Microsoft Office SharePoint Server

Deploying Microsoft
Office SharePoint
Server 2007 on Dell
Server Farms
By Gong Wang The Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007 platform
Steven A. Grigsby
offers powerful, flexible support for a wide variety of
collaboration functions. By following best practices for
deploying and configuring this solution on farms of Dell™
PowerEdge ™ servers, organizations can create a robust,
manageable foundation for end-user productivity.

Related Categories:
M
icrosoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS)
2007 is an enterprise productivity platform
that incorporates rich integrated capabilities
and provides a common end-user experience. It can
support a wide range of IT functions, including enter-
prise Web presence, employee intranets, regulatory
compliance repositories, satellite office sites, extranets,
team and project sites, and social networking.
MOSS is built on Microsoft Windows® SharePoint
Services (WSS), which is integrated into the Microsoft
enables end users to create and manage collabo-
ration sites (such as blogs, wikis, and departmen-
tal Web sites) while retaining administrator
control over the overall deployment. Users can
provision sites, maintain their own security and
access controls, and even delete sites when they
are no longer needed. Administrators, mean-
while, can monitor site usage, add or remove
resources as required, and automatically archive
abandoned sites.

Microsoft
Windows Server® 2003 OS and available as a com- ■■ Comprehensive search capabilities: Finding infor-

Microsoft Office
SharePoint Server
Visit DELL.COM/PowerSolutions
for the complete category index.
plimentary download for Windows Server 2008.
WSS provides the base infrastructure for MOSS as
well as basic functionality such as document col-
laboration, calendars, task lists, discussion boards,
and blogs. To this infrastructure MOSS 2007 adds
rich business process functionality including content
management, search, portals, and business pro-
cesses and intelligence. When appropriately imple-
mented, WSS and MOSS 2007 can help organizations
of all sizes address a variety of challenges:
■■ Simplified management: Given the relative ease
of deploying a group or departmental collabora-
tion platform, the proliferation of uncontrolled
servers can quickly create management prob-
lems. A well-designed MOSS 2007 deployment
mation is an ongoing enterprise challenge. Existing
search implementations may not span the enter-
prise or may not return the information users
expect. MOSS 2007 provides enterprise search
functionality that can index not only MOSS data,
but also data in other applications—combining
enterprise scalability and contextual relevance to
provide rich search capabilities.
■■ Enterprise and regulatory compliance: Enterprise
guidelines and regulatory legislation often require
indexing and storing information. Noncompliance
with regulatory legislation can lead to severe
financial penalties or even criminal charges. MOSS
2007 content management features can seamlessly
integrate with existing processes and provide a
final repository for stored information.

