The O ce Web Applications WHAT’S IN THIS CHAPTER? Overview of OWA Deploying OWA Installing OWA OWA PowerShell Activation Offi ce Web Applications (OWA) are the web browser–based companions to the Offi ce 2010 suite of desktop products for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. These applications enable users to access documents, and view, edit, and share content with other users across personal comput- ers, mobile phones, and the Web using various web browsers. They are available on Windows Live at no cost to users as an ad-supported service, and for enterprise users, they can be hosted on SharePoint 2010. When enabled, these applications enhance the experience of the SharePoint user and greatly expand the possibility of collaboration. Offi ce Web Applications can be deployed to a SharePoint farm that has either SharePoint Foundation Services or the full SharePoint Server 2010 product installed. As the topic of this book is SharePoint Server 2010, we will be discussing the deployment of the OWA to the SharePoint Server 2010 product. This chapter begins with an overview of the OWA architec- ture, then walks you through the steps an administrator must take to get the OWA installed and confi gured. We also briefl y discuss the OWA features to ensure that administrators are familiar with OWA’s capabilities and its impact on the SharePoint environment. OWA OVERVIEW Before you dive into the installation and confi guration process, we will briefl y discuss web technologies that OWA utilizes, the components that make-up the OWA architecture and how they work. 19 552 CHAPTER 19 the office WeB aPPlicatioNs Web Technology Utilized by OWA The Office Web Applications provide the capability to view and edit your documents in the web browser. This is accomplished using three technology components that are fundamental to Web 2.0 and Rich Interactive Applications (RIA) — Asynchronous JavaScript (AJAX), Silverlight, and XML — plus good old HTML. These technologies are not unique, or specific to OWA, but OWA utilizes them to provide an enhanced user experience. AJAX For those readers who aren’t familiar with Web 2.0 and RIA, AJAX is not a new programming language, but a new way to use the existing JavaScript and HTTP standards to create a better, faster, and more interactive web application. AJAX provides a dynamic mechanism for updating a web page without doing a complete page reload. This is accomplished using asynchronous data transfer (HTTP requests) between the browser and the web server, allowing web pages to request small bits of information from the server instead of whole pages. Overall, this reduces postbacks to the server, which makes the user interface more responsive. Silverlight Silverlight is a plug-in that installs into the browser. It provides new capabilities for the web browser, such as high-performance multimedia and animation. This functionality extends the web application capability far beyond the limitations of HTML and JavaScript. Silverlight works equally well on the Windows and Macintosh platforms and with Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari web browsers. Silverlight is not required for the OWA to function, but the user’s experience will be much better with Silverlight installed. For example, the Word 2010 web application offers the following viewing experience benefits from Silverlight: Documents are loaded faster because, typically, fewer bytes need to be downloaded before displaying the document. Text fidelity is improved across zoom levels, including better text spacing and rendering. The PowerPoint 2010 web application will provide smoother animations and better slide scaling with changes to the browser’s window size. You can download and install the Silverlight plug-in from http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/get-started/install/default.aspx. The administrator can deploy Silverlight across the enterprise using a number of different approaches, all of which are covered in the “Silverlight Enterprise Deployment Guide” located at http:// download.microsoft.com/download/7/8/d/78da8ec9-8801-42e5-89e5-3809386f1316/ Silverlight%20Deployment%20Guide.doc . Browser Compatibility The Office Web Applications will work with a diverse set of web browsers but three different brows- ers are officially supported: Internet Explorer 7 and 8 on Windows Firefox 3.5 on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux Safari 4 on Macintosh OWA Overview 553 Keep in mind that different browsers have different functionality, so the user experience will not neces- sarily be the same even within the supported list of browsers. For example, with Internet Explorer you can copy text using the Copy button on the ribbon, but Firefox doesn’t support copying to the clipboard through mouse actions so the user will be required to use keyboard shortcuts. For an up-to-date listing of browser support, refer to the following link: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ cc263526(office.14).aspx . Accessibility Features The Office Web Applications have been designed to ensure that they are accessible to people with disabilities. Specifically, they have been designed to support people who are blind or have reduced vision, and people with limited mobility. Therefore, the focus has been on three objectives: Enable screen reader support. Ensure that all functionality is keyboard accessible. Ensure that the applications are high contrast and support different zoom modes. Screen Reader Support Screen reader support is based on XHTML compliance and Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) standards. ARIA, an initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), defines a way to make web content and web application functionality more accessible to people with disabilities. Specifically, it helps with dynamic content and advanced user interface controls developed with AJAX, HTML, JavaScript, and related Web 2.0 technologies. ARIA markup has been included in the OWA so that browsers and screen readers that support the ARIA standard can provide an experience that is comparable to a fully accessible desktop application. The Word, OneNote, and Excel web applications are XHTML Strict compliant and use cascading