Sharepoint Newbie's Diary - 1st Entry

    Hey,everybody. This is my first English entry for my blog. Although I read some English articles everyday, my English is still not good enough to let me express all my thought. Anyway, Rome was built in one day. If I keep myself out of this field, I will never achieve the goal, speak out my idea in English freely. So just do it. 

    Today, I will talk something about the buzz word -- Sharepoint. Because I'm involved in the portal development using IBM Websphere Portal Server, I'm also interested in the Microsoft Portal products. And I find this word -- Sharepoint.

    1. What's Sharepoint? Actually, I really don't know how to define it. Because when I get some information about it, I often see these two parts: Sharepoint Service and Sharepoint Portal Server.At the beginning, I was confused about them. Which one is what I want?  Microsoft has guessed my confusion and provided one article about how to choose them. This article provides enough information with you, so that you can make a decision. But what about the relation between Sharepoint Server and Sharepoint Service? In a word, Sharepoint  Portal Server builds upon Sharepoint Service. When you install Sharepoint Portal Server, the Sharepoint Service will be installed first. For more detail, please read this article - Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server 2003.

    2. Installation of Sharepoint Service and Sharepoint Portal Server.  If you only install Sharepoint Service, you can visit the mainpage of Sharepoint Service and download the product. The current version is Sharepoint Service with Service Pack 2. If you want to install Sharepoint Portal Server for advanced features, you should follow this sequence: First, install the Sharepoint Portal Server 2003, and then install Sharepoint Service Sevice Pack 2 without Sharepoint Service, last install Sharepoint Portal Server 2003 Service Pack 2.

    3. First try of Sharepoint Service. When all is ready, what will I do next? I think it's time to experiment with Sharepoint Service without more knnowledge about it. Thanks to the easy guide of Sharepoint service, I spent just a while in setting up my first site. If you are new to Sharepoint Service as me, maybe you will confused about virtual server and server.  Don't worry about these concepts. You can consider that server is the base of virtual server, and the site is built up on the virtual server. So you can also find the Create a top-level Web Site link under the Virtual Server Configuration group in the Central Adminstration page. Click this link, you are required to choose the virtual server on which you will create the top-level site. After this, one form is shown for you. I think filling this form is so easy that you can finish it immediately. And here, the URL is important item through which you can access your site.  Finish the form and click OK button, the gear image will show.  After a while, one Sharepoint Site is built up! OK, enjoy it!

    Because I'm just one newbie to Sharepoint products, this post maybe contain some incorrect point. If you find that, please don't hesitate to tell me that. And if you are expert in the Sharepoint, I hope you can share your experience with me. Thank you very much!