Should I install SharePoint Server 2007 alongside development tools on my development machine?

Question

I am new to the exciting world of Sharepoint Server 2007. I have Windows 7 Ultimate and created a Virtual Machine using VMWare with Windows 2003 Server (Standard Edition) and installed the following.

1. Sharepoint Server 2007
2. SQL Server 2005 with SP2
3. Sharepoint Designer 2007

I am aiming to become a SharePoint developer and have extensive experience in ASP.NET development with SQL Server. I need to know should I install Visual Studio along with other development tools in the same VMware or I can use Visual Studio 2008 which is installed on my host OS (Windows 7)?? What's the best practice for a development machine?

Although I don't think I needed to install SQL Server 2005 inside the VM as I could've used the SQL Server 2008 database on my host, as I can ping and access my host and virtual machine host easily.

Please guide.

Answer 1

You need to install visual studio on your virtual server. Yes there are ways to develop on your client, but its unsupported, you cant develop all types of artifacts, and your development machine wont be anything like your test or production environment, so its also prone for errors you are not likely to discover before you deploy to those environments.

When you develop for SharePoint the number one thing to remember is to use solutions and features. This will be a big help for you when you deploy your artifacts to your different environments (test, preprod, prod) especially if your environments run with several web front ends.

In your development environment you could also create a seperate image for your SQL server. This could also be your domain controllor and mail server.