Microsoft SharePoint(TM) Portal Server 2001 Resource Kit (Examples & Explanations Series)

RapPort uses three different servers to deploy SharePoint Portal Server to multiple sites. By using these servers, RapPort automates the process of creating and maintaining intranet portals within an organization. The following list describes the specific function of each of the servers:

• RapPort Server. This server is the core of the entire RapPort solution. It handles the request submissions and coordinates the entire portal provisioning process. This server houses a set of configuration files in XML to keep track of all workspace templates, destination servers, and application parameters. It also contains a set of Active Server Pages (ASP) pages used for the submission process and a number of scripts and dynamic-link libraries (DLLs) used to start the provisioning process. In general, you only need one RapPort server per deployment, although you may choose to create additional servers for separate geographical locations.
• Template Server. This server stores SharePoint Portal Server workspaces used as templates during the portal provisioning process. RapPort copies the workspace template and related files when creating a new workspace on a destination sever. This server requires SharePoint Portal Server; no RapPort Components are required. For more information about creating workspace templates, see Creating Workspace Templates.
• Destination Server. This server hosts workspaces. You can use one or more destination servers to maintain multiple workspaces. This server contains ASP pages and DLLs used in the portal provisioning process. RapPort uses both of these components to create the workspace and the virtual server.

  You can further classify a destination server into one of two types: shared or dedicated. A shared server hosts many workspaces. You can control the creation of workspaces on the server by specifying capacity limitations in the configuration files. A dedicated server is used only for the creation of specific workspaces. The user must explicitly specify the name of the server when requesting a workspace. RapPort provides this option so that you can isolate large portals from other workspaces when deploying SharePoint Portal Server. You can locate destination servers anywhere in the organization from a corporate or regional data center to a departmental server in an individual office.

You can use a single server as the RapPort server and the template server. In this case, this server runs the portal provisioning process from the RapPort server and copies all work-space templates from the RapPort server. However, you must deploy at least one destination server. The destination server cannot serve as a RapPort server or a template server.

Figure 14.1 shows a RapPort deployment that uses multiple destination servers:

• Dedicated departmental server (http://site-1)
• Dedicated data center destination server (http://site-2)
• Shared destination server A (http://site-3, http://site-4)
• Shared destination server B (http://site-5, http://site-6, etc.)

Figure 14.1 also shows these portals connected to another SharePoint Portal Server computer dedicated to providing enterprise searching. The workspace templates contain a Web Part on the search dashboard that provides results from the corporate search located on the enterprise search server. This optional deployment configuration illustrates how you can integrate individual sites deployed by using RapPort within an existing SharePoint Portal Server infrastructure.

Figure 14.1. RapPort deployment with multiple destination servers