SharePoint 2013 - A brief introduction

Overview
SharePoint 2013 is a very similar but very much advanced version of SharePoint than previous versions. SharePoint 2013 is the new ways to share your work and work with others, organize your projects and teams and discover people and information.

A Brief History
The versions are (in chronological order):
1) Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2001
2) Microsoft SharePoint Team Services (2002)
3) Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 (free license) + Microsoft SharePoint 2003 (commercial release)
4) Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (free license) + Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (commercial extension)
5) Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 (free) + Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 (commercial extension)
6) Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2013 (free) + Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 (commercial extension)

SharePoint 2013 Editions
Following are the major editions of SharePoint 2013:
1) SharePoint Foundation: The most basic and free edition of SharePoint 2013.
2) SharePoint Server Standard: Built on top of SharePoint Foundation. This edition provides legal compliance capabilities, including records management, legal holds, and document policies. Document managment using Document sets and DocumentIDs are also enable in this edition.
3) SharePoint Server Enterprise: Includes dashboards, key performance indicators (KPIs), and business intelligence features in addition to features in Foundation and Standard edition. Improved search capbilities, Excel Services, Visio Services, InfoPath Forms Services, and Access Services also exclusively supported in Enterprise edition.
4) SharePoint for Internet Sites: These are mainly public facing internet sites. They were created to support public Internet scenarios with an unpredictable number of users coming from the Internet, whether the users are anonymous or authenticated.
5) SharePoint Online: SharePoint Online supports creation of sites to share documents and information using cloud.

Hardware Requirements
Following are the core hardware requirements:
1) CPU: 64-bit
2) RAM: 8 GB
3) HDD: 80 GB

Software Requirements
Following are the software requirements:
1) Windows Server 2012
2) Microsoft SQL Server 2012 64-bit
3) Internet Information Services 7.5
4) Microsoft .NET 4.5

We shall see new features and capabilities of SharePoint 2013 server in the next post.

SharePoint 2013 - Creating Web Application, Site Collections And Subsites

Creating Web Application, Site Collections And Subsites in SharePoint 2013 is very much similar to that of in SharePoint 2010. The major difference is that SharePoint 2013 makes use of claims based authentication by default.

Before we start, let's a take a look at the Sites hierarchy. 

Based on the hierarchy shown in the above figure we will perform the following tasks:

1) Create a new Web Application.

2) Create a Team Site Site Collections inside the web application. (Top Level Site).

3) Create a Blog Subsite under the Site Collection.

So lets get started...

Creating a new Web Application

Open Central Admin Site and go to Application Management-> Manage Web Application.

The Web Application Management page opens. Click on New button.

A pop-up window for creating web application will appear. Specify a port number.

Select the authentication mode. By default, it will be Claims based authentication.

You may change the public url. Also, you can change the content database name for easily identifying the database for your web application (eg: WSS_CONTENT_PortNumber).

Click on OK button to start creating the web application.

Once the web application is created, the following pop-up will appear and you will be prompted to create a site Collection.

Note:- You will not we able to use the web application unless you create at least one site collection.

Creating a new Site Collection

Now lets move on and create a site collections in the web application we just created.

Click on Create Site Collection from the pop-up in the previous figure. Following page will appear.. Specify your Site Collection name and template. We will choose the Team Site template.

Enter at least one site collection administrator for this site collection. Click on OK button to start creating a new Site Collection.

Once completed a message will pop-up. Click on the url link to navigate to the newly created site collection.

The new Site Collection named Tech Bytes provisioned with Team Site template has been created.

Creating a new Subsite

We will create a Subsite  under the Site Collection we just created. So lets get started...

Click on Settings button and select Site Contents option to navigate to the Site Contents page. Click on new subsite link.

Specify the Title, Description, Web site address, etc. Choose the blog Template for this subsite. Also, choose other options like permissions and navigations as you desire. Click on Create button to start creating the blog subsite.

The new subsite named "Tech Bytes - Blog" has been created provisioned with the Blog template.

