Microsoft SharePoint: November 2010

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

The Six Pillars of SharePoint, New and Old

Microsoft has released several generations of SharePoint, but you only need to be concerned with SharePoint 2007, which has been around for roughly 3 years now, and SharePoint 2010, which was officially released in May 2010.
In the pie diagrams below you see that Microsoft divided both SharePoint 2007 and 2010 into 6 different core functional areas, and that these core concepts have evolved from the 2007 to the 2010 version.

SharePoint 2007 and 2010 — Core Functional Area Comparison
In SharePoint 2007, the six functional areas include:

Collaboration
Portal
Search
Content management
Business forms
Business intelligence

This release of the product included the first forays into both web content management and connectivity with back-end business systems. However, for the majority of users, SharePoint 2007 was really used as a glorified file sharing service, with a bit of collaboration added on.
SharePoint 2010 aims to change this — to really move towards Microsoft's dream of SharePoint as an enterprise platform for many different information applications and information worker uses.
The 2010 release offers a number of improvements over the 2007 product, including user interface improvements, greater social capabilities, deeper business intelligence, advanced records and document management and better integration with with other systems.

SharePoint 2010: An Ambitious Enterprise Platform

In the following six sections I quickly walk you through the key parts of SharePoint 2010. As you read on, keep in mind that customers are in no way obliged to use all of these things. Some companies will use five or six of the core areas, some might only use one.
Regardless, to understand what SharePoint really is, you need to understand the highly ambitious agenda Microsoft has for the product. It is this: To become the single point for all information aggregation, search and collaboration in your organization.
That's a lofty goal. Let's look closer.

1. Sites: Building and Managing Internal and External Websites

While there have been a number of improvements related to web content management (WCM) in SharePoint 2010, CMSWire readers know that it's a stretch to call it a full-fledged web content management system. Nevertheless, Microsoft has stated that they believe SharePoint is a good platform to support your WCM needs, whether it's for an intranet, extranet or an Internet.
In short, SharePoint 2010 comes with native Web CMS functionality. Regardless of how you use SharePoint, you will likely use some of this functionality, at least for internal collaboration websites. Broader uses could include running your entire intranet on SharePoint, or running your public-facing website(s) on SharePoint. However, these are decisions you'll have to make based on thorough analyses. There very well might be other products in the market that will better meet your needs.
With that said, there are sensible people who are enthusiastic about SharePoint 2010's Web CMS capabilities. For example, Tom Resing, a Microsoft Certified Master in SharePoint, had this to say about SharePoint 2010:

"SharePoint is software from Microsoft designed to make publishing on the web as easy as using Word, Excel, Access + PowerPoint."

He went on to say that he's proving it by putting his own website on SharePoint as part of the "SharePoint WCM revolution".
Other people are more tepid on SharePoint 2010 as a Web CMS solution. Errin O'Connor, the CEO of the EPC Group, also believes SharePoint can be used for web content management, but that Microsoft really needs to sort out the licensing before we'll see it used more broadly for public-facing websites.
The 2010 release does bring a number of WCM improvements:

A more intuitive content authoring/editing experience, with a similar look and feel to MS Office
Better support for websites that need to be available in multiple languages
Better organizing and categorizing of content
Compliance with Web Standards like XHTML and WCAG 2.0 AA to ensure a wider range of users and devices can view your website
Improved search, particularly via FAST Search, including more relevant results and more ways to view the results
Integration of Web Analytics to see how your website is performing
Personalization via Audience targeting
Cross browser Support — view your site on most of the popular browsers today

Here is an example of a multi-national company which decided to run their website on SharePoint 2010:

An Example of a Public Website Powered by SharePoint 2010 (KraftFoods.com)
For more information on SharePoint 2010, see our recent article WCM is Better in SharePoint 2010 - Is it Enough?

2. Communities: Creating a Social Collaboration Environment

If you are on Facebook it's probably to keep in touch with friends and family, and stay mildly horrified by the lives of your old high school classmates. If you are on Twitter, it's about jabbering with friends and tracking topics or people of interest. We'll side step the online ~~stalking~~ dating aspects of these things for the moment.
Social capabilities like Facebook and Twitter are becoming normal for many of us, and for the youngest generation of workers, status updates and micro messaging have long been part of la vie quotidienne.
Now all this social media stuff is moving into the workplace, as part and parcel of the typical information worker's desktop. It all boils down to providing a modern approach to working together, collaborating and sharing knowledge.
So these capabilities need to be a component of every piece of software we use. SharePoint 2010 works towards this goal by supporting:

The ability to create detailed user profiles (think employee Facebook pages)
Use of modern tools for sharing and collaboration including blogs, wikis, RSS feeds and activity streams
The creation of special interest groups (Communities) to share knowledge or work on projects (these often map directly to your company's org chart)
Interactivity and engagement via commenting and discussions around content items, and social tagging/bookmarking of content
The creation of separate personal spaces or dashboards called MySites where you can keep track of your own content, and the work you are doing in certain communities, projects and more

SharePoint 2010 — Rich User Profiles, Similar to Employee Facebook Pages
The most successful people in organizations rely on the talents and knowledge of other people to help them get their jobs done. Social tools like those listed above help people find the right resources — people, information and conversations — so they aren't always starting from scratch.
It is the integration of these capabilities with other functionality within SharePoint that points to its ability to deliver a full platform of capabilities.

3. Content: Managing Your Documents, Information and Records

In the 2010 release Microsoft greatly improved the functionality for creating and managing business documents. Organizations typically have two types of content: documents and information used to complete tasks and activities, and records. Records differ from the previous category in that they are documents and information that must be frozen and stored for compliance and/or regulatory purposes.
SharePoint 2010 provides the tools to help you work with both:

Manage all of your organization's documents and other information including controlling who can read and update them
Categorize them for easier search and retrieval
Mark them as official records and lock them down from further changes

As part of Content functionality in SharePoint, you have direct integration with your MS Office environment, so you can work on your documents in a familiar environment.

