Internet and Intranet Technologies

Web Server Support in Office 2000

Collaborating and sharing information are increasingly important elements of the day-to-day operations of organizations. Users must be able to find, work with, and exchange information easily with their co-workers and clients. Networks based on Web protocols are easy to install and administer, and they offer the promise of universal access to information in a heterogeneous client environment.

As a result, more organizations are relying on the Internet and corporate intranets as the infrastructure for their collaborative processes. Microsoft Office 2000 helps facilitate these trends. Office 2000 users can use HTML as a companion file format, manage files on a Web server by using Web Folders, and publish to Web servers from the Save As dialog box in Office 2000 applications.

Web server components in Microsoft Office Server Extensions

Some Office 2000 Web server – related features depend on a Web server that has Microsoft Office Server Extensions (OSE) installed. You can install OSE on any Web server with one of the following configurations:

• Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 or later and Internet Information Server 4.0 (IIS)
• Windows NT Workstation 4.0 or later and Personal Web Server 4.0.

OSE allows Office 2000 users to do the following:

• Create threaded discussions in published documents.
• Receive an e-mail notification when documents change.
• Search and navigate documents published on Web servers.

A Web site with OSE installed is called an OSE-extended web. When you set up an OSE-extended web, Office 2000 users can work with documents on the server by using Web features installed on their computers.

The following features work only with an OSE-extended web:

• Web Discussions
• Web Subscriptions
• OSE Start Page

Even if you do not install OSE on your Web server, users can still take advantage of some of the Web features included in Office 2000. These features work with any Web server that runs Microsoft FrontPage Server Extensions or any Web server that supports the Distributed Authoring and Versioning (DAV) Internet protocol. The following Office 2000 features do not require OSE:

• Opening and saving files on Web servers from the Open and Save As dialog boxes (File menu) using the HTTP protocol.
• Browsing, publishing, and managing the folders and files on Web servers from the Web Folders object in My Computer, Windows Explorer, and the Save As and Open dialog boxes (File menu) in Office 2000 applications.

Note   Microsoft FrontPage 2000 includes FrontPage Server Extensions. DAV is an Internet protocol supported by IIS version 5.0.

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Other Microsoft Web server components

In addition to IIS, Microsoft Windows NT Server also provides other components that complement enterprise intranets.

Microsoft Proxy Server

Every day more and more companies connect their internal networks to the Internet for a variety of reasons, such as increased productivity, customer service, and collaboration. Some of the biggest issues these organizations face as they extend their networks to the Internet are security, manageability, and cost. Microsoft Proxy Server offers firewall security, content caching, and management tools that help organizations address these issues effectively.

Microsoft Certificate Server

Microsoft Certificate Server is a general-purpose, customizable server application for managing digital certificates. It can be used in a variety of security applications, including verifying the identity of users and Web servers.

Microsoft Index Server

Microsoft Index Server allows users to perform full-text searches of Web server content to retrieve information in almost any format from any Web browser.

Microsoft Site Server

Designed to help you get the most out of your corporate intranet, Microsoft Site Server helps users publish, find, and share information quickly and easily. Features include extensive search capabilities and tools to perform thorough analyses of the usage and effectiveness of your intranet.

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See also

For information about installing and using OSE, see Using Office with a Web Server.

For more information about Microsoft Proxy Server, see the Microsoft Proxy Server Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/proxy/.

For more information about Microsoft Certificate Server, see the "Microsoft Certificate Server" white paper at http://www.microsoft.com/workshop/security/client/certsvr.asp.

For more information about Microsoft Index Server, see Microsoft Index Server technical specifications at http://www.microsoft.com/ntserver/fileprint/tech/techspec/IndexServer.asp.

For more information about Microsoft Site Server, see the Microsoft Site Server Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/siteserver/.