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Master Pages
In Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and Windows SharePoint Server 3.0, Microsoft has introduced a .NET 2.0 feature called Master Pages.  Master Pages allow you to globally control the "chrome" of your web site.  The chrome represents all of the common functional or visual design elements of your site.  Updating a SharePoint site's master page will globally change all pages within the site.  However, keep in mind that in MOSS, there are actually three master pages that control different aspects of the site: 1) the site's master page, 2) the system master page and 3) a file system-based master page.  The first two are accessible through SharePoint designer and/or the web interface.  The third master page is only on the file system.
SharePoint Services and Solutions

Consejo has deep experience developing SharePoint solutions for customers of all sizes and industries. Our consultants have real implementation experience spanning more than a dozen successful implementations of SharePoint Portal Server 2003, Windows SharePoint Services 2003, Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. We have helped customers with planning and architecture, as well as taxonomy and meta data development. In addition, our consultants have a vast amount of experience developing custom web parts, event handlers and other SharePoint-integrated applications.

If your organization is considering SharePoint technologies as a part of your IT strategy, we've provided some implementation considerations below to help you make more informed choices as you plan for your project. Should you have additional questions or would like to discuss how Consejo can help you with your project, please contact us.

For information on how Consejo can quickly deploy a SharePoint solution for you organization, please review our SharePoint Fast Track program.

SharePoint Implementation Considerations

  • Your search servers should have allocated approximately 25% of the total storage requirements for the portal as search index space. In a medium farm configuration, this means that your front-end web servers each need space equal to 25% of all of the content stored in the portal.

  • If you're considering deploying an externally-facing SharePoint implementation, keep in mind that you'll need to be able to quickly and effectively provision new users, either in Active Directory or a 3rd party authentication provider.  If you're using Active Directory or local server accounts, you may wish to purchase ID management solutions from either TheDotNetFactory or Bamboo Solutions.  Both firms sell solutions to help you manage users in Active Directory with new user provisioning capabilities as well as password reset features.

  • With the introduction of Windows Workflow Foundation and tight integration with both Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) v3.0 and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS), real workflow for content contribution is a reality.  If you're an existing SharePoint user, an upgrade to 2007 will impact how users contribute content.  If you're new to SharePoint, carefully plan how information should flow in and out of your portal or web application.

  • If you deploy WSS or MOSS to externally, either as an extranet or an anonymously accessible web application, you now have the option of using something other than Active Directory to authenticate users.  In fact, it's possible to have multiple authentication mechanisms for the same site, using alternate site mapping.
     
  • When developing a taxonomy in SharePoint, keep in mind that SharePoint does not truly support the concept of a logical taxonomy; the physical storage of content will need to match the taxonomy. As a result, if you have content that needs to be logically associated with more than one taxonomy branch, consider a product like Mondosoft Ontolica. The Knowledgebase and Search add-on products will assist you in displaying your site content in both the physical and logical contexts.
If you are a WSS 2.0 or a SharePoint 2003 user and are ready to upgrade or would simply like to find out more about WSS 3.0 or MOSS 2007, please contact us.  Consejo has been deploying customers on SharePoint 2007 since the beta release.

For information on how Consejo can quickly deploy a SharePoint solution for you organization, please review our SharePoint Fast Track program.