How can I tell if I have a site collection?

Question

I'm trying to use InfoPath from my local PC, with my SharePoint 2010 site located on a remote server. I have all the admin privileges you could imaging, having built the remote server, so I should be able to do all I need.

When I try to connect to a SharePoint list, to populate a drop-down field, I'm told that I cannot access SharePoint. Not just the list, but the server itself. I worked around this by populating my dropdown from an XML view (http://my.remoteSPserver.com/_vti_bin/owssvr.dll?Cmd=Display&List={E0D120D6-AE14-4BA9-B1AC-AB7BCA54E379}&XMLDATA=TRUE&noredirect=true)

When i try to publish my form to SharePoint I'm told again that I cannot access the server.

I looked up both errors on Google and found that this is because apparently I don't have a root site collection (publishing: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/981854, populating my dropdown: http://vspug.com/ssa/2010/03/15/infopath-2010-cannot-connect-to-sharepoint-2010/)

So, I looked at creating a root cite collection, but when I get to the 'Create site collections' page within Central Admin, and select my web application, I cannot choose '/' from the Web Site Address options: only 'sites' is available.

This, to me, suggests I already have a root site collection. In fact, going to my SP server in a browser (http://my.remoteSPserver.com/) without any /sites/ or Pages, etc.. works, so that too is an indication, right?

This question isn't really about resolving the InfoPath issue (though if anyone can offer a solution, that'd be great), but rather to confirm that my assumptions about having a site collection are correct.

Thanks

Kevin

Answer 1

In Central Administration under application management there is an option to list all Site Collections which would be the most effective way to determine if a root site collection exists. If the "/" option doesn't exist when you go to create a site collection then that is a pretty good indicator though.

A few notes though, even if the site collection is under "/Sites" it can still be a site collection. The "/Pages" thing you referenced is a Page Library that belongs to a Site Collection or Sub-Site (Web).