SharePoint 2010 architectural principles

Although you are probably more interested in learning about how to program stuff in SharePoint, it's also important to spend some time to understand how the SharePoint environment is built up and what the mean technologies and terms are that you will come across with. This post will give you a quick overview of what to know.

- SharePoint 2010 needs 64-bit servers (Windows Server 2008 SP2 or later / Windows Server 2008 R2). For development you can also install it on Windows 7.

- Based on farm principle: one or more servers, combination of (load balanced) web server(s) and database server(s).

- No more Shared Service Providers (SSP). You now have service applications.

- Learn more about IIS (Microsoft Internet Information Services), web applications and application pools.