Consider licensing requirements to determine the minimum number of server farms that you need to plan for. There are two server licenses available for Office SharePoint Server 2007. These licenses cannot be combined on the same server computer or on the same server farm. The following table lists and describes each license offering.
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Offering
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Description
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Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Server License
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This license is required to run Office SharePoint Server 2007 in client/server mode. You should use this license with the requisite number of Client Access Licenses (CALs) appropriate for your organizational needs.
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Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 for Internet sites
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You may use the software for Internet-facing Web sites only. All content, information, and applications must be accessible to non-employees. This license has all the features of the Enterprise Edition of Office SharePoint Server. This is a per server license that does not require the purchase of Client Access Licenses.
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If you plan to deploy internal content for your organization and Internet-facing content for non-employees, you must deploy at least two server farms to meet licensing requirements.
The remainder of this section describes which license to use for different types of deployments.
Intranet sites for both internal and remote employees
Use the server license with the appropriate number of CALs. Even though intranet sites might be exposed to the Internet to allow access to remote employees, this is the correct license for this scenario.
Internet sites for external users
Use the Internet sites license.
Partner extranet sites for communication with employees of partner companies
You can choose the following options for partner extranet sites:
· Add a partner extranet site to a server farm that is hosting the company intranet (server license). With this option, you must ensure that you purchase the requisite number of CALs for partner employees.
· Add a partner extranet site to a server farm that is hosting the company Internet site (Internet sites license). This option does not require CALs for partner employees or for your own employees who are collaborating with partners. However, on this farm, you may not create sites that are used exclusively by employees of your organization.
· Deploy a dedicated server farm for partner collaboration and use the Internet sites license. This option does not require CALs for partner employees or for your own employees who are collaborating with partners. However, on this farm, you may not create sites that are used exclusively by employees of your organization.
If you plan to deploy a single server farm, use this server farm. If you plan to deploy two different server farms, one for intranet sites and one for Internet sites, consider the following aspects to help you decide which server farm to use for partner extranet sites:
· Nature of collaboration If the primary purpose of a partner extranet site is to securely communicate information to many partners, the Internet server farm is the most economical choice. On the other hand, if the primary purpose is to work collaboratively with a small number of partner employees, the intranet server farm might be a better choice. Choose the option that enables you to optimize the farm for its intended role (that is, collaboration vs. read-only content).
· Number of partner employees If you collaborate with many partner employees and cost is a strong criterion, you can securely host both collaborative and anonymous content on an Internet-facing farm with the Internet sites license.
If you collaborate with many partner employees, consider deploying a dedicated server farm for partner extranet sites in the following circumstances:
· You do not plan to deploy a server farm for Internet sites and it is more cost effective to purchase the Internet sites license than to purchase CALs for all partner employees.
· Your organization prevents authenticated access to or collaboration on the same server farm that hosts your Internet site.
· You anticipate or are experiencing performance issues on a server farm that hosts both Internet sites and partner extranet sites. For example, partner employees report slow response times when collaborating on content.
Pre-publishing environments for Internet sites
In pre-publishing environments where multiple environments are used for development, authoring, testing, and staging, use the following guidelines:
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Code development and testing Use an MSDN license. For more information, see
MSDN Subscription Licensing (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=81665&clcid=0x409).
· Content authoring Use theserver license with the appropriate number of CALs.
· Staging Staging environments are typically configured to match the production environment. Consequently, use the Internet sites license.