SharePoint 2010 — In place Records Management with Disposition
Microsoft has greatly improved the usability of both document and records management within SharePoint 2010. They have evolved the platform from document storage system to a truely collaborative working environment.

4. Search: The Google for Your Organization's Private Info

It doesn't matter how large or small your organization is, when you need certain information or documents, you want it now. Rarely does that happen. Information is typically scattered around and often your internal search engines are not very effective at finding it.
In short, Google often makes your IT department look bad. That's why a strong search facility is critical to the success of a product like SharePoint — Google has raised our expectations and made search look easy.
SharePoint 2010 has two levels of search: the built in functionality which is greatly improved from SharePoint 2007 and FAST Search, offering additional functionality. Out of the box SharePoint search includes the ability to:

Search for information and people, including particular expertise
Index content and data stored outside of your SharePoint database
Use your Windows 7 desktop search to find information within SharePoint
Refine search results based on taxonomy and metadata (how content is organized and classified)

The addition of FAST Search brings enhancements, including:

View thumbnails and previews of content within the result set
Refine results based on user profile or audience
The ability to refine search results with filters like Site, Author, Result Type and more

SharePoint 2010 Search Results Using FAST Search

5. Insights: Digging for Business Intelligence

A key goal in any business is staying ahead of the competition. Increasingly, the class of software called Business Intelligence plays an important role here. Business intelligence software is all about helping you make decisions and find problems.
There was a time when you needed a special role in your organization for someone to do all this data gathering and analysis. But times have changed and SharePoint 2010 provides a number of tools that put this capability in the hands of the average employee.
With this release you can:

Use tools like Excel to gather and analyze data that is stored in SharePoint
Use SharePoint's native Excel Services engine to crunch data and build web-based reports
Pull together information from different systems and present it in SharePoint
Create dashboards, scorecards, and other views — making key performance indicators widely accessible to information workers and process managers

SharePoint Business Intelligence Dashboard Using Native Excel Services
The key to remember is that everyone in your organization can have a hand in how well your business does — if you provide them with the information and tools to do it.

6. Composites: Integrating Your Business Systems

Another big improvement for SharePoint 2010 relates to its ability talk to — pushing and pulling data — your other business systems. Instead of having to work in multiple systems, you can create composite applications — mashups, if you like that term — on the SharePoint platform that pull together various data and content from different systems, including SharePoint content, to provide a single location for an employee to work.
COMP-BCS4_ext list_form.jpg

SharePoint 2010's Business Connectivity Services (BCS) — Tying Information Together
Using SharePoint you can create web-based forms that update SharePoint databases or update external databases. These forms can even feed into Word or Excel documents — the disparate data can become a composite right inside your MS Office applications, or in your browser.
Data integrations are key for management dashboards and project management, but also for employees who may not need full access to the business application. It's important to note that SharePoint 2010 can both view and update external data via its Business Connectivity Services (BCS).

SharePoint 2010 — Business Connectivity Services
One thing we've all learned about enterprise collaboration tools is that for them to succeed, they need to be integrated with the productivity tools we already use on a daily basis. By tying SharePoint closely to things like MS Office 2010 applications and with email clients like Outlook, Microsoft is working to improve the probability of employee adoption of these new tools.

SharePoint As A Cloud Platform

In the era of the cloud, we're obliged to mention Microsoft's Software-as-a-Service (a.k.a. the cloud) strategy. Along with the on-premise version of SharePoint 2010, Microsoft will also be upgrading their cloud based version, known as Business Productivity Online Services (BPOS).
A number of improvements are expected, including:

Completely customize the look and feel of your hosted SharePoint site
Connect SharePoint data into your external apps via its web services
BCS (business connectivity services), formerly BDC, will be available to connect external busienss applications
Create applications that exist on the desktop and connect to the server for SharePoint Online

With the increased growth in the use of the cloud for applications like SharePoint, BPOS may be a way for you to get up and running quickly at a cost that would be much less then implementing SharePoint on premise.

Enterprise Collaboration — Vision, Tools and Reality

Microsoft has referred to SharePoint 2010 as a business collaboration platform, a kind of one stop shop for all your information worker needs. It is nice to think that you could come to work in the morning and only have to open the browser and merrily work away in perfect collaborative harmony with your most capable coworkers.
This is the vision of Enterprise 2.0 and the one Microsoft seeks to enable via their SharePoint platform and tools.
Understanding Microsoft's vision and SharePoint's capabilities is important. This article helps there. Moving your organization towards a more engaged and collaborative daily routine is a much more complicated task. Towards that end you might want to read our article: Architecting Participation with Enterprise Social Media. Tools without vision and vision without reality, neither combination will go far.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Creating Web parts for SharePoint 2010 using Visual Studio 2010

In this article I demonstrate how to create a simple web part for SharePoint 2010 using
Visual studio 2010.

Open Visual Studio 2010 -> File-> New Project

You will get a screen as shown below

From the below screen select Visual Web Part from SharePoint category

Give proper name for your web part

Click OK

Next you have to give the URL of the site where you want to debug or deploy your webpart

Click Finish

You will get the below Screen

Just click on the Design Mode

You will get the Design mode similar to normal ASP.net application

You can Drag and Drop any control in to your page I just put a SharePoint Calendar control

You done with the web part .Now we can deploy it and test it

Just right Click on the solution and click Deploy

Now go to the site where you deployed.

Just open the page in Edit Mode

Then click on Add web part

Just click on Custom, you can see your web part Add the webpart

You have deployed your web part and tested the same

Now next part, how to make it as a Package very easy just right click on the solution

It will make a web part package in the folder where we created this web part

It's very simple to work with Visual studio 2010 to develop a web part for SharePoint 2010.

