Shared Services and Moss Versions

Shared Services

Many of the advanced capabilities of MOSS are configured and delivered through a Shared Services Provider (SSP). The SSP allows you to configure things such as Enterprise Search, Excel Services, and the BDC one time and then use them across many different MOSS and WSS sites. Because you can configure multiple SSPs in the same farm, this architecture gives you the flexibility to expose specially configured services where you want them. For example, you may configure an SSP with a public search for use on the Internet, and another SSP with a private search for use on the corporate intranet.

MOSS Versions

While WSS is a free component, MOSS must be licensed separately. MOSS comes in several different versions that target different deployment scenarios and have different licensing requirements. Regardless of your scenario, however, every organization using MOSS must purchase the base MOSS 2007 server license. Along with the server license, you must also purchase the appropriate client access licenses (CAL) to meet your needs.