Enhancing The Performance Of SharePoint Across WAN

SharePoint 2010 has emerged as an important tool for publishing, distribution and sharing of information across the organizations.

SharePoint developers are aware of the  capabilities this platform offers and how it can help in enhancing productivity  of teams in an enterprise.

When it is  deployed across multiple branch offices and sites, the user experiences  performance issues and thereby it directly affects the productivity too. The  alternative is to look at solutions that can improvise the level of  performance, minimize latency and are less expensive.

The need for  SharePoint optimization across WAN

Many organizations  are adopting and using the various features of this tool to benefit their  business processes. However, the increasing popularity of SharePoint 2010 has  also raised a concern regarding its performance. The increase in the total  number of data, applications and users has a direct impact on the performance  because it reduces the speed at which data can be accessed. Most of the  SharePoint developers try to increase the number of servers at the various  branch offices and this process leads to increase in wide area network traffic.  The performance gets hindered when the network faces traffic congestion.

The decongestion  in the SharePoint network would require additional processing power by increasing  the number of servers, providing better storage and adding new hardware. But  this approach does not provide a permanent solution because the main problem  lies with network related issues such as latency and bandwidth. There is a need  for solutions that do not require installation of innumerable SharePoint 2010  server at different locations. One of the ways of achieving this objective is  through WAN optimization that would help in enhancing performance across the  board.

Understanding  the SharePoint optimization process

The SharePoint  developers have to apply WAN optimization techniques to counter reliability and  performance issues in the network. First the developers or administrators have  to identify the bottlenecks in the network. The removal of bottlenecks enhances  the communication between SharePoint users and remote locations.

The  optimization of SharePoint mobile users

It is not easy for  SharePoint developers to assign a WAN entry point when users access SharePoint  from customer location, office or any wi-fi hub. In this case, WAN optimization  is an ideal alternative where a small client application is installed on the  client’s notebook and is connected via web to the WAN optimization appliance  based out of a branch or a data entry point.

The client and the  devise go through a handshaking process through which different techniques such  as data compression and algorithms are applied to remove any data retransmission.  SharePoint 2010 uses synchronization techniques involving a large number of  round trips of data packages. Through WAN optimization these roundtrips can be  reduced and thereby it enhances the level of performance.

The  optimization of businesses with large branch offices

There are WAN  optimization devices that can be used to make SharePoint servers more robust  and versatile across data centers and branch offices. Even if one site or  server fails to perform, the traffic can be routed to the nearest server or  site. Undoubtedly, WAN optimization can initiate high speed synchronization  that would not only enhance the overall performance but also keep the data  up-to-date.

Article Tags: Sharepoint Developers, Branch Offices

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR