SharePoint SP1 Sandbox Using Windows Server 2008 (part 5)

Now we are ready to install SharePoint 2007 or MOSS 2007.  I have decided to install MOSS 2007.  The steps are almost the same.  The only difference is the software in which you are installing.

Installing the .NET Framework 3.0

1. MOSS requires the .NET Framework 3.0 for workflow support.
2. Go to Start – Administrative Tools – Server Manager
3. Click the Features link
4. Click Add Features
5. The first option you should see is the .NET Framework 3.0 features.  Expand both the .NET Framework 3.0 Features and the WCF Activation.
6. Select the .NET Framework 3.0 Features.  This will select everything in the list.  Click Next.
7. Click the Install button.
8. When the installation is finished, click the Close button.

Installing Microsoft Office SharePoint Server Software

1. Run Setup.exe for MOSS.
2. Enter your product key.
3. On the License Agreement screen, accept the agreement and lick the Continue button. 
4. On the next screen, click the Advanced button. 
5. On the Server Type tab, select Complete. 
6. Click the Install Now button.
7. When the installation is complete, check the box to run the Configuration Wizard and click the Close button.

Configuring Authentication and Database Options

Configuring the basic MOSS installation is done through a wizard interface.  In the wizard, you will specify the database server and configuration database name.  You will also select to use either NTLM or Kerberos as the authentication provider.

1. On the welcome screen, click the Next button. 
2. In the warning dialog, click the Yes button to acknowledge that the listed services will be stopped. 
3. On the Connect to a Server Farm screen, select No, I Want to Create a New Server Farm field. 
4. On the Configuration Database Settings screen, enter VSW2K8 in the Database Server field.
5. Enter MOSS_Config in the Database Name field.
6. Enter litwareinc\SPConfigAcct in the Username field.
7. Enter the password for the SPConfigAcct in the Password field.
8. Click on the Next button.
9. On the Configure SharePoint Central Administration Web Application, select either NTLM or Kerberos as the authentication provider and click the Next button.  I have decided to use Kerberos.  Because I have a single machine, there really isn’t that much to do.
10. On the completion screen, click the Next button to apply the configuration settings.
11. After closing the configuration wizard, the Central Administration site will open automatically.  If you are presented with a login dialog, use the administrator credentials.
12. When prompted, add the Central Administration site to the list of trusted sites.
13. After the Central Administration site opens, close it until you have finished configuring security.

Turning Off Internet Explorer Enhanced Security

Windows Server 2008 installs Internet Explorer with Enhanced Security activated.  Although this is a good default setting for production machines, it can and will prevent content from being rendered in SharePoint.  You’ll want to disable Enhanced Security in the development environment to make sure you have complete access to administrative functions.

Follow these steps to disable Internet Explorer Enhanced Security:

1. Select Start – Administrative Tools – Server Manager.
2. In the Security Information section, Click on the Configure IE ESC link
3. In the Internet Explorer Enhanced Security Configuration, Select Off for Administrators and Off for Users.  Click OK button.

Configuring Kerberos Authentication

If you selected to use Kerberos as the authentication provider, you must perform additional configuration steps.  The steps involve the definition of a Service Principal Name (SPN) for the application pool account.  The SPN is used to authenticate the server to the client.

A service principal name must only be registered to ONE service account.  This is extremely important and contradicts many articles on configuring Kerberos.  Here is an example of what not to configure:

SETSPN –A http/VSW2K8.litware.com litwareinc\SPContentPool

SETSPN –A http/VSW2K8.litware.com litwareinc\SPConfigAcct <- Very bad, this registers the SPN (http/VSW2K8.litware.com) under a second service account, creating a “duplicate SPN”

In fact, in Windows Server 2008, SETSPN now has a new command (setspn –s) to check for duplicate SPN’s before registering a SPN.  Kudos to the developers who added that must have feature!

