SharePoint 2010



Welcome
SharePoint 2010 New Features | by Simon Allardice
View this entire SharePoint course and more in the lynda.com Online Training Library® .

September 28, 2010

How to set up Windows 2008 Server and install SharePoint 2010
More to follow soon.

September 20, 2010

32-bit and 64-bit Hardware for SharePoint
Forget 32-bit, unless you are installing SharePoint 2007 Foundation. If you want to set up a SharePoint Server, whether it is SharePoint 2007 or 2010, there are a few requirements you might want to consider prior to making any hardware purchases.

Caution When Purchasing Hardware for Sharepoint
If you are going to set up a development environment with SharePoint on your desktop or laptop, the purchase of hardware is made much more simple. All you need to set up your own development environment is a typical x64 motherboard, cpu with four cores, and a minimal amount of RAM, about 2GB, but it is much more preferable to have 4GB to 8GB of RAM.

However, if you are going to set up a Production Server, you must be very careful in the motherboad you purchase. You must ensure that the motherboard's manufacturer, in the case of SharePoint 2010, provides the device drivers for Windows Sever 2008. (For SharePoint 2007, Windows Server 2003 device drivers.) SharePoint 2007 Foundation works fine on 32-bit Windows 2008 Server.

If you are going to set up SharePoint 2010 Foundation, or SharePoint 2010 Server, as a Developer, you may use Windows Vista, Windows 7, or even Windows Server 2008, configured as a super workstation.

For the SharePoint 2010 Server production setup, it is required that you have either Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2, or Windows Server 2008 R2. Remember that some x64 motherboards do not support Windows 2008 Server. Be careful what you buy. If the motherboard's manufacturer cannot provide you the required device drivers, you will not be able to load SharePoint 2010, as only SharePoint 2007 Foundation will work on a 32-bit machine.

Motherboard/CPU Costs
You may spend anywhere from $350 to $450 for the motherboard and another $150 for the four core cpu. And, then there is the cost of RAM. A local computer store owner recommended that I estimate about $50 per 2 GB of RAM needed. Costs go up fast for servers.

Other Points
By the way, when you set up your server, give the server the name you want it to have permanently, before you install SharePoint, because changing it after the SharePoint installation is a bit tedious. I didn't like the name which the Windows Server 2008 installation process had given my machine, so I renamed it, not realizing that SharePoint would stop working immediately. It was easier for me, at this point, to uninstall SharePoint and reinstall it. Yes, it was loads of fun! And, it is best to learn from other people's mistakes.

Cecil Champenois