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Installing a Simple SharePoint Server 2010 Farm

After SharePoint architecture has been established, the actual SharePoint infrastructure must be installed and servers must be deployed. For the most part, installation of SharePoint 2010 is straightforward, particularly with the free SharePoint Foundation Server. The full Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 product, on the other hand, requires more thought and involves the installation of more components.

This chapter covers the specifics of how SharePoint 2010 is installed for a simple, single server farm. Although these examples outline a simple farm, the concepts can be extended to multiserver farm deployments. After reviewing this chapter, it is highly recommended to review the subsequent chapter (Chapter 4, "Advanced SharePoint 2010 Installation and Scalability") for more complex farm configurations.

It is recommended to review the design chapter (Chapter 2, "Architecting a SharePoint 2010 Deployment") before beginning installation of a production environment. However, installation of a SharePoint server for testing can be easily performed with only this chapter as a guide.

Examining SharePoint Installation Prerequisites

Before installing SharePoint 2010, several prerequisites must first be satisfied, including both hardware and software prerequisites.

Defining Hardware Prerequisites for SharePoint 2010

A server that will be running all SharePoint roles, including the database role, should have the following minimum requirements:

64-bit four core (minimum) processor
8GB to 16GB of RAM (8GB for evaluation or testing, 16GB for production)
80GB of drive space for the system drive (plus twice as much space as the amount of RAM in the system)

The server that holds the SharePoint database, whether on the same box (an all-in-one server) or on a dedicated server or existing SQL implementation, should generally be designed toward the high level on the hardware scale, because some of the more intensive activity is centralized on that server role.

As a rule of thumb, it is always recommended to deploy SharePoint on multiple servers, and at a minimum to deploy SharePoint on at least two servers: one for the database and one for the other SharePoint-specific roles. For more information on supported farm topologies, refer to Chapter 2.

Examining Software Requirements for SharePoint 2010

SharePoint 2010 requires either Windows Server 2008 SP2 or Windows Server 2008 R2. More specifically, the following Windows OS editions are supported:

Windows Server 2008 R2 (x64) Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, or Web Server Editions
Windows Server 2008 SP2 (x64) Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, or Web Server Editions

In nearly all scenarios, it is recommend to use the latest version of the Windows Server operating system (in this case, the R2 edition), though in the future, it is highly likely that SharePoint will use newer editions as well. For most deployments, the Standard edition of Windows Server is sufficient, except in certain scenarios when the Enterprise Edition is required for running SQL Server Enterprise Edition. The Datacenter edition, while supported, is not required, and the Web Server edition, while supported, is not recommended.

Service Account Requirements

It is strongly recommended that you create multiple service accounts for SharePoint. Although doing so might seem tedious, SharePoint will not be secure unless multiple service accounts are used. And in any situation, do NOT use a domain admin account for any SharePoint service.

The following provides a recommended list of service accounts that should be created. This should not be considered to be an exhaustive list; more might be needed depending on the requirements of the individual deployment:

SQL admin account—SQL Server should be administered with a separate set of credentials than those used for SharePoint.
Installation account—Used to install the SharePoint binaries on the SharePoint role servers. This account requires local admin rights on each SharePoint server and DBCreator and SecurityAdmin rights on the SQL Server.
SharePoint farm admins—Used to administer the farm; should be configured. Typically, one account for each physical admin is created.
Application pool identity accounts—Needed for each app pool. Generally speaking, it is good practice to have a separate app pool for each application. These accounts must be separate from farm admin accounts.
Default content access account—The default account used to crawl SharePoint and other content. It must not be a farm admin, or the search results will include unpublished data in the results. There may be additional content access accounts created for other data sources that are crawled as well.
Search service application account—This account is used to run the search service application.
Additional service application accounts as needed—May require a separate service application account in certain scenarios.

Outlining Additional Prerequisites

In addition to the base Operating System, SharePoint also requires the hotfixes referenced in KB articles 976462 and 979917. These hotfixes are installed automatically when using the SharePoint installer. The SharePoint installer also installs the following server roles:

Web Server (IIS) role
Application server role
Microsoft .NET Framework version 3.5 SP1
Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 (x64)
Microsoft Filter Pack 2.0
Microsoft Chart Controls for the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5
Windows PowerShell 2.0
SQL Server 2008 Native Client
SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services ADOMD.NET
ADO.NET data services update for .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
Windows Identity Foundation (WIF)

Database Role Prerequisites

For the database role, it is recommended to deploy the latest version of SQL Server, SQL 2008 R2. The following versions of SQL Server are directly supported:

SQL Server 2008 R2 x64, Standard or Enterprise Editions
SQL Server 2008 x64 (x86 cannot be used) with SP1 and Cumulative Update 2 or CU5 (or later than CU5—CU3 and CU4 are not recommended), Standard or Enterprise Editions
SQL Server 2005 with SP3 x64 (x86 cannot be used) and CU3

In addition, depending on whether advanced SQL functionality is required, the following components may also be needed:

SQL Server 2008 R2, if working with PowerPivot workbooks.
SQL Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services add-in for Microsoft SharePoint Technologies 2010 (SSRS) to use Access Services for SharePoint 2010.
Microsoft Server Speech Platform for phonetic name matching to work correctly for SharePoint Search 2010.
If using the standalone server install option (not recommended), SQL Server 2008 Express with SP1, which is installed automatically.

Installing SharePoint 2010 on Windows 2008 Server R2

1 - Introduction

As the new release of SharePoint 2010 was launched last week, I am updating this post that was written for the beta version, but I let the previous post as an archive at the end of this page.

- Development benefits (the "why" part of the post)

In order this tutorial do not require any software purchase for a developer that wants to be familiar with the new release of SharePoint 2010:

I chose to take advantage of testing the new version of SharePoint by testing in the same time the Windows 2008 Server R2 OS because Microsoft provides presently an 180 days evaluation version of it.
As you certainly know, SharePoint 2010 requires a 64 bits OS to run.

