Deployment for Office Groove Server 2007

Deployment for Office Groove Server 2007

Microsoft Corporation

Published: June 2007

Author: Office IT and Servers User Assistance ()

Editor : Office IT and Servers User Assistance ()

Abstract

This book offers a structure for enterprise-wide Groove deployment, presenting installation scenarios and guidance for decision making. The audience for this book includes IT professionals, infrastructure specialists, and business decision makers responsible for designing and implementing software-based collaboration systems.

The content in this book is a copy of selected content in the Office Groove Server Technical Library ( as of the publication date above. For the most current content, see the technical library on the Web.

The information contained in this document represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication.

This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT.

Complying with all applicable copyright laws is the responsibility of the user. Without limiting the rights under copyright, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), or for any purpose, without the express written permission of Microsoft Corporation.

Microsoft may have patents, patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights covering subject matter in this document. Except as expressly provided in any written license agreement from Microsoft, the furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property.

Unless otherwise noted, the example companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places and events depicted herein are fictitious, and no association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, email address, logo, person, place or event is intended or should be inferred.

Microsoft, Access, Active Directory, Excel, Groove, InfoPath, Internet Explorer, OneNote, Outlook, PowerPoint, SharePoint, SQL Server, Visio, Windows, Windows Server, and Windows Vista are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Contents

Introduction to Office Groove Server 2007 Deployment

I. Overview of Groove Deployment

II. Deployment Scenarios for Groove

Onsite Groove Manager and Relay Servers

Groove Enterprise Services

Additional Groove Management Options

Groove Auditing

Groove Data Bridge

Microsoft Sharepoint and Groove

Migration from Groove Enterprise Services to Onsite Servers

Multiple Groove Manager Front Ends

III. Groove Site Preparation

Decision Factors

Scale

Onsite Groove Servers vs. Hosted Services

Onsite Groove Server Benefits

Microsoft Hosted Services Benefits

Flow Chart of Decision Process

Additional Service Options

Site Planning Checklist

Recommended Best Practices for Groove Site Setup

Groove Manager and Groove Relay Performance Best Practices

Groove Manager and Groove Relay Security Best Practices

Groove Data Bridge Security Best Practices

Groove Client Best Practices

IV. Groove Server and Domain Setup

Assessing Readiness

Identify Users and Determine Readiness

Assess Network Readiness

Installing and Configuring Groove Onsite Servers

Design an Onsite Groove System

Design the Perimeter Network Infrastructure

Plan Groove Manager Implementation

Plan Groove Relay Implementation

Install and Configure the Servers

Anti-Intrusion Hardening

Acceptance-Testing the Production System

Configuring Groove Services and Domains

Optimize Network Infrastructure

Assemble Production Support for Groove Operations

Configure Groove Management Domains

Configure Relay Sets and Redundant Relays

Integrate an LDAP Directory with Groove Manager

Prepare Groove Software for Distribution

V. Groove Client Deployment

Recommended Measures

Best Practices for Onsite Servers

Best Practices for Servers and Services

Customizing Groove Installation

Automating and Standardizing Groove Installation

Using GPOs

Enabling Automatic Device Management

Preparing Groove Software for Distribution

Conducting a User Deployment Pilot

Deploying Groove Software for Production

Recommended Process for Deploying Groove in an Onsite Server Environment

Recommended Process for Deploying Groove in an Enterprise Services Environment

VI. Configuration with Multiple Groove Manager IIS Front Ends

VII. Deployment Worksheets for Office Groove Server 2007

Groove Manager IIS Front End Worksheets

Groove Manager IIS Front End Specification Worksheet

Groove Manager IIS Front End Installation Worksheet

Groove Manager IIS Front End Post-Installation Worksheet

IIS Memory and Processor Options

IIS SSL Support

IIS Web Site Authentication

IIS Web Services Extensions

IIS Application Pool Properties

IIS Virtual SMTP Server

IIS IP Port Filters

Complete this worksheet.

IIS Registry Backup

IIS Certificate Backup

Groove Manager SQL Back End Worksheets

Groove Manager SQL Back End Specification Worksheet

Groove Manager SQL Back End Memory and Processor Options Worksheet

Groove Manager SQL Back End IP Port Filters Worksheet

Groove Manager SQL Back End Authentication Options Worksheet

Groove Relay Worksheets

Groove Relay Specifications Worksheet

Groove Relay Installation Worksheet

Groove Relay Post-Installation Worksheet

Groove Data Bridge Worksheets

Groove Data Bridge Specifications Worksheet

Groove Data Bridge Installation Worksheet

Groove Data Bridge Post-Installation Worksheet

Introduction to Office Groove Server 2007 Deployment

Strategies for deploying Groove in enterprise will vary, depending on each organization's resources, requirements, network infrastructure, and operating procedures. This book helps IT administrators formulate and implement a deployment plan tailored to their company's needs and environment. Information is also provided in the context of each of the major Groove system components: Manager, Relay, Data Bridge, and Auditing. Worksheets are provided to facilitate the process.

