Sharepoint can be installed on a single server with a built-in or remote database or installed in multiple-server farms.

The minimum system requirements for your server are a 64-bit quad-core Processor. 8GB RAM (for production use 4GB for testing). 80GB Hard disk drive. 64-bit edition of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 for the database.

• Alentus Sharepoint Hosting - slightly under 9 USD/month

• 1 and 1 Sharepoint Hosting - slightly under 15 GBP/month

There are many different type of sharepoint training courses available, typically they will be as follows...

Course - Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2010 - Introduction

The types of tasks which you will perform at this level are being able to log into the SharePoint server and assign permission to users, Adding basic information to team sites, Customising a site, Working with subsites, Working with forms, Sharing information with team members, Working with a personal site, Searching the SharePoint sites, and Integrating external data in a SharePoint site.

Course - Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2010 - Intermediate

Using Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010 to create and modify a SharePoint site. Customising Microsoft SharePoint Designer toolbars and layout to suit your working practices, Creating subsites and changing their layouts. Adding content to your site, working with tables and images. Managing Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) in Sharepoint, creating an external stylesheet and modifying existing stylesheets. Adding hyperlinks to sub sites, creating hotspots in Sharepoint. Using Sharepoint components, working with the link bar, enhancing the site navigation structure.

Course - Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2010 - Advanced

Extended your Sharepoint site using advanced features. Using ASP.NET forms to capture data, validating user input. Working with data sources, importing data into dataviews, working with data view commands. Using Sharepoint Site Templates, saving and reverting customised sharepoint templates. Advanced data integration with web part zones, displaying xml data with xslt. Administering Sharepoint, backing up and restoring Sharepoint.

Web Parts are server-side controls that run inside the context of site pages in Microsoft SharePoint Foundation. There are many Web Parts available by default, and you can also build your own custom Web Parts.

Web Part Types

There are two different types of Web Parts in SharePoint.

ASP.NET Web Part

These Web Parts are built using the ASP.NET Web Part infrastructure. The ASP.NET-style Web Parts have a dependency on System.Web.dll and must inherit from the WebPart base class in the System.Web.UI.WebControls.WebParts namespace. These Web Parts can be used in ASP.NET applications as well as in SharePoint Foundation, making them highly reusable.

SharePoint-based Web Part

These have a dependency on Microsoft.SharePoint.dll and must inherit from the WebPart base class in the Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages namespace. These Web Parts can only be used in SharePoint Web sites.

Custom Web Parts

Custom Web Parts allow you to create user interface elements that can be customised and personalised. The term customization implies that changes are seen by all site members. Individual users can further personalize Web Parts page by adding, reconfiguring, and removing Web Parts. The term personalization implies that these changes will be seen only by the user that made them. A site owner or a site member with the appropriate permissions can customize Web Parts page by using a browser or by using Microsoft SharePoint Designer to add, reconfigure, or remove a Web Part.

Because the SharePoint Foundation Web Part infrastructure is built on top of the ASP.NET Web Parts control set, ASP.NET developers can quickly create robust custom Web Parts. Developers can extend SharePoint sites by creating custom Web Parts, to add the extra dimensions of user customization and personalization.

By harnessing the power of custom Web Parts. You can:

• Create custom properties that you can display and modify in the user interface.
• Implement proprietary code without disclosing the source code.
• Secure and control access to content within the Web Part. Built-in Web Parts allow any users with appropriate permissions to change content and alter Web Part functionality. With a custom Web Part, you can determine the content or properties to display to users, regardless of their permissions.
• Make your Web Part connectable.
• Interact with object models that are exposed in SharePoint Foundation (formally known as WSS).
• Use a rich development environment with debugging features that are provided by tools such as Microsoft Visual Studio 2010.

Read more on Developing Professional Web Parts and Custom Controls with ASP.NET 2.0 (Wrox Professional Guides)

SharePoint Designer 2010 is the tool development of SharePoint applications. Using SharePoint Designer 2010, developers can rapidly create SharePoint solutions. Power users can compose no-code solutions that encompass a variety of common scenarios, from collaborative sites to business intelligence solutions.

Brand new User Interface

The user interface in SharePoint Designer 2010 has been completely revamped. Create no-code solutions more rapidly with the List and Content Type editors, reusable workflows, XSLT templates, and external content types, among many other new capabilities.

SharePoint Designer 2010 now utilises the highly acclaimed Fluent UI (“Ribbon”) interface.

Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010 Screenshot

Custom actions

Using Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010, you can easily define custom actions for any list or add them as buttons to the Ribbon, making it possible to deliver great user experiences that make tasks easier.

Microsoft Visual Studio 2010

Software developer can now maintain SharePoint artifacts in Visual Studio 2010. You can use SharePoint Designer 2010 to build your workflow prototypes, list designs or Business Connectivity Services configurations and then bring them into Visual Studio. You can collaborate with other people by designing workflow activities in Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 and allowing others to build workflows in SharePoint Designer.

Business Connectivity Services

Through Business Connectivity Services, or BCS, SharePoint Designer 2010 allows you to extend the reach of your data to everybody in the organisation. You can connect to data in external databases or custom data stores. Create External Content Types that describe the external data, and enable users to search, read and write to these external lists as easily as if they were SharePoint lists. Users can also interact with this data even when offline by using SharePoint Workspace, Office, or Word, and offline changes are automatically synchronized when users reconnect.

Read more about Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer

An overview of Microsoft Sharepoint 2010 Sites

A site collection consists of a top-level site and one or more sub-sites. Each top-level site and any sites below it in the site structure are based on a site template. Partition your site collection content into separate sites to obtain fine grained control of the appearance, content, and features of the various pages in the site collection. Here are some site features that you can configure:

• Language - You can select a language-specific site template when you create a new site. Text that appears on the site is displayed in the site template’s language.
• Templates - Each site can have a unique template.
• Navigation - You can fine-tune your site's navigation experience by configuring unique navigation links in each part of your site's hierarchy.
• Security - You can define unique user groups and permissions for each site.
• Web pages - You can make each site have a unique welcome page and other pages.
• Site layouts - You can make unique layouts or master pages available in a site.
• Themes - You can change colors and fonts on a site.
• Regional settings - You can change the regional settings, such as locale, time zone, sort order, time format and calendar type.
• Content types - You can make each site have unique content types and site columns.
• Search - You can make each site have unique search settings. For example, you can specify that a particular site never appears in search results.
• Workflows - You can make each site have unique workflows.

Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 Site Templates

The following section contains information about the site templates that are included in SharePoint Server 2010. Although you can use a site template with its default configuration, you can also change the site’s default settings by using the site administration pages, and then saving the site as a new template. In addition, you can modify a template's design and features by using Microsoft SharePoint Designer 2010 or Microsoft Visual Studio 2010.

The following table lists all available site templates in sharepoint server 2010

Some Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 site templates, such as the site directory, news, and collaboration portal templates, are not available as an option in SharePoint Server 2010. These templates can still be accessed and used programmatically by developers. These templates are also still available as options in the UI if the SharePoint Server 2010 farm is upgraded from Office SharePoint Server 2007. Otherwise use the social tagging features in SharePoint Server 2010 to get much of the functionality provided in these templates.