Chapter overview: Install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 for a server farm environment

Applies To: Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

Topic Last Modified: 2008-09-19

You can deploy Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 in a server farm environment if you are hosting a large number of sites, if you want the best possible performance, or if you want the scalability of a multi-tier topology. A server farm consists of one or more servers dedicated to running the Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 application.

Because a server farm deployment of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 is more complex than a stand-alone deployment, we recommend that you plan your deployment. Planning your deployment can help you to gather the information you need and to make important decisions before beginning to deploy. For information about planning, see Planning and architecture for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 technology.

Suggested topologies

Server farm environments can encompass a wide range of topologies, and can include many servers or as few as two servers.

A server farm typically consists of a database server running either Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or Microsoft SQL Server 2000 with the most recent service pack, and one or more servers running Internet Information Services (IIS) and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. In this configuration, the front-end servers are configured as Web servers. The Web server role provides Web content and services such as search.

A large server farm typically consists of two or more clustered database servers, several load-balanced front-end Web servers running IIS and Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, and two or more servers providing search services.

Before you begin deployment

This section provides information about actions that you must perform before you begin deployment.

• To deploy Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 in a server farm environment, you must provide credentials for several different accounts. For information about these accounts, see Plan for administrative and service accounts (Windows SharePoint Services).

• You must install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 on the same drive on all load-balanced front-end Web servers.

• All the instances of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 in the farm must be in the same language. For example, you cannot have both an English version of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and a Japanese version of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 in the same farm.

• You must install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 on a clean installation of the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating system with the most recent service pack. If you uninstall a previous version of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, and then install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, Setup might fail to create the configuration database and the installation will fail.

  Note

  We recommend that you read the Known Issues/Readme documentation before you install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 on a domain controller. Installing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 on a domain controller requires additional configuration steps that are not discussed in this article.

Overview of the deployment process

The deployment process consists of two phases: deploying and configuring the server infrastructure, and deploying and configuring SharePoint site collections and sites.

Phase 1: Deploy and configure the server infrastructure

Deploying and configuring the server infrastructure consists of the following steps:

• Preparing the database server.

• Preinstalling the databases (optional).

• Verifying that the servers meet hardware and software requirements.

• Running Setup on all servers you want to be in the farm.

• Installing available language template packs on front-end Web servers (optional). For more information about installing language template packs, see Deploy language packs (Windows SharePoint Services 3.0).

• Running the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard.

• Starting the Windows SharePoint Services Search service.

Phase 2: Deploy and configure SharePoint site collections and sites

Deploying and configuring SharePoint site collections and sites consists of the following steps:

• Creating the site collections.

• Creating the sites.

For more information about creating site collections and sites, see Deploy and configure SharePoint sites (Windows SharePoint Services).

Download this book

This topic is included in the following downloadable book for easier reading and printing:

• Deployment for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 technology

See the full list of available books at Downloadable books for Windows SharePoint Services.