How do I connect MOSS 2007 to the Internet?

Question

Ok, I'm totally new in working with servers and sharepoint (as an admin). I'm used to work with sharepoint as a user and I think it's great.
Now I started this new hobby :-) and I have installed windows server 2003 (incl. all updates, SP's, etc) and installed sharepoint server 2007. So far, so good. I can create sites, upload documents, etc. All local.

I like it to take it a step further now. That is, I want to start using it a) anywhere through the internet and b) share it with friends. This is where I get stuck! I have the following questions and I hope somebody here can get me on the right track!

Adding users
I like to add other users to have access to my sharepoint site. However, in the site I can only select existing users (from the active diectory?!). I cannot create new users, I can only use my admin account from the server. I've been searching on the server and I think it has to be done in the active directory but somehow I cannot access this (error: no admin rights while I logged in as an admin.....). How can I add "external" users?

Using it through the web
Secondly, I like to access the site from everywhere I have internet (and allow others to access and use my sharepoint site). How do I proceed? What do I need to do to make this work. The only thing I have found so far is that I have to open up a port on my router. I know how to do that but what needs to be setup to be able to access the site from outside? If I can access it through my external IP I'm happy. If I can use my own a domain (I already have one) I wll be thrilled!

Thanks in advance for your time!! I hope somebody can help  me out here!

Christiaan

Answer 1

The costs of connecting MOSS 2007 to the Internet will be excessive if you are really only doing this as a hobby. (In fact the costs of buying MOSS 2007 itself ought to have already been excessive.)

You will need both a server Internet Connection license for every server in the farm that is connected to the Internet at 2K USD each and also a MOSS 2007 internet Connection license for every server in the farm that is connected to the Internet at 30K USD each.

If you are considering connecting a private site to the Internet consider instead using WSS 3.0. With that you only need to pay the 2K USD for the server internet connection license.

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FAQ sites: (SP 2010) http://wssv4faq.mindsharp.com; (v3) http://wssv3faq.mindsharp.com and (WSS 2.0) http://wssv2faq.mindsharp.com
Complete Book Lists (incl. foreign language) on each site.

Answer 2

Thanks for the quick reply!!

Ok, this was not really the answer I was expecting. I was not aware at all that you need to buy a license to connect a windows server to the internet!
For a hobby these costs are to excessive indeed.....

Do you know of any alternatives in setting up a webserver from home without having to pay license costs? What I need is a to set-up a shared environment where I can share documents, agenda's, tasks, etc for a new business I'm setting up. Are there alternatives to sharepoint?

Thanks again!

Christiaan

Answer 3

Hi Christiaan,

In order to access the SharePoint site using external IP on internet, you need to configure Alternate Access Mapping on SharePoint Central administration site. In your situation you simply need to add an additional URL as http://IPADDRESSS in Internet zone for web application. you can follow below article to configure alternate access mapping.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263208.aspx

Also if you want access to users other than Active directory domain, then in that scenario, you need to use form base authentication which will allow you to create user or add user so that they can have access to SharePoint site. For more information you can follow below link if it suits your bussiness requirements:

http://www.simple-talk.com/dotnet/windows-forms/configuring-forms-authentication-in-sharepoint-2007/

Thanks,
Yogesh.

Answer 4

Thanks for the reply. But, I'm somewhat confused now. Can I do this without having to pay the costs mentioned in the reply of Mike?

But, I gave it a try anyway I've done the first step. Now if I enter my external IP address in a browser of another PC I get to the sharepoint site :-). I can connectusing my admin account. So I start with setting up the form base authentication.

Here I get stuck. When selecting the database dropdown box I get the message that the connection with the SQL server failed.
When I go to the SQL conf manager I see that the server stopped, message 1077. When I try to start the servive I get the message that it cannot start because it is disabled or that there are no enabled devices are connected (translated from Dutch) [0x80070422].

EDIT: created a workaround. Just added the users as an local user of my server. Then they are showing in sharepoint as well :-)
Problem solved!

Can you help me out?

Thanks!