I. Overview of Groove Deployment

Microsoft® Office Groove® is a client-based software application designed to provide a dependable collaboration setting for people in a wide range of environments - corporate, small business, or nonprofit; at the office, en route, or in-the-field. Groove relay servers help make this possible by supporting virtual peer-to-peer connectivity regardless of network interruptions, heavy traffic, or client online status.

While collaboration is often a loose, spontaneous, ad hoc, and sometimes 'edge-based' activity, it requires oversight in an enterprise, where compatibility with existing network infrastructure and compliance with corporate security concerns are imperative. Office Groove Server Manager is a Web-accessed server application that provides comprehensive services for managing Groove clients in a broad range of enterprise environments.

Groove Server Manager and Relay run on server machines at a company site while Groove Enterprise Services offers Microsoft-hosted Manager and Relay services for organizations that do not want the overhead of managing onsite servers. The choice of whether to support onsite servers, or to engage Groove Enterprise Services, depends on an organization's management requirements and available resources. If servers are installed onsite, corporate directory server integration may be employed to further automate Groove management and play a part in establishing an efficient, customized, and secure collaboration framework.

This document set is designed for IT managers responsible for an enterprise-wide deployment of Groove clients and servers, presenting an approach that involves the following major steps:

Choosing a deployment topology

Preparing the site for deployment

Installing and configuring Groove servers

Defining Groove management domains

Deploying Groove clients

Upon completion, readers should be able to plan and implement a successful Groove deployment.

Note

The guidelines in this document set assume familiarity with the content of Planning and Architecture for Office Groove Server 2007.

II. Deployment Scenarios for Groove

Office Groove includes a suite of client and server applications designed to facilitate Groove client deployment and management in a business environment. Enterprises can choose whether to install Groove Server Manager and Relay onsite or engage Groove Enterprise Services, hosted by Microsoft. Integrating Groove with external applications is possible with Groove Server Data Bridge. The following sections provide an overview of Groove deployment options and outline the advantages and considerations associated with each.

In this section:

Onsite Groove Manager and Relay Servers

Groove EnterpriseServices

Additional Groove Management Options

Migration from Groove Enterprise Services to Onsite Servers

Multiple Groove Manager Front Ends

Onsite Groove Manager and Relay Servers

Office Groove Server 2007 provides organizations with the system software required to implement a management domain and relay system for enterprise-level Groove collaboration.

Figure 5-1 shows how Groove Server Manager and Relay systems can be incorporated into a corporate network, along with an existing LDAP server.

Figure 5-1. Onsite Groove Server Manager and Relay Scenario

Groove Enterprise Services

Enterprise Services offers a hosted services option for setting up a managed Groove domain and relay system without the capital investment or operational costs of implementing and operating on onsite server infrastructure.

Figure 5-2 shows a Groove scenario where an organization relies on Groove Enterprise Services to provide the administrative interface and relay infrastructure for overseeing Groove users and devices.

Figure 5-2. Groove Enterprise Services Scenario

Additional Groove Management Options

You can enhance your Groove management environment and the scenarios discussed above with any of the optional services and applications described in this section.

In this section:

Groove Auditing

Groove Data Bridge

Microsoft Sharepoint and Groove

Groove Auditing

Groove auditing is a feature provided with Groove Server Manager, that allows you to collect audit events associated with Groove user accounts. The Groove auditing application must be installed in conjunction with Groove Manager and Relay applications and the device policy that enables audit logging of Groove client events must be turned on. The auditing application may be installed on the Groove Manager IIS front-end for smaller installations but installing Groove auditing on a separate, dedicated IIS front-end with a separate, dedicated SQL backend is recommended to minimize the impact of auditing activities on Groove Manager resources. When auditing is installed separately, an additional Groove Manager is then installed and configured for Groove auditing. See the Groove Manager Server Administrator Help for information about installing and configuring the Groove auditing capability.

Figure 5-3 shows a sample scenario with an onsite management server and a separate Groove client auditing server.

Figure 5-3. Groove Client Audit Server Added to Management Environment

Groove Data Bridge

Groove Server Data Bridge enables seamless integration of Groove data with external applications and processes via Web Service. External applications connect to Groove Data Bridge servers via SOAP/XML calls to Web Services on the Groove Data Bridge server. Data Bridge-to-client communications occur via Groove workspace synchronization. Groove Data Bridge is typically implemented in the context of a managed Groove environment. Groove Data Bridge should always be installed on a private corporate network or perimeter network, as shown in Figure 5-4.

