First, we will need to open up the SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration page by going to Start | Administration | SharePoint 3.0 Central Administration. A page similar to the one shown in the following screenshot will open up in Internet Explorer:

In order to create a new SharePoint site, we must go to the Application Management page. Click on Application Management tab in the Central Administration page, as shown in the following screenshot:

In the Application Management page, click on the Create or extend Web application link under the SharePoint Web Application Management section to start creating a new SharePoint site. Once you click on the Create or extend Web application link, you will initiate the site creation wizard as follows:

Since we want to create a new SharePoint site from scratch, click on the Create a new Web application link.

In the Create New Web Application page, you will notice many fields in which you can customize. We do not need to change everything. For the description of the SharePoint, you can prefix the site description with the name of the AOS in which the Enterprise Portal will reference. In this case, it is AX2009_INGNOMICS_DEV01, as shown in the following screenshot:

In a multiple server configuration, in which each Dynamics AX server component such as the database, Enterprise Portal, Reporting, and Analysis server are on different servers, we will need to use Kerberos authentication for the SharePoint site in order for the Role Centers to work properly, which we will cover in Chapter 4, Setup and configuration of the Role Centers. Therefore, we will need to manually enable Kerberos authentication as follows:

You will also need to set the appropriate service account to run the application pool for the new SharePoint site. Although it's not best practice to assign the Network Services account by default, it is acceptable here because the Dynamics AX 2009 installation wizard will change this anyway. It may be beneficial to also prefix the Application pool name with the name of the AOS, as shown in the following screenshot:

In the Database Name and Authentication section, it is acceptable to use the default specified database information. However, if your SQL database instance is on a different server, provide the appropriate location here. Additionally, it is also beneficial to change the name of the content database to the same name as the Dynamics AX instance. Specify the appropriate database instance to create the content database on. Once you have completed the previously mentioned steps, you can click on the OK button.

After the site is created successfully, you will be prompted to run iisreset /noforce in the command prompt.

In the Add or modify components window of the installation wizard, mark the Role Centers and Enterprise Portal checkbox and then click on the Next > button.

In the next screen, you will be prompted to enter the password for the user account associated with the Business Connector, as shown in the following screenshot. If the Business Connector was already installed or the Business Connector proxy account has already been specified in Dynamics AX in the Administration | Setup | Security | System service accounts form, then it will automatically be selected and cannot be changed. To change the Business Connector proxy account, simply modify the account name in the System service accounts form, as covered in the Creating the Business Connector Proxy User section. Once the Business Connector credential information has been provided, click on the Next button.

In the Configure IIS section of the wizard, select the SharePoint site that was newly created and ensure that both checkboxes are marked. The Configure for Windows SharePoint Services ensures that the selected Web site will be set up to accommodate an Enterprise Portal site. The Create Web site checkbox installs the entire Enterprise Portal content into the SharePoint site that was created, overwriting any existing content. When creating an Enterprise Portal site for the first time, both checkboxes must be marked. Once completed click on the Next button.

In the Ready to install section of the wizard, you will be prompted to install the Enterprise Portal. To install, click on the Install button.

If there were no errors during the installation, you will see the following screen. Otherwise, you should mark the checkbox, Open the log file when Setup closes, for details on any errors or warnings. To complete the wizard, simply click on the Finish button.

Create a SharePoint application as described in the Creating the Enterprise Portal SharePoint Application section of this chapter. Before creating the application, ensure that a host header is specified. This host header is the host address that users will access. One host will be the access point that users will access while the NLB web farm will automatically forward requests to the appropriate server. After clicking on the OK button to create the web application, a site will be created on each IIS server in the SharePoint web farm.

Now that the SharePoint application for the Enterprise Portal site has been created with a host header, the next step is to run the installation wizard on all non-primary SharePoint servers in the web farm. (Typically, the SharePoint server that was first used to set up the SharePoint web farm is the primary SharePoint server. Additional SharePoint servers added to the web farm are considered non-primary.) On the wizard step Role Centers and Enterprise Portal framework: Configure IIS, make sure both checkboxes are unmarked. When complete, proceed through the wizard as you would when installing on a non-SharePoint web farm.

Now that each non-primary SharePoint server on the web farm has had the Enterprise Portal content installed, the final step is to install the Enterprise Portal on the primary SharePoint server. Simply install the Enterprise Portal content as described in the Creating the Enterprise Portal SharePoint Application. In the wizard step, Role Centers and Enterprise Portal framework: Configure IIS, ensure that both checkboxes are marked.