Deployment Environment

You were tasked by the IC-dean to evaluate the enrollment system of the university, list and briefly describe the characteristics that an analyst (you) examines when choosing or defining deployment environment.

So basically, my idea is that use open source servers because the primary benefit of open source is that it is free. Also considering the university which lacks in budget allocation should really be advisable to use open source servers. But I’m not against package servers my point only is that we consider the budget allocation of the university. But for me, as to evaluate I think I would use Microsoft package servers because it’s the most commonly used servers. So I basically choose the SharePoint 2007. For organizations preparing to deploy SharePoint™ 2007 or to move from a pilot to full deployment, creating a properly designed environment is critical to the successful deployment of an enterprise business productivity infrastructure. The purpose of the SharePoint Environment Design and Deployment is to create a design and project plan that will meet the organizations requirements and leverages Microsoft and DataLan standards and best practices around the following areas: Physical Architecture, Logical Layout, Security Configuration, Connectivity Planning, Usability Planning, Disaster Prevention and Recovery Planning.

• Physical Architecture – This includes the physical layout of the servers and network elements needed for the SharePoint environment. Physical architecture considerations will include:

o SharePoint Server Farm Topology Configuration
o Third Party and Custom Service Configuration
o Server specifications and allocations
o Network integration points with other systems
o Network entry/boundary points

• Logical Layout – This includes the logical layout of the SharePoint web application and service elements needed for the environment. The logical layout review addresses:

o Web application, site collection and site structure and configuration
o Shared Services and My Site placement and configuration

• Security Configuration – This outlines the security mechanisms that will be employed to control access to the environment and environment resources including:

o Environment access method and AD integration
o Content access, control, and governance
o Security delegation
o Auditing and Policy management requirements

• Connectivity Planning – Details the environment access points and user connectivity methodology and controls. Connectivity planning includes:

o Local connectivity approach planning
o Remote user connectivity approach planning

• Usability Planning – Details the usage for the environment and reviews application needs and plans. Usability planning includes:

o User experience and usage of the environment will be reviewed
o Application planning will be performed in order to identify those applications to be created within or migrated into the environment

• Disaster Prevention and Recovery Planning – Including the protection of the environment from potential service interruptions or loss of data in the event of a disaster. This planning includes:

o Environment disaster methodology creation based on SLA requirements
o Environment backup requirement levels
o Environment Monitoring requirements and solution architecture

The deliverables include:

• SharePoint environment architecture document detailing all aspects of the environmental architecture
• Deployment of the SharePoint environment based on the Enterprise Architecture Plan
o Installation of a SharePoint small or medium farm environment
o Documentation of the installation and configuration of the SharePoint environment

But I’m not closing my doors to any suggestions or alternatives, maybe in my own opinion this is the deployment environment that I would suggest to them to be defined and used.

References:
http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/Pages/Default.aspx
http://www.datalan.com/Solutions/Pages/Design%20and%20Deployment.aspx