1 DELL POWER SOLUTIONS | March 2009 Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, March 2009. Copyright © 2009 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.
 Understanding the MOSS topology
and taking appropriate deployment End users
steps can help organizations create an
infrastructure that can meet their spe-
cific needs. By following best practices
to deploy MOSS 2007 on a farm of Dell
PowerEdge servers, create the neces-
sary Web applications and Shared
Services Provider (SSP), and configure
Web front-end server 1 Web front-end server 2
site collections, administrators can
create a robust, manageable foundation
for end-user productivity.
Search index and query server
Understanding the
Directory domain controller
MOSS 2007 topology
MOSS is a Web-based application built on Other applications
the Microsoft Internet Information Services
(IIS) and ASP.NET platforms with a
Database server iSCSI storage
Microsoft SQL Server® back-end data
repository for MOSS content. MOSS imple-
mentations are very flexible and can range
from single-server deployments up to
large server farm deployments. Single- Figure 1. Example Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 implementation on a multi-server farm
server deployments, which run all MOSS
services on a single physical server, are servers may be necessary to handle sizing guide1 and the Microsoft SharePoint
well suited for small businesses with rela- heavy Web traffic accessing the MOSS Capacity Planning Tool, a complimentary
tively few users and a small amount of farm, including Windows Network extension for Microsoft System Center
data. This type of implementation can also Load Balancing to help balance the Capacity Planner 2007 that provides
be useful in a lab environment for proof- load between the servers. analysis and simulation features.2
of-concept deployments and testing. ■■ Search index and query server: This Installing MOSS 2007 requires the fol-
A more typical MOSS implementation, server supports the MOSS enterprise lowing user accounts:3
however, would use a farm of multiple search functionality, which comprises
servers (see Figure 1): index and query services. The index ■■ Setup user account: This account
services crawl the MOSS content for should be a domain account in the
■■ Database server: This server supports indexing, while the query services handle local administrators group on every
the MOSS database services. In large user search queries. These services can server in the MOSS server farm. Using
implementations, multiple clustered be offloaded to separate servers. a local account may cause access
SQL Server systems may be necessary ■■ Other application servers: These serv- problems with MOSS shared services.
to handle the database workload. The ers support the MOSS Central ■■ SQL Server service account: This
physical disk storage can be moved Administration site, Microsoft Excel® account is needed during SQL Server
to direct attach storage (such as Dell Calculation Services, document con- setup to run the MSSQLSERVER and
PowerVault™ systems) or networked version services, and so on. SQLSERVERAGENT services.
storage (such as Dell PowerVault, Dell ■■ MOSS server farm account: Also
EqualLogic™, or Dell/EMC systems) on Building the server farm known as a database access account,
an existing Internet SCSI (iSCSI) or infrastructure this account acts as an identity for
Fibre Channel infrastructure. Several resources are available to help the MOSS Central Administration
■■ Web front-end server: This server sup- organizations build a cost-effective MOSS application pool and runs the WSS
ports the MOSS Web sites. Multiple server farm, including a Dell implementation Timer service.

1
“Sharepoint 2007 Sizing Guide: Sizing Moss 2007 and WSS v3 on Dell Servers and Storage,” by the Dell Product Group, July 2008, DELL.COM/Downloads/Global/Services/sharepoint_2007_sizing_guide_v2.pdf.
2
Available at www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=DBEE0227-D4F7-48F8-85F0-E71493B2FD87.
3
For details on these accounts’ settings, see the MOSS 2007 installation guide, available at technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc298924.aspx.

Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, March 2009. Copyright © 2009 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. DELL.COM/PowerSolutions 2
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server

