Determine hardware and software requirements (Windows SharePoint Services)

Applies To: Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

Topic Last Modified: 2012-07-02

In this article:

• About hardware and software requirements

• Stand-alone installation

• Server farm installation

This article describes the hardware and software requirements for installing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

About hardware and software requirements

An installation of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 can range from a single computer (stand-alone installation) to many computers (server farm). The requirements for your installation will depend on the availability and scale requirements for your solution. This article describes the minimum and recommended hardware requirements based on whether you are deploying a stand-alone installation or a server farm. This article also lists the software prerequisites for installing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

This article does not provide guidance about choosing a farm topology or hardware based on availability requirements or performance and capacity requirements. For more information about designing your solution to address these requirements, see Plan for performance and capacity (Windows SharePoint Services).

The hardware and software requirements described in this article apply to both x32-bit–based and x64-bit–based systems. However, if you installed the 64-bit version of Windows Server 2008 and then modified the Enable32bitAppOnWin64 registry key so that Internet Information Server (IIS) is running in 32-bit emulation mode, you cannot install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. To install either 32-bit or 64-bit Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 you must run IIS in 64-bit mode.

Using a mix of 32-bit servers and 64-bit servers in a server farm is supported. However, this scenario is not recommended because of the potential performance issues that could occur. For example:

• With a clustered front-end Web server that uses round robin, the 32-bit server will be the bottleneck.

• If a 64-bit front-end Web server is making calls to a 32-bit SQL Server database, there may be a bottleneck if SQL Server does not have adequate resources. This also applies to a 64-bit indexer that is working against a 32-bit SQL Server database.

If circumstances require a heterogeneous server architecture, we recommend that you use homogeneous (32-bit or 64-bit) servers on each application tier, for example, 32-bit servers for all the front-end Web servers.

If server farm performance in a heterogeneous environment becomes an issue, the recommended solution is to migrate all of the SharePoint farm servers to the 64-bit architecture. We highly recommend that you have a migration plan in place to move to a 64-bit only environment as soon as possible. Our support and test data shows that SharePoint products and technologies that are installed on 64-bit servers have significant gains in system throughput and performance during peak loads.

Stand-alone installation

You can install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 on a single computer by using either of the following methods:

• By selecting Basic.

• By selecting Advanced, and then selecting Stand-alone in Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 Setup.

Hardware requirements

The following table lists the minimum and recommended hardware requirements for deploying Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, including the deployment of Windows Internal Database, for a stand-alone installation.

Software requirements

The Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 installation and configuration wizard marshals many components. If you uninstall Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, and then later install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 on the same computer, the Setup program could fail when creating the configuration database, which would cause the entire installation process to fail. You can prevent this failure by deleting the existing configuration database or by using the psconfig command to create a new configuration database.

Database

When you perform a Basic installation, Windows Internal Database is automatically installed. When you perform an Advanced installation on a stand-alone computer that already has Microsoft SQL Server installed, ensure that the computer meets the hardware and software requirements for a database server. For more information, see Database server later in this article.

Because of Windows licensing restrictions, if you are using Windows Server 2003, Web Edition in a single server environment, you can only perform an Advanced, front-end Web server installation. This is because the full SQL Server editions cannot be installed on Windows Server 2003, Web Edition. In this scenario, you need to have a full SQL Server edition installed on a compatible edition of Windows Server 2003 for use with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Windows Server 2003, Web edition does not support Basic installation of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

Operating system

The initial release of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 runs on Windows Server 2003 with SP1. We recommend that you apply all critical updates. You can use the following Windows Server 2003 editions:

• Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition

• Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition

• Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition

• Windows Server 2003, Web Edition

Because of Windows licensing restrictions, if you are using Windows Server 2003, Web Edition in a single server environment, you can only perform an Advanced, front-end Web server installation. This is because the full SQL Server editions cannot be installed on Windows Server 2003, Web Edition. In this scenario, you need to have a full SQL Server edition installed on a compatible edition of Windows Server 2003 for use with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Windows Server 2003, Web edition does not support Basic installation of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 administration functions require Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 with the most recent service packs, Internet Explorer 7.0, or Internet Explorer 8.0.

The following are updates to supported operating systems since the initial release of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0:

• SP1 - Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) is supported on Windows Server 2008. As with the Windows Server 2003 operating system, you must download and run Setup and the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard. You cannot install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 on Windows Server 2008 without also installing service packs for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

• SP2 – Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 with Service Pack 2 (SP2) is supported on Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1 (SP1). You must create a slipstreamed installation source for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. This installation source must include the files from Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 with SP1. For more information about how to use the updates folder to create a slipstreamed source, see Create an installation source that includes software updates (Windows SharePoint Services 3.0).

