Microsoft - Core Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013

On this accelerated 3-day course you'll learn the knowledge and skills to configure and manage a Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 environment.

You'll be immersed in Microsoft Official Curriculum (MOC) by your Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT). Their rich experience and industry insight will guide you through the course material where you'll learn to configure SharePoint Server 2013, as well as provide guidelines, best practices and considerations that will help you optimise your SharePoint server deployment.

Amongst other skills, you can expect to leave this course with a developed understanding of how to:

• Design an information architecture
• Install and configure SharePoint Server 2013
• Plan and configure service applications
• Manage users and permissions
• Secure a SharePoint 2013 deployment
• Configure enterprise search
• Monitor and maintain a SharePoint 2013 environment

At Firebrand we make use of a Lecture | Lab | Review technique. This technique combines theoretical knowledge with practical tasks as a way to accelerate your learning and equip you with the hands-on skills you'll need to apply your new knowledge when you return to work.

We're Microsoft Learning Partners, which means you'll have access to the latest curriculums and the most up-to-date content.

On this course, you will be prepared for and sit the 70-331: Core Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 exam. Covered by your Certification Guarantee.

This course is intended for experienced IT professionals interested in learning how to install, configure, deploy and manage SharePoint Server 2013 installations in either a data centre or the cloud.

Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT): You'll be trained by our experienced Microsoft Certified Trainers. This means you'll benefit from their wealth of knowledge and real life examples throughout the course.

Microsoft Official Curriculum (MOC): Firebrand are Microsoft Learning Partners, meaning we can ensure that you'll have access to the latest curriculums with the most up-to-date content.

Core Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013

Module 1: Introducing SharePoint Server 2013

Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 is a document storage and collaboration platform that offers many benefits to Organisations. SharePoint deployments may take many different forms in scope, where a deployment may be focused on only delivering one feature, such as enterprise search, or many features, such as document management, business intelligence, web content management, and workflows. Deployments can also differ greatly in size, with small deployments of a single server up to large deployments with farms of 15 or more servers.

In this module, you'll learn about the core features of SharePoint 2013, the new features in this version, and what has been removed. you‚ll also learn about the basic structural elements of a farm deployment and how they fit together. Finally you'll learn about the different deployment options available to SharePoint 2013.

• Key Components of a SharePoint Deployment
• New Features in SharePoint 2013
• SharePoint 2013 Deployment Options

After completing this module, you'll be able to:

• Identify the capabilities and architecture of SharePoint 2013.
• Identify new and deprecated features in SharePoint 2013.
• Identify deployment options for SharePoint 2013.

Module 2: Designing an Information Architecture

Information architecture (IA) defines the structures by which an Organisation catalogs information. Designing an IA requires a detailed understanding of the information held in an Organisation and its usage, context, volatility, and governance. A good IA rationalises the creation and storage of content and streamlines its surfacing and use.

IA design should be platform-neutral, but it must also be driven by the functionality of its environment. Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 provides a rich and functional platform for the development and implementation of efficient and effective IA structures. The integral use of metadata throughout SharePoint 2013 means that an IA designer has a range of storage, navigation, and retrieval options to maximize usability in a well-structured IA.

In this module, you'll learn about the core elements of IA design and the facilities and devices available in SharePoint 2013 to deploy an effective information management solution.

• Identify Business Requirements
• Understand Business Requirements
• Organise Information in SharePoint 2013
• Plan for Discoverability

Creating an Information Architecture - Part One

• Identifying Site Columns and Content Types

Creating an Information Architecture - Part Two

• Designing a Business Taxonomy

After completing this module, you'll be able to:

• Explain how understanding business requirements drives the design of an Organisational IA.
• Describe the key components available in SharePoint 2013 to deploy an IA.
• Plan for discoverability as part of an IA deployment.

Module 3: Designing a Logical Architecture

This module reviews the logical constructs of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 and SharePoint Online. It discusses the importance of creating a logical architecture design based on business requirements before you implement a solution. The module covers conceptual content, defining a logical architecture, and the components of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 that you must map to business specifications.

• Overview of SharePoint 2013 Logical Architecture
• Document Your Logical Architecture

Designing a Logical Architecture

• Plan a Logical Architecture
• Produce a Logical Architecture Diagram

After completing this module, you'll be able to:

• Map business requirements to SharePoint 2013 architecture components.
• Explain the importance of documentation and describe the options for documenting logical architecture.

