About service applications and services (SharePoint Server 2010)

Applies to: SharePoint Server 2010, SharePoint Foundation 2010

In Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, individual services can be configured independently and third-party companies can add services to the platform. The services infrastructure gives you control over which services are deployed and how services are shared.

Services that are deployed are named service applications. A service application provides a resource that can be shared across sites throughout a farm, and can be accessed by users through a hosting Web application. Service applications are associated to Web applications by service application connections. Some services can be shared across farms.

For more information about the logical structure of services and service applications, see Services architecture planning (SharePoint Server 2010).

For more information about how to manage service applications, including instructions for publishing service applications across farms, see Manage service applications (SharePoint Server 2010) and Share service applications across farms (SharePoint Server 2010).

For more information about starting, stopping, and configuring services, see Manage services on the server (SharePoint Server 2010).