2. System Settings
The System Settings section contains settings
for management of servers in the farm and services on a server,
configuring outgoing and incoming e-mail, and managing farm settings
for installed custom and third-party solution packages. Notice this
Farm Management subsection also contains a link to configuring
alternate access mappings, which is the same link as in the Application
Management section. Figure 4 shows the System Settings in Central Administration.
Probably the most important link in this
section, when setting up a new farm, is Configure outgoing e-mail
settings, because SharePoint likes to use e-mail a lot for
notifications.
Developers will likely frequent the Manage farm
solutions and Manage user solutions settings. A farm solution consists
of a WSP (SharePoint Solution Package) and might deploy DLLs to the GAC
or web application BIN folder, or install files in the hive (c:\program
files\common files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\15). User
solutions, on the other hand, may only install content to a site
collection and not deploy any asset that may affect other site
collections or web applications running in the farm. App model
manifests can also deploy WSP files.
Features provide discrete functionality, such
as a feature to install a list in a site collection, or a feature to
add web.config settings to a web application. Features may have one of
four scope levels: farm, web application, site, and web. The scope
depends on the functionality that the feature provides. In the System
Settings section of Central Administration you may activate and
deactivate features at the farm scope.
3. Monitoring
The Monitoring section is very important for diagnosing problems
in your farm. The Reporting subsection contains links to settings to
configure administrative reports, diagnostic logging, health reports,
and usage reports. Developers and administrators who install custom
components that have failed are likely familiar with the diagnostic
logging section, which allows you to throttle the severity of
information, warning, and error messages reported in the ULS (Unified
Logging System) log. Figure 5 shows the Monitoring section in Central Administration.
Timer jobs are an important part of
SharePoint infrastructure. A centralized timer service (OWS Timer) runs
on each SharePoint server and coordinates communication between
different SharePoint servers, and also executes tasks at scheduled
times. SharePoint maintains a number of scheduled tasks—jobs—to
maintain the health of the farm and to background-task lengthy
processes, which would otherwise delay users in real time. You may
review scheduled timer jobs and change settings for jobs in the Timer
Jobs subsection of Monitoring.
