Sharepoint 2013 : Business Connectivity Services - Configuring Business Connectivity Services

Configuring Business Connectivity Services

Like most architecture components in SharePoint, Business Connectivity Services operates as a service application. In the full server version of SharePoint 2013, Business Connectivity Services makes use of the Secure Store Service.

1. Open Central Administration.
2. Click the link to manage services on the server.
3. Ensure the Business Data Connectivity Service is started.
4. Navigate back to the home page in Central Administration.
5. Click the link to manage service applications, under the Application Management heading.
6. Scroll down the list and see if a Business Connectivity Services application already exists; if not, continue with these steps.
7. Click the New icon on the ribbon.
8. Choose the Business Data Connectivity application in the menu.
9. SharePoint displays a dialog for Business Connectivity Services configuration options.
10. Provide a name and description for the service application.
11. Provide the SQL Server name and database name for Business Connectivity Services.
12. Create a new application pool using your application pool managed account .
13. Click the OK button to create the Business Connectivity Services application.
14. Once SharePoint finishes provisioning the service application, return to the list and click the newly created Business Connectivity Services application.
15. You should see a page like that in Figure 1.

Once you have completed the preceding steps, Business Connectivity Services is ready to start hosting external content types. Additionally, you can host profile pages, which provide details about external systems and content types. Click the Configure icon on the ribbon and then provide the URL to the site collection to store external content type profiles on the page shown (Figure 2).