Steve Caravajal's Ramblings

SharePoint vs File Shares

Common questions I still encounter very frequently is "Should I use SharePoint to replace my file shares? or Should I migrate my file share data into SharePoint?"  So I"ve been having this discussion fairly often so I thought I'd share some of my thoughts and some resources.

Depending on how the content will be accessed, how long the content is going to be used and the user interface requirements, the answer is that SharePoint definitely has some key advantages over file shares.  You see, I didn't really answer the blanket question, reason being it's not a black vs white question.   Obviously, there are a number of key questions that need to be answered as you plan your migration.  Here are my general thoughts that I share with customers, that get modified according to their specific needs and requirements.  These apply to the current state of the art, eg. SharePoint 2007 so use at your own risk.  The references below are excellent resources and should be reviewed very thoroughly for anyone thinking they are going to do this.  Have fun.

SharePoint has key benefits that file shares don't provide.

SharePoint is not a universal file share replacement.  Each has a different purpose and a different sweet spot.

SharePoint is a good temporary storage location for "active" content.  SharePoint document libraries are all about collaboration, which is an active situation.  It is not a long-term archival location.

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Key benefits of the SharePoint platform

http://www.sharepointblogs.com/usecases/archive/2008/02/13/key-benefits-of-the-sharepoint-platform.aspx

Joel Oleson has a very good comprehensive discussion including a feature comparison in a blog post entitled "Is the File Server Dead?"

http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2007/01/02/is-the-file-server-dead.aspx

Mike Watson presented several scenarios where file shares are preferred in "File Shares vs. SharePoint"

http://blogs.msdn.com/mikewat/archive/2006/12/09/file-shares-vs-sharepoint.aspx

SharePoint vs. File Shares

http://spsdreamjob.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!D0B14C6B969D7501!131.entry

Can I Map a Document Library as a Mapped Drive?

http://www.endusersharepoint.com/?p=56

What Not to Store in SharePoint

http://blogs.msdn.com/joelo/archive/2007/11/08/what-not-to-store-in-sharepoint.aspx

What is the difference between a file server and SharePoint?

http://www.endusersharepoint.com/?p=54

Great WCM Content + A New WCM Book is Coming

Andrew Connell's book "Professional SharePoint 2007 Web Content Management Development: Building Publishing Sites with Office SharePoint Server 2007" is due out in June but you can preorder.  Andrew let me preview the content as he was creating it and it's great!  If you are doing WCM, you have to have this book.

Andrew also teaches this great course WCM401: Developing Publishing Sites with SharePoint Server 2007 WCM.  If you can't be there in person, relax the course is also offered online.

Andrew is a major contributor to the community.  Keep it up buddy!

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Creating A SharePoint Development Environment

As more and more .NET developers are beginning to develop custom SharePoint assets, a few common questions continue to be How do I set up a development environment? and What tools do I need?  Now, I know that beauty is in the mind of the developer and unfortunately size does matter.  Different size organizations have different policies but there are several requirements any environment should have.  Here is my own 2 cents in on a few aspects since I know a lot of folks don't want to read a lot of documents....I'm not sure what they do between 12:00 am and 6:00 am but it's definitely not reading.  But, again, these are my own 2 cents.  Check out the references and you will get a more complete story from folks much smarter than me.  I've also include references for tools you should also install.