style sheets (CSS) for document layout. In addition, the PowerPoint and Word application viewers render documents as images, or use Silverlight if it is installed. Clearly, an image represents a challenge to a screen reader, so a text-based version of the document is also provided that contains both the text and the structure of the content contained in the image. Word documents can also be opened as a tagged PDF document, allowing the PDF viewer that is compatible with the user’s screen reader to be used. A structured outline of the PowerPoint presentation is also provided that contains the text content of the presentation organized by slide. It includes list hierarchy and tabular data in simple HTML that a screen reader can interpret. Keyboard Accessibility The set of most frequently used Office desktop suite shortcuts (Ctrl+B, Ctrl+S, and Ctrl+C) all work as expected in the web applications. Also, the Ctrl+F6 shortcut enables the user to navigate between different regions or areas in the OWA view, such as between the ribbon, the navigation pane, and the content. 554 CHAPTER 19 the office WeB aPPlicatioNs Architecture The Office Web Application’s architecture utilizes the SharePoint Web Front End (WFE) and a set of services which reside on the application server to generate the browser-based representation of the document. Web Front End — The WFE consists of the OWA web pages and the ASP.NET page handlers that are responsible for generating and returning the HTML that represents the document to the browser. These components may also rely on assistance from the service applications when generating the HTML representation of the document. The PowerPoint web applica- tion also provides the Broadcast Slide Show (BSS) functionality, which is a new feature in the desktop version of PowerPoint 2010. BSS enables presenters to broadcast a slide show from PowerPoint 2010 to remote viewers who watch in a web browser. We discuss BSS later in this chapter. Service Applications — The OWA installation adds the Word Viewing Service application, the Excel Calculation Service application, and the PowerPoint Service application to the list of available SharePoint service applications (see Chapter 7 for details on the service applica- tion architecture). These services are responsible for performing Excel calculations and gener- ating the image representation for Word and PowerPoint. Additional SharePoint services are not required to edit in Word or OneNote files. From an architecture and deployment point of view, these components can be installed either on a single physical server or on multiple servers where the different layers reside on different physical servers. With that basic understanding of the OWA, let’s turn to deployment. DEPLOYMENT OWA deployment consists of a series of steps that must be completed after SharePoint Server 2010 has been installed. A few of the more pertinent steps in the server installation process are reviewed in this chapter. The steps required for OWA deployment can be categorized into several phases: Installation Service activation Feature activation We start this section with a brief overview of each of these phases and then turn to the specific steps involved in the installation and configuration. The install process you should follow for OWA will vary according to the status of your SharePoint 2010 Server install. Determine which of the following describes your status: You have not yet installed the SharePoint 2010 Server, or have already installed the SharePoint 2010 Server but have not yet run the Configuration Wizard. You have already installed the SharePoint 2010 Server and have run the Configuration Wizard. Deployment 555 For either type of install, you should start with the information in the following section and then proceed to the appropriate instructions for your situation. Chapter 4 covers the SharePoint 2010 Server installation; look there for more details if you still need to install the server. Installing SharePoint 2010 Server and Preparing for OWA The OWA can be installed on a single standalone server or on multiple servers in the farm. Let’s start with some review of the SharePoint Server installation process covered in Chapter 4. Recall that during the initial steps of installing the server product, the user is prompted to choose between the Server Farm and Standalone type of installation, as shown in Figure 19-1. FIGURE 191 You should choose the Server Farm option; the Standalone option should not be used unless you are creating a single-server development environment installation on Windows 7 or Windows Vista. See Chapter 4 for a thorough explanation of why to avoid the Standalone option. Also keep in mind that a single-server development environment is not a supported environment for running SharePoint in production; it is only for developers needing a desktop development environment. The capability to install SharePoint server on the Windows desktop operating system is new for the 2010 server product. The Server Farm installation is used for installing either a single-server or multi-server SharePoint farm. Both types of installations require that the OWA setup application ( WCSetup.exe) be installed on each SharePoint server that will be involved in hosting the OWA. 556 CHAPTER 19 the office WeB aPPlicatioNs The next step in the SharePoint server installation requires you to choose between a Complete install and a Stand-alone, as shown in Figure 19-2. FIGURE 192 Choose the Complete install option because you will want to use a separate installation of SQL Server and not the SQL Server 2008 Express Edition. Once setup is complete, you are prompted with the Run Configuration Wizard dialog, as shown in Figure 19-3. FIGURE 193 Deployment 557 At this point in the typical installation, you would want to run the wizard to complete the installation of the farm. Because the Office Web Application software is not a part of the SharePoint Server 2010 install, it needs to be installed separately, so you should postpone the execution of the wizard until after the web applications are installed. If you are installing the server now, make sure the “Run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard now” checkbox is not checked. Close