Multi-server sharepoint farm setup

Question

we have to setup 2 WFE servers, 2 application servers(1- central admin, 1-search services), i would like to know step by step configuration of application server with only search services installed on it and how to install WFEs.. thank u

Answer 1

In order to configure a SharePoint farm you have to do the following things in order.

• Select a topoly for your farm(which i think you already did it.)
• Make sure the server meet the hardware & software requirement.
• Install the pre-requisite on the All servers(SharePoint APP, WFE)
• Install the SharePoint Binaries on all server in the farm(APP & WFE).
• Install the CU or SP for SharePoint
• Install the Language Packs if any.
• Now Run the Config wizard on the 1st app server where you want host the Central admin.
• Run Config Wizard on all other servers and join them to the farm.
• Now Create and Config the Search Service on the App server, Configure the Workflow Manage, Distributed Cache, User profile services. Additional Services Planning
• Configure the load Balancer as you have two wfe.
• Additional configuration required i.e Authentications, DNS configuration for Web App etc

Answer 2

From your question I understand that you need two application servers, one would have all the SharePoint Services except Search Service. The other application server would be your Search Server that only runs Search Service.

Yes you can have a multiple servers configured in a single farm. Your two web servers would be running parallel. This could be achieved by Network Load Balancer (NLB) that distribute requests between the two.

Refer for more details: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee805948.aspx

If you can use AutoSPInstaller to install & configure multiple servers then I would refer you this article that shows installation of 2 WFEs, 2 App server, and one DB server http://sharepoint-community.net/profiles/blogs/sharepoint-2010-2013-single-multi-server-installation-using

Or else you can perform the steps that we usually execute to install WFE and Application server as covered in these Microsoft articles:

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc261752(v=office.14).aspx https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee794878(v=office.14).aspx

The role of the server decides what type of server it is (WFE or Application). In other words, the installation of SharePoint will be done on both WFE and Application server but the role will be dependent on what services you started on the server. Go through the above articles and you will learn the art.

Answer 3

You can have multiple approches to setup an environment. In our organizatoin we have setup sharepoint in following maner.

1. We have kept all the database in one server ie SQL Server 2012 R2

2. Install SharePoint on 2 Server WFE

3. One is application server where all services are installed. example search service, workflow management service, app management, bcs etc..

4. Workflow manager is installed in one server

We are accessing the services from application server in WFE. For that we have used cross farm publication You can find information about cross farm publishing here. For configuring cross farm you can have this link.

Keep your all services and database seperate, it will be helpful in future.