While I’m not at TechEd Atlanta today, it’s good to see that The Microsoft Office Sustained Engineering Team announced that SharePoint 2010 Service Pack 1 is “on track for release at the end of June” 2011.  While I’m sure there are plenty of bug fixes included, I’m specifically interested in the following updates that are scheduled to be part of the Service Pack:

SharePoint Foundation 2010 is an incredible product.  Not only does it provide robust collaboration capabilities, web site management tools, security management tools, and data integration tools, but SharePoint Foundation 2010 is free.  Foundation 2010 is available to download from Microsoft today and can be used for any type of site, internal or external.  I’ll be covering quite a bit about SharePoint Foundation 2010, so it makes sense to start with some simple install notes and screens that will guide absolutely anyone through a basic install.

When you first launch the SharePoint Foundation 2010 installer, you are presented with a dialog to help you with a little guidance and links to the install guide, upgrade guide, and the hardware and software requirements.  Assuming that everything is ready to go, you can install the software prerequisites.

Once the prerequisites are installed, then you can click Install SharePoint Foundation.

It is important to note the type of installation that you are performing.

Stand-alone will install all components on this single computer.  Stand-alone will also automatically install and configure an instance of SQL Server Express 2008.  This is a very simple installation process, but has some limitations.

A Stand-alone installation configures a single computer with all the necessary files and settings to create a fully functioning SharePoint implementation, including Web server, application server, and database.   SQL Server Express 2008 is installed and configured to provide data storage capability.   SQL Server Express is based on the Microsoft SQL Server architecture, but it has the following limitations:

• Lack of enterprise features support.
• Limited to one CPU.
• One gigabyte (GB) memory limit for the buffer pool.
• Databases have a 4 GB maximum size.
• SQL Server Express will not support a server farm configuration or a multi-processor computer.

In addition to the SQL Server Express limitations, the inherit SharePoint Foundation Stand-alone configuration limitation is that you cannot add servers to create a SharePoint farm.  If you need to add another WFE later – you won’t be able to.  If you anticipate the need to scale up to a larger or more robust installation, choose the Complete option.

You can perform a stand-alone installation either by selecting Stand-alone on this screen or by clicking Standalone on the previous screen. The difference is that by clicking Stand-alone on this screen, you can choose the installation path. After this screen, both options follow the same steps and result in the same outcome.

If you choose the Complete install, SharePoint Foundation 2010 will install all components. You can add additional servers to form a SharePoint farm, including load balanced WFE servers.  The Complete option installs a Web server and configures the computer to provide application server functionality.   The SharePoint Foundation 2010 Complete install option does not provide database functionality.   You must provide connectivity and credentials settings to connect to an existing SQL Server instance.   It is important to note that you can download and use SQL Server Express 2008 for free.  You can even install it on the same computer.  Although SQL Server can be installed on this same computer, it is recommended that you install SQL Server on a separate computer.

There are other install options.  You can also install SharePoint Foundation 2010 for a front-end Web server rather than Complete, but you must use the command line to do so.

If you receive an error message or encounter a problem, visit The Microsoft Office 2010 Setup Resource Center for troubleshooting information and how to contact Microsoft Product Support.

If you do not change the default installation directory, the default installation directory is located at:  C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\14\Data

I typically recommend leaving the installation directory in the default location.  While some IT shops have standard operating procedures that all installations must be on non-OS drives (D Drive), I’ve found it easier to troubleshoot new environments if I don’t have to hunt around for files.  The next SharePoint consultant that you bring in will immediately first look in the Hive (typically the default install directory) for SharePoint related info.

After you select the path, the installation wizard will begin a progress bar as it installs the environment.

After the successful installation, you will be prompted to run the SharePoint Configuration Wizard.  Typically, you can leave the check box selected and immediately run the configuration wizard.  There are instances where you may want to delay running the configuration wizard.  If you are planning to run the Office Web Apps (which will run on SharePoint Foundation 2010), it is easier to install the necessary files at this point (after SharePoint install but prior to running the configuration wizard).  If you first run the SharePoint Configuration Wizard, then you will be configuration the Office Web Applications via PowerShell scripts.

