Language considerations in server farm deployments of SharePoint Portal Server 2003 (817945)

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This article discusses the language-related considerations that apply to the following components of SharePoint Portal Server:

• The SharePoint Portal Server user interface
• The Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services user interface
• The SharePoint Portal Server Search service (SPSSearch)
• The Windows SharePoint Services Search component

The SharePoint Portal Server User Interface

SharePoint Portal Server supports one language per server farm. Each server that is running SharePoint Portal Server in a server farm must use the same language version of SharePoint Portal Server.

In a shared services scenario where portal services are shared across the server farm and services are centrally managed from a single server for two or more server farms, you must use the same language version of SharePoint Portal Server on the parent and child farms.

You can install a language version of SharePoint Portal Server on a computer that uses a different language version of Microsoft Windows. However, the same language-version of SharePoint Portal Server must be installed on servers in the server farm. Use of different language versions of SharePoint Portal Server on servers in a server farm is not supported.

Note The only component of a server farm that can use a different language is the Document Management component. For example, in a server farm, you can have five servers running the Traditional Chinese language version of SharePoint Portal Server that use the U.S. English Document Management component.

The Windows SharePoint Services User Interface

You can configure language settings for Web sites based on Windows SharePoint Services by using either of the following methods:

• Install a language pack
  
  With language packs, you can use site templates that are created for specific languages. When you create a site based on a site template, the navigation information and pages for that site are displayed in that language. For example, if you have a server that is running the Japanese version of Windows SharePoint Services, and you want to create a site in U.S. English, you can install the U.S. English language pack. The language packs for Windows SharePoint Services are available for download from the Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services Web site.
  
  You can install language packs on the front-end Web servers in the farm to provide support for additional languages on SharePoint sites. For example, when you install a language pack on a front-end Web server and you create a new site, you can select the language that you want to use for the new site, based on the language packs that are installed on that front-end Web server. Make sure that you install the same language packs on all front-end Web servers in the server farm. If you do not, you may experience unpredictable behavior in server farms that have multiple front-end Web servers.
• Configure regional settings
  
  With regional settings, you can configure how dates, times, and lists are displayed on a particular Web site. Regional settings do not determine the language that is used for the navigation information and pages of the site.

The SharePoint Portal Server Search Service (SPSSearch)

Indexing

• For documents that have a locale ID (LCID) and a language ID that are supported by the SharePoint Portal Server Search service (SPSSearch), SPSSearch uses the locale ID and a language ID that is associated with the document to identify the language resources are used to index the document.
• For documents that have an LCID and a language ID that are not supported by SPSSearch, the neutral word breaker is used to index the document.
• For documents that use a .txt extension, SPSSearch uses the default locale of the indexing server to index the content.

Note When indexing Windows SharePoint Services, SPSSearch uses the language that is identified at the Web level for all textual content. The exception is documents in the Document Library that have a LCID, where the indexing rules in the earlier list apply.

Querying

• Where possible, SPSSearch tries to identify the language of the user by using either the default language of the user's Web browser, or by using the optional LCID parameter in the query string to determine the language resources that are used to break the query terms.
• If the language ID is not supported, the neutral language resources are used.

The Windows SharePoint Services Search Component

Indexing

• For text content that is stored directly in list elements (and not stored in documents), the column language is used to determine the language resources that are used for indexing.
• For documents that are stored in document libraries, SharePoint Portal Server indexing rules apply.

Querying

• The default language of the column is used to determine the language resources that are used to break the query terms.

For more information about how to deploy and configure SharePoint Portal Server 2003 server farms, see the SharePoint Portal Server Administrator's Guide (Administrator's Help.chm).