Customer Reviews

Microsoft SharePoint 2007 Unleashed

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 or MOSS2007 is actually a powerful set of building blocks that can be used for numerous things in organizations of almost any size. (Size matters as you do need to be able to afford the licenses for MOSS, Windows Server and SQL Server.) Microsoft SharePoint 2007 Unleashed does justice to the scope of the product it's covering.

At over 776 pages, the book is as large as the subject. Since Microsoft's documentation is still somewhat sparse, it's also a very good thing that this book is as thorough as it is. Does it cover everything? I don't think that's possible. What it does cover though is thorough and for the things I've checked, accurate. It is especially helpful in areas where Microsoft has not been so helpful. For example in the use of the stsadm.exe command line tool. While Microsoft's on-line documentation (you have to visit Microsoft Technet sites to get this information - it doesn't come with the software) describes the technique and has sample syntax, the descriptions and samples are in the form of a "man" page: sparse in detail and often unclear in practice. Following Microsoft's docs requires trial and error. Noel and Spence provide concise examples and samples, including a whole script for automating backup. (I haven't tried the script yet, but even it it needs tweaking, it will be very helpful.)

What's missing? Hard to say, but there's one web part that's installed as part of the default MOSS setup: "I need..." This appears to be a type of search/navigation tool, but I can't find it described anywhere, nor can I find out how to configure and use it. Not at Microsoft, and not in this book nor another book I'm reviewing. This may be my problem, but it illustrates how broad the scope of a product like MOSS is and how challenging it can be to document it.

All that said, the book provides very good guidelines in site planning an implementation, integration with MS Office 2007 and other applications, security configuration and more.

It will be a valuable addition to my library and should be part of yours as well.

So far I have read 5 books about SharePoint 2007. This is my fifth book in this subject. This book is different. This book is for IT system administrators and not for developers. However, as a consultant for SharePoint 2007 development, I find that this book reveals the administration considerations I usually ignore. Therefore, my review is based on the uniqueness of this book.

Pros:
1. This book is an excellent resource for system administrators. It covers most of SharePoint administration I can think of. In addition, the authors provide guide lines for SharePoint migration, the integration of SharePoint 2007 / Exchange 2007 / ISA 2006 / Forefront, and farm planning. These are the gems of this book. You can not afford to skip the chapters about application of Exchange/ISA/Forefront in Internet SharePoint 2007 environment.

Cons:
1. Tables and Figures are printed in small fonts. I would prefer a bigger font size.
2. This book is around 800 pages, and is written for system administrators. If you are a developer, you might be disappointed because there are only a few lines of code.
3. The authors discuss the SharePoint infra-structure including Exchange/ISA/Forefront. However, the lab environment is not designed that way. So the readers who want to do exercise might be disappointed.

My personal recommendation: If you are MOSS and WSS administrator, you must have this book. If you are a versatile consultant, this book should be a good reference on your book shelf. If you are a pure hand-on developer and new to SharePoint, you might opt to choose code-intensive books such as Inside SharePoint Service 3.0 by Ted Pattison.

I rate the book four stars.

I bought this book as it is a complete overview of every aspect of a Sharepoint 2007 implementation than any other book I have. It covers best practices for everything from what kind of site template to use to what are the best security methods for your SQL database. Very thorough and the best book on Sharepoint 2007 out there. It is in depth enough to get the job done but not so deep that there isn't room for the entire project plan of a Sharepoint implementation.

If you are like me and the ONLY resource in your company for installing, implementing, administering and rolling out Sharepoint, this is the book for you.

Anyone who works with MOSS, or even WSS v3 should have this on the desk. The authors start with a good overview of what SharePoint is, what problems it was designed to solve, and how it does so. Then the authors go into the planning that should occur prior to beginning a deployment, (remember that with SharePoint the three most important issues in deploying and architecting are planning, planning, and planning), then into installing the system. Anyone planning to rollout a significant SharePoint deployment would do well to read and study the first section of this book. At almost 800 pages this book is quite weighty, but deservedly so.

The following sections go through the various parts of the product. Given the breadth of SharePoint it is hard to conceive of any one book that can cover the full gamut, however this one comes close. If I have any criticism of this book it is that there is not enough depth, there is little or no coverage of development topics, and there are parts where they say that something can be done, but go into no explanation as to who to do it, even if it is pointing in the right direction. The first two complaints are a bit unfair in that this is not a development book, and, again given the richness and depth of the product, there is no way that a single piece of literature can give all the details, even though this book comes as close as is humanly possible. The last is a very irritating thing to me. Often all I need to learn a new technology is a simple, Hello World type approach, getting some traction, then doing the research to get where I want to get to.

Other than that this book covers all the important areas such as Records Management, Search, Office integration, management of deployments, and on and on. With all l that is in this book, and minimum research, an administrator will have the information necessary to do most of what he or she needs to accomplish, as well as how to keep that system running at optimal levels.