If you opted for a SharePoint Foundation 2010 Stand-alone Server install, then the SharePoint 2010 Products Configuration Wizard will immediately begin the ten step configuration process.

If you opted for an option other than a stand-alone server install, then you will be prompted to either Connect to an existing Server Farm or Create a new Server Farm.  You will then be prompted to supply database connection credentials with appropriate permissions on the SQL instance that you will be using.

That’s it!  After you’ve let the wizard run through, you should automatically be directed to a default SharePoint Foundation 2010 site that looks a lot like the screen below.

I’ve tried to cover a lot of information in this SharePoint Licensing mini-series, but there is still a lot of information to cover.  For lack of a better format, I’m also including a SharePoint Licensing FAQ.

Q: My company has a lot of employees that will be using SharePoint 2010.  Can we just purchase the SharePoint 2010 for Internet Sites license and use that?
A: No.  If you will have “private sites” are to be used exclusively by employees, then site needs SharePoint Server 2010 plus at least the SharePoint 2010 Standard CAL for each employee that will use the site.  In reality, if you have 1200 sites in your SharePoint 2010 environment and a single site is ‘staff only’, then you need to purchase licenses based on CALs for your staff.

Q: Does every server in the farm need SharePoint 2010 installed?
A: Every SharePoint server in the farm needs a server license, whether WFE, Index, Query, etc. – except for dedicated SQL Servers that are not running any SharePoint services.  If the server is running any of the SharePoint services, then you must ensure that the server has the appropriate SharePoint 2010 license.  Additionally, each SharePoint server needs the same set of server licenses. For example, if you are running an Internet-facing farm that has 2 WFE and 1 index server, you must use the SharePoint 2010 for Internet Sites license on all 3 servers. If you are running a single 3-server farm that is supporting your Intranet, Extranet, and Internet sites, you must run 2 different licenses on each of the 3 server servers: SharePoint 2010 for Internet Sites (for public access) and SharePoint Server 2010 (for employees-only sites, for which you would also need appropriate CALs for staff).

Q: If we were to initially deploy the "Internet Server" version, would we be able to later launch private sites for users who were covered by individual CALs (staff)?
A: Yes. The SharePoint 2010 licensing model allows for both versions of the product (internal and external) to be installed on the same farm. If you deploy SharePoint 2010 for Internet Sites only, and then decide that you want to add sites for CAL-based users later, you need to purchase the appropriate CALs and the SharePoint 2010 Server license in addition to the Internet license. The Internet Sites license can not be used with CALs, because CALs are only usable with the SharePoint 2010 Server license.

Q: Where do I install a SharePoint 2010 CAL?
A:  You don’t install the CALs anywhere.  Like a lot Microsoft software, SharePoint 2010 environments are based upon the ‘honor system’.  You must have appropriate licensing to utilize the software, but there is no actual licensing check that will disable unlicensed users from accessing your SharePoint 2010 server farm.  SharePoint 2010 has usage logging that can be used to determine who is accessing your SharePoint 2010 environment(s) to help keep you licensed correctly.

Q: We want to deploy an EXTRANET – sites that will be used for collaboration between Staff and Non-Staff (partners, members, customers, etc).   What license do we need?
A: From my understanding of talking with tons of resellers and Microsoft Licensing Reps, Extranets are the one area that there is some licensing flexibility.  To be clear, we are defining a SharePoint 2010 Extranet as  containing collaborative sites that are not staff-only and do not allow public anonymous users (everyone is authenticated).  For this type of site, you could purchase the SharePoint Server 2010 license and the appropriate CALs for ALL authenticating users – staff and on-staff.  OR, you could purchase the SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites license and no CALs.  If you are wanting to run a single STAFF-ONLY site, then you must purchase the SharePoint Server 2010 and CALs.

