What is the difference between a file server and SharePoint?

Original Publication Date: Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Filed Under: Tips and Tricks


A major topic of discussion within most beginner workshops is “Why should I use SharePoint when I already have access to a file server for sharing and storing documents?” This is part of an extended discussion on End User buy-in. The topic deserves consideration because anyone who is satisfied with their current file server will give push back on using SharePoint.
Let’s start with our friendly neighborhood Wikipedia for a definition of file server: “A form of disk storage that hosts files within a network… In many cases, the directory service spans many file servers, potentially hundreds for large organizations.”
In a simplistic sense, a file server can be thought of as a storage area, accessible by a select group of people for exchange of documents. So what does SharePoint add to the mix? Check out the diagram below and you’ll see there are components within SharePoint for communication and collaboration. Notice the overlap in the categories. Using SharePoint adds information around the documents being stored, such as automated workflow, historical archive management through blogs and wikis, tracking list, document workspaces and a myriad of other capabilities.
My suggestion for initial users of SharePoint who have lots of legacy data on a file server is to keep the file server as an archive, but use SharePoint for the creation and management of new documents. The advantage to using SharePoint is the ability to talk about the documents as a team, collaborate on the creation of the documents and, most importantly, attach metadata to the documents so they carry their identification around with them.
Within the next day or two, I’m going to post a description of metadata and why it is so important, but in the meantime, take time in your planning process to see which documents currently residing on your file server are critical and need maintenance on a regular basis. These are the ones that should be considered for movement into the SharePoint environment. The rest can stay on the file server, using the Business Data Catalog to act as an interfacing archive mechanism.

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