Figure 5-4. Groove Data Bridge Server Added to Onsite Management Environment

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Microsoft Sharepoint and Groove

Enhancing the collaboration environment, Office Groove 2007 provides access to SharePoint document libraries where team members can store milestone documents and records of their work. Every Groove 2007 client includes the Groove SharePoint Files Tool, an enhanced version of the Files Tool that enables users to interact with and synchronize file content between Groove and document libraries held on SharePoint servers. For each team of Groove users, a Groove client is designated as SharePoint synchronizer.

The Groove SharePoint Files Tool provides the following benefits to organizations that store file content in SharePoint document libraries:

Access to file content for selected people outside of the enterprise. Groove and the SharePoint Files tool provide a convenient and efficient way to collaborate with people who are outside the corporate firewall. Additionally, the SharePoint Files tool provides a central working environment for teams that are widely dispersed geographically.

Offline access to file content. The SharePoint Files tool provides mobile workers, or those who have limited Internet access, with an environment in which they can access, view, and update file content while offline.

Figures 5-5 and 5-6 show a SharePoint-Groove configuration in the context of onsite Groove Server and Groove Enterprise Services, respectively.

Figure 5-5. SharePoint - Groove Connection with Onsite Groove Server

Figure 5-6. SharePoint - Groove Connection with Groove Enterprise Services

Migration from Groove Enterprise Services to Onsite Servers

Over time, you may decide to migrate from a Groove Enterprise Services to onsite servers. The migration process is fairly simple.

To move from Groove Enterprise Services to an onsite Groove Manager 2007 server, you start by creating a new domain structure on your newly installed server. If your onsite Groove Manager 2007 configuration includes LDAP directory integration and auto-account configuration, you can use the automated migration feature to migrate your Enterprise Services-managed Groove users to your newly defined onsite management domains. Alternatively, you can perform the migration process manually.

In the process of migration, managed Groove users will automatically be re-provisioned to their respective onsite Groove Relay servers.

For detailed information about migrating Groove users to another domain using the automated or manual method, see the online Help provided with the Groove Manager application.

Multiple Groove Manager Front Ends

If your organization is large enough to require multiple Groove Manager IIS front end servers, as discussed in Groove Site Planning Conditions and Requirements, you can configure your system to be fault tolerant and load balanced while sharing a SQL back end server. Guidelines for setting this up are provided in Configuration with Multiple Groove Manager IIS Front Ends.

III. Groove Site Preparation

This section is designed to help you prepare for Groove deployment in your enterprise, so that you can develop a site-specific deployment plan and implement it, as described in the next chapter. With this information and the more specific implementation guidelines presented in subsequent chapters, IT managers should be able to install and configure servers, set up Groove usage and security policies, assign relays to managed users, and have Groove running on targeted clients throughout an organization.

In this section:

Decision Factors

Scale

Onsite Groove Servers vs. Hosted Services

Additional Service Options

Site Planning Checklist

Recommended Best Practices for Groove Site Setup

Decision Factors

Decision factors to be addressed in planning a Groove deployment are varied and overlapping. They include the following:

Number of Groove users, current and projected

Feasibility of implementing and supporting onsite servers

Failover and server redundancy requirements (as discussed in Failure Contingencies and Disaster Recovery in the Site Planning chapter)

Use of LDAP directory synchronization

Need for automated account configuration

Use of in-house LDAP directories

Time frame allowed for Groove deployment

Groove internal Certificate Authority or Enterprise PKI for Groove domain

Corporate security requirements

Need for additional services:

Need for client auditing

Need for Groove Data Bridge

Scale

Analysis of your organization’s resources and estimated work load, and the hardware capacity information in Groove Capacity Planning in the Site Planning chapter of this guide, can help you determine the scale of your Groove installation, the essential first step in planning. Your choice of employing onsite servers or hosted services will depend on the information amassed during your need assessments. To get the most value from your investment, make sure that your assessments scale; they should include both current and anticipated size and location (distribution) of the user population that you intend to support.

For deployments of 50 to a 1,000 users, Groove Enterprise Services is a practical alternative, especially for organizations without IT expertise in deploying network applications. See the Groove Enterprise Services in the Deployment Scenarios chapter of this guide, for an illustration of this setup.

For organizations with 1,000 or more users, onsite Groove Server deployment is recommended, in many cases, a single front-end IIS server accessing a SQL back-end. Larger enterprises, supporting 20,000 or users should consider running multiple front ends off the SQL server. Figure 6-1 diagrams an example of a mid-size business configuration of a Groove system. Figure 6-2 diagrams an example of a larger full-function configuration that incorporates multiple front-end and back-end Manager servers, a Groove Audit server (a Groove Manager installation option), and a Groove Data Bridge server.