Q: If we are deploying Excel Services, Access Services, or Visio Services, do we need licenses of Office 2010 for everyone?
A: Maybe. Users that are consuming Excel Services do not need to have Excel installed.  Same goes for Access Services and Visio Services.  However, any user that wishes to create spreadsheets using Excel to deploy on the Excel Services component of SharePoint 2010 Enterprise will need a license of Excel 2010. If your consultant or contractor is developing all of your spreadsheets, then that is the individual that needs Excel 2010 – not your staff.

Q:  I have external users that already have SharePoint 2010 in their own companies (not our company).  Can they be allowed to access our systems with their own licenses, or would we still have to purchase new CALs for them?
A: You cannot use CALs from an external company license for anything in your company.

Q: Do I need Microsoft Office 2010 to use Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010?
A: No.  In fact, you do not even need to use any version of the Microsoft Office desktop application to get a tremendous amount of benefit from SharePoint 2010. You can use SharePoint 2010 for content management, surveys, discussion boards, picture libraries, web pages, email record management, content types, and many other things (including document management for PDFs, PSDs, TIF, GIF, JPG, and many more non-Office document types) without purchasing or using any version of Microsoft Office. I’ve seen many articles/blogs/newsgroup entries that indicate that you need Office to use SharePoint – this is absolutely incorrect!

If you are using the document collaboration features, you can get a lot of benefits from using Microsoft Office.  The later the version of Office, the more features you will have access to.  You can, however, leverage older versions of Microsoft OFfice with SharePoint 2010, including Office XP, Office 2003, Office 2007, and Office 2010.

Q: Can I use FAST Search for SharePoint with SharePoint 2010, Standard, or SharePoint Foundation 2010?
A:  No.  FAST Search for SharePoint requires SharePoint Server 2010, Enterprise.  For internal use, you simply purchase the FAST Search for SharePoint server license.  For external use, there is no specific license to purchase.  You must purchase an additional SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Enterprise, server license and add another server to the farm dedicated to running FAST.  Of course, larger environments will require more planning and architecture than ‘simply add another server’ – but hopefully you get the gist.

The previous posts in this mini-series include explanations of the different products involved with SharePoint 2010:

• SharePoint 2010 Licensing Part I: Foundation, Server, and Designer
• SharePoint 2010 Licensing Part II: Windows Server and SQL Server
• SharePoint 2010 Licensing Part III: Search, Office Web Applications, and Project Server
• SharePoint 2010 Licensing Part IV: Scenario Examples
• SharePoint 2010 Licensing Part V: SharePoint 2010 Licensing Costs

Hope this helps.

In the previous post, SharePoint 2010 Licensing Part I: Foundation, Server, and Designer and SharePoint 2010 Licensing Part II: Windows Server and SQL Server, I covered SharePoint Foundation 2010, SharePoint Designer 2010, SharePoint Server 2010, Windows Server, and SQL Server.  In this post, I’ll cover additional related products.

Microsoft Search Server Express 2010.  SharePoint Server 2010 comes with incredibly robust search capabilities.  Microsoft Search Server Express 2010 provides most of these search capabilities for free.  Microsoft provides a Search Server Express 2010 vs SharePoint Server 2010 Search comparison that provides a very good high-level overview of the differences.  So why would you use Search Server Express 2010?  Maybe your organization can’t afford SharePoint Server 2010 in this year’s budget.  Maybe you are running SharePoint Foundation 2010 and want an enterprise search and not just the site level search.  Maybe you want a powerful search engine to index your public facing web site, your file shares, Exchange public folders, other SharePoint sites, or even structured content in your database (like CRM/AMS/LOB systems).  Maybe most important of all is that the Microsoft Search Server Express 2010 license is free.

FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint.  FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint adds even more functionality to the search capabilities of SharePoint Server 2010 Standard search, including support for indexing up to a BILLION content items, sub-second query latency, better search refinements, visual cues for rapid recognition (think thumbnail previews), advanced content processing, intelligent automatic metadata recognition, and much more.  As mention in SharePoint 2010 Licensing Part I, FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint licensing is included in SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Enterprise licensing.    Microsoft provides a SKU to add a FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint license to your SharePoint Server 2010 License for your internal (client/server CAL) SharePoint Server 2010 environment.    Quoted from the Microsoft SharePoint Licensing Details page, “SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Enterprise, also includes the rights to FAST Search Server for use in Internet or Extranet scenarios. You can deploy a single server license of SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet Sites, Enterprise, as SharePoint server or a FAST Search server—but not both concurrently.”

