SharePoint 2013 New Features & Changes

October 8, 2014 / Kannan / 0 Comments


Following is the list of new features & changes in SharePoint 2013 which I have gathered based on the glances through various sites and books.

Shredded Storage

  1. Reduces size of content database when storing file version
  2. Reduced size of content database helps in backup timelines
  3. Shredded storage optimizes network traffic between web server and SQL server by reducing the need to transfer the entire document
  4. Since only changes are sent back and forth between client and server, a document is available in Office Document Cache (ODC – a feature implemented in Office 2010) even when SharePoint server is offline
  5. User can start working on a document while it is downloading
  6. MS-FSSHTTP (File Sync via SOAP over HTTP) helps in optimized faster document transfers between MS Office client and SharePoint which improves usability of office applications when a user saves a version and continues editing while saved version is being uploaded to SharePoint (Note: This was already available in Office 2010/SharePoint 2010 and now has been improved)
  7. SharePoint 2013 now uses MS-FSSHTTP for document transfer not only between Client and SharePoint Server but now with SQL Server also.

SQL Improvements

  1.  All Databases now conform to SQL Azure compliance criteria
  2.  Redundant, unused tables and track links indices are removed
  3.  I/O operations while browsing document libraries have been optimized
  4.  Utilization of Sparse Columns (A feature implemented in SQL Server 2008) for wide list (Using rows for column data when max columns in a row sql is reached) has been reduced
    Improvements on dependency of large list

Request Management

  1.  Route HTTP requests to different servers based on specific workloads
  2.  Recognize incoming request by looking into headers, request IP address or subnets
  3.  Based on the incoming request, can prioritize by redirecting to another server or blocking that request etc.
  4.  Request Management Rules can help route specific set of incoming request to specific set of servers. For example a rule might route a request which needs more processing to a server with high static (Identifies a server capability being powerful or weak) & health (Dynamic health of a server) weight
  5. If Catch All (*) rule is not implemented, SharePoint routes the request to the server which it thinks is healthy

Workflow

  1. A dedicated Workflow Manger Farm (Not installed by default and only utilized by SharePoint 2013 workflow and not SharePoint 2010/Legacy workflow) can offload the workflow processing from SharePoint Server improving SharePoint’s performance
    Note: SharePoint 2013 workflow templates are not available by default as SharePoint 2013 still uses only 2010 templates. Hence to utilize Workflow Manager Farm, 2013 templates needs to be created

Caching

  1. SharePoint 2013 now uses distributed cache, hence each server in farm doesn’t need to fetch same content from DB for similar requests going to specific server. Instead they share that content across servers and hence roundtrip to content db from each server for same request is reduced
  2. Feeds, Search (Content Search Web Part) & Logon Tokens utilize distributed cache

UI

  1. Minimal Download Strategy (MDS) now helps in loading part of the page instead of whole page when content get’s changed
    Note: MSD is not enabled for publishing sites and custom controls migrated from 2010 to 2013( Custom controls needs to be edited with MsdCompliantAttribute set and re-compiled)
    SharePoint 2013 now uses HTML5 for themes.
    Note: Since HTML5 is used as themes, creating one with Office applications to create themes is limited
  2. SharePoint 2013 has improvements in rendering content in Mobile environment
  3. Addition of geolocation field will help maintain location data in list column
  4. Contemporary view is used if Mobile supports HTML5 else Classic View is downloaded

Service Applications

  1. New Machine Translation Service uses bing to translate sites, files, pages and term sets
  2. New Workflow Management Service helps aggregate tasks from MS Exchange 2013, MS Project Server 2013 & MS SharePoint 2013 to user’s my-site with 2-way sync between them
  3. New App Management Service help manage new SharePoint Apps
  4. Search Service Application is now totally re-engineered based on SharePoint 2010 Enterprise Search and FAST Search and hence FAST search is no more a available
  5. All flavours of SharePoint 2013 (Foundation, Standard & Enterprise) use same search object model
  6. Managed Metadata Service now has properties for Tags and Tags can be pinned to avoid duplication
  7. Search Service Application now has inbuilt Web Analytics, and Web Analytics is no longer a separate service application

Office Web Apps

  1. This is now a separate product and separate license
  2. This will be installed on it’s own server in a farm and hence management/Scaling of either this or SharePoint is far more easier
    Note: Viewing office documents in SharePoint 2013 doesn’t require Office Web Apps and respective license, but if editing is required then both are required
  3. Documents can be now viewed in full screen mode
  4. PowerPoint and Word now supports multi-authoring
  5. Search result in SharePoint can show a preview of office documents when Office Web Apps is available and user hovers over the link in the search result

Business Connectivity Service

  1. BCS now has an additional connection protocol which is OData
  2. Event Receivers for external data changes is a new feature
  3. External Content Type can be scoped to SharePoint Apps as opposed to Service Application level in SharePoint 2010

Access Service

  1. Access Service has been completely re-built
  2. Access Service 2010 is for sites built from Access web database definition
  3. Access Service now stores data in SQL Server 2012 and developers/advanced users can directly interact with SQL Server for more advance report generations

Authentication

  1. SharePoint 2013’s has extended claims based authentication utilizing OAuth 2.0 and dedicated server for STS authentication
  2. Because of this new extended auth, new scenarios are possible with MS Exchange 2013, MS Lync 2013, SharePoint App Store/App Catalogue and any other service supporting server to server auth protocol
  3. Claims is now recommended as opposed to classic in SharePoint 2010 due to new improved claims which didn’t work with People Picker and SSRS (2008 R2) in 2010
  4. Classic mode web applications can now be only created using PowerShell
  5. Additional Logging is now added to troubleshoot authentication issues

Web Applications

  1. Host Named site collections is the new recommendation instead of path based site collections but needs to be analysed before implementing as some extended and hosting in multiple web apps are not supported
  2. Document Workspace, All types of Meeting Workspace Template, Group Work & Personalization site templates have been removed but migration from 2010 to 2013 is allowed and will work in 2013

Development

  1. Everything now is an app. Be it a list, a library, a custom solution etc
  2. Apps now run isolated from SharePoint Server but integrated with SharePoint Server
  3. In addition to Farm & Sandboxed solutions, Extended Client Object model is new for code to run external applications
  4. Apps can be published and made available in on-premises or cloud based market places
  5. SharePoint Apps is now preferred instead of sandboxed solutions