Before
installing SharePoint 2010, several prerequisites must first be
satisfied, including both hardware and software prerequisites.
Defining Hardware Prerequisites for SharePoint 2010
A server that will be running all SharePoint roles, including the database role, should have the following minimum requirements:
64-bit four core (minimum) processor
8GB to 16GB of RAM (8GB for evaluation or testing, 16GB for production)
80GB of drive space for the system drive (plus twice as much space as the amount of RAM in the system)
Note
The move toward virtualization
of servers has been gaining strength in recent years, and SharePoint
server roles can all be virtualized within certain guidelines.
The server that holds the
SharePoint database, whether on the same box (an all-in-one server) or
on a dedicated server or existing SQL implementation, should generally
be designed toward the high level on the hardware scale, because some of
the more intensive activity is centralized on that server role.
As a rule of thumb, it is always
recommended to deploy SharePoint on multiple servers, and at a minimum
to deploy SharePoint on at least two servers: one for the database and
one for the other SharePoint-specific roles.
Examining Software Requirements for SharePoint 2010
SharePoint 2010 requires either
Windows Server 2008 SP2 or Windows Server 2008 R2. More specifically,
the following Windows OS editions are supported:
Windows Server 2008 R2 (x64) Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, or Web Server Editions
Windows Server 2008 SP2 (x64) Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, or Web Server Editions
In nearly all scenarios, it
is recommend to use the latest version of the Windows Server operating
system (in this case, the R2 edition), though in the future, it is
highly likely that SharePoint will use newer editions as well. For most
deployments, the Standard edition of Windows Server is sufficient,
except in certain scenarios when the Enterprise Edition is required for
running SQL Server Enterprise Edition. The Datacenter edition, while
supported, is not required, and the Web Server edition, while supported,
is not recommended.
Service Account Requirements
It
is strongly recommended that you create multiple service accounts for
SharePoint. Although doing so might seem tedious, SharePoint will not be
secure unless multiple service accounts are used. And in any situation,
do NOT use a domain admin account for any SharePoint service.
The following provides a
recommended list of service accounts that should be created. This should
not be considered to be an exhaustive list; more might be needed
depending on the requirements of the individual deployment:
SQL admin account— SQL Server should be administered with a separate set of credentials than those used for SharePoint.
Installation account—
Used to install the SharePoint binaries on the SharePoint role servers.
This account requires local admin rights on each SharePoint server and
DBCreator and SecurityAdmin rights on the SQL Server.
SharePoint farm admins— Used to administer the farm; should be configured. Typically, one account for each physical admin is created.
Application pool identity accounts—
Needed for each app pool. Generally speaking, it is good practice to
have a separate app pool for each application. These accounts must be
separate from farm admin accounts.
Default content access account—
The default account used to crawl SharePoint and other content. It must
not be a farm admin, or the search results will include unpublished
data in the results. There may be additional content access accounts
created for other data sources that are crawled as well.
Search service application account— This account is used to run the search service application.
Additional service application accounts as needed— May require a separate service application account in certain scenarios.
Outlining Additional Prerequisites
In addition to the base
Operating System, SharePoint also requires the hotfixes referenced in
KB articles 976462 and 979917. These hotfixes are installed
automatically when using the SharePoint installer. The SharePoint
installer also installs the following server roles:
Web Server (IIS) role
Application server role
Microsoft .NET Framework version 3.5 SP1
Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 (x64)
Microsoft Filter Pack 2.0
Microsoft Chart Controls for the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5
Windows PowerShell 2.0
SQL Server 2008 Native Client
SQL Server 2008 Analysis Services ADOMD.NET
ADO.NET data services update for .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
Windows Identity Foundation (WIF)
Database Role Prerequisites
For the database role, it is
recommended to deploy the latest version of SQL Server, SQL 2008 R2.
The following versions of SQL Server are directly supported:
SQL Server 2008 R2 x64, Standard or Enterprise Editions
SQL
Server 2008 x64 (x86 cannot be used) with SP1 and Cumulative Update 2
or CU5 (or later than CU5—CU3 and CU4 are not recommended), Standard or
Enterprise Editions
SQL Server 2005 with SP3 x64 (x86 cannot be used) and CU3
In addition, depending on whether advanced SQL functionality is required, the following components may also be needed:
SQL Server 2008 R2, if working with PowerPivot workbooks.
SQL
Server 2008 R2 Reporting Services add-in for Microsoft SharePoint
Technologies 2010 (SSRS) to use Access Services for SharePoint 2010.
Microsoft Server Speech Platform for phonetic name matching to work correctly for SharePoint Search 2010.
If
using the standalone server install option (not recommended), SQL
Server 2008 Express with SP1, which is installed automatically.
FAST Search Requirements
If a FAST Search server for
advanced SharePoint Search is required, different installation
procedures and prerequisites apply.
