

Determine upgrade approach (SharePoint Foundation 2010)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc287821(office.14).aspx

Note that this method is referred to as “Database attach upgrade” in pre-release documentation

Please note that there are manual steps involved in this upgrade path in order to maintain some configuration information, as documented in the links above.

Example Upgrade Sequence

The upgrade documentation above should be referenced for full detail and information, but the following illustrates an example of an upgrade sequence for moving from Office SharePoint Server 2007 to SharePoint Server 2010.

1. Prepare Farms

a. Set up a small, temporary farm running Office SharePoint Server 2007

b. Set up full SharePoint 2010 farm and verify that it is configured and running correctly

2. Upgrade content from 2003 to 2007

a. Detach the content databases from the 2003 farm and take the 2003 farm offline

b. Attach the content databases to the 2007 farm and upgrade them

c. Verify the content has upgraded and that the 2007 farm is working correctly

3. Upgrade content from 2003 to 2007

a. Detach the content databases from the 2007 farm

b. Attach the content databases to the SharePoint Server 2010 farm and upgrade them in parallel

c. Verify the content has upgraded to SharePoint 2010 and is working correctly

4. Start serving requests on the SharePoint Server 2010 farm

Again, this is just an example for illustration: for full detail, including all steps and important considerations, please review the existing and pre-release documentation linked above.

Additional Information and Notes

Please note that SharePoint Server 2010 Beta cannot be upgraded to the final release version (RTM). Any use of these steps or guidelines with any pre-release version of SharePoint 2010 should be for testing/evaluation only.

This upgrade path will necessarily mean a move from 32-bit OS architecture to 64-bit OS architecture. Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 and SharePoint Portal Server 2003 were supported only on 32-bit operating systems, as opposed to SharePoint Foundation 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010, which are supported only on 64-bit operating systems.

The database platform selected for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 or Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 should be consistent with the planned platform for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 or Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010. For example, if SQL Server 2008 will serve as the database software for the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 or Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 trial versions you should maintain that version for Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 or Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 to avoid downgrade support limitations such as SQL Server 2008 to SQL Server 2005. For additional information on SQL Server 2008 downgrade rights see:

SQL Server 2008 Licensing Frequently Asked Questions

http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/licensing-faq.aspx

Tags: System, Upgrade