Therefore, I have chosen to create the Virtual Machine with VMware because it is to date the only way of making run an 64 bit OS guest on a 32 bits OS host.
you can actually create a Virtual Machine running Windows 2008 Server R2 64 bits on a 32 bits host by using the free version of VMware:

VMware player 3.0.

You can download this software after registration at:

http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/desktop_downloads/vmware_player/3_0

As usual I will do my best to supply a step by step tutorial as detailed as possible which demonstrates how to install 2010 SharePoint on Windows server 2008 R2.

- Environment for this SharePoint 2010 installation:

The environment I propose to mount in this tutorial is a development environment that uses a SharePoint Server 2010 Farm installation on a single computer using several local service accounts in order to be compliant with the least privilege administration policy.

The SharePoint 2010 content databases will run on a SQLServer 2008 Standard Edition Database Engine.

2 Creating the Virtual Machine

2.1 Download Windows Server 2008 R2 Evaluation

Windows Server 2008 R2 is available in 64-bit (x64) only.

You have to register to obtain it.

Open VMWare and Select "New Virtual Machine"

The new virtual machine wizard is opening

Choose the option "Installer disc image file " and browse to refer the previously downloaded image of the Windows 2008 Server R2.
The wizard will detect automatically the OS version and will start easy install.

The wizard will retrieve automatically your user account.
Don't provide any product key you don't need any for this evaluation version, but take time to provide a password because this account will be your Administrator account of your new Virtual Machine and using an Administrator account that has not a password will lead to many problems when configuring your machine and more trouble when working with SharePoint 2010.

Click OK to the warning message

Choose your Virtual machine name and location.

On this screen let the default values

The Wizard summarize your settings but you can still change some by clicking "Customize Hardware...". Especially the RAM allocated to the Virtual Machine.

When you click "Finish", the installation begins by loading the files.

Then, you have to choose the version of your Operating System.
Do not choose a Web Server version otherwise you will not be able to add an "Application Server" role to the server later.
Choose the Full Installation of the Enterprise Version.

The Easy install will install the OS automatically and in my case it did it in approximately 30 minutes!

Then you can access to your new server. You will see the "Initial Configuration tasks".

After you have completed the installation of Windows Server® 2008 R2, and before you deploy the new server in your enterprise, some configuration is required to identify the computer to other computing resources on your network, secure the computer, enable administrators to perform tasks on the computer, and customize the computer by adding server roles and features.
You can complete these tasks by using commands in the Initial Configuration Tasks window, which opens immediately after the operating system installation is complete.
The Initial Configuration Tasks window opens at each startup, unless the Do not show this window at logon check box is selected.

If you want to open this windows manually run this command:

C:\Windows\System32\Oobe.exe

3 Configuring the server - Standard Configuration Operations

3.1 Hardware Acceleration

In order to accelerate your Virtual Machine you have to perform the following operations :
Right click your desktop and choose "Screen resolution".

Then, click
Troubleshoot tab
Change Settings button

You will access to the "Display Adapter Troubleshooter" dialog.
Set the cursor to the Full position.

3.2 Windows Activating

Go back to the "Initial Configuration tasks" windows and we are going to go through the standard configuration operations easily because the windows lits them.

Be sure the Virtual Machine has an Internet Access.

We have to activate Windows in order to take advantage of the 180 days of the evaluation process.
Click on the "Activate Windows" link.

Do not look for any product key, as said before, you do not need any, just click next.

The activation will be done automatically through Internet. You will notice then the activation number and the number of days remaining on the bottom right corner of the desktop.

3.3 Changing Computer Name

Now, click the "Provide computer name and domain" link,then set your new Virtual machine name.

3.4 Downloading Updates

Click the "Download and install updates link" then turn on automatic updates, and proceed to the latest updates installation.

Then restart the Virtual machine.

3.5 Disabling Internet explorer Enhanced Security

To disable Enhanced Security Configuration to specific users by using a computer running Windows Server 2008

Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager.
If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.
Under Security Summary, click Configure IE ESC.
Under Administrators, click On (Recommended) or Off, depending on your desired configuration.
Under Users, click On (Recommended) or Off, depending on your desired configuration.
Click OK.
Restart Internet Explorer to apply Enhanced Security Configuration.

4 Configuring the server - Configuration Operations for SharePoint (MOSS 2007 or SharePoint 2010)

4.1 Adding Server Roles and Roles Services - Application Server - Web Server

On the Initial configuration task windows, click "Add Roles"
The "Add Roles" Wizard is opening.
Check the check box for Application Server.
The wizard opens a modal dialog for the Required Features

Just click the "Add Required Features" button.
You are taken to and intermediate dialog. Click "Next" to go to the "Role Services" dialogs.
Click "Next"

On the "Role Services" dialog, select the followings :
.Net Framework 3.5.1
Web Server (IIS) Support
TCP Port Sharing
HTTP Activation
TCP Activation
Named Pipes Activation

Then Click "Next"
You are taken to an the intermediate page for the Web Server (IIS) Role

Click "Next"
The Select Role Services for Web Server (IIS) Role is displaying, but just let the default options.

Click "Next" to access the confirmation dialog

Then click "Install" and the Roles and Features are being installed

Check the "Installation Result" dialog and close it.

4.1 Adding Desktop Experience Feature

It would be interesting for a development machine to be able to use the Windows Photo Viewer in order to check some screenshots taken during configuration phases, or when wanting to report an issue. To be able to use this feature of Windows server 2008 R2 you have to activate the Desktop Experience feature.

Go back to the "Initial Configuration tasks" window and click "Add feature", then locate "Desktop Experience" check box and check it.

5 Installing SQL Server 2008

For these operations I let you consult one of my previous post that explains the same for Windows 2003 Server. The operations are exactly the same.

Integrating Reporting Services 2008 with SharePoint 2007 Step 1 - SQL Server 2008 Installation

6 Downloading the Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 new release

Go to this page to download the Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. You have to register to access to the download.