Module 4: Designing a Physical Architecture

When you design a Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 deployment, you must carefully consider the hardware and farm topology requirements. Your choices of server hardware and the number of servers that you specify for the farm can have a significant impact on how the farm meets user requirements, how users perceive the SharePoint solution, and how long before the farm requires additional hardware.

This module describes the factors that you should consider when you design the physical architecture of a SharePoint 2013 deployment. The physical architecture refers to the server design, farm topology, and supporting elements such as network infrastructure for your deployment. This physical architecture underpins the operations of your SharePoint 2013 environment, so it is essential that your physical design fully meets the operational requirements.

• Design Physical Components for SharePoint Deployments
• Design Supporting Components for SharePoint Deployments
• SharePoint Farm Topologies
• Map a Logical Architecture Design to a Physical Architecture Design

Designing a Physical Architecture

• Design a Physical Architecture
• Develop a Physical Architecture Design Diagram

After completing this module, you'll be able to:

• Describe the physical design requirements for SharePoint 2013.
• Describe the supporting requirements for a successful SharePoint 2013 physical design.
• Identify SharePoint farm topologies.
• Map a logical architecture design to a physical architecture design.

Module 5: Installing and Configuring SharePoint Server 2013

After you design and plan your logical and physical architectures for a Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 deployment, the next installation steps are to implement the deployment design and specify configuration settings for the deployment.

In this module, you'll learn about installing SharePoint 2013 in various topologies. you'll learn how to configure farm settings, and how to script the installation and configuration of SharePoint 2013.

• Install SharePoint Server 2013
• Script Installation and Configuration
• Configure SharePoint Server 2013 Farm Settings

Deploying and Configuring SharePoint Server 2013 - Part One

• Provisioning a SharePoint 2013 Server Farm

Configuring SharePoint Server 2013 Farm Settings

• Configure SharePoint Server 2013 Farm Settings
• Configure Outgoing Email
• Configure Integration with Office Web Apps Server 2013

After completing this module, you'll be able to:

• Install SharePoint 2013.
• Configure SharePoint 2013 farm settings.
• Script the installation and configuration of SharePoint 2013.

Module 6: Creating Web Applications and Site Collections

After installing your Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 farm, you are ready to begin deploying sites and content, such as an Organisational intranet site.

In this module, you'll learn about the key concepts and skills related to the logical architecture of SharePoint including web applications, site collections, sites, and content databases. Specifically, you'll learn how to create and configure web applications and to create and configure site collections.

• Create Web Applications
• Configure Web Applications
• Create and Configuring Site Collections

Creating and Configuring Web Applications

• Create a Web Application
• Configure a Web Application

Creating and Configuring Site Collections

• Create Site Collections
• Create Site Collections in New Content Databases
• Create a Warm-up Script

After completing this module you'll be able to perform the following tasks in SharePoint 2013:

• Create web applications.
• Configure web applications.
• Create site collections.
• Configure site collections.

Module 7: Planning and Configuring Service Applications

Service applications were introduced in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, replacing the Shared Service Provider architecture of Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. Service applications provide a flexible design for delivering services, such as Managed Metadata or PerformancePoint, to users who need them. Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 includes more than 20 services, some of which are new to this version, whereas others are enhanced. In planning and configuring service applications, it is important that you understand the dependencies, resource usage, and business requirements for each.

This module reviews the basic service application architecture, the essentials of planning your service application deployment, and the configuration of your service applications. This module does not discuss sharing, or federation, of service applications. This is covered in more detail in course 20332B: Advanced Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013.

• Introduction to Service Application Architecture
• Creating and Configuring Service Applications

Planning and Configuring Service Applications

• Provision a Managed Metadata Service Application with Central Administration
• Provision a Managed Metadata Service Application with Windows PowerShell
• Configure Service Applications for Document Conversions
• Configure Service Application Proxy Groups

After completing this module, you'll be able to:

• Explain the key components and topologies for SharePoint Server 2013 service application architecture.
• Describe how to provision and manage SharePoint 2013 service applications.

Module 8: Managing Users and Permissions

Many Organisations need to store sensitive or confidential information. Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 includes a complete set of security features, which you can use to help ensure that users with the appropriate rights and permissions can access the information they need, can modify the data they are responsible for, but that they cannot view or modify confidential information, or information that is not intended for them. The SharePoint 2013 security model is highly flexible and adaptable to your Organisation's needs.