Hope this post gives an overview of creating Web Application, Site Collections And Subsites in SharePoint Server 2013.

SharePoint 2013 - Setting up SharePoint 2013 Server VM on Windows Azure

Following are the steps for Setting up SharePoint 2013 Server VM on Windows Azure. I have mentioned the word "Sample" in most of the configuration setting. You can replace this word with your own  configuration parameters.

1) Login into your Windows Azure Management Portal
Login to you windows azure portal (https://manage.windowsazure.com/). Check this link to know more about windows azure.

2) Define a new Windows Azure Affinity Group
Follow the steps in Creating a new Windows Azure Affinity Group. Define a new Windows Azure Affinity Group with following details.
Affinity Group: Sample-affinity-group
Region: Region close to your country

3) Create a new Windows Azure Storage Account
Follow the steps in Creating a new Windows Azure Storage Account. Using the affinity group created in the previous step create a new Windows Azure Storage Account.
URL: Sample_Store
Affinity Group: Sample-affinity-group

4) Register a DNS Server in Windows Azure
Follow the steps in Registering a new DNS Server. Register a new DNS Server with the following details.
DNS Name: Sample-DNS Server
DNS Server IP Address: 10.0.0.4

5) Define a Virtual Network in Windows Azure
Follow the steps in Creating a Virtual Network. Define a Virtual Network with the following details.
Virtual Network Name: Sample-net
Affinity Group: Sample-affinity-group
DNS Name: Sample-DNS Server
DNS Server IP Address: 10.0.0.4

6) Configure Windows Server Active Directory in a Windows Azure VM
Follow the steps in Windows Azure - Creating and Configure a Windows Server Active Directory VM. Create a Windows Server Active Directory VM with the following details.
a) Virtual Machine Configuration
- Version Release Date: Select the latest version release date.
- Virtual Machine Name: Sample-AD
- New User Name: Choose a secure local Administrator user account to provision.
- New Password and Confirm Password fields: Choose and confirm a new local Administrator password.
- Size: Small (1 core, 1.75GB Memory)

b) Virtual Machine Mode page
- Standalone Virtual Machine: Selected
- DNS Name: sample-ad.cloudapp.net
- Storage Account: Sample_Store
- Virtual Network: Sample-net

c) Active Directory
- Active Directory Forest name: Sample.com

d) User Accounts
- Sample\sp_farm – SharePoint Farm Data Access Account
- Sample\sp_serviceapps – SharePoint Farm Service Applications Account

7) Configure SQL Server 2012 in a Windows Azure VM
Follow the steps in Creating and Configuring a Windows Server Active Directory VM. Create a Windows Server Active Directory VM with the following details.

a) Virtual Machine Configuration
- Version Release Date: Select the latest version release date.
- Virtual Machine Name: Sample-DB
- New User Name: Choose a secure local Administrator user account to provision.
- New Password and Confirm Password fields: Choose and confirm a new local Administrator password.
- Size: Small (1 core, 1.75GB Memory)

b) Virtual Machine Mode page
- Standalone Virtual Machine: Selected
- DNS Name: sample-db.cloudapp.net
- Storage Account: Sample_Store
- Virtual Network: Sample-net

c) Domain
- Domain Name: Sample.com

d) Server Role
- Sysadmin – Sample\Administrator

8) Create SharePoint Server 2013 VM in a Windows Azure
Follow the steps in Creating a SharePoint Server 2013 VM in Windows Azure. Create a SharePoint Server 2013 Virtual Machine in Windows Azure with the following details.
a) Virtual Machine Configuration
- Version Release Date: Select the latest version release date.
- Virtual Machine Name: Sample-SP
- New User Name: Choose a secure local Administrator user account to provision.
- New Password and Confirm Password fields: Choose and confirm a new local Administrator password.
- Size: Small (1 core, 1.75GB Memory)