Download the Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010

Choose the SharePoint Server 2010 Entreprise Client Access License features or SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Entreprise, it is the same product, but the Entreprise version will give you all the SharePoint 2010 features.

You will notice that a link is available toward the

SharePoint Server 2010 system requirements

The next section will detail the required things to do in order to be compliant with these requirements.

7 If you have the SharePoint 2010 Beta version installed on this machine

If you have the previous SharePoint 2010 Beta version installed on this machine, uninstall it and uninstall also the Microsoft "Geneva" Framework,
As precised by Micorsoft :
"If you have Microsoft "Geneva" Framework installed, you must uninstall it before you install the Windows Identity Foundation (WIF)."7 Configuring the server - Configuration Operations for SharePoint 2010

8 Installing the manual Prerequistes Softawre

8.1 Downloading and installing SQL Server 2008 SP1

First, we have to update the previously installed SQL Server with the SP1 downlodable at :

SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1

Do not forget to choose the x64 package

Here is the package after the download

and the first installation screenshot

8.2 Downloading and installing Cumulative update package 2 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1

Then, we have to install the Cumulative Update package 2 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1. We also could install a later Cummulative Update, except the 3 as Microsoft precises it :
"We do not recommend that you use CU3 or CU4, but instead CU2, CU5, or a later CU than CU5."

Cumulative update package 2 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1

Follow the regsitration process. You will be provided an auto extractable package that needs a password and the appropriate password.

Here is the screenshot after all the process

and the first installation screenshot

8.3 Downloading and installing SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services ADODM.NET

For ending with the products related to SQLServer 2008 download and install the SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services ADODM.NET. This is normally installed by the prerequistes installation of SharePoint 2010, but I had issues letting the SharePoint 2010 wizard install it, so I prefer to do it manually.
Here is the direct link to the download:

ADOMD.NET

Here is the screenshot after the download.

And the first screenshot

8.4 QFE for Sharepoint issues - Perf Counter fix & User Impersonation - KB979917

This is a hotfix for 2 Asp .Net issues :

Issue 1

You deploy some partially trusted Web parts on the SharePoint site. These Web parts have more permissions than they should have. This issue may create a security risk on the SharePoint site. For example, these Web parts may generate database requests or HTTP requests unexpectedly. This behavior creates a security risk.

Note:
Partially trusted Web parts are Web parts that are deployed to the Bin directory of a Web application.

Issue 2

The "Requests Queued" performance counter in an ASP.NET performance object functions incorrectly. When you run the SharePoint site, this issue may decrease the performance of the SharePoint site.

I read the following in the Hotfix documentation, so I wonder if we have to really install it or test SharePoint behavior first.

"A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft. However, it is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply it only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem. This hotfix may receive additional testing. Therefore, if you are not severely affected by this problem, we recommend that you wait for the next service pack that contains this hotfix."

Anyway; here is the link to this hotfix :

KB979917 - QFE for Sharepoint issues - Perf Counter fix & User Impersonation

8.5 hotfix for the token authentication in WCF

This is the version 2 of the kb976462, the famous htofix that led to several discussion on SharePoint blogs. Youn can find it here:

FIX: A hotfix that provides a method to support the token authentication without transport security or message encryption in WCF is available for the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=166231).

Check its name : Windows6.1-KB976462-v2-x64

Be careful, there is a specific version for Windows server 2008 R2.

By the way, it seems you do not need to install it manually since it should be done by the SharePoint 2010 prerequisites software installation.

9 Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Installation

9.1 Installing the SharePoint Prerequisites

Double click the installation package to launch the installation of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010

The SharePoint 2010 installation Wizard is opening

Click the "Install Software Prerequisites" in order to update, complete and check the previous preparation described in the previous sections of this post. The Microsoft SharePoint Product and technologies 2010 Preparation Tool is opening

Accept the licence agreement

The prerequisites are being installed

You should obtain this screen if you followed the operations previously described in this post.

8.2 Installing the SharePoint Files

Back to the SharePoint 2010 Installation wizard, click the "Install SharePoint Server" link. The launched wizard requires the product key.

Then, accept the terms of the licence agreement.

Choose the complete installation

While SharePoint is being installed, notice that a 14 repository is now created where we had the 12 for the 2007 version.

The wpressources repository is created beside the 14.

When the installation of the SharePoint files is finished you are asked to continue with the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard.

Do not continue with the Wizard but cancel it otherwise you will have an issue due to the current installation described in this post.
In the SharePoint 2010 version, you are not allowed as before to mount a Farm installation on a single machine using local accounts.
If you had continued with the wizard you would have been stopped in the configuration by the following issue:

the specified user Administrator is a local account. Local accounts should only be used in stand alone mode.

Fortunately there is a workaround to succeed in obtaining a Farm environment using local accounts as we used to have in the previous version that I have found in this post:

Single Server Complete Install of SharePoint 2010 using local accounts

I will show it bellow, but first of all, let us create the sevice accounts we need for this.

9.3 Creating several service accounts - about least priviliege administration policy

In the post concerning the Installation of the SharePoint 2010 Beta version, I used a single local account that was local administrator of the machine, but for this installation, I have chosen to use 3 local accounts in order to be compliant with the least priviliege administration policy.
This policy requires service accounts not to be administrator of any server of a farm, and that each service or process runs using a distinct account.

I advice to do it not only for the QA or production environement but also for development environment, and this for two reasons:

First, doing this will help you to debug because the traces of errors in the SharePoint log or in the event wiever sometimes report the name of the involved account and it will be easier to debug an issue if you have a precise information and not always a reference to the unique "Administrator" local account.
Second, using the same system of accounts within the development machines and the QA and production ones can help you to prevent some bugs. Some bugs are due to the fact that the security used for service accounts are different on the development environment and the QA and production ones. So it is better if a bug linked to this security configuration occurs in your development machines than in the QA or worse in the production environement.

