Customer Reviews

Microsoft SharePoint Technologies: Planning, Design and Implementation (HP Technologies)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had to search and collate a lot of information off the MSDN library, couple of other SharePoint books and newsgroups -- which I could have easily obtained from this book at first glance.

The book approaches Microsoft's portal (and underlying) technology from an architecture perspective and dives into the various phases of any real SharePoint engagement; as promised by the book's title. I would recommend it for people new to SharePoint who are going to be involved seriously, and also to "experienced" people as a good source for reference.

If there was an advanced version of this book, I'd buy it!

SharePoint products have come together to produce a more tightly integrated and richer platform, upon which successful collaboration and information sharing can occur. Authors Kevin Laahs, Emer McKenna and Veli-Matti Vanamo have done an outstanding job in this book of covering almost every single aspect of SharePoint.

Laahs, McKenna and Vanamo begin this book by looking at the architecture of Windows SharePoint Services (WSS). In addition, the authors look at how a WSS site is used for the purpose of supporting multi author document collaboration. They also take a look at the architecture of SharePont Portable Server (SPS) and the key features that it brings to the collaboration landscape. Then, they focus on site personalization, delivered by WSS; profiles, delivered; personal sites, delivered by SPS; audience targeting, delivered by SPS; and, IM integration, delivered by Office 2003 and Messenger. The authors then look at the major components of search and how they can affect the features available to end users. Next, they introduce you to software and hardware architecture concepts that you should familiarize yourself with. Then, they take a brief look at the core server products you may want to integrate with your deployment and then focus on planning the features you can enable for SharePoint Products and Technologies. The authors continue by delving further into capacity and hardware planning for SharePoint Products and Technologies. Next, they cover the major aspects of deploying SharePoint Products and Technologies and walk you through a few example installation scenarios for both products. In addition, they cover some of the typical migration scenarios and tools available for you to perform them. The authors then look briefly at the architectures of both SPS 2001 and STS and how they evolved into the current SharePoint platform. Next, they examine the concept of Web Parts and Web Part Pages and where they fit into the overall SharePoint architecture. They then continue to expand upon the topic of deployment and explain the security framework surrounding Web Parts. In addition, the authors focus on the aspects of FrontPage and SharePoint integration that have the most impact. Finally, they take a look at some of the more advanced methods of customizing and extending your SharePoint implementation.

With the preceding in mind, the authors have done an excellent job of providing you with the basic knowledge and tools to begin applying the common customizations applicable to many organizations. Obviously, your requirements may be more specialized and require additional knowledge beyond what they were able to provide.

I found this book a very helpful reference and companion while implementing Sharepoint technologies
The authors have planned it carefully based on actual experience
Some other titles are just a copy of the help files or they tell you what you can easily find out yourself
Only drawbacks which (i forgive):
1. the index is not comprehensive, so it is sometimes difficult to find certain topics quickly
2. some issues are not addressed, viz. bugs, problems etc
3. a section on tips and tricks would have been very helpful (like adding friendly URLs in announcements)
All in all a great value for money and thumbs up to the authors.

I bought this book and anthoer very npopular sharepint book. I think this book is the best. It covers almost everything you need both in depth and broad level. Great book...highly recommmand it.

This book is not for the beginner! But for those of us who have struggled with SharePoint 2003 for some time, it's a gold mine! You will find lots and lots of excellent tips and hints, based on these three authors experience from implementing SharePoint at HP worldwide. You will even find information here that is not described in the SPPT Resource Kit!

If you really need to understand the internals of SharePoint, buy this book!

This book covers all main areas associated with a SharePoint implementation project, focusing on:
- Planning the deployment
- Deploying and integration with other platforms
- Monitoring and performance measurement
It addresses all topics comprehensively and discusses web part development, customisation and extensibility options. I concur with the prevailing sentiment amongst the other reviewers and would add that this is one of the best technical books of any kind that I have seen lying around!