b) Virtual Machine Mode page
- Standalone Virtual Machine: Selected
- DNS Name: sample-sp.cloudapp.net
- Storage Account: Sample_Store
- Virtual Network: Sample-net

c) Domain
- Domain Name: Sample.com

9) Configure SharePoint Server 2013 in a Windows Azure VM
Follow the steps in Configuring SharePoint Server 2013 in Windows Azure VM. Configure the SharePoint Server 2013 in Windows Azure VM with the following details.
a) Domain
- Domain Name: Sample.com

b) Central Product Configuration Wizard
- Database Server: Sample-DB
- Username: Sample\sp_farm
- Password: Type the password specified when the sp_farm domain user account was created.
- Passphrase: Any password of your choice.
- Port Number: Any number of your choice between 1 and 65535.
- Service Account: Sample\sp_serviceapps.


References
1) http://blogs.technet.com/b/keithmayer/archive/2013/04/17/step-by-step-build-a-free-sharepoint-2013-lab-in-the-cloud-with-windows-azure-31-days-of-servers-in-the-cloud-part-7-of-31.aspx#.UYhItrVHLzx

SharePoint 2013 - Configuring SharePoint Server 2013 in Windows Azure VM

Following are the steps for Configuring SharePoint Server 2013 in Windows Azure VM

1) Login to your Windows Azure management portal.

2)  Select the SharePoint 2013 VM and click on the DASHBOARD tab to view the details of the VM. Click on the "CONNECT" button in the bottom. An "rdp" file will be download. Open this file and you will get the remote login screen.

3) Once you login, click on the "SharePoint 2013 Products Configuration Wizard" icon on the desktop. The SharePoint Configuration Wizard will be launched.

4) Select create a new server farm. If you an existing server farm, then you can connect to it using the first option.

5) Specify the Database Server and the User credentials for connecting to this database server.

6) Specify a passphrase which is a unique password for a user other than farm admin, for making changes in the server farm.

7) Specify the port number for Central Admin Site.

8) A summary of the configuration appears on the screen. You may go back and make changes if you wish. Otherwise click Next button.

9) The configuration is initiated which include connecting the database server, creating preliminary databases, Creating central admin site and other configurations.

10) Once the configurations are complete, again a summary of completed tasks will be shown. Click Finish.

10) Now click on the "SharePoint 2013 Central Administration" icon on the desktop. The Central Administration Site will be launched.

11) Also, when you login for the first time, you will be prompted to create a Service Account. Provide the necessary details of the user to be configured as Service Account.

SharePoint 2013 - Creating a SharePoint Server 2013 Virtual Machine in Windows Azure

Following are the steps for creating a a SharePoint Server 2013 Virtual Machine in Windows Azure.

1) Login to your windows azure management portal.

2) Go to VIRTUAL MACHINES and click on "NEW" button.

3) The following screen will appear. Select the option "FROM GALLERY".


4) All the available Virtual Machine images will be listed. Select SharePoint Server 2013 Trial and click Next button.

5) Select the latest version (default) and Size. Specify the VM Name, User Name and Password for your VM. When you login into VM for the first time, you will need these credentials.

6) Specify the the DNS Name, Storage Name and Affinity Group Name.

7) Select\Create Availability Set. Select "NONE" and click Finish button.

8) Depending upon your newtwork speed, it will take some time for the VM to get created.

9) Select the newly created VM and click on the DASHBOARD tab to view the details of the VM. Click on the "CONNECT" button in the bottom. An "rdp" file will be download. Open this file and you will get the remote login screen.

10) Right Click on My Computer and select Properties. Click on the Change button and add the domain name using you VM's credentials for the active directory. Restart the server.

11) After restarting the server, go to Control Panel -> User Accounts for setting permissions for the users in the specified domain.

12) Give permissions to the users appropriately based on the level of access to desire to give.

13) Now logout and login again with the credentials of a user from the specified domain who has permissions for remote access.

14) Once you have successfully logged in, SharePoint 2013 server is ready for configuration.