How difficult is Sharepoint Server to setup?

Joebob · 20 May 2013 at 16:41

My Dad has Sharepoint installed on his company server and he has asked me to have a look at setting it up for him so that he can share documents throughout the business.

I'm not usually too bad with software setup etc, but I dont have agreat deal of server experience - how tricky is Sharepoint to setup and administer, i.e. is it just a program you can run on the server with wizards etc or do I need a level of server and/or SQL knowledge?

Deleted member 77746 · 20 May 2013 at 17:02

I do believe its one installer to setup but takes configuring to set it up properly.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc303424.aspx

Maybe check out some YouTube clips as I watched installs before doesn't look too complex but don't quote me as I have never set a live one up before.

theheyes · 20 May 2013 at 17:08

SharePoint can be a beast. Are we talking about a small businesses sharing between a handful of users or something bigger?

El Pew · 20 May 2013 at 17:20

Joebob said:
I'm not usually too bad with software setup etc, but I dont have agreat deal of server experience - how tricky is Sharepoint to setup and administer, i.e. is it just a program you can run on the server with wizards etc or do I need a level of server and/or SQL knowledge?

It's not that bad. It has a lengthy list of pre-requisites (especially 2013) but it sounds like you've already installed it, so you're past that stage.

You just need to use the Central Administration tool to create a default website within Sharepoint, then you should be up and running. If you're faffing with IIS or SQL commands at this stage then you're probably doing it wrong.

It might be worth making yourself a Windows VM and just installing the free Foundation version until you're comfortable with it. It's not too bad though, even if you're doing a resilient multi-server instance.

Joebob · 20 May 2013 at 17:45

theheyes said:
SharePoint can be a beast. Are we talking about a small businesses sharing between a handful of users or something bigger?

Small business sharing between a handful of users.

They want to share pdf files though - will this be a problems as it's really designed for sharing MS office documents?

ecksmen · 20 May 2013 at 19:23

Which version of sharepoint are they using? Sharepoint services / foundation is somewhat easier.

theheyes · 21 May 2013 at 09:25

SharePoint Services is possibly more appropriate, but I'm thinking Office 365 might be an option.

Joebob · 21 May 2013 at 14:49

Hmmm, been on the server and had a look but I can't tell what version of sharepoint it is. It just says Sharepoint 2010!

How can I tell?

I'm struggling a bit with this setup and could do with some help if possible!

ringo747 · 24 May 2013 at 08:28

Did you get anywhere with this? SharePoint is an almighty beast and just deploying it without any planning is usually a bad idea. Will this be a mission critical system which users depend on?

Usually we would do all manner of workshops with customers before any SharePoint binaries even get installed.