• First and foremost, you need to develop locally for the "best" debugging and testing experience.
• Development is done in a virtual machine using the Win2003 OS and WSS/MOSS installed.  Each developer should have their own virtualized environment.  Have the virtual instance on a separate internal drive if capability allows or use an external drive.  Now having said this, you should know that I use both a virtualized environment and a standalone environment that has Win2003 installed directly.  In the latter scenario, I use a standalone Web server without a domain controller.  I have found that this is a very lean system and I can accomplish a lot of development without unnecessary overhead.
• The host computer needs 4 GB of RAM.  Of course you can use 2 GB, but why???  In this case, more is better.
• Establish a set of scripts to automate the configuration of your development environment.  Scot Hillier has an excellent set to get you started: SharePoint Development Environment Modifications
• A Visual Studio development process that maximizes your productivity.  This will hopefully evolve as you do more and more development but I'd encourage you to check out my buddy Ted Pattison's STSDEV to get you started.
• <update May 1, 2008>Since I posted this my buddy Andrew Connell has released a tool for building projects and solutions, SharePoint Project Utility Tool Window.  I've been using it recently and it's great as well.  It's awesome to see this kind of tool development by Ted and Andrew.  Great job guys.  Choices...choices...choices...
• And for a great SharePoint development book, here you go.

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Environment Requirements and Overview

Setting Up Development Environments for the 2007 Microsoft Office System

Implementing Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007 and Windows® SharePoint® Services 3.0 Solutions

Team-Based Development in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

Development Tools and Techniques for Working with Code in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (Part 1 of 2)

Development Tools and Techniques for Working with Code in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (Part 2 of 2)

Building the Virtualized Environment

Use Virtual PC Differencing Disks to your Advantage

MOSS 2007 Development - Virtual Server Set Up

How to Create a MOSS 2007 VPC Image - the Whole 9 Yards

Configuration, Tools and Processes

SharePoint Development Environment Modifications

STSDEV: Simple Tools for SharePoint 2007 Development

SharePoint Project Utility Tool Window

SharePoint Server 2007 SDK: Software Development Kit

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0: Software Development Kit (SDK)

STSDEV: Simple Tools for SharePoint 2007 Development

Using Visual Studio 2005, MakeCab.exe and MSBuild to Create Window SharePoint Services v3 Solution Files (*.WSP's)

Enterprise Search Training Videos

These 14 videos were just published to TechNet.

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Silverlight Applications and RIA

One of the few technologies other than SharePoint that is really hot with customers right now is Silverlight.  I've been creating some custom apps to demo to customers but I've run across FaceOut from Infragistics.  You need to check this out.

Here is a blurb taken from their site:

FaceOut - Rich Internet Sales Dashboard

Infragistics' faceOut is an interactive demonstration of our NetAdvantage for Silverlight preview controls.  Using our chart, gauge, and enhanced scroll panel, we've created a salesperson dashboard to illustrate how you can build a richer experience on the Web for a real, line-of-business scenario.  We've taken this concept a step farther by creating an enterprise mashup using representative enterprise sales data along with Windows Live Maps and the Live Contacts schema to show how you can integrate your corporate data with services provided on the internet to bring you a business-driven mashup experience.

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SharePoint and Silverlight

The Silverlight Blueprint for SharePoint provides a source code jump start for creating Web Parts that utilize Silverlight user interface elements.  What?  You haven't heard of Silverlight?  First, take a minute and crawl out from under the rock, dust yourself off and go check out this blog post about a great demo.  This is a MUST SEE and will make you a believer.

Then go read up on Silverlight 2 here and here to know where the technology is going.  Great stuff!!!  More cool stuff here.

Now, you can return to the underside of the rock,...for awhile...Spring is coming...

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Enterprise Search, Search Server 2008 and Server Express 2008

At the SharePoint Conference during BillG's keynote, Search Server 2008 and Search Server Express 2008 were launched.  These 2 products add new capability in the form of federated search that utilizes open search standards.  The new Search Servers join a pretty awesome search family which includes MOSS search and the newly announced acquisition of Fast Search & Transfer (I came across an interesting blog post by one of the analysts on the Fast acquisition that is worth checking out).  What an awesome lineup for delivering enterprise search.  Check out the chart below to compare the features of the family of products and determine which product is best for you.

