SharePoint 3.0 running

I have just completed the upgrade of my production systems to the latest revision of Windows SharePoint Services. After about two weeks spent in planning, testing and development, I choose the content database migration process: it has required some more steps and added complexity during the upgrading phase, but the final result is definitely the best one among all the approach suggested in the deployment guide.
More specifically, that upgrade approach allowed me to:

  • migrate contents basing on the real needs, instead of forcing me to upgrade all sites and collections in one big step;
  • obtain the highest levels of reliability, security and compliance, by running a new SharePoint 3.0 farm without porting settings from the old release;
  • redraw the authentication model by using new several service accounts, and reducing Application Pools by 50%.

During the SharePoint upgrade I took the chance to upgrade also my Community Server platform to the 2.1 SP2 release, which is publishing my corporate blogs collection.
Now, I wish to work to redraw several applications which are based on the SharePoint platform (first of all, the Extranet access system) to better serve my customers by leveraging the new features of this exciting release.