For these two reasons, thus, I personally think it is a good practice to have the same service accounts configuration in all your environments even on the development ones.

Regarding the least priviliege administration policy, The minimal SharePoint installation requires us to create 2 local accounts :

One is for the process of the IIS Application Pool of the central administration. Assume we call it SPS_Farm
The second will be used for the process of the IIS Application Pool of the first Web Application if it is isolated in its own Application Pool. Assume we call the first Web Application WebApp-80 because it will use the 80 port, let us call this account SPS_WebApp-80.

So let us create these two accounts and configuring them in order password never expires.

9.4 Using SharePoint 2010 Management Shell to create the SharePoint 2010 Configuration databases

Open the SharePoint 2010 Management Shell.

Type the following command

New-SPConfigurationDatabase

run the command by pressing the Carriage Return Key

The Shell willl ask you for:
The database name --> choose any name, for example SharePoint_Config
The database Server name --> type the name of your Virtual Machine in my case VMDEV-012

You will be then prompt for the system account credential. It is now the time to pass the credential of the SPS_FARM service account. Don't forget the machine (domain) name otherwise you will get an exception of the SharePoint shell.

Then you are asked for a passphrase. You can use P@ssw0rd that matches the security policies required.

At this step of the installation you can check that two operations has been performed behind the scene.

Two databases has been created in the database server referenced in the shell window. There is at this point no difference with MOSS 2007 instalation.

3 web services has been created in IIS with 3 distinct application pools for each. That is a new feature of SharePoint 2010.

9.4 Running the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard

This time you can open the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard.

Let the option "Do not disconnect from this server farm" checked.

Then you will be prompted to chose the Central Administration Site port number. I personally always use 55555 for the configuration of all my development environments in order to type the same Url on all my Virtual Machines.

Let the default NTLM value for the "Authentication provider", Kerberos requires network configuration we cannot perform in the current environment anyway.

The wizard, then, summarize your choices.

Then the 9 main configuration operations are performed.

Finally, the "configuration Successful" dialog summarizes your configuration again and informs you that the central Administration of SharePoint 2010 will be launched when you close it.

When you click "Finish" to close the wizard, the Central Administration Site is opening, and you are prompted for credentials

Then you are asked to sign up to User Experience Improvement Program.

Another page let you choose between configuring your farm yourself or by using a wizard.

When this choice is made, you display for the first time the brand new Welcome Page of SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.

As there is sometimes concern with the SharePoint Services installation with Windows 2008 Server R2, you should check that the services installation has completed successfully.
On SharePoint 2010 Central Administration Home Page under the System Settings section click Manage services on server.

You should see this screen that confirms that SharePoint Services installation has completed successfully.

10 Creating your first site in Microsoft SharePoint Server for Internet Sites Enterprise 2010

10.1 Creating a managed local account for SharePoint 2010

Now we have to perform operations in order the previously created local account SPS_WebApp-80 be referenced as a managed account by SharePoint 2010.

So reopen the SharePoint 2010 shell windows and type the following:

$myWebAppServiceAccount = Get-Credential VMDEV-012\SPS_WebApp-80

You will be prompt for this account credentials:

Then, type the following

New-SPManagedAccount -Credential $myWebAppServiceAccount

The SharePoint 2010 Managemant Shell warn you that the managed account should be use in stand alone environement since it is a local account.

Now, we can create the first SharePoint 2010 Web Application

10.2 Creating your first Web Application for SharePoint 2010

On the default page of the SharePoint 2010 Central Administration, click the "Manage Web Application" link in the "Application Management" section

On the "Manage Web Application" page click the "New" menu entry then click "New Web Application"

I have personally chosen to create it on the default IIS web site, and as a personal usage
named it "Web App - 80"
let the Application pool default settings
named the content database "WSS_Content_WebAppp-80"

You notice then that you have the previously service account available as a SharePoint 2010 managed account to be the account under the which the process of the new Application Pool will run .

You are then prompted the changes are processed

and finally that the SharePoint 2010 Web Application is created.

Click "OK" to close the wizard and to be taken back to the Web Application Management Page where you can see the new SharePoint 2010 Web Application.

Now, if we go to check what have been done behind the scene in ISS we will notice that we can retrieve a trace for our SharePoint 2010 managed local accounts:

And the same in the Services of our machine:

Last, if now you use the SPS_FARM SharePoint 2010 managed local account to sign in to the Central Administration:

You will notice that you are not connected as SPS_Farm, but as System Account.

This account is a Farm administraor account used ONLY to administrate the Farm using the Central Administration Web site. As it is not a local administrator of the server it cannot be used to run the SharePoint 2010 Configurqtion wizard, neither the obsolete stsadm or psconfig tools, nor the SharePoint 2010 management shell. And there are operations that are no more available from the central administration web site when you are logged in with this account, as "Manage Services on Server".

10.3 Creating your first Site Collection for SharePoint 2010

From the Central Administration Home Page, click on "Create site collections" in order to proceed to the creation of your first SharePoint 2010 Site Collection.

Then, click the "Create site collections" link under the "Site Collections" section. You are taken to the "Create Site Collection" page.
I have personally chosen to create a team site called "SharePoint 2010" team site"

When launching the creation, you are prompted the changes are processed

then prompted on that the site was created successfully.

When clicking on this site link, you can display your first SharePoint 2010 site.

Well done !

As it would be interesting to have a way to send and receive e-mails inside our development environement you can continue by doing this other tutorial:

Installing and configuring SMTP and POP3 e-mail for SharePoint 2010

And if you plan to migrate to a SharePoint 2010 you can take a look at this post:

Migrating to SharePoint 2010

Last, here are some posts to start customizing SharePoint 2010:

Customizing and branding the wiki pages for a SharePoint 2010 Team Site

The following is the previous version of this post that was describing the installation process for the previous Beta version. I let it as an archive :

Installing SharePoint Server 2010 Beta on Windows 2008 Server R2

Updated 2010 May 18th
Concern of Services on Server installation with Windows 2008 Server R2.

I have read here and there that SharePoint Services installation does not work for Windows 2008 Server R2. I encountered this problem once for an installation but it actually does work.
I have updated this post with a screen shot that shows what you have to see in order to check that all services are actually properly installed.

see :
8.4 Running the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard

Updated November 23rd
Warning for the hotfix for the token authentication in WCF (kb971831)
see :
7.6 hotfix for the token authentication in WCF

1 - Introduction

For those who have the chance to be allowed to download the SharePoint 2010 Beta because they benefit of an MSDN subscription or because they are employed by a company that is a Microsoft partner, here is a way to install the Beta version of SharePoint 2010 in order to test it.
As usual I will do my best to supply a step by step tutorial as detailed as possible which demonstrates how to install 2010 SharePoint Bêta on Windows server 2008 R2.

- Environment for this SharePoint 2010 installation:

The environment I propose to mount in this tutorial is a development environment that uses a SharePoint 2010 Beta Farm installation on a single computer using an unique local administrator account.

The SharePoint 2010 content databases will run on a SQLServer 2008 Standard Edition Database Engine.

I personally have not a MSDN subscription to date (but maybe have it soon) but my company is a Microsoft partner, so I had the chance to have the Beta version of SharePoint but for the OS, I chose to take advantage of testing the new version of SharePoint by testing in the same time the Windows 2008 Server R2 OS because Microsoft provides presently an 180 days evaluation version of it.

As you certainly know, SharePoint 2010 requires a 64 bits OS to run.
Therefore, I have chosen to create the Virtual Machine with VMware Workstation 6.5.3 because it is to date the only way of making run an 64 bit OS guest on a 32 bits OS host.

I will check if it is possible to mount an image with the free VMware Player product in order this tutorial do not require any purchase for a developer that has the benefits of the SharePoint Beta download. If it is possible, I will publish about it later.

Updated November 23rd [...

I have verified that you can actually also create a Virtual Machine running Windows 2008 Server R2 64 bits on a 32 bits host by using the free version of VMware:

VMware player 3.0.

You can download this software after registration at:

http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/desktop_downloads/vmware_player/3_0

...]

Last, if you want to install SharePoint 2010 using Domain Accounts, you can visit the post of Jeremy Thake, very useful with treeview menu listing all the operations to be performed:

Install SharePoint 2010 Public Beta on Standalone Windows Server 2008

2 Creating the Virtual Machine

2.1 Download Windows Server 2008 R2 Evaluation

Windows Server 2008 R2 is available in 64-bit (x64) only.

You have to register to obtain it.

Open VMWare and Select "New Virtual Machine"

The new virtual machine wizard is opening

Click OK to the warning message

Choose your Virtual machine name and location.

On this screen let the default values

The Wizard summarize your settings but you can still change some by clicking "Customize Hardware...". Especially the RAM allocated to the Virtual Machine.

When you click "Finish", the installation begins by loading the files.

The Easy install will install the OS automatically and in my case it did it in approximately 30 minutes!

Then you can access to your new server. You will see the "Initial Configuration tasks".

If you want to open this windows manually run this command:

C:\Windows\System32\Oobe.exe

3 Configuring the server - Standard Configuration Operations

3.1 Hardware Acceleration

In order to accelerate your Virtual Machine you have to perform the following operations :
Right click your desktop and choose "Screen resolution".

Then, click
Troubleshoot tab
Change Settings button

You will access to the "Display Adapter Troubleshooter" dialog.
Set the cursor to the Full position.

3.2 Windows Activating

Go back to the "Initial Configuration tasks" windows and we are going to go through the standard configuration operations easily because the windows lits them.

Be sure the Virtual Machine has an Internet Access.

We have to activate Windows in order to take advantage of the 180 days of the evaluation process.
Click on the "Activate Windows" link.

Do not look for any product key, as said before, you do not need any, just click next.

The activation will be done automatically through Internet. You will notice then the activation number and the number of days remaining on the bottom right corner of the desktop.

3.3 Changing Computer Name

Now, click the "Provide computer name and domain" link,then set your new Virtual machine name.

3.4 Downloading Updates

Click the "Download and install updates link" then turn on automatic updates, and proceed to the latest updates installation.

Then restart the Virtual machine.

3.5 Disabling Internet explorer Enhanced Security

To disable Enhanced Security Configuration to specific users by using a computer running Windows Server 2008

Click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager.
If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.
Under Security Summary, click Configure IE ESC.
Under Administrators, click On (Recommended) or Off, depending on your desired configuration.
Under Users, click On (Recommended) or Off, depending on your desired configuration.
Click OK.
Restart Internet Explorer to apply Enhanced Security Configuration.

4 Configuring the server - Configuration Operations for SharePoint (MOSS 2007 or SharePoint 2010)

4.1 Adding Server Roles and Roles Services - Application Server - Web Server

On the Initial configuration task windows, click "Add Roles"
The "Add Roles" Wizard is opening.
Check the check box for Application Server.
The wizard opens a modal dialog for the Required Features

Just click the "Add Required Features" button.
You are taken to and intermediate dialog. Click "Next" to go to the "Role Services" dialogs.
Click "Next"

On the "Role Services" dialog, select the followings :
.Net Framework 3.5.1
Web Server (IIS) Support
TCP Port Sharing
HTTP Activation
TCP Activation
Named Pipes Activation

Then Click "Next"
You are taken to an the intermediate page for the Web Server (IIS) Role

Click "Next"
The Select Role Services for Web Server (IIS) Role is displaying, but just let the default options.

Click "Next" to access the confirmation dialog

Then click "Install" and the Roles and Features are being installed

Check the "Installation Result" dialog and close it.

5 Installing SQL Server 2008

For these operations I let you consult one of my previous post that explains the same for Windows 2003 Server. The operations are exactly the same.

