Hi
The first two parts of this article series cover what Sharepoint Server is, the requirements for Sharepoint infrastructure and what is done for the configuration. We also created Active Directory accounts for installation and configuration of Sharepoint Servers. Finally we installed MS SQL 2008 database server. In this part of the series, we start to install Sharepoint Servers.
Before starting the installation, I have to mention that Sharepoint Server 2007 has to be at SP2 level to be installed on a Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system. Otherwise, a warning message as in the Figure 1 is shown by the installation wizard. For this reason, first I will explain how we can integrate SP2 into the Sharepoint Server setup files. Then I will install Sharepoint Server without running the configuration wizard and finally I will create databases for our Sharepoint Servers on our database server (the following processes in this part except the database creation subject will be done for each Sharepoint Servers – mstipspapp01 and mstipspweb01).
Figure 1: The warning message when Sharepoint without Service Pack 2 is tried to be installed
Microsoft published a SP2 integrated version of Sharepoint Server 2007 on its site (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=3015FDE4-85F6-4CBC-812D-55701FBFB563&displaylang=en – Sharepoint Server 2007 with SP2 for 64bit) but I will integrate it myself. In addition to this, I will also integrate the latest updates to setup files. For this purpose, I will need Sharepoint Server 2007 setup files, Sharepoint Services 3 SP2, Sharepoint Services 3 Cumulative Update, Sharepoint Server 2007 SP2 ve Sharepoint Server 2007 Cumulative Update. The latest update files are February 2010 files while I write this article.
I copy all of these files under a folder (C:\MOSS2007) as it is seen in Figure 2. I extract all the service pack files and updates under the folder “Updates” of Sharepoint setup files. To do this I run the four commands which are shown in Figure 3. The first command extracts the Sharepoint Services SP2 files. The second one extracts Sharepoint Server SP2, the third command extracts Sharepoint Services February 2010 Cumulative Update files and the last command extracts the Sharepoint Server February 2010 Cumulative Update files to the related folder. As it is seen in Figure 4, all of the update files are extracted to the “Updates” folder.
Figure 2: Setup and update files
Figure 3: Extraction of service pack and update files to the Updates folder
Figure 4: The service pack and cumulative update files under Updates folder
After the extraction, I delete wsssetup.dll file. Because this file can cause a problem while it is in the same place with svrsetup.dll file. Microsoft also does not support such a condition (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc261890.aspx). And now we have a SP2 integrated Sharepoint Server 2007 setup files which is convenient to be installed on a Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system.
Before we begin to install Sharepoint, we have to install a few prerequisites first. These are .Net Framework feature and Web Server role. For this purpose, I open the Server Manager interface first (Start -> Administrative Tools -> Server Manager) and click on Add Features link under Features.On the opening screen I select .Net Framework 3.5.1 features checkbox and press the Next button. We also verify the “Add required role services” window :) (Figure 5)
Figure 5: .Net Framework installation
After that I open the Roles and click Add Roles link. I fill the Web Server (IIS) checkbox at the first screen and press Next button. At the second screen, some of the checkboxes are already filled by default. Additionally, I fill the ASP.NET, Basic Authentication, Windows Authentication and IIS 6 Management Compatibility checkboxes (Figure 6 and Figure 7). An “Add required role services” window is appeared for ASP.NET and I verify it. After pressing the Next button, Web Server installation is finished. Therefore, we don’t have any obstacles in the way of Sharepoint installation.
Figure 6: ASP.NET requirements
Figure 7: Selections under Security and Management Tools
I run the C:\MOSS2007\Moss2007_SetupFiles\setup.exe file for installation (I do it on mstipspapp01 machine. All of the same steps are also valid for mstipspweb01 machine). The first screen is the Product Key screen. We enter it and open the second screen. After accepting the License Aggrement, the third screen is opened. I select “Advanced” here (Figure 8). At the last screen, I select “Complete” installation and press Continue button (Figure 9). The installation takes a while and after it finishes, a selection screen appears. The selection is for doing configuration or not. I will not configure it right now so I clear the “Run the sharepoint products and technologies configuration wizard now” checkbox and press Close button (Figure 10).
Figure 8: Selection of Advanced installation type
Figure 9: Complete installation selection
Figure 10: Clearing the checkbox not to start the configuration wizard
For the two Sharepoint servers, I finished the installation of Sharepoint Server 2007. Now, I have to create databases for Sharepoint infrastructure. The following procedures will be done on one server only by the way. I logon to the mstipspapp01.mstip.com machine as spadm and open “Start -> Control Panel -> System -> Advanced System Settings -> Advanced Tab -> Environmental Variables…”. Under “System Variables” field, I edit the Path variable and enter C:\Program Files \Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Web Server Extensions\12\bin\ path here. This is the folder that holds the binary files for Sharepoint product. I do this configuration to be helpful in the future (Figure 11).
Figure 11: Addition of a folder path to the path variable
Now it is time to create the databases. For this purpose, I open a command prompt as an administrator and run psconfig -cmd configdb -create -server mstipspsql01.mstip.com -database SharepointConfig -user mstip\spadm -password spadm_password -admincontentdatabase SharepointAdmContent command (Figure 12). After a while, it is said that the creation is successful. To verify the creation process, I open the SQL Server Management Studio on mstipspsql01.mstip.com machine and see that the databases are there (Figure 13). So the question is, why I create the databases myself? Because if I let the Sharepoint configuration wizard create the databases, I could not decide the name of the Admin Content database. With the command above, I create both the Admin Content and Sharepoint configuration databases at once and name them as I want them to be.
Figure 12: Command for creating databases
Figure 13: Verification of databases
At the end of this part of the article series, I will configure the Sharepoint installations by using “Sharepoint Product and Technologies Configuration Wizard”. I want the Central Administration website to be hosted by application server therefore I run the wizard on mstipspapp01.mstip.com machine first (Start -> All Programs -> Microsoft Office Server -> Sharepoint Product and Technologies Configuration Wizard). The first screen is the welcome screen. When I press Next to proceed, a warning message appears. It says that some of the services will be stopped during the configuration process (Figure 14). I press the Yes button here and the next screen automatically represents me the database server and database name for my Sharepoint infrastructure (Figure 15). I don’t touch anything here and press Next button. I decide to use port 8888 at the next screen (Figure 16). This port number is given to the central administration web site therefore I can enter to the site by typing the following URL to my web browser: http://mstipspapp01.mstip.com:8888 . The next screen is the summary screen and after pressing Next button, the configuration is started. After a while, it finishes and I press the Finish button to close the configuration window.
Figure 14: Warning message
Figure 15: Database server and database name
Figure 16: Determining the port number
Just after the wizard, Central Administration Website is opened but as it is seen in Figure 17, the configuration of server farm is not finalized yet (upper left corner). As a matter of fact, this is the topic of next part of the article.
Figure 17: Central Administration
After finishing the configuration on first server (mstipspapp01.mstip.com), I configure the second server (mstipspweb01.mstip.com) as well. There is a slight difference in the wizard though. The wizard represents the “Connect to a server farm” screen in this case. I select “Yes, I want to connect to an existing server farm” here (Figure 18), enter the necessary parameters at the next screen (Figure 19) and finish the wizard. This is the configuration for the second server.
Figure 18: Connecting to the existing server farm
Figure 19: Necessary database server parameters
This is it for now. In this part of the series, I installed two sharepoint servers and created the necessary databases on our database server. After that I ran the configuration wizard for sharepoint and finished the initial configurations. In the next part of the series, I will complete the configurations for our infrastructure. Bye for now.
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