Nomenclature has been a challenge all the way back to
the beginning of the SharePoint product line. Without recounting the
various different names the different SharePoint products have carried,
there have always been two different “flavors” of the SharePoint
products. There has been the “free” version, which organizations can
install without having to purchase SharePoint server licenses or CALs (client
access licenses) from Microsoft. The “not free” version of the product
required that the organization purchase both SharePoint server licenses
and end-user CALs.
The following
sections will clarify the differences between the products to help you
understand the pros and cons of choosing SharePoint Foundation 2010 or
SharePoint Server 2010 for use in the organization.
An Overview of Licensing
In the SharePoint 2007
product line, the “free” version is officially known as WSS 3.0, or
Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, which is rebranded in the 2010 product
line as SharePoint Foundation 2010. This version (in both the 2007 and
2010 product lines) offers a core set of collaboration and document
management tools. Microsoft also provides a more feature-rich version
that, in the SharePoint 2007 product line, is titled SharePoint Server
2007; this is now called SharePoint Server 2010 in the current version
and, like the 2007 product, comes in Standard and Enterprise editions.
The higher-end products contain all the features offered in the
entry-level products, plus many additional tools and capabilities.
One of the first points to
clarify is that the “free” version of SharePoint still requires that the
organization pay for the server operating system that is in use
(Windows Server 200x), the CALs required for users to access the server,
and the SQL Server software (unless an Express version is being used)
and SQL Server CALs. So, the only component that is free with the
current version of SharePoint is SharePoint Foundation 2010, not the
supporting software. This is important to remember if the organization
wants to use SharePoint Foundation 2010 on the Internet or as an
extranet. If SharePoint Foundation 2010 is going to be used to host a
public site on the Internet that is open to anonymous access, there
could be hundreds, thousands, or even millions of users visiting the
site; the organization is responsible for valid Windows Server licenses
and, if the full version of SQL Server is being used, for those licenses
as well. Prices vary based on the level of agreement the organization
has with Microsoft.
If the organization has
an extranet based on SharePoint Foundation 2010, and is creating
accounts for users not a part of the organization, it is responsible for
tracking the number of users and purchasing the appropriate number of
user licenses. For example, an engineering firm uses SharePoint
Foundation 2010 for a project management extranet, and adds 50 accounts
to an Active Directory organizational unit (OU) called Extranet Users.
This company is using SQL Server 2008 Enterprise to store the SharePoint
data, and Windows Server 2008 as the operating system to house
SharePoint Foundation 2010. This company will need to be able to show an
auditor that it does in fact have sufficient Windows Server 2008 and
SQL Server 2008 CALs for these 50 users if an audit occurs.
With regard to the “full”
SharePoint product, SharePoint Server 2010, Microsoft does offer
SharePoint Server 2010 for Internet sites, Standard and SharePoint
Server 2010 for Internet sites, and Enterprise. These licenses are
costlier, but cover unlimited access to the licensed servers; as
mentioned earlier, the organization also needs to purchase licenses for
the server operating system and the version of SQL Server in use, if
other than the Express version.
To
make matters even more complicated, the SharePoint Server 2010 product
can be installed with either the Standard features enabled or the
Enterprise features enabled. If the Standard features are enabled, the
organization must have a standard CAL for each user, whereas if the
Enterprise features are enabled, the organization must have both the
Standard CAL and the Enterprise CAL for each user. As with all licensing
from Microsoft, check with your software provider to see whether these
conditions have changed at time of purchase.
Database Requirements of SharePoint Foundation 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010
SharePoint Foundation 2010 and
SharePoint Server 2010 products store data in the Express versions of
SQL products when installed using the “standalone” option. It is
important to note that with the 2010 products, the SQL 2008 Express
maximum database size is 4GB, as shown in Table 1.
So for organizations anticipating content database size exceeding 4GB,
the full SQL Server products should be used; in other words, the
“standalone” installation option is not recommended.
Table 1. SharePoint 2010 Content DB Limitations
| Product | SQL 2008 Express Content DB Size Limit | SQL Server 2008 Content DB Size Limit |
|---|
| SharePoint Foundation 2010 | 4GB | “None” (generally recommended to limit size to <100GB) |
| SharePoint Server 2010 | 4GB | “None” (generally recommended to limit size to <100GB) |
Experienced SharePoint
administrators will quickly point out that SharePoint configurations can
consist of multiple content databases, so it is possible to avoid the
4GB limit in standalone configurations where SQL 2008 Express is used by
creating multiple content databases and managing growth so that no
content database hits the 4GB limit. However, this is a management
challenge and could potentially backfire, so is not generally
recommended.
Microsoft SQL Server Express
2008 R2 supports databases up to 10GB. If your installation includes
databases that are larger than 4GB but smaller than 10GB, you can
upgrade to Microsoft SQL Server Express 2008 R2 for your content
database storage solution.