Why should someone care about the new Search Servers?  1. Anyone who is currently using WSS v3 only (no MOSS) for one.  WSS v3 provides site collection search but does not provide cross-site collection capability.  Upgrading to Search Server 2008 or the free Express 2008 is a no brainer and provides enterprise level search for your environment.  2. Also, anyone that has deployed a stand-alone ASP.NET Web application and doesn't currently have search capability.  Why wouldn't you add a free solution at a minimum?  Here are some resources if you're interested.

Upgrade to Search Server 2008 from Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

Plan to deploy Search Server 2008 or Search Server 2008 Express

Search Server Express

Express is a free offering but restricted to a single-server deployment.  There is no reason anyone should be without enterprise search capability.  Check out the following videos which give a quick introduction and go download Express from here.

User Interface 

Simplified installation and administration

Search Federation

Search Server 

Search Server provides essentially the same features and adds the capability of high availability and load balancing for multi-server farm configuration.

MOSS Search Update

As you can see from the chart, the new Search Servers provide federated search and MOSS search doesn't have this capability.  Well, take heart, in the up coming months a feature update will be released which will bring the federation and administration enhancements of Search Server to MOSS.

Extending Search

If the OOTB capability is not enough, then extend away.  Depending on your requirements, you have different options.  First, you should probably check out the Search Community Toolkit.  Others may have already started in a direction you need.

The Search Community Toolkit is comprised of a number of tools and code samples that have been contributed to enhance the Microsoft search experience (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS) Search, Search Server 2008 and Search Server 2008 Express).

A second option is a Search Connector.  These include federated search connectors, indexing connectors, iFilters, etc.

So, what are you waiting for?  Go get busy.....

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SharePoint and SQL Log Shipping for GEO Replication

If you are considering some form of geographic replication you probably have or will be considering SQL Log Shipping.  If so then check out this article:

Notes on SQL Server 2000/2005 Log Shipping with SharePoint Products and Technologies

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LogParser Processes ULS Logs

If you've ever had to browse the ULS logs, then you know that it is not the friendliest walk in the park.  A recent blog post walks you through the configuration if you're interested.

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Visual Studio 2008 Training

Trying to learn Visual Studio 2008?  If your a SharePoint developer this needs to be on your ToDo list, especially if you are developing custom workflows.  Here is some stuff to help get you started:

Visual Studio Training Kit offers presentations, labs, demos

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SharePoint Deployment Guide and Checklists

These guides were handed out a the SharePoint Conference but if you didn't get one you can download a soft copy here.

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Database Mirroring

The database mirroring white paper has been updated.  Go check it out.

Using Database Mirroring with Office SharePoint Server and Windows SharePoint Services

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Content Deployment Wizard

Chris O'Brien has a new version of his SharePoint 2007 Content Deployment Wizard.  If you haven't checked this out and are interested in a tool for deploying site collections, webs, lists, folders, and/or list items (including files) then go check it out www.codeplex.com/SPDeploymentWizard.

There are also a series of articles up on Chris' blog:

• Introducing the SharePoint Content Deployment Wizard
• When to use the SharePoint Content Deployment Wizard
• Using the SharePoint Content Deployment Wizard
• New version of Content Deployment Wizard released

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SharePoint Database Management

Bill Baer has written an excellent white paper: Database Maintenance for SharePoint.  After reading, I checked the fragmentation of several indexes and was surprised to see such bad shape....definitely worth reading and some good advice.

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Converting Forms to InfoPath Forms

Check these folks out if you have this need:

FormBridge from Texcel

...

Jumpstart your migration to e-forms. Now you can convert forms from any source to electronic forms - up to 90% faster. Reduce the time you spend creating a form from hours to just minutes!

FormBridge converts forms from PDF files, word processors, desktop publishers, other forms packages, paper forms, and almost anything else. It creates working e-forms in your favorite electronic forms software.

FormBridge preserves the appearance of your original forms. It automatically creates fillable fields. It reduces errors and increases accuracy while saving time. FormBridge is a professional forms conversion tool. And it is easy to use.

...

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