The configuration of each server in your new SharePoint farm depends greatly on the topology you choose. If your environment is very small, you might start your design with a single server and then grow the farm to multiple servers as demand increases.
Interestingly enough, a single server installation of SharePoint requires significantly more memory and hard disk resources than a distributed server installation using more than one server. The reason for this requirement is rather straightforward: A single server installation really is two installations in one: a SharePoint server and a database server (either built-in or SQL).
The requirements you choose are also based on the version of SharePoint you are using. If you are installing SharePoint Foundation 2013, for instance, you might need as little as 8 GB of RAM to get started.
Single server installations
Single server installations of SharePoint are most often used for evaluation or development environments, not production. This approach should be used only in an environment with a limited number of users.
In such an environment, SharePoint and the built-in database or SQL server tend to contend for resources (particularly RAM), and the users’ perception of the farm’s performance might suffer as a result.
The following requirements do not really address items such as the storage space required for the databases and any other services (such as search indexes). The recommendation is to add a secondary drive for the storage of such information.
The basic requirements for a single server SharePoint farm depend greatly on the SharePoint installation chosen and are shown in Table 1-3.
TABLE 1-3 Single server hardware requirements
| Installation Type | RAM | Processor | Hard Disk Space |
| Single Server SharePoint Foundation 2013 installation | 8 GB | 64-bit, 4 cores | 80 GB for system drive |
| Single Server SharePoint Server 2013 installation | 24 GB | 64-bit, 4 cores | 80 GB for system drive |
| EXAM TIP |
the amount of free disk space available on the system drive of a SharePoint server should never fall below two times the amount of server raM; this limit is specifically designed to allow memory dumps to be stored on the disk subsystem if necessary.
Three tier server installations
Because we have determined that a single server is not the preferred installation for a production SharePoint farm, you should now learn about the hardware requirements for a tiered installation. In such an environment, the web and application tier servers are separated from the SQL servers and have different hardware requirements (see Table 1-4).
TABLE 1-4 Three tier server hardware requirements
| Installation Type | RAM | Processor | Hard Disk Space |
| Web or application server in a three tier farm | 12 GB | 64-bit, 4 cores | 80 GB for system drive |
| Database servers in a three tier farm | 8 GB for small deployments; 16 GB for medium deployments | 64-bit/4 cores for small deployments; 64-bit/8 cores for medium deployments | 80 GB for system drive |
MORE INFO DISK SPACE CAPACITY PLANNING
The hard disk space column in this table does not show database, transaction log, TempDB or any other space requirements for the SQL database server. These requirements have to be assessed as part of your capacity planning and should be included in your completed design. Information about planning the storage and SQL server capacity planning can be found at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc298801.aspx; overall information about SharePoint Server 2013 capacity planning can be found at http://technet.microsoft. com/en-us/library/ff758647.aspx.
Software requirements for single-server installations
The software requirements for members of a SharePoint farm are well defined and depend on the role of the server within the farm.
The minimum requirements for a single server with built-in database are the following:
■■ The 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter; or the 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2012 Standard or
Datacenter.
■■ The SharePoint parsing process crashes in Windows Server 2008 R2 (KB 2554876).
■■ FIX: IIS 7.5 configurations are not updated when you use the ServerManager class to commit configuration changes (KB 2708075).
■■ Hotfix: ASP.NET (SharePoint) race condition in .NET 4.5 RTM:
■■ Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (KB 2759112)
■■ Windows Server 2012 (KB 2765317)
■■ The Setup program installs the following prerequisite for a single server with built-in database:
■■ Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 Express Edition
■■ The Microsoft SharePoint Products Preparation Tool installs the following prerequisites for a single server with built-in database:
■■ Web Server (IIS) Role
■■ Application Server Role
■■ Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.5
■■ SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 Native Client
■■ Microsoft WCF Data Services 5.0
■■ Microsoft Information Protection and Control Client (MSIPC)
■■ Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 SP1 (x64)
■■ Windows Management Framework 3.0, which includes Windows PowerShell 3.0
■■ Windows Identity Foundation (WIF) 1.0 and Microsoft Identity Extensions (previously named WIF 1.1)
■■ Windows Server AppFabric
■■ Cumulative Update Package 1 for Microsoft AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server (KB 2671763)
Software requirements for web and application server installations
The minimum requirements for web and application servers in a farm are the following:
■■ The 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter; or the 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter.
■■ The SharePoint parsing process crashes in Windows Server 2008 R2 (KB 2554876).
■■ FIX: IIS 7.5 configurations are not updated when you use the ServerManager class to commit configuration changes (KB 2708075).
■■ Hotfix: ASP.NET (SharePoint) race condition in .NET 4.5 RTM:
■■ Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (KB 2759112)
■■ Windows Server 2012 (KB 2765317)
■■ The Microsoft SharePoint Products Preparation Tool installs the following prerequisites for front-end web servers and application servers in a farm:
■■ Web Server (IIS) role
■■ Application Server role
■■ Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.5
■■ SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 Native Client
■■ Microsoft WCF Data Services 5.0
■■ Microsoft Information Protection and Control Client (MSIPC)
■■ Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 SP1 (x64)
■■ Windows Management Framework 3.0 which includes Windows PowerShell 3.0
■■ Windows Identity Foundation (WIF) 1.0 and Microsoft Identity Extensions (previously named WIF 1.1)
■■ Windows Server AppFabric
■■ Cumulative Update Package 1 for Microsoft AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server (KB 2671763)
Software requirements for database server installations in a farm
The minimum requirements for database installations in a farm are as follows:
■■ One of the following:
■■ The 64-bit edition of Microsoft SQL Server 2012
■■ The 64-bit edition of SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1
■■ The 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter; or the 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter.
■■ The SharePoint parsing process crashes in Windows Server 2008 R2 (KB 2554876).
■■ FIX: IIS 7.5 configurations are not updated when you use the ServerManager class to commit configuration changes (KB 2708075).
■■ Hotfix: ASP.NET (SharePoint) race condition in .NET 4.5 RTM:
■■ Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (KB 2759112)
■■ Windows Server 2012 (KB 2765317)
■■ Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.5
