Showing posts with label sharepoint 2010 installation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sharepoint 2010 installation. Show all posts

Thursday 23 June 2011

SP2010 install using AutoSPInstaller from PowerGUI

Problem: I want to install SharePoint 2010 using Brian Lala's AutoSPInstaller codeplex project however, I want to be able to see values and debug using PowerShell

Resolution:
Ensure AutoSPInstaller is setup correctly and PowerGUI is installed.  Correct setup is shown below.  Ensure that the xml file is named correctly.

Tip: Windows has a built in graphical debuggger for PowerShell called ISE Editor
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/powershell/archive/2009/01/19/debugging-powershell-script-using-the-ise-editor.aspx
PS> c:\SP2010\AutoSPInstaller\AutoSPInstallerMain.ps1 c:\SP2010\AutoSPInstaller\AutoSPInstallerInput-WIN-2C5PI8TSRPA.xml

Press F5 or the arrow to debug.  I have all the .ps1 files in the PowerGUI editor and add break points. 

Note.  If you hit a break point and press F5 once you are debugging, PowerGUI will not stop at the next break point.  F10 will take you to your next breakpoint or where the next error is trapped.

Friday 12 November 2010

Installing SharePoint using a dedicated Installation account

Problem: Best practice is to install SharePoint servers using a dedicated install account.  This account is not the farm account.  Once the installation is complete, the installation account should be disabled.  You need to install in the role of the admin account to install correctly. 

Note:  If your install and farm account are the same as is often the case, this post does not apply to you.

Initial Hypothesis:  It is only worth following this post if you are using at least 5 or more accounts for your farm install.  The idea is that the installation account is disabled after installation.

Resolution:  The farm account needs the 2 SQL Server security roles namely: dbcreator and securityadmin.  The farm account still needs local admin permission rights on each Web Front End (WFE) server.  The Installation account does not need any SQL Server permissions.

Using the codeplex AutoSPinstaller.  Launch the installer using a cmd prompt using the runs cmd to run in the farm domain admin priviledge.
cmd> runas /user:demo\farm_admin %windir%\system32\cmd.exe
cmd> D:\SP2010\Script>Launch.bat


You can also do the runas shotcut to change the account installing SharePoint.
Update 6 Dec 2010 - Hold down the shift key and right click the cmd prompt program menu, you are given the "run as .." menu option.

Update: 22 June 2011 - the current version of AutoSPInstaller is 2.5, additionallly the codeplex project is called AutoSPIntaller not SPAutoInstaller as previously named.

AutoSPInstaller - Step-by-step guide: http://blog.lekman.com/2010/11/automated-sharepoint-2010-installations.html

Thursday 9 September 2010

SPAutoinstaller accounts

Change the setup.xml file to use 5 accounts:
  1. SP-Install - domain account with admin local rights on each WFE also need SQL dbcreator and dbsecurity roles (used to login and install binaries, use this account for add new servers to the farm);
  2. SP-Farm - domain account no permissions, will be the account to run timer job and other key roles;
  3. SP-Web-App-Pool - Content Web app account - Domain account only;
  4. SP-Services - Install all services to use the same domain account, this can be seperate for each services but for easy of setup and mainentance use 1 account. Exception is the User Profiles service, setup seperately using Spence Harbors post as the user domain account needs unique security, and
  5. SP-Crawl - Used to crawl SP content.
6th SP-SQL - Domain user account with no prividges used to start the SQL service (recommended) can use local/builin accounts but for Reporting services, and other advanced functionality need a domain account.
 
7th account should be used for User Profiles called SP-Service-UP.  This is a complex issue and needs full review don't try install this blindly hoping it will work.

References
Todd Klindt's Blog
Todd's netcast 49 about installation (specifically install accounts, user profile services and an SP2010 internet version enterprices edition licence bug).
Liam Cleary's list of SharePoint 2010 Service Accounts

Wednesday 8 September 2010

DisableLoopbackCheck fix

I was listening to Todd Klindt's netcast 50 this morning and he mentioned that DisableLoopbackCheck is not the correct approach for allowing your SharePoint servers to see themselves (needed if crawling).  I have been doing this on my server installation and need to review my approach.

MS KB on disabling loopback using either approach.  DisableLoopback was introduced by MS to reduce prevention attacks.  As SharePoint needs to crawl itself and it's pretty nice to have a local browser for A records/renamed resources, I need to disable loopback however, the method of specify what to disable is definately more preferable.

Wednesday 1 September 2010

SP2010 AutoSPInstaller Prerequisite Install Issues (Codeplex PS project)

Problem: Install SP2010 using the CodePlex PowerShell Installer (AutoSPInstaller) without internet access.

