1.4. What You Need to Run SharePoint
This section provides general information about what you need to install and run SharePoint, both WSS and MOSS. It also has general guidelines on the hardware configuration and some tips for building a test environment. Chapter 2 provides the exact steps on how to do the actual installation of a WSS 3.0 only environment. Chapter 4 provides the installation steps for a MOSS 2007 environment.
1.4.1. Software Requirements
Because SharePoint is a web application, you need to have a web server. The only web server that supports SharePoint is Internet Information Server version 6 (and later versions), which runs on Windows 2003 Server and later generations of Windows Server. You can use any edition of Windows 2003 Server, including the cheaper Web Edition.
You need to install the Windows component ASP.NET web platform, as described in Chapter 2, plus upgrade it to support ASP.NET 2.0, including Windows Workflow Foundation (Win WF). If you want SharePoint to act as a mail server, thus allowing users to send mail to its lists, you must also install the Windows component SMTP. All of this is covered in detail in Chapters 2 and 4.
The last, but not least, component you need is an MS SQL–based database. You have two choices: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express, which comes free with SharePoint 2007 or the full MS SQL 2000/2005 Server. These two choices give you different features, as listed in the following table:
| Feature | SQL Server Express | MS SQL 2000/2005 ... |
|---|