As an experienced SharePoint I.T. Administrator, I found this book very informative with detailed information and "how tos" on the various capabilities of MOSS 2007. I thought that this book was well organized with the book's "lack of fluff" and getting directly to what MOSS 2007 can do and offer. The book starts out with the first chapter's general description of what will be covered in the book as well as the chapter number as to where these features will be discussed in more detail. After the Chapter 1 overview, the actual, in-depth discussion following is done. Through the new features described including features of document libraries, lists, sites, and how to leverage the workflow capabilities within a team site and within SharePoint Designer 2007 and other features within MOSS 2007, Enterprise Edition (Business Intelligence, Excel Services, Business Data Catalog, etc), the authors' extensive amount of technical expertise, knowledge and experience of the subject matter is quite obvious.

Not only does this book describe the features within a MOSS 2007 team site, this book contains in-depth information about how to effectively administer MOSS 2007 within I.T., including utilizing the SharePoint Central Administration tool. Also the integration between MOSS 2007 and Microsoft Office 2007, SharePoint Designer 2007 (formerly FrontPage), ISA Server 2006, Live Communication Server, and Exchange Server 2007 are discussed.

Looking to get up to speed quickly with learning about MOSS 2007, including its capabilities and its potential as a tool that can greatly help the productivity and collaboration within an enterprise, I found that this book delivers in providing that knowledge in a concise yet descriptive and thorough format.

If you are an experienced SharePoint 2003 Administrator, the authors provide an honest approach in describing the shortcomings and limitations of SharePoint 2003, and describe how MOSS 2007 improves those shortcomings. However, even though you may not have any background in the previous versions of SharePoint, the authors do mention that no prior experience is necessary and you will not be disappointed in discovering within this book as to how MOSS 2007 can be leveraged within your team at your company.

Whether you are a SharePoint I.T. Administrator who will be planning, installing and supporting MOSS 2007 at your company or if you are knowledge worker looking for a step-by-step guide on how to take full advantage of the capabilities of a MOSS 2007 team site, this book is the must-have reference guide and instruction manual that you will need to accomplish what you are looking for.

Was a little hesistant to get another in the "unleashed" series since I have been burned before with a lot of content that is dry and not pertinent to my environment. On the contrary, this is one of the best books I have seen on the new MOSS 2007 enviroment. It is clearly written and organized so that I don't have to search to hard for what I need and I can ignore what I don't.

SharePoint 2007 Unleashed is a great reference for SharePoint administrators. I found it to have a great balance of high level planning information as well as detailed information that can be used as a reference once you've got SharePoint installed. What I liked best about this book was the breadth of subjects it covered. Noel and Spence aren't just experts on SharePoint, but other disciples. And it shows. This book covers not only how to get the most out of SharePoint, but how to use SharePoint with Exchange, MOM, ISA, OCS, the Office clients and more. The icing on the cake is the backup and recovery chapter. It includes a great script that can be used in small installations to use STSADM to back up all the Site Colletions in the farm. Very nice.

As a SharePoint administrator and SharePoint MVP I highly recommend this book.

This is a very impressive single volume introduction and reference for Microsoft SharePoint 2007 administrators. It has little for SharePoint developers, however, and they would probably be better served by a separate volume in the Unleashed series.

Authors Noel and Spence have done a truly excellent job in gathering information on SharePoint 2007 and putting it into easy-to-find, easy-to-read form. There is no question that you could find everything in this book somewhere else, such as in the SharePoint 2007 Help file or in Microsoft's extensive web sources. But you'd burn up a lot of time in finding and compiling it.

The writing style is clear and unadorned. The approach is very logical, beginning with an overview of SharePoint 2007 and a discussion of planning and implementation. The orientation is for larger installations, though the small business user is well served here.

The second part deals with using SharePoint 2007 technologies. It is very well done with a thorough exposition of SharePoint's capabilities and uses. It is the kind of writing that can be the basis of presentation to management and users. Good stuff.

Part three deals with managing a SharePoint environment.

The final part is concerned with extending the SharePoint environment, through remote access, integration with Microsoft Exchange Server and other uses.

Overall, from an administrative perspective, I'd say this is the best general introduction and reference on Microsoft SharePoint 2007 I have found to date. Nothing really here for the developer, but I'll take a look at the other volume for that.

Jerry

I found this book immensely helpful as a complete novice. Knowing nothing about SharePoint in any flavor this book filled in the gaps. It did not take long before I was able to get a Sharepoint site up and running effectively. I have been in the computer industry as a developer for 20+ years, which makes the detail coverage of the architecture and services involved just right for me. Once you get familiar with the product you will probably want to pursue a pure reference/maintenance book.

My teacher recommended this book and it's now my bible. I just started building a WSS 3.0 environment and the book explains each feature in detail. Also, the author includes what that feature couldn't do in Sharepoint 2003 and the extras added in MOSS. So you learn the past, present and future of each feature. Great job explaining the whole picture.