Deploying and Upgrading SharePoint Applications

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This content is outdated and is no longer being maintained. It is provided as a courtesy for individuals who are still using these technologies. This page may contain URLs that were valid when originally published, but now link to sites or pages that no longer exist.

SharePoint offers many options for creating applications and includes rich customization capabilities that allow site administrators, designers, and end users to change the look, feel, and structure of those applications. This flexibility poses particular challenges during the application's life cycle for developers, solution architects, and IT administrators. For example, the components that developers create are maintained in a source control system, but customizations are stored in a content database. These content-related components can include the following:

  • Customizations made by site designers and site administrators using SharePoint Designer and the Web browser
  • Text and images created by content authors
  • End-user personalization

This topic discusses approaches for deploying and upgrading SharePoint applications. The guidance uses a topology that is recommended for small-sized to medium-sized companies. The following scenarios are typical for maintaining SharePoint applications:

  • Deploying a new application
  • Adding functionality that does not change the application's current functionality
  • Adding functionality that changes the application's current functionality

All the recommended approaches take into account the issue that different artifacts are stored in different locations. For more information, see Deployment Scenarios. The guidance assumes that there is no Web content management system in place. For more information about deploying applications that rely on these systems, see Web Content Management.

Note

This guidance uses the terms SharePointsolutiontorefer to the Web solution package mechanism that is specific to installation and deployment. The term SharePoint Webapplication refers specifically to a load-balanced Web application that is based in Internet Information Services (IIS). The term application is used as a general term to describe the set of functionality under development to solve a particular business problem. For example, the Training Management application demonstrates how Contoso Pharmaceuticals uses SharePoint to manage its training courses and enrollments. In many cases, an application represents a much smaller capability, such as a Web Part that can be used on many sites.
Often, more than one SharePoint solution is used to deliver application functionality. For example, the Training Management application includes two SharePoint solutions to upgrade the workflow in a way that allows existing workflow instances to complete.

Retired Content

This content is outdated and is no longer being maintained. It is provided as a courtesy for individuals who are still using these technologies. This page may contain URLs that were valid when originally published, but now link to sites or pages that no longer exist.

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