MOSS 2007 requires that you create and configure a Shared Services Provider (SSP). SSP enables the servers in your server farm to share services with each other.

Most of the great features that you want to use in MOSS 2007, such as personalization, Excel Services, and the Business Data Catalog, are hosted by the Shared Services Provider. You usually only need one SSP per server farm, but it is possible to have more than one.

Before you can create the SSP, you must create a Web application for the SSP administration site in Internet Information Services (IIS). To create the new Web application for the SSP administration site, follow these steps:

1. Browse to the Central Administration Web site.
2. Click the Application Management tab on the Central Administration home page.
3. Click the Create or Extend Web Application link in the SharePoint Web Application Management section.
4. Click the Create a New Web Application link.
5. The Create a New Web Application page appears. Accept the default settings in the IIS Web site and the Security Configuration sections of the page. Check with your network administrator to ensure that your domain uses a standard security configuration. You may need to adjust these settings. In the Description field, you may choose to rename the administration site to something more descriptive, such as SharePoint - SSP Admin. The description you type appears in IIS Manager.
6. Accept the default settings for Load Balanced URL and Application Pool sections. You may want to change the application pool name to match the description you enter in Step 5.
7. In the User name and Password fields, enter the service account for the application pool to use.
8. In the Reset Internet Information Services section, indicate whether to restart IIS automatically or manually. In order for the new Web application to be accessible, IIS must be restarted. You can elect to have SharePoint automatically restart IIS on all servers in the server farm, or you can restart the servers yourself. You might choose to restart the servers manually to minimize the disruption on users who may be accessing those servers.
9. Verify that the correct database server name appears in the Database Name and Authentication section. You may want to change the name of the database to a friendlier name, such as WSS_Content_SSPAdmin. This makes it easier to identify the database’s purpose.
10. Accept the default database authentication method of Windows authentication unless your database is configured to use SQL authentication.
11. Accept the default value for the Search Server section.  If you’re using a stand-alone server, you don’t have the option to enter a different search server.
12. Click OK. The Operation in Progress page appears.
13. Wait while the server creates the new Web application. This process could take a while; the server has to create a new database on your database server and then set up a new Web application in IIS. The Application Created page appears if the database and Web application are created successfully. If the process fails, check the event logs in your database server and your IIS server for clues as to why the process failed.

One of the services provided by SSP is My Site personal sites, which provides each SharePoint user with a personal portal. I suggest you create a second Web application to use for your My Site personal sites.

It isn’t necessary to create a second Web application, but, by doing so, you isolate your My Site personal site content from your SSP content in separate applications and databases. This makes it easier to back up, restore, and move any My Site personal sites in the future. You can follow the steps you use to create a Web application for the SSP administration site to create the Web application for the My Site personal sites.

After you create Web applications to house your Shared Service Provider administrative site and My Site personal sites, you can create the SSP.

To create a Shared Services Provider, follow these steps:

1. Browse to the Central Administration Web site.
2. Click the Application Management tab on the Central Administration home page.
3. Click the Create or Configure This Farm’s Shared Services link in the Office SharePoint Server Shared Services section. The Manage This Farm’s Shared Services page appears.
4. Click the New SSP button. The New Shared Services Provider page appears.
5. Accept the default name in the SSP Name section and then select the Web application you created as the SSP administration site.
6. Select the Web application you created for your My Site personal sites in the My Site Location section.
7. Type a username and password in the SSP Service Credentials section. You should use the same account you used for the SSP application pool account.
8. Accept the default values in the SSP Database and Search Database sections.
9. Select the front-end server you configured Search on from the Index Server drop-down list.
10. Accept the default value for the SSL for Web Services section.
11. Click OK. The Operation in Progress page appears.
12. Wait while your databases are created. The Success! page appears when the SSP is created. Click OK.

Don’t let this Success message give you any false hopes. You still need to follow several more steps before you can actually start using your SharePoint implementation.