In later steps you will be creating SSP’s and associating service accounts to them.  It is a good practice to register both the short name and the FQDN of the host in the target URL when registering the associated SPN.  Even if you don’t plan on using one or the other, its good practice to have both.  Here is the command you need to perform:

SETSPN –S http/VSW2K8.litware.com:8080 litwareinc\SPSharedServicesPool

SETSPN –S http/VSW2K8:8080 litwareinc\SPSharedServicesPool

SETSPN –S http/VSW2K8.litware.com:8081 litwareinc\SPSharedServicesAcct

SETSPN –S http/VSW2K8:8081 litwareinc\SPSharedServicesAcct

Configuring MOSS Components

Once you have the security settings propery configured, you can open the SharePoint Central Administration site on VSW2K8.  ON the home page, you will see a task list of recommended actions you should take to configure MOSS.  You will configure server items, but not all of the items in the task list.  Serveral of these tasks will be configured later when they are explained.

Designating the SharePoint Administrators Group

In part 3, you created a security group for the SharePoint administrators.  At this point, only the account you used to install MOSS can function as the administrator.  By adding a group to the list of administrators you can easily grant others administration capabilities through Active Directory.

Follow these steps to designate an administrator group:

1. Select Start – Administrative Tools – SharePoint 3.0 Adminstration.
2. On the SharePoint Central Administration page, click the Operations tab.
3. Under the Security Configuration section, click the link titled Update Farm Administrators Group.
4. On the People and Groups: Farm Administrators page, select New – Add Users.
5. On the Add Users page, enter litwareinc\SPAdmins in the Users field.
6. Click the OK button

Starting Required Services

The MOSS Search Service is not running initially.  In order to use search functions, you must configure the service with an appropriate account for searching and one for crawling.  Additionally, you must start several other shared services.  You will use the accounts you created in part 3 to configure the services.

Caution:  You will be running all of the farm services on the same machine as MOSS.  Because many of these services are resource intensive, you would normally deploy these services to a separate application server for improved performance.

Follow these steps to configure the Search Service:

1. On the SharePoint Central Administration page, click the Operations tab.
2. In the Topology and Services section, click the link titled Services on Server.
3. On the Services on Server page, click the option titled Web Server for medium server farms.
4. Click the Start link next to Excel Calculation Services.
5. Click the Start link next to the Document Conversions Load Balancer Service.
6. Click the Start link next to the Document Conversions Launcher Service.
7. On the Launcher Service Settings page, select VSW2K8 from the Load Balancer Server drop-down list.
8. Click the OK button.
9. Click the Start link next to Office SharePoint Server Search.
10. On the Office SharePoint Services Search Settings page, check the boxes labeled Use This Server for Indexing Content and Use This for Serving Search Queries.
11. Enter administrator@litwareinc.com in the E-mail Address field.
12. In the Farm Search Service Account section, enter litwareinc\SPSearchAcct in the User Name field.
13. Enter the account password in the Password field.
14. Click the Start button.
15. On the Services on Server page, click the Start link next to Windows SharePoint Services Search.
16. In the Service Account section, enter litwareinc\SPSearchAcct in the User Name field.
17. Enter the account password in the Password field.
18. In the Content Access Account section, enter litwareinc\SPCrawlAcct in the User Name field.
19. Enter the account password in the Password field.
20. Click the Start button.

Setting Up the Shared Services Provider

The Shared Services Provider hosts several services that can be used across web applications in the farm.  Services such as search and user profiles typically only need to be created one time and then used by all sites.  You will create a new web application for the Shared Services Provider.

Follow these steps to set up the Shared Services Provider":

