How to set up a Content Type Hub in SharePoint 2010

In this post, we're going to be setting up a Content Type Hub in SharePoint 2010. We're going to do this in seven steps.

1. Create a Site Collection
2. Activate the features necessary to create a Content Type Hub,
3. Create a new Managed Metadata Service Application
4. Connect the Service Application to the Content Type Hub
5. Verify the settings
6. Create a Content Type in the Hub
7. Test the Content Type in a different Site Collection than the Content Type Hub.

In order to successfully accomplish these tasks, there are a couple prerequisite knowledge you will need to know. As found in my class SP360: SharePoint 2010 Foundation & Server Core Training

• First, you will need to be in the Farm Administrators group because you will need access to Central Administration in order to set up a new Managed Metadata Service Application and configure its settings.
• Second, you will need to be in the Site Collection Administrators group on the Site Collection that you will be turning into a Content Type Hub and you will need access to the Site Collection Features.
• Third, we're assuming you have a thorough understanding of Content Types in SharePoint:
  
  
  
  
  • What they are
  • How to create them
  • The advantages they offer
  • The limitations that existed in previous versions of SharePoint so that you can appreciate the advantages that the Content Type Hub offers.
• Finally, a good understanding of Site Collections:
  
  
  
  
  • What they are
  • How to create Site Collections
  • How to administer them.

Inside Central Administration Application Management section of the home page, there is a link to Manage Service Applications.

Clicking the Manage Service Applications link will take you to Service Applications page where you can see all the Service Applications and their connections or proxies that are deployed to this Farm.

Each Service Application has two layers. 1) The application itself, which provides a graphical user interface layer for configuration and management,

2) A second layer which is a proxy, or connection layer.

Among other things, the proxy layer allows for Collections or Groups of Service Applications to be put together and given a name. This allows you to be more specific in the functionality you want to provide to the individual web applications deployed throughout the enterprise.

If you've done an out-of-the-box installation of SharePoint 2010, you will receive one group which will be given the name of “default”.

The Default group will contain all of the Service Applications whose checkbox was checked when the Farm was configured.

Here you can see an existing Managed Metadata Service application.

You can use an existing Service Application, but each one can only consume one Content Type Hub. In this post, we will create a new Service Application, connect it to our Hub, and add it to the Default Service Application group.

Here's how this works.

Your Service Application Groups are ready and waiting to be connected to your Web Applications. Each Web Application can only consume one Service Application Group. However, you can configure a custom group specifically for that Web Application and choose from the existing Service Applications at the time of configuration.

In this post, we'll just use the default group.

Site collections are attached to the Web Applications, and therefore the functionality provided by the Service Application group flows down to the Site Collections and its sites, lists and libraries, etc…

Content Types are scoped at the Site Level. However, it's normally a best-practice to create them in the top level site of a Site Collection so they are available to be used by every list and library in the Site Collection by designating one of the Site Collections as a Content Type Hub, and then connecting that Content Type Hub to a Managed Metadata Service Application that is in the Service Application Group.

All of the Site Collections attached to any of the Web Applications that are using the Service Application Group will have access to the Content Types created in the Hub.

The only real caveat is, if you have a Content Type which relies on a feature that is activated in the Site Collection or site that it is created in, you need to make sure that those features are activated on a site that is using that Content Type.

Let's see how to set this up.

First, I've created a site collection that I'm going to use for my Content Type Hub. To do this, go to Site Actions then Site Settings.

Choose Site Collection Features.

Then activate the Site Collection feature Content Type Syndication Hub.

This turns this Site Collection into a Content Type Hub.

Next, go up to the URL and copy the root path to the top level site of this Site Collection.

We will use this root path later when configuring the Managed Metadata Service Application.

Next, go back to Central Administration and click Manage Service Applications.

Next we’ll create a New Managed Metadata Service Application.

To do this, click New, and then Managed Metadata Service.

Fill out the information requested in the modal window. We’ll use “cthVideoMND” for the Name and the Database Name. This way it's easy for us to identify which database goes with which particular Service Application.

We’ll choose to use an existing Application Pool.

Most importantly, we can now paste in the root path to the top level site of the Site Collection that we activated the Content Type Syndication Hub feature on earlier.

Notice that the checkbox is checked that says, "Add this service application to the farm's default list." Because this is checked, we don't need to do any further configuration. We’ll validate the settings, but won't have to do anything else. It's all hooked up.

This Managed Metadata Service Application is going to consume its Content Types from the Content Type Hub created earlier.

To validate the settings, highlight the row for the “cthVideoMMD” Managed Metadata Service Application, click Properties,

And validate that it shows the Content Type Hub, and it's grayed out.

Next, we’ll validate the service connection by doing the same as with Content Type Hub.

Make sure the check box is active next to “Consumes Content Types from the Content Type Gallery and Content Type Hub”.

This is now validated. It's configured correctly, and we can now test to make sure everything works.

In order to test this, we’ll create created a brand new Site Collection.

Next, add a document library to the new Site Collection.

We’ll name this “Enterprise Contracts”, and click Create.

This Document Library is being set up to manage its own Content Types by clicking Library Settings,

Advanced Settings

And Allow Management of Content Types.

Once set up to manage its own content types, SharePoint will now display a section on the settings page to allow us to “Add from existing site content types”.

Normally this would show all of the Content Types in this Site Collection. But now if we browse the groups, it will show our AAAEnterpriseWide Content Types Group,

And now ALegal Contract is available under “Available Site Content Types”.

These are being surfaced from the Content Type Hub's Content Type Gallery on a totally different Site Collection. Now we can select “ALegal Contract” and hit the Add button to move it over.

Next, click the “Change new button order and default content type” option.

And uncheck Document.

Now, when users come to the Enterprise Contracts library on this Site Collection, they click on the Documents tab.

Click New, they will be presented with a Legal Contract.

This will bring all of the properties that are associated with the Content Type that was created in the Content Type Hub.

For example, the Case Number, Contract Name and Lawyer choice Site Columns are now associated with the document.

The Document Information Panel and the template that was associated with the Content Type is also brought along.

By creating our enterprise wide Content Types in a Content Type Hub,

And then associating that Content Type Hub to a Managed Metadata Service Application,

We're able to create our Content Types in one Site Collection and have them be available throughout the entire enterprise.

The Managed Metadata Service Application is one of these Service Applications that can be published cross farm so that you can actually control the taxonomy from your Content Type Hub, and have it completely available throughout the enterprise.

Let's review the steps that we went over to create this and connect it.

1. Created a Site Collection
2. Activated the features necessary to create a Content Type Hub,
3. Created a new Managed Metadata Service Application
4. Connect the Service Application to the Content Type Hub
5. Verified the settings on the Application and the connection
6. Created a Content Type in the Hub
7. Tested the Content Type in a different Site Collection than the Content Type Hub and tested the availability of those Content Types even though they were created in the Hub, which is a completely different Site Collection.