In this module, you'll learn about the various authorisation and security features available in SharePoint 2013 to help you maintain a secure SharePoint environment. Specifically, you'll be learning about authorisation and permissions in SharePoint 2013, and how to manage access to content in SharePoint 2013.

• Authorisation in SharePoint 2013
• Managing Access to Content

Managing Users and Groups

• Create a Web Application Policy
• Create and Managing SharePoint Groups
• Create Custom Permission Levels

Securing Content in SharePoint Sites

• Manage Permissions and Inheritance
• Manage Site Collection Security
• Enable anonymous access to a site

After completing this module, you'll be able to:

• Understand and manage authorisation and permissions in SharePoint 2013.
• Manage access to content in SharePoint 2013.

Module 9: Configuring Authentication for SharePoint 2013

Authentication is the process by which you establish the identity of users and computers. authorisation controls access to resources by assigning permissions to users and computers. To provide authorisation to consumers of Microsoft SharePoint content and services, whether they are end users, server platforms, or SharePoint apps, you first need to verify that they are who they claim to be. Together, authentication and authorisation play a central role in the security of a SharePoint 2013 deployment by ensuring that consumers can only access resources to which you have explicitly granted them access.

In this module, you'll learn about the authentication infrastructure in SharePoint 2013. you'll learn how to configure SharePoint to work with a variety of authentication providers, and you'll learn how to configure authenticated connections between SharePoint and other server platforms.

• Overview of Authentication
• Configure Federated Authentication
• Configure Server-to-Server Authentication

Configuring SharePoint 2013 to Use Federated Identities

• Configure AD FS to Make the Web Application a Relying Party
• Configure SharePoint to Trust AD FS as an Identity Provider
• Configure the Web Application to Use the AD FS Identity Provider

After completing this module, you'll be able to:

• Explain the authentication infrastructure of SharePoint 2013.
• Configure claims providers and identity federation for SharePoint 2013.
• Configure server-to-server authentication for SharePoint 2013.

Module 10: Securing a SharePoint 2013 Deployment

Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 is not just a group of websites

In this module, you'll learn how to secure and harden your SharePoint 2013 farm deployment and how to configure several security settings at the farm level.

• Secure the Platform
• Configure Farm-Level Security

Hardening a SharePoint 2013 Server Farm

• Configure SharePoint and SQL Server to Communicate Over Non-Standard Ports
• Configure Firewalls for SharePoint Server Farms

Configuring Farm-Level Security

• Configure Blocked File Types
• Configure Web Part Security
• Implement Security Auditing

After completing this module you'll be able to:

• Secure the SharePoint 2013 platform.
• Configure farm-level security in SharePoint 2013.

Module 11: Managing Taxonomy

In order to organise information and make that information easier to find and work with, you can label or categorise information. With files and items in Microsoft SharePoint, you can apply metadata, which could be a category, a classification, or a tag, in order to organise your content and make it easier to work with.

In most Organisations, the most effective way to implement metadata is through a defined taxonomy that you have standardised through stakeholder input. This enables users to select metadata terms from a predefined list, which provides standard results.

Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 can further enhance the application of metadata by using content types. Organisations can use content types to standardise specific types of files, documents, or list items and include metadata requirements, document templates, retention settings, and workflow directly.

• Manage Content Types
• Understand Term Stores and Term Sets
• Manage Term Stores and Term Sets

Configuring Content Type Propagation

• Create Content Types for Propagation
• Publish Content Types Across Site Collections

Configuring and Using Managed Metadata Term Sets

• Configure the Managed Metadata Service
• Create Term Sets and Terms
• Consume Term Sets

After completing this module, you'll be able to:

• Describe the function of content types and explain how to apply them to business requirements.
• Describe the function of managed metadata in SharePoint 2013.
• Configure the Managed Metadata Service and supporting components.

Module 12: Configuring User Profiles

Social computing environments enable Organisations to quickly identify colleagues, team members, and others with similar roles or requirements in an Organisation. Social features in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 enable users to quickly gain updates and insight into how other members of the Organisation are working and what information or processes people are developing, along with the progress being achieved.