1. Select Start – Administrative Tools – SharePoint 3.0 Administration.
2. On the Application Management tab, under the Office SharePoint Server Shared Services section, click the link titled Create or Configure this Farm’s Shared Services.
3. On the Manage This Farm’s Shared Services page, click New SSP.
4. On the New Shared Services Provider page, click the link titled Create a New Web Application under the SSP Name field.
5. On the Create a New Web Application page, select the option Create a New IIS Web Site.
6. Enter SharedServices – 8080 in the Description field.
7. Enter 8080 in the Port field.
8. Under the Authentication Provider, choose either Negotiate (Kerberos) or NTLM, depending upon the choice you made earlier.
9. In the Application Pool section, select Create a New Application Pool and enter SSP_Pool in the Application Pool Name field.
10. Select the Configurable option for the application pool security account.
11. In the User Name field, enter litwareinc\SPSharedServicesPool.
12. In the Password field, enter the account password.
13. Select the option Restart IIS Automatically.
14. Click the OK button.
15. On the New Shared Services Provider page, click the link titled Create a New Web Application under the My Site Location section.
16. On the Create a New Web Application page, select the option Create a New IIS Web Site.
17. Enter PersonalSites – 8081 in the Description field.
18. Enter 8081 in the Port field.
19. Under the Authentication Provider, choose either Negotiate (Kerberos) or NTLM, depending upon the choice you made earlier.
20. In the Application Pool section, select Use Existing Application Pool and choose SSP_Pool from the drop-down list.
21. Select Restart IIS Automatically.
22. Click the OK button.
23. On the New Shared Services Provider page, enter Shared Services in the SSP Name field.
24. Under the SSP Service Credentials section, enter litwareinc\SPSharedServicesAcct in the Username field.
25. Enter the account password in the Password field.
26. In the Index Server section, select VSW2K8 from the Index Server drop-down list.
27. Click the OK button.

Configuring Outgoing E-Mail

Once the Shared Services are set up, you may return to the Central Administration pages to continue configuring additional components.  In this exercise, you will configure an SMTP server for MOSS.  MOSS uses an SMTP server to send alerts and messages to users. 

Follow these steps to configure the e-mail settings:

1. Click the Operations tab in SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration.
2. Click the link titled Outgoing E-Mail Settings under the Topology and Services section.
3. On the Outgoing E-Mail Settings page, enter MAIL in the Outbound SMTP Server field.
4. Enter administrator@litwareinc.com in the From Address field.
5. Enter administrator@litwareinc.com in the Reply To field.
6. Click the OK button.

Creating a New Web Application and Site Collection

Once MOSS is properly configured, you can create a new web application and site collection.  The site templates available to you include intranets, public web sites, wikis, and blogs.  You will create a corporate intranet site.

Follow these steps to create your first site:

1. Select Start – Administrative Tools – SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration.
2. On the Application Management tab, under the SharePoint Web Application Management section click the link titled Create or Extend Web Application.
3. On the Create or Extend Web Application page, click the link titled Create a New Web Application.
4. On the Create a New Web Application page, select the option Use an Existing IIS Web Site.
5. Choose Default Web Site in the drop-down list.
6. Under the Authentication Provider, choose either Negotiate (Kerberos) or NTLM, depending upon the choice you made earlier.
7. In the Application Pool section, select Create a New Application Pool.
8. Enter Intranet_Pool as the pool name.
9. Select the Configurable option for the application pool security account.
10. In the User Name field, enter litwareinc\SPContentPool.
11. In the Password field, enter the account password.
12. In the Reset Internet Information Services section, select the option to Restart IIS Automatically.
13. Click the OK button.
14. On the Application Created page, click the link titled Create Site Collection.
15. On the Create Site Collection page, enter Intranet in the Title field
16. In the Web Site Address section, select /sites/ from the drop-down list and enter intranet in the URL field.
17. Under the Template Selection section, click the Publishing tab and then select the Collaboration Portal template.
18. Under the Primary Site Collection Administrator section, enter litwareinc\Administrator in the User Name field.  Then perform CTRL + K to verify the user.
19. Click the OK button to create the new site collection.
20. Once the site collection is created, return to the Application Management tab.
21. Click the link titled Policy for Web Application under the Application Security section.
22. On the Policy for Web Application page, click the Add Users button.
23. On the Add Users page, click the Next button.
24. Under the Choose Users section, enter any accounts that should have administrative control over the site collection.  Be sure to include the litwareinc\Administrator so you can always access the site collection.
25. In the Choose Permissions section, check the box labeled Full Control.
26. Click the Finish button.  You should now have full access to the new site collection.

Installing Visual Studio 2008, Office 2007 SP1 and SharePoint Designer 2007 SP1.

For simplicity, you should install these products directly on the MOSS server.  There are no special considerations; simply install the products in a typical configuration.