■■ Database collation: Administrators can

optionally preinstall the databases for
the MOSS server farm. If they do, they
USE master;
must configure the SQL Server collation
GO
to be case insensitive and the database
ALTER DATABASE tempdb
collation to be case insensitive, accent
MODIFY FILE (NAME = tempdev, FILENAME = 'location\tempdb.mdf');
sensitive, kana sensitive, and width sen-
GO
sitive. Doing so helps ensure file name
ALTER DATABASE tempdb
uniqueness consistent with Windows
MODIFY FILE (NAME = templog, FILENAME = 'location\templog.ldf');
operating systems. This step is not
GO
required if administrators choose to
have the MOSS setup program create
its databases during MOSS installation
Figure 2. Script for moving a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 tempdb file to a different drive and configuration.
■■ Tempdb: Because SQL Server 2005 is
Creating a MOSS SSP also requires SQL Server configuration based on per- installed on a boot drive, by default the
several domain user accounts: the SSP formance sizing and Dell-recommended tempdb file is placed on the same
Web application pool account, SSP service best practices. drive. To help optimize database per-
account, MOSS Search service account, Best practices for database server formance, administrators can move
content access account, and Excel Services deployment in a MOSS farm of Dell this file to a different drive by first
unattended service account. Following the PowerEdge servers include the following: opening SQL Server Management
principle of least privilege, these accounts Studio, connecting to the database
should not be members of the administra- ■■ OS deployment: Microsoft Windows server, and clicking the New Query
tors group on the Web front-end servers Server 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition with button. They can then paste the script
or the back-end servers. SP2 is the recommended OS for a MOSS shown in Figure 2 into the query pane
database server. Administrators can (replacing location with the path to
Preparing the database, Web, use the Dell Systems Build and Update the new location), click the Execute
and application servers Utility to help simplify OS deployment button, and restart SQL Server.
MOSS requires either Microsoft SQL on Dell PowerEdge servers.
Server 2005 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) or ■■ Storage management: Dell Modular MOSS Web and application servers
later or SQL Server 2000 with SP3a or Disk Storage Manager software helps must run the 32-bit or 64-bit Windows
later to store its data. If no database ser- simplify the operation and manage- Server 2003 OS and have the Microsoft
vice is running in the environment, MOSS ment of Dell storage arrays. It provides IIS 6.0, .NET Framework 3.0 or 3.5, and
installs an instance of Microsoft SQL a host-based storage agent, multipath ASP.NET 2.0 features installed or enabled.
Server 2005 Express Edition. In small driver, and the Modular Disk Storage Using the Dell Systems Build and Update
environments that require only a stand- Manager interface, which administra- Utility can help simplify OS installation on
alone MOSS server that runs all MOSS tors can use to configure, manage, and these servers.
components, this instance is typically monitor the storage.
sufficient; in larger environments, a dedi- ■■ iSCSI storage: Because the database Installing and
cated database server or database server server runs Windows Server 2003, configuring MOSS 2007
cluster may be necessary. administrators must install the After preparing the database, Web, and
The Dell SQL Server 2005 Advisor Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator on application servers, administrators next
tool (available at DELL.COM/SQL) can the host server before installing the install the MOSS software. Figure 3 illus-
help organizations identify an appropri- Dell Modular Disk Storage software.4 trates the overall installation process for
ate SQL Server 2005 architecture for ■■ Surface area settings: In SQL Server a MOSS server. A MOSS server farm is
their environments, providing a compre- 2005, configure the surface area set- established when the MOSS software is
hensive view of hardware, software, and tings to enable using both TCP/IP and installed on the first server; installing
services options. Based on an analysis of named pipes for local and remote MOSS on subsequent servers leads them
administrator specifications, it outputs a connections. to join this farm.

4
For detailed instructions on setting up Dell PowerVault iSCSI storage using the Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator and Dell Modular Disk Storage Manager, see the Dell PowerVault systems installation guides available at support.dell.com.

3 DELL POWER SOLUTIONS | March 2009 Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, March 2009. Copyright © 2009 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.
 In general, setting up a MOSS server
as part of a server farm requires two
steps. First, administrators install the
MOSS software on the server. Second,
they launch the SharePoint Product and
Technologies Configuration Wizard to
configure the server for the farm. Both
steps are similar across different types of
MOSS servers, but administrators should
be sure to use the appropriate installation
type for each server and perform the
installation of each server in the appropri-
ate sequence.
As for the installation type, administra-
tors need to select from three installation
types that affect which MOSS compo-
nents and services are installed: complete
installation, Web front-end installation,
and stand-alone installation. Stand-alone
installations are intended for single-server
MOSS deployments and should not be
used in MOSS server farm environments.
As for the installation sequence, on the
first server, the configuration wizard
guides administrators through the process
of creating a MOSS configuration data-
base, a Central Administration Web site,
and other related services. The wizard can
then add additional servers to the existing
server farm, update an existing configura-
tion database, and install other related
services. Because of the dependency
between MOSS services, best practices
recommend installing servers in the fol-
lowing sequence using the installation
types noted:
1. Central Administration Web applica-
tion server (complete or Web front-
end installation)
2. Web servers (complete or Web front-
end installation)
3. Search index server (complete
installation)
4. Search query server (complete
installation)
5. Other application servers (complete
installation)
Creating a Shared
Services Provider
After installing and configuring the
MOSS server farm, administrators can
next create and configure a MOSS SSP.
SSPs are logical groups of shared ser-
vices and their supporting resources;
these services can include user profiles,
personal sites, enterprise search, and so
on. MOSS server farms can generally
host one or more SSPs.
To create the first SSP, administrators
must first configure the MOSS Search ser-
vice on the index and query server (see
Figure 4). If the environment includes
separate index and query servers, they
should configure the service on both
servers. A WSS Search service is also
available, and must be started on systems
that require searching help content.
Next, administrators must create a
Web application to host the SSP (see
Figure 5). Best practices recommend
including the same identity when naming

Prepare the server

(IIS 6.0, .NET
Framework 3.0 or 3.5,
ASP.NET 2.0) Create the MOSS Complete the
configuration MOSS
database installation

Prepare the
Install MOSS database server No

Is there Retrieve the

a preinstalled MOSS
MOSS configuration Yes
Is this configuration
a Central Select Web database? database
Administration Yes front-end
server only? installation

Yes
No
Run the
Complete Is this
SharePoint Product No
the software the first MOSS
and Technologies
Is this installation server?
Yes Configuration Wizard
a Web server
only?