The SharePoint 2013 social platform is based around the capabilities provided by the user profile service application, supported by other services, such as the Managed Metadata Service and the Search service. The User Profile Service provides configuration and control over importing profile data, creating My Sites, managing audiences, and users can utilise these features.

• Configure the User Profile Service Application
• Manage User Profiles and Audiences

Configuring User Profiles

• Create a User Profile Service Application
• Configure Directory Import

Configuring My Sites and Audiences

• Configure My Sites
• Configure Audiences

After completing this module, you'll be able to:

• Plan for and configure user profile synchronisation with Active Directory Domain Services.
• Plan for and configure My Sites and audiences.

Module 13: Configuring Enterprise Search

Search has been a cornerstone of Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies since SharePoint Portal Server 2003. Since those early days, the architecture of the search service has evolved through the Shared Service Provider architecture to the service application architecture of SharePoint Server 2010. It has also grown with the addition of FAST technologies. SharePoint Server 2013 continues this growth by re-architecting the service and integrating many of the components that were intrinsic to FAST Search to deliver a more robust and richer experience for IT staff and users.

In this module, you'll learn about the new architecture of the Search service, how to configure the key components of search, and how to manage search functionality in your Organisation.

• Understand the Search Service Architecture
• Configure Enterprise Search
• Manage Enterprise Search

Configuring Enterprise Search

• Configure the Search Service Application
• Configure a File Share Content Source
• Configure a Local SharePoint Content Source
• Creating a Search Center

Configuring the Search Experience

• Optimise Search Results
• Customise the Search Experience

After completing this module, you'll be able to:

• Describe the core architecture of the Search service and its supported topologies.
• Explain the steps required to configure the Search service in an enterprise environment.
• Describe how to manage and maintain a well-performing Search environment.

Module 14: Monitoring and Maintaining a SharePoint 2013 Environment

Careful planning and configuration alone will not guarantee an effective Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 deployment. To keep your SharePoint 2013 deployment performing well, you need to plan and conduct ongoing monitoring, maintenance, Optimisation, and troubleshooting.

In this module, you'll learn how to plan and configure monitoring in a SharePoint 2013 server farm, and how to tune and Optimise the performance of your farm on an ongoing basis. you'll also learn how to use a range of tools and techniques to troubleshoot unexpected problems in your SharePoint 2013 deployments.

• Monitor a SharePoint 2013 Environment
• Tune and Optimise a SharePoint Environment
• Plan and Configure Caching
• Troubleshooting a SharePoint 2013 Environment

Monitoring a SharePoint 2013 Deployment

• Configure Usage and Health Data Collection
• Configure SharePoint Diagnostic Logging
• Configure Health Analyser Rules
• Review Usage and Health Data

Investigating Page Load Times

• Investigate Page Load Times
• Analyse SharePoint Page Performance

After completing this module, you'll be able to:

• Develop and implement a monitoring plan for a SharePoint 2013 environment.
• Tune and Optimise a SharePoint 2013 server farm on an ongoing basis.
• Plan and configure caching to improve the performance of a SharePoint 2013 deployment.
• Troubleshoot errors and other issues in a SharePoint 2013 deployment.

You'll sit the following exam on-site, during your accelerated course. This is covered by your Certification Guarantee:

Exam 70-331: Core Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013

You'll be measured on the following skills:

• Design a SharePoint topology (20-25%)
• Plan security (20-25%)
• Install and configure SharePoint farms (20-25%)
• Create and Configure web applications and site collections (15-20%)
• Maintain a core SharePoint environment (15-20%)

Microsoft Official Curriculum

• MOC 20331: Core Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013

Included:

• Exam Ref 70-331: Core Solutions of Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 - ISBN - 978-0735678088

Ideally you should have at least one year of experience with deploying and administering multiple SharePoint 2010 farms across a large enterprise. Because many professionals skipped upgrading from SharePoint 2007, you can also have at least 2 years of experience with SharePoint 2007 and knowledge of the differences between 2007 and 2010, particularly the Service Application model. You should be capable of demonstrating the following skills:

• Software management in a Windows 2008 R2 enterprise server or Windows Server 2012 environment
• Deploying and managing applications natively, virtually and in the cloud
• Administering Internet Information Services (IIS)
• Configuring Active Directory for use in authentication, authorization and as a user store
• Managing an application remotely using Windows PowerShell 2.0
• Connecting applications to Microsoft SQL Server
• Implementing Claims-based Security