harbar.net component based software & platform hygiene

Scripted Farm Deployments

Print | posted on Wednesday, November 26, 2008 7:58 PM

It took a while but the Using scripts to automate SharePoint Server 2007 installation guidance has finally been published. Chris Smith details the release over on ToTheSharePoint. The best thing about this release are the examples and sample code, however I caution you to test appropriately and don’t be fooled into believing the premise that it’s just better. That my friends, isn’t true.

Unfortunately the vendor has a nasty habit of arrogantly saying “you should be doing it like this… [link]” when they took over 18 months to produce and publish the material when others have been doing it all along. In this case, it’s warranted as if there is a mistake in your install script you’re in for big trouble! So you’ve been warned, watch out for “consultants” pimping this approach and place your bets on your capability instead!

It’s also worth noting that in a less formal fashion, SharePoint Infrastructure Guru Ben Curry posted the salient details back in March, after his excellent presentation on the subject at the SharePoint Conference in Seattle.

Oh and one more thing, 50 SharePoint Servers? If you’re doing that you’ve got bigger problems than worrying about how to automate the install and config :)