• SP3 - Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 with Service Pack 3 (SP3) is supported on Windows Server 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1 (SP1). However, you must create a slipstreamed installation source for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. This installation source must include the files from Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 with Service Pack 2 (SP2). For more information about how to use the updates folder to create a slipstreamed source, see Create an installation source that includes software updates (Windows SharePoint Services 3.0).

Windows components

After you have installed the operating system and applied all critical updates, you must configure the computer to be a Web server by enabling Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0, including:

• Common files

• WWW

• Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)

You must configure the server to use IIS 6.0 worker process isolation mode. This is the default setting in new installations. However, if you have upgraded from IIS 5.0 on Windows Server 2000, Run WWW in IIS 5.0 isolation mode is enabled, and you must change this setting to use IIS 6.0 worker process isolation mode.

To enable e-mail notifications, you need to configure incoming and outgoing e-mail settings. To configure sending e-mail alerts and notifications, you must specify an SMTP e-mail server. To configure your installation so that your SharePoint sites can accept and archive incoming e-mail, you must install the IIS SMTP service.

Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0

Before installing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, you must install the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 and then ensure that ASP.NET 2.0 is enabled.

To enable ASP.NET v2.0.50727, open the Web service extension in the IIS snap-in on the Microsoft Management Console (MMC). If ASP.NET 2.0 is installed on the computer before IIS is enabled, you must enable ASP.NET 2.0 by running the command aspnet_regiis -i.

Server farm installation

The primary difference between a single server and a server farm topology is that you can use one or more computers to host the following server roles:

• Front-end Web server

• Database server

This section describes the minimum and recommended system requirements for each server role. If you install more than one role on a single computer, ensure that the computer meets the minimum requirements for all server roles.

Front-end Web server

Hardware requirements

The following table lists the minimum and recommended hardware requirements for deploying a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 front-end Web server.

Software requirements

We recommend that you perform the installation on a computer that has a new installation of the Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating system with Service Pack 1 (SP1) or later and all critical updates.

Operating system

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 runs on Windows Server 2003 with SP1 or later. We recommend that you apply all critical updates. You can use the following Windows Server 2003 editions:

• Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition

• Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition

• Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition

• Windows Server 2003, Web Edition

  Because of Windows licensing restrictions, if you are using Windows Server 2003, Web Edition in a single server environment, you can only perform an Advanced, front-end Web server installation. This is because the full SQL Server editions cannot be installed on Windows Server 2003, Web Edition. In this scenario, you need to have a full SQL Server edition installed on a compatible edition of Windows Server 2003 for use with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Windows Server 2003, Web edition does not support Basic installation of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 administration functions require Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 with the most recent service packs, Internet Explorer 7.0, or Internet Explorer 8.0.

As of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 with SP1, you can now install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 on Windows Server 2008. As with the Windows Server 2003 operating system, you must download and run Setup and the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard. You cannot install Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 without service packs on Windows Server 2008.

Windows components

After you have installed the operating system and applied all critical updates, you must configure the computer to be a Web server by enabling IIS 6.0, including:

• Common files

• WWW

• SMTP

You must configure the server to use IIS 6.0 worker process isolation mode. This is the default setting in new installations. However, if you have upgraded from IIS 5.0 on Windows Server 2000, Run WWW in IIS 5.0 isolation mode is enabled, and you must change this setting to use IIS 6.0 worker process isolation mode.

To enable e-mail notifications, you need to configure incoming and outgoing e-mail settings. To configure sending e-mail alerts and notifications, you must specify an SMTP e-mail server. To configure your installation so that your SharePoint sites can accept and archive incoming e-mail, you must install the IIS SMTP service.

Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0

Before installing Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, you must install the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 and then ensure that ASP.NET 2.0 is enabled.

To enable ASP.NET v2.0.50727, open the Web service extension in the IIS snap-in on the MMC. If ASP.NET 2.0 is installed on the computer before IIS is enabled, you must enable ASP.NET 2.0 by running the command aspnet_regiis -i.

Database server

The computer that hosts the database server role must have SQL Server 2000 with the latest service pack or Microsoft SQL Server 2005 SP1 or later. Some advanced features require SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services SP1 or later.

For information about the hardware and software required to deploy a database server, see SQL Server 2005 System Requirements (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=75010&clcid=0x409).

Because of Windows licensing restrictions, if you are using Windows Server 2003, Web Edition in a single server environment, you can only perform an Advanced, front-end Web server installation. This is because the full SQL Server editions cannot be installed on Windows Server 2003, Web Edition. In this scenario, you need to have a full SQL Server edition installed on a compatible edition of Windows Server 2003 for use with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0. Windows Server 2003, Web edition does not support Basic installation of Windows SharePoint Services 3.0.

Download this book

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

• Planning and architecture for Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, part 2

• Getting started with Windows SharePoint Services 3.0

See the full list of available books at Windows SharePoint Services technical library.