No Select
complete
installation

Figure 3. High-level process for installing a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 server

Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, March 2009. Copyright © 2009 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. DELL.COM/PowerSolutions 4
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server

the IIS Web site description, application

pool, database pool, and site collection or
site. When creating additional SSPs or site
collections, this consistent naming conven-
tion helps ease the identification and man-
agement of these sites and their respective
Web applications and databases, espe-
cially for backup and restore tasks.
In general, administrators should create
two Web applications in advance: one for
SSP site administration, which is used to
identify the SSP in administration pages,
and another for My Sites, which is used to
host personal sites and profile pages.
Although both sites can share the same
Web application, best practices recom-
Figure 4. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Search service configuration on an index and query server mend using a separate Web application for
each. Using separate Web applications
helps ensure that an error in the end-user
Web application does not prevent admin-
istrators from accessing the administration
sites, and enables the personal sites to be
backed up and restored independently.
After the SSP has been successfully
created, the MOSS farm is ready to host
new site collections, subsites, and content.
Administrators can then configure and
enable several additional MOSS services
and applications to enhance the platform
and its manageability, including Excel
Calculation Services, WSS incoming and
outgoing e-mail services, and settings for
antivirus protection, searches, workflows,
Figure 5. Shared Services Provider creation in Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 and diagnostic logging. Figure 6 shows an
overview of an example MOSS farm and
its hosting services designed for a small
or medium business.

Configuring MOSS 2007

site collections
Site collections are containers with tree
structures of subsites. They can distribute
administration from IT administrators to
authorized site users, providing a way for
end users to manage their own security
and access control and enabling adminis-
trators to maintain only the application
itself rather than also needing to maintain
security or content hierarchies.
Site collections can be defined based
Figure 6. Overview of an example Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 server farm and hosting services on search scope, Web parts, site templates,

5 DELL POWER SOLUTIONS | March 2009 Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, March 2009. Copyright © 2009 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.
recycling bins, and so on. To control a site
collection, administrators can manage its
site quota, maintain its database, lock indi-
vidual sites, perform backup and restore
operations, and so on. Best practices rec-
ommend using a dedicated Web applica-
tion for each site collection. After a site
collection is created, authorized users can
create sites or subsites within the collec-
tion without requiring administrator
intervention.
Creating a foundation
for productivity
MOSS 2007 incorporates a wide variety of
rich enterprise features and capabilities—
ranging from collaboration sites to blogs
to data repositories. By deploying this
platform on a farm of Dell PowerEdge
servers and adhering to recommended
best practices for installation and configu-
ration, organizations can create a founda-
tion that supports end-user productivity
while maintaining a manageable infra-
structure for IT administrators.
Gong Wang is a software engineer in the
Dell Server Operating Systems Group, and
Reprinted from Dell Power Solutions, March 2009. Copyright © 2009 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.
has worked as a test engineer on Dell
systems management software in the
past. Before joining Dell, he worked as a
research scientist at the Georgia Institute
of Technology and as an instructor at
Wuhan University in China. He has an M.S.
in Human-Computer Interaction and an
M.S. in Experimental Psychology from the
Georgia Institute of Technology.
Steven A. Grigsby is a software engineer
in the Dell Server Operating Systems
Group. He has a B.S. in Computer Science
from the University of Oklahoma.
QUICK LINKs
Microsoft Office SharePoint
Server:
DELL.COM/SharePoint
www.microsoft.com/sharepoint
DELL.COM/PowerSolutions 6