Hypothesis: 
Add the following KB to the prerequisiteInstaller folder:
  • Windows6.0-KB968930-x64.msu (/POWERSHELL)
  • Windows6.0-KB976394-x64.msu (/KB976394)
  • Windows6.1-KB976462-v2-x64.msu (/KB976462)
  • Windows6.0-KB974405-x64.msu (/IDFXR2)
  • rsSharePoint.msi (/ReportingServices)
  • SpeechPlatformRuntime.msi (/Speech)
  • MSSpeech_SP_en-us_tele.msi (/SpeechLPK)
=====

Error: Error.  An unknown error occurred installing prerequisites at c:\....\AutoSPInstaller.sp1:388 char:14 ...

Fix: Reboot server and retry.

=====

Error: The tool was unable to install SQL 2008 R2 Reporting Services SharePoint 2010 add-in. Install process returned (0X643=1603).  Applies to the codeplex Powershell scripted install.
Fix: Only info I found suggested a re-run fixes the error. Simply re-running the prerequisite installer did not fix the issue for me. A similar error suggesting that i am using the incorrect version of rsSharepoint.msi relating to the Genva framework (claims) not Reporting Services.  I tried manually installing the Reporting services rsSharePoint.msi, it kept failing.  I also tried rsSharePoint_x64.msi, also failed.
Next I ran SharePoint install manually after the manual prerequisites was run as Administrator, failed.

Noticed I had 2 rsSharePoint.msi that are of a different size?  The file I used on 2 Sept 2010 on my Win 2008 R2 WFE was 36.9MB in size, my other was 39MB.  rsSharePoint.msi download

I use the version off the SQL media for getting Reporting Services wirking in the SharePoint mode.

=====

Error: rsSharePoint.msi wont install
Fix: There are version versions of rsSharePoint.msi, ensure you use the correct 36.9MB file.
I downloaded the correct version from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=192588
Incorrect 39MB Version as of 2 Sept 2010 .
These file have the same name but they are different and using Windows 2008 R2 for my install only the 36.9MB version works.

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Installation Notes for a 3 server NLB SharePoint 2010 farm

Tuesday 31 August 2010

SharePoint 2010 Prerequisite Installation

Problem: SP 2010 has to have prerequisites run that setups and installs software components.  This can be run by clicking the prerequisiteInstaller.exe or via a cmd prompt.  The cmd prompt option is useful for unattended installs.  Additionally the prerequisite installer will access the internet to download the required files, my environment does not have Internet access.

Initial Hypothesis: Download software onto the WFE servers and run the prerequisites to use local copies of the software that is required.

Resolution:
  • Extract SP2010 onto the local WFE
  • Open the PrerequisiteInstallerFiles folder and copy msi's & exe's (Minimal files would be: sqlncli.msi, mschart.exe, dotnetfx35setup.exe, Syncronisation.msi, FilterPack64bit.exe, SQLServer2008_ASADOMB10.msi)
  • Open a cmd prompt and run as an Administrator.
  • Navigate to the appropriate directory using Windows explorer where PrerequisiteInstaller.exe is and create the file PrerequisiteInstaller.Arguements.txt
  • Edit the PrerequisiteInstaller.Arguements.txt file as shown below.  Save and close the files.
  • Navigate to the appropriate directory using the cmd prompt where PrerequisiteInstaller.exe is located and run the cmd "PrerequisiteInstaller.exe".  Mine is c:\Software\SP2010>PrerequisiteInstaller.exe

Tip: The Prerequisiteinstaller.Arguements.txt must not have line breaks between switch statements only spaces.  I.e. the config must be on 1 line.

PrerequisiteInstallerArguements.txt:
/unattended /SQLNCli:PrerequisiteInstallerFiles\sqlncli.msi /ChartControl:PrerequisiteInstallerFiles\MSChart.exe /NETFX35SP1:PrerequisiteInstallerFiles\dotnetfx35setup.exe /Sync:PrerequisiteInstallerFiles\Synchronization.msi /FilterPack:PrerequisiteInstallerFiles\FilterPack64bit.exe /ADOMD:PrerequisiteInstallerFiles\SQLSERVER2008_ASADOMD10.msi

More Info:
Create an "offline" SP2010 prerequisite installer
Prerequisite cmd config options
Pre-requisite software lists
SP2010 install cmd-line args


