Installing Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010

Installation of SharePoint 2010 is deceivingly simple, but be sure you understand the process.

Running the Prerequisite Check for SharePoint 2010

The SharePoint team at Microsoft has done an excellent job in creating a prerequisite check and installation utility that can be run in advance of a SharePoint installation to turn on all server roles required and install all prerequisites automatically. Simply by running a wizard, SharePoint administrators can automate the installation of the SharePoint binaries and position the server to be ready to join or create a new farm.

The Prerequisite check can be run directly from the splash screen, shown in Figure 1, displayed when running the setup from the SharePoint binaries. Click Install Software prerequisites, accept the license terms, and follow the prompts to install all necessary components.

Figure 1. Starting the SharePoint 2010 installation process.

When done and the roles and hotfixes required are installed, as shown in Figure 2, click Finish to reboot the server. The server is now ready for installation of the SharePoint 2010 binaries.

Figure 2. Reviewing the results of the prerequisite check and component installer.

Installing the SharePoint 2010 Binaries

The following steps are used to install the SharePoint 2010 binaries after the prerequisite checks have been run and all necessary software components have been installed:

1.	While logged in as the Install account, run Setup.exe, and from the splash screen, click Install SharePoint Server.
2.	Enter a valid SharePoint 2010 License Key. Note that the Standard and Enterprise edition license keys are separate, and installing a Standard license key only turns on Standard edition services.
3.	Accept the license terms and click Continue.
4.	From the Installation type dialog box, as shown in Figure 3, choose Server Farm as the type of installation. DO NOT SELECT Standalone, unless the server is only used as a demo box. The Standalone version installs a copy of SQL Server Express and should not be used in production. Figure 3. Installing SharePoint 2010 using the Server Farm option.
5.	From the Server Type dialog box, choose Complete. DO NOT SELECT Standalone because this has the same effect as selecting Standalone in the previous dialog box—it will install a single server with SQL Express Edition. Always select Complete.
6.	Select the File location tab and specify a location for index files, as shown in Figure 4. Ideally, these files will be stored on a separate drive than the OS and SharePoint binaries. If you choose this option now, you won’t have to go through the complex process of moving the index later. Click Install Now to start the installation process. Figure 4. Specifying the location of the index files during a SharePoint 2010 install.
7.	After the installation has completed, you can choose to run the Configuration Wizard now or later. It is recommended to not run the Configuration Wizard immediately but to first exit the application and check for any updates or patches before proceeding.

Patch SharePoint 2010 with any necessary patches, bearing in mind that there may be cumulative updates that are not reflected in Microsoft Update. It is important to install any service packs and cumulative updates first before continuing with the SharePoint installation, because it is much easier to patch now rather than when farm components are already configured.

Note

This point in the installation process, after the binaries have been installed and the system patched, is an ideal spot to create server templates from, for use in virtual server environments. These templates can be used to quickly provision SharePoint farm members, allowing for the creation of new SharePoint farms in a matter of minutes.

Running the SharePoint 2010 Configuration Wizard

The SharePoint 2010 Configuration Wizard is the component that enables a server to either be added to an existing SharePoint 2010 farm or to create a new SharePoint farm from scratch.

Note

You can use Windows PowerShell to run the Configuration Wizard. Indeed, PowerShell is the only supported method of provisioning SharePoint with custom database names, so it is recommended for many scenarios.

In this example, we create a new farm using the following steps:

1.	Start the Configuration Wizard (Start, All Programs, Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products, SharePoint 2010 Configuration Wizard).
2.	Click Next at the Welcome screen, and click Yes to acknowledge that IIS will be reset during the process.
3.	Select to Create a New Server Farm, and click Next to continue.
4.	For the Configuration Database settings, enter the name of the database server and select a name for the Config database. Consider the use of a SQL alias for the database server name so that it can be easily changed in the future. If the database server is the same as the one that is used for SharePoint, enter the local server name. Enter a Database Access Account that has DBCreator and Securityadmin rights on the SQL Instance. Click Next to continue.
5.	Enter a farm passphrase into the subsequent dialog box, shown in Figure 5. Keep this passphrase in a safe place; it is needed to add any additional servers to the farm in the future. Click Next to continue. Figure 5. Entering a farm passphrase.
6.	Specify a port for the SharePoint Central Admin Web Application. It is recommended to choose an easily remembered port name initially. You also have the opportunity to choose NTLM or Kerberos. Kerberos is the recommended setting for the long term, but for the initial installation, choose NTLM to ensure that you can gain access initially. For long-term production support, however, Kerberos, SSL, and a default port of 443 are highly recommended for the SharePoint central web application.
7.	Review the settings and click Next to start the Configuration Wizard.
8.	Click Finish when the wizard is complete.

Running the Initial Farm Configuration Wizard

After the Configuration Wizard has run, the newly provisioned SharePoint central web application will start automatically. You may need to provide credentials to the site; use the farm installation credentials to start the application.

By default, SharePoint is configured to run the Initial Farm Configuration Wizard upon the first time using the central admin web application. This wizard will complete all other farm tasks, including installing and configuring service applications. For simpler environments, this farm can be used to get SharePoint to a condition where it is more or less ready for use.

Use the following steps to run the Initial Farm Configuration Wizard:

1.	Select whether to join the Customer Experience Improvement Program from the initial dialog box and click OK.
2.	From the wizard introduction screen, as shown in Figure 6, select whether to run the wizard. If it is not run, you need to manually configure each service application component and manually provision web applications and site collections. In this scenario, we use the wizard to provision the components. Click Start the Wizard. Figure 6. Choosing whether to run the Initial Farm Configuration Wizard.
3.	From the subsequent screen, enter a service account that will become a managed service account for the farm. This should be different than the farm account.
4.	Check the service applications that will be installed, from the list shown in Figure 7. Only install those service applications that supply required functionality for the site, because each service application uses a significant amount of resources on the server. Figure 7. Selecting service applications to install.
5.	After selecting which service applications to install, click Next to start the provisioning process. This process may take a while to complete, depending on the resources of the server.
6.	After the service application provisioning process has completed, the wizard will prompt you to create a web application and root site collection as the main site collection for the portal. You can skip this step or have the wizard provision it for you. Enter a title and choose a template, as shown in Figure 8. Click OK to continue. Figure 8. Provisioning a site collection for the root web application using the wizard.
7.	Click Finish to close the wizard. You now should have a fully provisioned SharePoint 2010 environment.

SharePoint central administration, as shown in Figure 9, will open and allow for additional configuration.

Figure 9. Running SharePoint central administration for the first time.