Fundamentals of SharePoint Configuration

The process of creating a development environment in Microsoft SharePoint should be adheres to the industry’s best practice for the process to run efficiently. From a theoretical perspective, it is required that the hardware, software, data and configuration be compatible. This compatibility is dependent on the skills and technical ability of the developer. Most developers often experience major challenges when creating a SharePoint configuration because of simple mistakes. For example, it is important to note that the hardware used in the development process cannot be similar to the one used on the production environment. These two environments are very specific regarding hardware and software requirements.

There are several tests that need to be run during SharePoint development environment process. It is important that you use the same version of Windows server and SQL server. Since there are both the production and the development environments, the process should be elaborate in such a way that if there is a SharePoint server installed on the production side, there should not be any SharePoint foundation installed on the development environment. In addition, ensure that when the production environment is installed with a SharePoint Service Pack, then the development environment should also have the same SharePoint Service Pack installed.

Configuring the Development Environment

•    Using the default SQL.
•    Maintaining the authentication type;
•    Lan Manager
•    Kerberos
•    Windows claims
•    Security Assertion Mark-up Language (SAML) claims
•    The use of host headers on web application.
•    HTTP or HTPPS
•    Number of web applications.

Development Environment Customization

There are several factors to consider when creating a SharePoint development environment. It is important to have a general representation of the data used and the number of users. Remember, custom solutions operate efficiently when there is a minimum number of users, data and site. However, the process is more complicated when there are hundreds of users and thousands of documents in place. Loading enough sample data assists the developer to test the scalability of the development solution.  For developers to create a full proof SharePoint solution, they need to have administrative priorities to an account. When logged in as a SharePoint farm account, the SharePoint solution might not work effectively.

When testing the SharePoint configuration, administrative access is not the only key aspect required. The access should enable the developer to read, contribute and make changes as the site owner. A practical example of such a situation is when trying to make changes to the list view threshold. If logged in as a SharePoint farm account, the developer cannot test the behavior of large list properties. It is important to understand that every SharePoint edition has its own specific hardware specifications. For example, the most recent editions require an increased amount of memory for them to run effectively specifically the storage of the systems drive. The basic requirement is that the latest SharePoint server requires 24 GHz of RAM despite the fact that the amount of RAM needed is dependent on the nature of service you intend to run. On the other hand, the storage of the systems drive has to be above 80GB. For more details, please visit here: hire SharePoint developer.

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