Business Applications for Different Versions of SharePoint 2010
Before
moving on with a detailed comparison of the features that can be found
in the different products, it is helpful to provide some high-level
business examples where clients made decisions between the SharePoint
Foundation 2010 and SharePoint Server 2010 products. Because SharePoint
2010 is still a new product, examples given in this section draw from
decisions that clients made not only with the 2010 product but also with
the 2007 products, which are quite similar to 2010 in terms of feature
placement and distribution between the “free” version of the product and
the “not free” versions.
The following
options represent a sampling of different configuration options based on
features and cost combined with function. This is not an all-inclusive
list, but is intended to help designers and decision makers categorize
their requirements, and decide between the different options of
SharePoint 2010 (Foundation versus Server) and between the different
databases (SQL Express versus SQL Server). Specific costs can’t be
provided due to variables in numbers of servers, virtual versus physical
servers, specifications of servers, numbers of users accessing the
environment, and many types of licensing agreements offered by
Microsoft.
Sample SharePoint Foundation 2010-Based Solutions
1. | Basic Features/Low Cost Team Collaboration Solution/Intranet:
SharePoint Foundation 2010 installed in standalone mode makes an
excellent starter environment for simple collaboration needs in small to
medium-sized organizations. It is a good choice when budget has not
been allocated for a SharePoint Server 2010 implementation. As mentioned
in the previous section, SQL 2008 Express has a 4GB maximum database
size, so this should be taken into account. Because this is for internal
use only, it is assumed that CALs have already been purchased for each
user’s access to Windows Server, which will house the solution.
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2. | Basic Features/Low Cost Internet Site/Extranet Site:
Similar to option 1, SharePoint Foundation 2010 installed in standalone
mode can make an effective platform on which to create an
Internet-facing site. The organization is still responsible for
purchasing the Internet license for the server operating system, but
does not need to purchase CALs for SharePoint Foundation 2010. If the
site is a read-only Internet site, a wide range of web parts are
available to present information and documents to visitors. If the site
is designed to offer extranet functionality, external users would be
able to log in to the site and interact with content.
|
3. | Basic Features/Medium Cost Team Collaboration Solution/Intranet:
SharePoint Foundation 2010 connecting to SQL Server 2008 (or earlier)
database server still saves cost when compared to using SharePoint
Server 2010 with SQL Server 2008 databases, because CALs do not need to
be purchased with SharePoint Foundation 2010. The organization does need
to purchase SQL Server CALs or the processor-based licenses. The
per-database limit does not apply, so the collaborative environment does
not need to be as closely monitored or tightly controlled.
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4. | Basic Features/Medium Cost Internet Site/Extranet Site:
As with option 3, SharePoint Foundation 2010 connecting to SQL Server
2008 (or earlier) database server controls the cost of the solution,
while removing the content database size limitations, so is better
suited to medium and large corporations, or even for smaller
organizations who predict that the databases will quickly grow beyond
the 4GB size limit. Note that the processor-based license is generally
needed in this scenario for Internet sites, or extranet sites supporting
large numbers, or potentially unlimited numbers of users.
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Sample SharePoint Server 2010-Based Solutions
5. | Medium Features/Medium-High Cost Team Collaboration Solution/Intranet:
This solution includes SharePoint Server 2010 Standard edition
installed in standalone mode using SQL Express, but is typically
considered only for very limited use due to the limited database sizes.
The organization is responsible for the CALs for the operating system
and for SharePoint Server 2010, but not for SQL Server. Therefore, the
costs are more than options 1 and 2, and most likely higher than options
3 and 4. Some organizations will use this configuration for a proof of
concept or temporary configuration assuming the databases will be
migrated to SQL Server 2008 in the near future.
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6. | Medium Features/Medium-High Cost Internet Site/Extranet Site:
Similar to option 5, this includes SharePoint Server 2010 Standard
edition installed in standalone mode using SQL Express and includes
similar costs, and the organization is responsible for unlimited user
licenses for the Windows operating system and SharePoint Server 2010.
Once again the database size limit applies, making this a less-popular
solution.
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7. | Medium-High Features/High Cost Team Collaboration Solution/Intranet:
This option includes SharePoint Server 2010 Standard or Enterprise
edition connecting to SQL Server 2008 databases. The organization is
responsible for CALs for the Windows OS, SharePoint Standard or
Enterprise, and SQL Server, so the licensing costs accumulate. That
said, this is the most popular option for organizations that are
committed to the SharePoint platform and want the most scalability and
want to leverage the full range of SharePoint features. A key design
decision for this option is whether to implement SharePoint Server 2010
Standard or Enterprise, because Enterprise adds cost for each CAL.
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8. | Medium-High Features/High Cost Internet Site/Extranet Site:
As with option 7, this option includes SharePoint Server 2010 Standard
or Enterprise edition connecting to SQL Server 2008 databases. The
organization is responsible for the same costs as in option 7, but needs
the unlimited user license for the server operating system, SharePoint
and the processor-based licensing for SQL Server.
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