How to Build a SharePoint Development Machine
The basic strategy is to build your SharePoint server in a virtual machine (VM or VPC), and keep all your developer tools local. Then you can treat your virtual machine just like a physical server, and surf or demo it just as you would a production environement. This way you avoid all the inconsistencies that come with running browser session on locked-down web servers, don’t fill your server’s GAC with quite as much junk, and really get the client experience.
This post links to (most of) the tools you will use. There are always others, so go ahead and tell me about yours in the Comments. I’ve left off CSS and XML editors because frankly the best aren’t free. Even though a few items listed here are commercial products (e.g. Visual Studio), all have evaluation versions that last long enough for you to learn the ropes and prepare for that first big SharePoint interview.
Another post will describe how to put together a good development machine. In a nutshell, you want 3 to 4Gb of RAM (MOSS takes 2Gb to provide good performance) and an external hard drive to store and run your virtual machines.
Building the Client
.Net Framework 3.0
WPF, WCF, and essential to SharePoint: Workflow
Internet Explorer Developer Toolbar
Inspect HTML source, style usage, IFRAME content, image locations, and more.
Fiddler HTTP Debugger
Inspect and manipulate HTTP traffic between your browser and the server.
PowerShell (formerly Monad). [SharePoint Provider] [Script Repository]
Write scripts to automate administration and configuration tasks. Colin Byrne has posts to get you started: PowerShell and SharePoint, Build Me A Portal, and Upload a Directory in 4 Lines.
SharePoint Designer (SPD)
Grab your disc, MSDN, or get the evaluation version.
Visual Studio 2005
Grab your disc, MSDN, or get the evaluation version.
Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (VSeWSS)
Build Web Parts, List Definitions and Site Definitions.
Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for .NET Framework 3.0
Design workflow.
BDC Metadata Manager
Generate BDC XML from SQL data sources. The commercial version also builds definitions for web services.
Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0 Software Development Kit (SDK)Â [Read it online]
 Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 SDK [Read it online]
The download also includes the Enterprise Content Management Starter Kit.
Virtual PC 2007
This is where you will build all those beautiful webs!
SQL Server Express Edition
This is optional. You may want it if you develop more than SharePoint and need a local data store. If not, it is built into the SharePoint standalone install so you do not need to download or install it separately.
Building the Server
Kevin Hoffman explains how to build a Standalone SharePoint server. He installs Visual Studio to the server, you can skip that step and just run it locally on your development machine.
Jonathan Bradshaw explains how to build a Small Farm configuration with SQL and AD on a separate machine. His OfficeDev machine looks the most like our local development machine. One day someone will write an article with configuration steps, until then this is a good start.
SQL Server Developer Edition [Google]
As noted earlier, Express Edition is free and can be used in a Standalone configuration. To use Developer Edition instead, install it and then choose Advanced Installation during the WSS install. Developer Edition includes the excellent SQL Server Management Studio, so if you have MSDN you may prefer it. For a production environment you will need to license SQL Server Standard or Enterprise Edition.
Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0
WSS is a free extension to Windows Server. If your installation didn’t include WSS as an option, you can download it here. You don’t need this if you’re installing MOSS which includes both. Also remember that you can upgrade a server, but you cannot downgrade from MOSS back to WSS. If you’re evaluating SharePoint you may want to start here.
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007
Grab your disc or MSDN, or get the evaluation version. Standard and Enterprise editions exist, so again keep in mind that you can upgrade but not downgrade. Enterprise includes Forms Server and the BDC.
Once SharePoint is installed, copy the SharePoint assemblies (*.DLL) over to your development machine:
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\web server extensions\12\ISAPI
R. Aaron Zupancic describes how to configure an IP address and host file entry so you can surf your virtual SharePoint sites from your development machine.
Simon Guest describes how to get all the machines in a virtual farm to talk to each other.
And finally, make a text file on your desktop with Joubin’s SharePoint paths.
Source: Eli Robillard’s World of Blog.
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