Content deployment is broadly defined, but in the context of WCM, this section focuses on cross-site publication, a new feature in SharePoint 2013, and Web Parts such as the Content Search Web Part that you can use to show content from the search index. Cross-site content deployment allows for publishing of site content across sites, site collections, and even farms. This varies from content deployment in SharePoint 2010 in which the entire site had to be deployed using the built-in SharePoint 2010 functionality.
The Content Search Web Part (CSWP) can show content from the search index, allowing content to be shown from other locations within the context of the site on which it’s located. This is much different than using the Content Query Web Part in SharePoint 2010 in that it was confined to the site collection in which it was contained. The CSWP is configured to use a result source, either built-in or created. It can also be used to show results from a published catalog. Some of the default result sources are as follows:
■ ■ Documents ■ ■ Pages ■ ■ Pictures ■ ■ Recently changed ■ ■ Popular ■
■ Items related to current user ■
■ Wiki
After you choose the result source, you can restrict the returned items to the current site, the current site collection, or a URL, or you can leave it unrestricted, in which case it brings back everything from that result source. If no result source matches your needs, you can build a query from scratch. This is very similar to creating a result source. Considering this, you have a great amount of flexibility in the results that can be pulled back from the search results. An additional property of the CSWP allows for the search results to be further refined by tags. The following options are related to tags:
■
■ Don’t restrict by tag ■
■ Restrict by navigation term of current page ■
■ Restrict by current and sub-page navigation terms ■
■ Restrict on this tag
Restricting by tags can provide many options, such as putting on a page that shows a particular wiki item. The CSWP could show videos related to the tag across a number of site collections and even different farms.
The CSWP also uses display templates, allowing for customization of how the results are displayed. The display templates are configured similarly across the SharePoint environment. This is essentially modifying HTML and JavaScript.
MORE INFO CONTENT SEARCH WEB PART
See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj163789(v=office.15) for more information about the CSWP.
Traditional content deployment is still supported and is similar in function to the way it was in SharePoint 2010. The improvements in SharePoint 2013 involve a feature that determines whether a site collection can be deployed. Certain features must be removed before a site collection can be deployed via the built-in content deployment. If you try to deploy a site collection, you probably can’t see any site collections to deploy by default because a feature at the site collection level needs to be activated. To prepare a site collection for deployment, follow these steps:
1. Navigate to Site Settings as a site collection administrator.
2. Click Site Collection Features in the Site Collection Administration section. 3. Click the Activate button next to the Content Deployment Source Feature feature.
EXAM TIP
the Content Deployment Source Feature is new in SharePoint 2013 and, like anything new, will receive special attention on the exam. Be aware of the feature and what it accomplish- es as well how to disable features that prohibit content deployment.
When the Content Deployment Source Feature is activated, you can check whether the site collection is ready for content deployment. SharePoint 2013 lists items that prevent a site col- lection from being deployed. To find this list, follow these steps:
1. Navigate to Site Settings as a site collection administrator.
2. Click Content Deployment Source Status in the Site Collection Administration section. The Content Deployment Source Status page displays all features that you need to deactivate before content deployment is supported.
By default, a normal publishing site requires that quite a few features be deactivated before it can be deployed. Some of these can be deactivated by clicking the Deactivate link on the Content Deployment Source Status page. Some features are hidden and need to be deactivated by using PowerShell. The list might be very long and require that a lot of features be turned off. Some site templates, such as the Community Site, aren’t even supported. The PowerShell command for deactivating features is as follows:
Disable-SPFeature –Identity <name of feature> –url <URL of site collection or site> When the unsupported features are disabled, the site is ready for deployment. How- ever, the farm receiving the content must be configured to receive content. By default, a
SharePoint 2013 farm is set up to reject any incoming content deployment jobs. To receive content deployment jobs, the SharePoint farm can be configured as follows:
1. On the destination server, navigate to Central Administration with an account that has administrator rights and click General Application Settings.
2. Click Configure Content Deployment in the Content Deployment section.
3. On the Content Deployment Settings page, select Accept Incoming Content Deploy- ment Jobs.
4. Choose the import server to receive the incoming deployment jobs in the Import Server section. Make sure that the incoming server has enough disk space to handle the incoming jobs.
5. Optionally, specify the export server by selecting it in the Export Server section if it will be deploying content deployment jobs.
6. Choose whether https is required in the Connection Security section.
7. Choose whether to check for source status errors in the Source Status Check section. 8. Select a location for the temporary files involved in receiving content in the Temporary
Files section. This drive location needs to have enough space to store the entire site collection being deployed.
9. In the Reporting section, choose how many reports to retain, and then click OK to save changes.
After the receiving SharePoint farm is configured to accept content deployment jobs from the deploying SharePoint farm, you can configure content deployment paths in Central Administration. The process involves creating a path for the content to be deployed and a job that determines how often the content will be deployed. To create a content deployment path, follow these steps:
1. Navigate to Central Administration and click Configure Content Deployment Paths And Jobs in the General Application Settings section.
2. On the Manage Content Deployment Paths And Jobs page, click New Path.
3. On the Create Content Deployment Path page, enter a name and description in the Name and Description settings.
4. Select the source web application and then the source site collection in the Source Web Application And Site Collection section.
5. Type the URL of the destination Central Administration server in the Destination Central Administration Web Application section.
6. Choose the authentication method, and then enter a user name and password that has Central Administration rights on the destination server in the Authentication Informa- tion section.
7. Choose the destination web application and the destination site collection in the Destination Web Application And Site Collection section.
8. Choose whether to deploy user names in the User Names section.
9. Choose what security information to deploy (All, Role Definitions Only, or None) in the Security Information section, and then click OK to save changes.
IMPORTANT DEPLOYING CONTENT DEPLOYMENT USING HTTP
Communications over the http protocol (instead of https) can be intercepted by malicious users. Use https if the content being deployed is sensitive in nature.
After the path is established, you can set up a job that runs on a specified schedule or on demand. The Manage Content Deployment Path And Jobs page shows the newly created path. Hovering over the name of the path and clicking it reveals options to Test Job, Run Now, and edit the Quick Deploy Settings. Follow these steps to configure the Quick Deploy Job set- tings after you choose the Quick Deploy Settings for the content deployment path:
1. In the Allow Quick Deploy Jobs section, choose whether to allow Quick Deploy Jobs. 2. Choose whether to use SQL Snapshots.
3. Select the content deployment schedule in the Quick Deploy Schedule section. The range is from 10 minutes up to 60 minutes.
4. Choose the users who can designate pages for Quick Deploy Jobs in the Users section. 5. In the Notification section, choose whether to send email when content deployment
succeeds and/or fails and provide the email address to send the notifications to. 6. Click OK to save changes.
The content deployment job is now configured. To test the job to ensure that it works, choose Test Job in the content deployment path. The first time you deploy the job, choose Run Now. The first deployment can potentially take a while, depending on the size of the site collection. After the initial deployment, only changes are deployed, greatly increasing the speed of deployment.