A wonderful resource regarding FAST is the FAST Search Server 2010 for SharePoint Evaluation Guide.

Microsoft Office Web Applications 2010.  Office Web Apps are the online version of Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote so that you can access, view, and edit documents from any authorized web browser – PC, Mac, or mobile.  For business use, Office Web Apps require at least SharePoint Foundation 2010 (which is free), but will also run on SharePoint Server 2010 Standard or Enterprise.  Business users are licensed through the Microsoft Office 2010 Volume License and can access the downloads at the Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center. For personal use, Office Web Apps are free and available via Live along with your SkyDrive.  Get more details from the Microsoft Office 2010 site.

Microsoft Project Server 2010.  When presenting some of the task management capabilities of SharePoint, a question that inevitably comes up is, “Does SharePoint work with Microsoft Project?”  The short answer is, of course, yes.  You can absolutely use SharePoint to manage MPP files, including version history, exclusive check-out, workflow, alerts – just like any document type.  However, if you want to utilize Microsoft Project to manage projects, tasks, durations, work breakdowns, and assignments, then you probably are wanting to expose that detailed project information via the web site and let other project team members view and update the information directly from their browser.  That’s exactly what Project Server 2010 does.  Project Server 2010 is actually built on top of SharePoint 2010, provides a seamless integrated web experience, and allows you to cohesively interact with your entire project team. 

Microsoft Project Server 2010 follows the same client/server licensing model as SharePoint Server 2010 for internal users.  A server license is required for each server, and a Microsoft Project Server 2010 Client Access License (CAL) is required for each user that will authenticate and utilize the software.  Keep in mind that Project Server 2010 runs on top of SharePoint Server 2010, therefore you must have appropriate licensing for SharePoint Server 2010 with both the Standard CAL and Enterprise CAL as well.  Depending upon your configuration within an enterprise environment, this licensing required for each user may include:

• Project Server CAL (note that Microsoft Project Professional 2010 also includes a Project Server 2010 CAL)
• SharePoint Standard CAL
• SharePoint Enterprise CAL
• SQL Server CAL
• Windows Server CAL

  Visit Microsoft to get the Project Server 2010 Licensing Guide for full details.

This is Part II in a series on SharePoint 2010 Licensing.  View the entire series:
SharePoint 2010 Licensing Part I: http://stovereffect.com/2010/06/29/sharepoint-2010-licensing-part-i-the-basics/
SharePoint 2010 Licensing Part II: http://stovereffect.com/2010/06/30/sharepoint-2010-licensing-part-ii-windows-server-and-sql-server/

I think that anyone that has even seen a SharePoint demo knows that SharePoint offers robust document collaboration features with the ability for exclusive Check-In and Check-out.  Exclusive Check-In and Check-Out is optional and configurable individually within each library.  Some of the organizations that I work with have ‘less than savvy’ end users who are constantly plagued by this concept of Check-Out.  One of the questions that I frequently hear is what happens if we opt not to use this feature?  And if we opt to not use it, what if two or more people are editing the same document at the same time, and they both save it to the Document Library?

The answer is doom and gloom!  Not really.  Actually, the Microsoft Office tools are designed to appropriately hand just such cases.  For example, Word will notify the user that is saving the document that changes were made by other authors and give the author the option to view the changes or just overwrite the changes.

If you opt for viewing the changes, Microsoft Word 2010 will automatically merge the changes with change tracking turned on so the author can selectively determine which change to keep. 

Word has refreshed you document with changes made by other authors.  To compare the document with a previous version click the File tab.

Clicking the File tab in Word 2010 will show an option to manage versions at the bottom of the screen:

Clicking Manage Versions gives quite a few options as well.