Integrating Reporting Services 2008 with SharePoint 2007 Step 1 - SQL Server 2008 Installation

6 Downlaoding the Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Beta

Go to this page to download the Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Beta. You have to register to access to the download.

Download the Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Beta

You will notice that a link is available toward the

SharePoint Server 2010 system requirements

I chose the Microsoft SharePoint Server for Internet Sites Enterprise 2010 Beta

The next section will detail the required things to do in order to be compliant with these requirements. As we install SharePoint on Windows 2008 Server R2 and because we have run the latest updates, most of the required add in will be useless.

7 Configuring the server - Configuration Operations for SharePoint 2010 Beta 1

7.1 Downloading and installing SQL Server 2008 SP1

First, we have to update the previously installed SQL Server with the SP1 downlodable at :

SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1

Do not forget to choose the x64 package

Here is the package after the download

and the first installation screenshot

7.2 Downloading and installing Cumulative update package 2 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1

Then, we have to install the Cumulative update package 2 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1

Cumulative update package 2 for SQL Server 2008 Service Pack 1

Follow the regsitration process. You will be provided an auto extractable package that needs a password and the appropriate password.

Here is the screenshot after all the process

and the first installation screenshot

7.3 Downloading and installing SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services ADODM.NET

For ending with the products related to SQLServer 2008 download and install the SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services ADODM.NET. Here is the direct link to the download:

ADOMD.NET

Here is the screenshot after the download.

And the first screenshot

7.4 Downloading and installing Geneva framework Runtime

This is useful even before launching the SharePoint prerequisites installation.

Geneva Framework Runtine

Here is the screenshot after the download.

And the first screenshot

7.5 Downloading and installing Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 (x64)

Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 (x64)

Here is the screenshot after the download.

And the first screenshot

7.6 hotfix for the token authentication in WCF

Regarding the update (KB971831),

hotfix that provides a method to support the token authentication without transport security or message encryption in WCF

it seems that the link supplied by MSDN and by the page "Determine hardware and software requirements (SharePoint Server 2010)" are not leading to the correct update for the R2 version of the OS.

As referenced by Jeremy Thake in his post, I think the good update is to find at:

http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?DownloadID=23806

Its name: Windows6.1-KB976462-x64

I performed the installation today and it ran perfectly well.

You can find the complete explanation regarding this update on the SharePoint Team Blog:

Installation notice for the SharePoint Server Public Beta on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 and Microsoft Windows 7

8 Microsoft SharePoint Server for Internet Sites Enterprise 2010 Beta Installation

8.1 Installing the SharePoint Prerequisites

Double click the installation package to launch the installation of Microsoft SharePoint Server for Internet Sites Enterprise 2010 Beta

The SharePoint 2010 installation Wizard is opening

Accept the licence agreement

The prerequisites are being installed

You should obtain this screen if you followed the operations previously described in this post.

8.2 Installing the SharePoint Files

Back to the SharePoint 2010 Installation wizard, click the "Install SharePoint Server" link. The launched wizard requires the product key.

Then, accept the terms of the licence agreement.

Choose the complete installation

While SharePoint is being installed, notice that a 14 repository is now created where we had the 12 for the 2007 version.

The wpressources repository is created beside the 14.

When the installation of the SharePoint files is finished you are asked to continue with the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard.

Fortunately there is a workaround to succeed in obtaining a Farm environment using local accounts as we used to have in the previous version that I have found in this post:

Single Server Complete Install of SharePoint 2010 using local accounts

8.3 Using SharePoint 2010 Management Shell to create the SharePoint 2010 Configuration databases

Open the SharePoint 2010 Management Shell.

Type the following command

New-SPConfigurationDatabase

run the command by pressing the Carriage Return Key

The Shell willl ask you for:
The database name --> choose any name, for example SharePoint_Config
The database Server name --> type the name of your Virtual Machine in my case VMDEV-007

You will be then prompt for the system account credential. In our case to go fast and not start explaining the "least privileges administration policy" just type the administrator login and password the which you are logged with.

Then you are asked for a passphrase. You can use P@ssw0rd that matches the security policies required.

3 web services has been created in IIS with 3 distinct application pools for each. That is a new feature of SharePoint 2010.

8.4 Running the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard

This time you can open the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard.

Let the option "Do not disconnect from this server farm" checked.

Let the default NTLM value for the "Authentication provider", Kerberos requires network configuration we cannot perform in the current environment anyway.

The wizard, then, summarize your choices.

Then the 9 main configuration operations are performed.

Finally, the "configuration Successful" dialog summarizes your configuration again and informs you that the central Administration of SharePoint 2010 will be launched when you close it.

When you click "Finish" to close the wizard, the Central Administration Site is opening, and you are prompted for credentials

Then you are asked to sign up to User Experience Improvement Program.

Another page let you choose between configuring your farm yourself or by using a wizard.

When this choice is made, you display for the first time the brand new Welcome Page of SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.

You should see this screen that confirms that SharePoint Services installation has completed successfully.

9 Creating your first site in Microsoft SharePoint Server for Internet Sites Enterprise 2010

9.1 Creating your first Web Application for SharePoint 2010

On the default page of the SharePoint 2010 Central Administration, click the "Manage Web Application" link in the "Application Management" section

On the "Manage Web Application" page click the "New" menu entry then click "New Web Application"

You are then prompted the changes are processed

and finally that the SharePoint 2010 Web Application is created.

Click "OK" to close the wizard and to be taken back to the Web Application Management Page where you can see the new SharePoint 2010 Web Application.

9.2 Creating your first Site Collection for SharePoint 2010

From the Web Application Management Page click the "Application Management" link in the left menu in order to proceed to the creation of your first SharePoint 2010 Site Collection.

When launching the creation, you are prompted the changes are processed

then prompted on that the site was created successfully.

When clicking on this site link, you can display your first SharePoint 2010 site.

Well done !