As most of you probably know, I’ve been involved with supporting SharePoint technologies since we had SharePoint Team Services back in 2002. Back then, we only used SharePoint technology, and in this case SharePoint Team Services, in conjunction with an older version of Microsoft Office Project Server.
Today, we are using Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 with Project Server 2003, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 as a corporate Intranet, another Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 instance as an Extranet, and embarking on an exciting journey into FY2010 with the following initiatives:
Initiative 1: Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 with Project Server 2003 upgrade to WSS 3.0 with Project Server 2007We will be implementing Project Server 2007 with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 as a replacement for the current Project Server environment.
My recommendation will be to gather new hardware for this product. The current hardware is limited in the resources that are available today with replacement equipment and combined with a recent influx of new users and the Project Management organizations renewed interest in managing projects with this product coupled with the new services that are available in the newer version, the current hardware is insufficient. Virtualization is also a consideration.
A new implementation is a good choice since the Project Management organization has indicated that they do not have any confidence in the integrity of the data stored for the 800+ projects in the current system. This will prove to be an excellent opportunity for getting rid of that data that is no longer needed. It might also allow for the Project Management organization the opportunity to better define their processes for archiving obsolete information and relocating project deliverable information to another medium once a project has been completed.
Initiative 2: Add additional Web front-end failover server to the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 corporate Intranet and offload the Microsoft Search Server Express to the failover server
Our corporate Intranet is based on Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.The data originated from SharePoint Team Services many years ago, but has been migrated, and upgraded a few times since then. We’ve added additional enhancements over the years, one of those being Microsoft Search Server Express 2008. We currently have only one 32-bit front-end Web server for the corporate Intranet serving all SharePoint and search services to about 1,300 plus users located in offices around the country.
This work will include building two 64-bit WSS 3.0 front-end Web servers and retiring the existing 32-bit WSS 3.0 front-end.
This initiative will hopefully correct two issues that we are currently having:
1. The front-end Web server is plagued by persistent hardware failures. With no additional front-end Web server, there is not a redundant system that can take over on short notice.
2. When Microsoft Search Server Express 2008 is indexing new and changed content, the CPU on the front-end Web server spikes to between 85 and 99% for long periods of time. The failover server would only deliver SharePoint content when the primary server is unavailable, it will always serve as an application server and will index content and merge those changes into the SQL database when needed. This should reduce the CUP load on the front-end Web server that users are hitting.
Initiative 3: In-place upgrade of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 corporate Intranet to SharePoint Server 2007
Now that we got the additional front-end Web server, we will be ready to upgrade to the pay version of SharePoint for the corporate Intranet. We purchased the product last month and now that we’ve completed Initiative 2 and are on new hardware, we are now set to upgrade at any time without the need to go through a purchasing process.
Initiative 4: Release the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 corporate Extranet to the business to begin useI’ve just completed the build of our first corporate Extranet. It needs to go through testing and authorization. I hope that this is a product that we can release in FY2010.
Now, if we still have time in FY2010, I’d also like to create our first instances of SQL Server failover clusters. I’d like to have one cluster to server applications that must use SQL Server 2005 and a second cluster to server those applications that can use SQL Server 2008.
In addition to all of the above, believe it or not, I do more for my company than just SharePoint. I also support HP Quality Center, which I just migrated to version 10 a couple of months ago. HP Performance Center and SiteScope will both need to be upgraded in FY2010. And I hope to retire Oracle Collaboration Suite in FY2010 as the business decides that the SharePoint Extranet solution is more robust and user-friendly than OCS.
I will attempt to keep this blog up-to-date throughout FY2010 (which starts on 9/1/2009) with the status of these initiatives.
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