Shared Service Providers Part 1

Shared Service Providers

I hear a lot of questions and comments about shared service providers which I hope to address in this 3 part blog. In this “mini series” we will cover everything you need to know to get started using the functionality provided by SSP (Shared service providers)

Today I will introduce you to SSP and the functionality they offer. Tomorrow I will cover the installation process and on Friday we will cover some common pit falls that might come up and how to fix them.

So what is a SSP?

Basically SSP hosts a combination of services that we would want to share across the server farm(s).

SSP itself is a independent component of MOSS 2007. It does not get installed automatically when you first install MOSS as it needs special planning and configuration. Each farm should have at least one SSP but can have many if the situation calls for it. In my 5 years of Sharepoint development I have never had the need to create more than one SSP for my installation but I have heard stories and situations where you would need multiple ones. (A good example of this is a global installation with many farms).

The services that SSP handles includes

· Search

· My Sites

· User profiles

· Audiences

· Excel Services

· Business data catalog

· Advanced usage analyst reports

You will need an SSP Installed and configured to take advantage of any of these services

In all honestly if you have MOSS and don’t Have a SSP installed: you might as well be using SharePoint services 3.0 for your installation because you are really missing out on the meat and potatoes of MOSS

I had a client a few months back that was using MOSS2007 and was not utilizing a SSP infact they did not know what an SSP was. They called me in to figure out why when they typed in a serach term, SharePoint would return errors. The simple answer was you cannot use search without an SSP.

Once I explained to their developers what a SSP was and how they could use it they really stared to take advantage of all the services MOSS can provide.

That just about does it for part one. Please see below a list of references regarding SSP.

Please feel free to email me at any time with any questions or comments on Sharepoint,

mccannblogs@gmail.com

McCann Out

Using Nested Master Pages in SharePoint

I had a hard time finding info on this one but someone pointed out the article that shows you how to do it:

http://ari.provoke.co.nz/archive/2007/04/10/using-nested-master-pages-in-sharepoint.aspx

If you have any tips, tricks or resources you think the guild would find useful please email them to Susan Fischer at susan@clinchportal.com

Deploying to Sharepoint

The recommended way to deploy to sharepoint seems to be using Solutions. I found this article that describes how to do this.


http://www.developer.com/mgmt/article.php/3672646

If you have any additional tips, tricks, resources related to deployment then please post comments on this article or email them to susan@clinchportal.com and we will post them here.

Moss vs Wss: What's the difference?

For those unsure on what the difference is between Moss (Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server) and Wss (Windows Sharepoint Services) I found this good article explaining it:

http://dotnetaddict.dotnetdevelopersjournal.com/moss_vs_wss.htm

If you have any tips, tricks, resources that you think would help the group please email them to susan@clinchportal.com and we will post them here.

SharePoint ConnectStrings and WebParts

Everybody is wondering where to store the connectstrings for your webpart.

Some say to make it a property, some say to place it in the web.config for your application.

This article offers an alternative that will allow you to change the connectstring without needing to bring down your application. Here is the link to the article:


http://www.sharepointu.com/forums/t/107.aspx

If you have any tips, tricks, resources that you think would help the group please email them to susan@clinchportal.com and we will post them here.

Debugging Sharepoint WebParts

For those trying to debug sharepoint web parts. I will start to post tips and tricks for doing so.
For now I will just supply you with a link to the microsoft article on how to do it:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms916837.aspx

If you have any tips, tricks, resources that you think would help the group please email them to susan@clinchportal.com and we will post them here.

Beyond Search: Best Bets and Keywords (MOSS Only)

Sometimes search is not good enough and you need to ensure documents get found. Here is an article on a SharePoint feature that will help:

http://www.thesanitypoint.com/archive/2008/12/15/best-bets-and-keywords-in-sharepoint-and-search-server.aspx

If you have any tips, tricks, resources that you think would help the group please email them to susan@clinchportal.com and we will post them here.