SharePoint Site
Collections
Best Practices and Recommendations

Our Clients Have Challenges with Site Collections!
Client 1 has 4 site collections in their SharePoint 2007 farm, each with more than 500
GB of documents. Each site collection was stored in its own content database.
Client 2 has created site collections for every small team, department, etc. Anyone
who wanted a site essentially got their own site collection. They have ~400 site
collections for ~600 GB of content and about ~2500 sites.
Both clients are experiencing management and usability challenges!
Many of our clients have challenges with understanding how
and when to deploy site collections in SharePoint….

What is a SharePoint Site Collection?
A LOGICAL hierarchical collection of sites.
A Site Collection is also PHYSICAL – all
content is stored within a single content
database (although a content DB can host
multiple site collections).
Key administration and governance
boundary for management of sites – many
key settings are found with the Site
Collection settings,
URL path root starts at the Site Collection.
A Site Collection has one “root” site which
is the top level site and many sub-sites.
Each Personal Site (e.g. my site) is its own
Site Collection.

Site Collection Settings Govern Many
Important Aspects of Sites
Site Collection
Administrators
Search Settings (sources,
types, scopes, etc.)
Site Collection Features
Recycle Bin
Audit Settings and Reports
Content Type Retention
Policies
App Permissions
Site Closure and Deletion
Policies
Usage and Search
Popularity Reports
Content Types
SharePoint Designer
Settings
Site Collection Upgrades
Content Types
Columns
Web Parts
Master Pages and Page
Layouts
Solutions
These features apply to all sites in the Site Collection
The Site Collection Administrator(s) have access to all of these settings!

Site Collection Boundaries Impact Security
Site Collections can define custom roles that are available to all sites within the Site
Collection
The Site Collection Administrator has full control over EVERYTHING within the Site
Collection
Site Collection Administrators have access to the Site Collection settings (see previous
slide)
Site Collections can align to physical security provided by their content database (e.g.
database encryption, different storage locations, etc.)

Site Collection Boundaries Impact Usability
Site Collection Boundary Controls:
• Navigation
• Top Link Bar
• Quick Launch Bar
• Breadcrumb trail
• Look and Feel Gallery
• Theme Gallery
• Publishing Features (master pages, inheritance
of look and feel, content publishing workflow)

Site Collection Boundaries Impacts Taxonomy
Site Collection is where Content Types are defined (although these can be syndicated
across Site Collections through the Content Type Hub)
Workflows are deployed to each Site Collection
Site Columns are defined in each Site Collection
Lookup Columns are scoped to each Site Collection with no ability to replicate across
Site Collections
Retention policy definitions are defined within a Site Collection

In Most Cases, Provisioning a Site is Better
than Provisioning a new Site Collection
Sites are template based and can be customized heavily – they act as re-usable
provisioning templates. There is no concept in SharePoint of a Site Collection
Template.
Security zoning and inheritance of security permissions can happen anywhere within
the site structure – no need to create a new site collection just for a new set of
permissions.
Site Collection settings are very broad and can be confusing to business users without
significant training.
Site Collection settings expose very secured sites within to security risks through
misconfiguration of site collection settings – having these configured properly is
especially important for high sensitivity sites.

SharePoint Site Collection Limits and
Boundaries
On Premise
Site Collections per Farm 750,000 (500,000 for Personal Sites, 250,000 other site collections)
Web Sites per Site Collection 250,000 per site collection
Site Collection Size 200 GB for general usage scenarios, recommendation is 100 GB or less for each site collection
Number of Device Channels per Site Collection 10
Office 365 Small Business
Maximum Size per Site Collection Up to 1 TB
Site Collections Per Tenant 1
Subsites per Site Collection 2000
Office 365 Midsize Business
Maximum Size per Site Collection Up to 1 TB
Site Collections Per Tenant 20
Subsites per Site Collection 2000
Office 365 Enterprise
Maximum Size per Site Collection Up to 1 TB
Subsites per Site Collection 10,000
Subsites per Site Collection 2000

Reasons to Create Additional Site Collections
Good
Different features deployed (e.g. publishing vs.
collaboration)
Different taxonomy features deployed (e.g. site
collection specifically for document management
or records management)
To isolate custom applications or deployed
features (will help with future migrations)
Different security roles and isolation levels
Size is expected to be greater than 100 GB
Site Collection settings are of value to vary per site
collection (e.g. one site collection with auditing
turned on, another with it turned off)
Aligned to logical information management zones
Bad
No strategy at all defined
Upon request by the user
Need to isolate security (usually this can be done
through sites instead)
Everyone gets their own site collection
One big monster site collection

Decision Path for Creating a Web App,
Site Collection or Sub-Site…
Site Request
Is vanity URL
required?
Is custom
code
required?
Needs
content
isolation?
Is Unique
application
type?
Identify Existing
Web Application
Is high profile
site?
Create new
web
application?
Is for a distinct
project?
Is large content
expected?
Has Unique
security?
Has unique
backup
requirements?
Is related to
existing site?
Create Web
Application
Create Site
Collection
Create sub-site
No No No No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No No
Request
DNS
redirection
from Vanity
URL
End
Yes
Yes

Thanks!
Christopher Woodill
cwoodill@Hotmail.com
@microsofttrend
www.microsofttrends.com