Wednesday 11 August 2010

Number of Accounts needed for SP2010 & Managed service accounts

Problem: How many accounts are required for SharePoint 2010?
Hypothesis: In MOSS I used 7 accounts for farm installs using my default slip-steamed medium/large farm install.  It really depended on what you needed to run.  You can use service accounts to run services in SP2010.
Resolution: SP2010 introduces managed service accounts, that are used for running SharePoint services.  You don't need to know password and it changes the account passwords per your SharePoint policy so a better option in my opinion so I have used them on my 2 installs.  Also pretty nice to only require the 3 accounts for install as shown below:
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/sharepoint2010general/thread/a740e3ee-6f2d-473e-a63b-d97e52513754
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee662513(office.14).aspx

Summary:
Need AD accounts
  1. Administrator account (Admin on local SP boxes, needs domain user account permissions, pref db owner
  2. Farm service account/database access account (needs domain user account permissions)
  3. Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2010 search service account (needs domain user account permissions)

Thursday 1 July 2010

Installing Sharepoint 2010 options & Basic SP2010 manual installation tips

You have 4 options for installing SharePoint farms:
  1. Manually sun the setup and follow the installation wizard (this is discussed below);
  2. Deploy SharePoint 2010 via a slipstream install, this was my prefered method for MOSS.  I ran the install from a batch file that got it's configuration from an xml file;
  3. PSConfig installation (sic); or
  4. Use PowerShell to Install SharePoint. and technet scripted deployment
 Summary: For environments such as live the PowerShell/Slipstreamed options are best as they allow for recreation and input is always identical.  Manual install is fine for development servers however their is no advantage except for a lower learning curve for the IT admin.
Post below is a Manual Installation:
SP2010 install video
Install the pre-requisites
  • Prerequisits will install roles and software you need internet access on the server to fetch the prerequisits software (this can be put on the server to stop the machine going to the Internet).
  • Preferably have seperate instance of SQL 2008 R2 but for dev/demo machines. If 1 machine rather setup SQL devleoper or a instance (I dislike using SQL express).
Setup / SP 2010 install tips
  • Install "Server farm" option not standalone
  • "Complete" installs all component prefered option
  • Connect to a new farm
  • Database server name us name rather than IP (incase it changes)
  • DB account (must already exist in AD)
  • Passphrase used to connect new servers to this server farm (remeber/keep it)
  • Kerbros - if your network supports it but use NTLM if you aren't sure.
  • Wizard - follow screens, services can be heavy so add them when you need them, however for demo I select all services and create a new site collection - a good options is to use the Team Site Template.
  • Need 3 accounts for min Best practices: 1) Managed Service account (domain user account) that SQL Server runs in, 2) Managed Service Account (domain user account) all services will be installed on this account (MS suggests using a seperate managed account for each service) on small farm s/dev I use 1 account,  and 3) Farm install account (domain account) this needs to be a local admin on each SP2010 server and have creator & dbsecurity accouts on SQL.
  • 5 Accounts is a better option excluding the SQL services account namely:
  1. SP-Install - domain account with admin local rights on each WFE also need SQL dbcreator and securityadmin roles (used to login and install binaries, use this account for add new servers to the farm),
  2. SP-Farm - domain account no permissions, will be the account to run timer job and other key roles,
  3. SP-Web-App-Pool - Content Web app account - Domain account only,
  4. SP-Services - Install all services to use the same domain account, this can be seperate for each services but for easy of setup and mainentance use 1 account.  Exception is the User Profiles service, setup seperately using Spence Harbors post as the user domain account needs unique security, and
  5. SP-Crawl - Used to crawl SP content.
Additional Info on accounts:
  1. SQL Server needs to run as a windows service, you need an account, I would use a managed account in AD with no permissions called SP2010-SQLService.
  2. Farm Installation account, you need to create a domain user account in AD, give the account local admin access to each SP2010 machine.  Call it SP2010-Admin.
  3. SP2010 Service account/s, you need to create a managed service account with zero permissions in AD.  You can use 1 account or create a seperate account for each service (MS Best Practice).  I call my 1 account SP2010-Services. 
Use slipstreaming for SharePoint it's faster and consistant.
Use:
  1. Windows 2008 R2 x64
  2. SQL 2008 x64
  3. On HyperV/VMWare except the db which should be a seperate physical machine/SAN
Update 08 November 2010:  Notes on deploying a 3 server farm consisting of 2 WFE's that are NLB using Windows NLB.  Installation done using AutoSPInstaller. 
Installation Notes for a 3 server NLB SharePoint 2010 farm

Update 10 November 2010: SharePoint install account - Todd Klindt.
Update 11 May 2011: SharePoint 2010 database management article