Beginning SharePoint® 2007 Administration: Windows® SharePoint® Services 3.0 and Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007

2.3. Installing WSS

By now, you have the necessary information to start the installation of WSS. The following section describes the exact steps required to install WSS in all three combinations possible. Before you start following these steps, make sure that nobody is using this server for anything else, at least not during the installation. If you have other applications installed on the same server, make a backup before you start. That way you will be prepared in the unlikely event that something goes wrong and the server gets messed up beyond repair!

During the installation of WSS, the setup program will create a web application for its web-based Central Administration tool named SharePoint Central Administration v3, configured to use a randomly selected TCP port over 1023. This web application will be connected to a new application pool with the same name as the web application.

2.3.1. The Config and Content Databases

There are two types of databases that WSS will use: the configuration database and the content database. During the installation of WSS, you or the setup program will create these, depending on how complex the installation scenario is. These two database types contain the following information:

• Configuration Database: Contains all the configurations for this SharePoint environment. It is shared among all WSS servers (if more than one) and the SQL databases (if more than one). There is always only one configuration database, regardless of the number of WSS and ...