this dialog and then proceed to install the OWA, as described in the “OWA Installation” section. It is still possible to install the OWA software even after the configuration wizard has already been run, but that requires additional steps to complete the OWA configuration. This scenario is covered in the “OWA PowerShell Activation” section later in the chapter. Service Activation Recall that as part of the SharePoint Server 2010 installation in Chapter 4, the Post Setup Configura- tion Wizard application (PSConfig) or the SharePoint Farm Configuration Wizard may have been run to complete the installation. These two wizards alter the state of the SharePoint farm. Therefore, acti- vating the OWA service applications for either the single-server or multi-server farm installation will depend on the state of the SharePoint farm when the OWA are installed. For the single-server installation or farm installation, if PSConfig or the Farm Configuration Wizard have not been run, then running the corresponding wizard will automatically activate the required service instances, service applications, and service application proxies during an OWA installation. The setup application and PSConfig will install the SharePoint binary code, configure security per- missions, configure the registry, create and configure the configuration and content database, and install the Central Administration web site. Next, the Farm Configuration Wizard will configure the SharePoint farm, allow the administrator to select the specific services to use in the farm, and create the first site collection. All of this con- figuration can be done manually if you prefer, as described in the “Manual Activation” section. If the wizards have already been run prior to installing the OWA, then the OWA service instances, service applications, and proxies must be created, started, and activated manually, or using PowerShell commands, as described in the “OWA PowerShell Activation” section later in this chapter. Manual Activation It is important for the administrator to know how to manually install any service and not have to rely on the wizard. This knowledge provides a much deeper understanding of what is involved, which will be helpful during troubleshooting. Manual activation requires that the OWA service instances be started and the service applications and proxies be created. Service instances are started using the Services on Server web page in SharePoint Central Administration, or by running a Windows PowerShell script. The Services on Server web page can be accessed using the Manager Services on Server link on the Central Administration home page. Service applications and their associated proxies can be created by using the Manage service applications page in SharePoint Central Administration, or by running a Windows PowerShell script (provided later in this chapter). Once created, the service applications will start running on each service instance automatically. 558 CHAPTER 19 the office WeB aPPlicatioNs Feature Activation Each site collection that will host the OWA functionality needs to be confi gured. This is accomplished by activating the OWA feature. The activation process can be done manually by browsing to each and every site collection’s Site Collection Features page and activating the feature or by running a Windows PowerShell script. It is also possible to activate the feature for every site collection in the farm at once using a PowerShell script. OWA INSTALLATION The following installation instructions assume that SharePoint Server 2010 has not been installed yet, or that you have begun the installation but have not yet run the Confi guration Wizard. If you have already run the Confi guration Wizard, proceed to the “OWA PowerShell Activation” section at the end of the chapter. Single-Server Farm Install Install SharePoint Server 2010 according to the instructions in Chapter 4 and using the settings described earlier for the Server Farm and Complete Install options. In the dialog shown in Figure 19-3, leave the checkbox to automatically run PSConfi g blank. This will postpone running PSConfi g; the administrator may choose to run it later after the OWA are installed. Installing the O ce Web Applications 1. Make sure the user performing the installation is logged on with the built-in administrator account. 2. Extract the OWA fi les to a folder on your system by using the /extract:c:\OWAfiles switch, where c:\OWAfiles is the location to extract the fi les. 3. At the root of the OWAfile folder, run the OWA setup application setup.exe, which will display the Enter your Product Key dialog, shown in Figure 19-4. 4. After your key has been verifi ed, click Continue to display the Microsoft Software License Terms dialog. Check the box to accept the terms and then click Continue. 5. On the Choose a fi le location dialog, shown in Figure 19-5, click Install Now to install to the default location. The Installation Progress dialog will be displayed during the installation. 6. The setup process should take only a few minutes. Once it is complete, the Run Confi guration Wizard dialog (refer to Figure 19-3) will be displayed. Be sure that the “Run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Confi guration Wizard now” checkbox is selected, and then click Close to start the confi guration wizard. Step 6 assumes that the SharePoint Post-Setup Confi guration Wizard has not been run after the original SharePoint server setup. If the wizard has already been run, then the OWA services need to be created and activated, either man- ually as described in Chapter 7 or using the PowerShell scripts provided at the end of this chapter. . deployed to a SharePoint farm that has either SharePoint Foundation Services or the full SharePoint Server 2010 product installed. As the topic of this book is SharePoint Server 2010, we will. SharePoint 2010 Server install. Determine which of the following describes your status: You have not yet installed the SharePoint 2010 Server, or have already installed the SharePoint 2010. situation. Chapter 4 covers the SharePoint 2010 Server installation; look there for more details if you still need to install the server. Installing SharePoint 2010 Server and Preparing for OWA The