Technical architecture

EPiServer integrated with SharePoint 2003

Companies and organizations have up until now built different solutions where EPiServer and SharePoint have been integrated. These solutions are built by EPiServer-partners based on features within each product.

Some projects have been inspired by the SharePoint Connector Package that is already available for EPiServer. This package is however intended merely for inspiration, not solid code to build a production environment on.

Use already available technology to integrate with MOSS 2007

To create the solutions described in this section you will need help from an EPiServer-partner. It is however, easier to integrate EPiServer with MOSS 2007 than with SharePoint 2003. The main reasons for this are the improved support for building the integration and the fact that both products can also better co-exist in the same environment.

Both MOSS and EPiServer build on the same architecture - Windows and .NET. Both products can also be communicated with through Web Services. 

Same building blocks

It is easy for developers to work with both products because they use the same building blocks. As an example, both EPiServer and MOSS use the same technique to show pages using Master Pages. Both products also use the same foundation for Workflow *) and they use the same data model for Providers and Data Sources.

Schematic picture of the EPiServer architecture *). "C" is Web Controls, "D" is Data Sources and "P" is ASP.NET Providers. Dark grey is EPiServer-parts, light grey is .NET 3.0 and orange is site specific.

Simple integration using RSS or advanced data integration

There are several different methods for integrating MOSS and EPiServer. The choice depends on what you want to achieve. The simplest solution is to make information such as news and announcements available through RSS. EPiServer can easily consume RSS-feeds.

Alternative ways for MOSS-information to be consumed by EPiServer.

When creating a more complex data integration you often choose between copying data or making it available in real-time, e.g. using a Web Service. Both methods have their advantages and disadvantages. By copying the material, some typical problems with searchability and access rights can be minimized. Each system will treat the information as if it only existed in the local environment. A disadvantage is that it is not real-time data you see and you might need to manage the synchronization problems that arise when having two copies of the same data.

Note! The choice between data copying and real-time data is not only a technical choice. Some of the license model for MOSS is built on the fact that you need new licenses if you make data from MOSS available through the Internet. If you choose a model with delayed data, copying it might, in some cases, mean that you don't need an extra license.

MOSS 2007 or WSS 3.0

Generally speaking, all integration mentioned in this section can be done with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (WSS 3.0) as well as MOSS 2007. That is, you do not need to base your IT-architecture on MOSS. Read more about MOSS 2007 and WSS 3.0 on the Microsoft sites.