Licensing Requirements
To determine the minimum number of server farms you must cater for, keep in mind the licensing requirements. The two server licenses available for Office SharePoint Server 2007 are:
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Server License
To run Office SharePoint Server in client/server mode, this license is needed. This license is to be used with the number of CALs (Client Access Licenses) suitable for your organization.
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet sites
This license is for Internet Web sites only. Content, information, and applications must be accessible to non-employees. This license does not require the purchase of CALs (Client Access Licenses) as it is a per server license. It carries all the features of the Enterprise Edition of Office SharePoint Server.
These licenses may not be combined on the same server farm or on the same server.
To deploy internal content and Internet-facing content for non-employees, at least two server farms must be deployed to meet the licensing requirements.
Intranet sites for both remote and internal employees
Even if intranet sites can be exposed to the internet for remote employees to gain access, the server license with the suitable amount of CALs must be used.
Internet sites for external users
Internet sites license must be used.
Communication with employees of partner companies through partner extranet sites.
The following options are available for partner extranet sites:
These are compatible with the use of only one server farm
- Use a server farm which is hosting the intranet of the company and add a partner extranet site to it (server license). Ensure that the correct amount of CALs have been purchased for partner employees.
- To avoid purchasing CALs for either partners or employees working with partner employees, add a partner extranet site to a server farm which hosts the company internet site. Sites that are employee exclusive cannot be implemented in this option.
- Use the internet sites license for a server farm dedicated to partner collaboration. No CALs need to be purchased for employees collaborating with partners but employee exclusive sites cannot be created.
To deploy two server farms (one for intranet sites and another for internet sites) keep in mind the following aspects:
Type of collaboration
The internet server is the most economical choice for a partner extranet site which will be communicating information between partners
For a smaller number of partner employees working collaboratively, an intranet server farm would be a better choice.
Amount of partner employees
An Internet-facing farm with the internet sites license can securely host both collaborative and anonymous content for collaboration between a large number of employees. This is a viable option if cost is a major issue.
For collaboration with a vast number of partner employees, a dedicated server farm for extranet sites can be a valid option if:
Purchasing CALs is not as cost effective as purchasing the internet sites license and there is no intention of deploying a server farm for internet sites.
There is a problem authenticating access to collaboration on the server farm hosting your internet site
Your server farm which hosts both internet sites and partner extranet sites is experiencing performance issues.
Pre-publishing environments used to create Internet sites
When developing, staging, authoring and testing are done in multiple environments during the pre-publishing stage, consider the following:
Developing and testing of code:
Authoring of Content:
The server license with the suitable amount of CALs should be used
Staging:
The product environment is what determines the staging environment. The Internet sites license should be used.