SharePoint Hierarchy...

This blog post briefly describes about the SharePoint Hierarchy. This includes steps of creating Web Applications and Site Collections using SharePoint Central Administration as well.

Here is the basic SharePoint Hierarchy
                     1. Server Farms
                     2. Web Applications
                     3. Site Collections
                     4. Sites
                     5. Lists, Libraries, Web Parts etc.

Server Farms are at the top of the hierarchy. This includes all physical servers that comprise your SP installation. It consists of one or more SP servers and one or more SQL servers and they are bound together by a single configuration database in SQL. When you run the SP configuration wizard after installing MOSS/WSS you either create a new server farm or connect to an existing one.

Once you have your server farm you should create a Web Application.  This creates a website in IIS (Internet Information Services) to host the site. When you create a Web Application, websites are getting an application pool and other IIS properties. You can create multiple web applications on a server farm.

Inside a Web Application you have to create a Site Collection. You can create multiple Site Collections inside a Web Application. It is a collection of sites and you can define a top level site.

Now you have a Site Collection and a top level site. You can have multiple sites under the top level site. Sites are SharePoint interfaces seen by the users.

Site includes content inside it. This includes Lists, Libraries, Web Parts, etc.

Create a Web Application using Central Administration


First you should open the SharePoint 2010 Central Administration. Go to the start menu , then go to All Programs and select  SharePoint 2010 Central Administration under Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products. Make sure to run the program as administrator.

Then go to Application Management and select Manage web application under the Web Applications category

Then select the New button on the ribbon.

Then fill the form and create a Web application

Example:

Create a Site Collection using Central Administration

First you should open the SharePoint 2010 Central Administration. Go to the start menu , then go to All Programs and select  SharePoint 2010 Central Administration under Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products. Make sure to run the program as administrator.

Then go to Application Management and select Create site collections under the Site Collections category

then select the Web Application, add fill the Title, Description, URL. Then select a Template and add Primary Administrator using the format <Domain>\<Username>

Example: