The Server product includes Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 as part of the installation and so includes all of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 features and adds a host of additional features on top of these. Many IT administrators, departmental managers, and power users are curious about what is not included in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 as they need to justify the cost of SharePoint Server 2007 and want to better understand what the more complete product includes. Bear in mind that there are two possible installations of SharePoint Server 2007: the Standard installation and the Enterprise installation.
An overview of the main features that require the purchase of SharePoint Server 2007 is
provided in the following list:
. My Sites is only available in SharePoint Server 2007. If enabled, My Sites allows users to create their own site and customize personal information that can be shared with the organization.
. The Site Directory feature is only available in the SharePoint Server 2007 product and can be very helpful if a large number of sites will be created. Each time a site is created, it can be included in the Site Directory and categories can be applied to each site for grouping and sorting purposes.
. User profiles are included in the SharePoint Server 2007 product. SharePoint Server 2007 connects to Active Directory (AD) and pulls in user information on a regular basis, which is then stored in the profiles database. Additional SharePoint-specific fields are added to this database creating a new database of user information that can be leveraged and customized in SharePoint Server 2007.
. Content sources outside of the SharePoint content databases can be searched and indexed with SharePoint Server 2007. SharePoint Server 2007 can index file shares, websites, Exchange public folders, and other sources out of the box.
. Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is very limited in out-of-the-box workflows, offering only the Three-state workflow, whereas SharePoint Server 2007 offers more flexibility with Approval, Collect Feedback, Collect Signatures, and Disposition Approval workflows.
. If integration with Microsoft Information Rights Management (IRM) is needed, the SharePoint Server 2007 product is required.
. SharePoint Server 2007 is required for retention and auditing policies, and for logging all actions on sites, content, and workflows.
. If policies, auditing, and compliance features are needed, SharePoint Server 2007 allows for the creation of document retention and expiration policies, workflow processes to define expiration, tracking and auditing, and other tools.
. If browser-based forms are required, the Enterprise Edition of SharePoint Server 2007 provides the tools needed to publish browser-based forms. More important, InfoPath is not required on the end users’ desktops to fill out forms.
. Excel Services are only available in SharePoint Server 2007, Enterprise Edition. Through Excel Services, a Microsoft Excel 2007 user can publish a spreadsheet, or portions of it, to a SharePoint Server 2007 document library so that it can be accessed via the Excel Web Access web part.
. Microsoft offers the Business Data Catalog (BDC) only in SharePoint Server 2007, Enterprise Edition. The BDC enables SharePoint Server 2007 to mine data from external databases via application definition files. A number of dedicated web parts then enable SharePoint Server 2007 to display this data to form advanced dashboards.
. Microsoft single sign-on integration is only available with SharePoint Server 2007.
A common question revolves around size limitations of the databases that can be supported by WSS 3.0. If the Basic installation option is followed, there is no hard limit for the size of the databases. The only installation option that brings with it a size limit is if SharePoint Server 2007 is installed using the SQL Server Express Edition, where there is a 4GB limit. This is confusing to many new SharePoint users and worth clarifying. If either WSS 3.0 or SharePoint Server 2007 are connected to any full version of SQL Server 2005 or 2008 (such as SQL Server 2005 Standard or Enterprise, or SQL Server 2008 Standard or Enterprise), there are no hard limits for database sizes.
Microsoft does recommend as a best practice that the content databases that store the documents uploaded to document libraries and content stored in SharePoint lists not exceed 50GB–100GB in size, but this is for performance and maintenance reasons, and is not a hard limit.
An excellent document is available on the Microsoft website with additional information comparing the products: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointserver/HA101978031033.aspx.
Source of Information : Sams - Windows Server 2008 R2 Unleashed
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