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Enterprise-scale Farms for SharePoint Server 2013

Webservers
AWebservertypicallysupports10,000-20,000users.
For90,000usersthisarchitecturestartswithsixWeb
serverstoserveuserrequestsandleavesroomfor
additionalWebservers,ifneeded.
Two-threeWebserversthatarededicatedforsearch
crawlingisagoodstartingpoint,dependingonratesof
changeandfreshnessrequirements.
Fourserversdedicatedfordistributedcache
CentralAdministration
AccessServices
AppManagement
BusinessDataConnectivity
ExcelServices
MachineTranslationService
ManagedMetadata
PerformancePoint
PowerPointConversion
SecureStoreService
StateService
UsageandHealthDataCollection
UserProfile
VisioGraphicsService
WordAutomationServices
WorkManagement
Workflow
Search architecture to support 100 million
items
OFFICEWEBAPPSSERVERS EXAMPLEENTERPRISE-SCALEFARM
ApplicationServersGeneral
Searchapplicationservers
Indexandqueryprocessing
components
Searchapplicationservers
Allothersearchapplication
components
DatabasesSearch
DatabasesContent
Physical host
Web server Web server
Web server
Physical host
Web server Web server
Web server
Physical host
Web server Web server
Web server
Dedicated for
search crawling
Physical host
Application
server
Application
server
Application
server
Physical host
Application
server
Application
server
Application
server
Physical host
Application
server
Application
server
Application
server
Application
server
Dedicated for
Distributed Cache
Host E
Application Server
Application Server
Host F
Application Server
Application Server
Replica Replica Index partition 4
Replica Replica Index partition 5
Host G
Application Server
Application Server
Host H
Application Server
Application Server
Replica Replica Index partition 6
Replica Replica Index partition 7
Host I
Application Server
Application Server
Host J
Application Server
Application Server
Replica Replica Index partition 8
Replica Replica Index partition 9
Host B
Application Server
Application Server
Host A
Application Server
Application Server
Replica Replica Index partition 0
Replica Replica Index partition 1
QueryProcessing
QueryProcessing
Host D
Application Server
Application Server
Host C
Application Server
Application Server
Replica Replica Index partition 2
Replica Replica Index partition 3
QueryProcessing
QueryProcessing
Host K
Crawl
Application Server
Administration
Application Server
Contentprocessing
Analytics
Host L
Application Server
Application Server
Contentprocessing
Analytics
Crawl
Host M
Application Server
Contentprocessing
Analytics
Host N
Application Server
Contentprocessing
Analytics
Application Server
Contentprocessing
Analytics
Application Server
Contentprocessing
Analytics
Host O
Searchadmindb
Analyticsdb
SharePoint databases
Host P
Analyticsdb
Crawldb
Crawldb
Host Q
SharePoint databases
Host R
SharePoint databases
Redundantcopiesofalldatabases
usingSQLclustering,mirroring,or
SQLServer2012AlwaysOn
Crawldb
Crawldb
Crawldb
Host O
Configdb
Contentdbsfor
MySites
SharePoint databases
Host P
SharePoint databases
Redundantcopiesofalldatabases
usingSQLclustering,mirroring,or
SQLServer2012AlwaysOn
Host Q
SharePoint databases
Host R
SharePoint databases
Redundantcopiesofalldatabases
usingSQLclustering,mirroring,or
SQLServer2012AlwaysOn
Host O
SharePoint databases
Host P
SharePoint databases
Redundantcopiesofalldatabases
usingSQLclustering,mirroring,or
SQLServer2012AlwaysOn
Host Q
SharePoint databases
Host R
SharePoint databases
Redundantcopiesofalldatabases
usingSQLclustering,mirroring,or
SQLServer2012AlwaysOn
Contentdbsfor
MySites
Contentdbsfor
CollabSites
Physical host
Web server Web server Web server
Physical host
Web server Web server
PATCHINGANDUPDATINGENTERPRISE-SCALEFARMS
The architecture represented in this model is an example enterprise-scale farm based on a customer with 90,000 users and 100 million search items. This
architecture can be used as a reference point for planning an enterprise-scale farm. Actual numbers of servers and components depends on many
variables such as usage, services, size of documents, rates of change and freshness requirements for search results, and many others.
Office Web Apps Server is not part of the SharePoint 2013 farm. The following architecture provides an example of an appropriately-scaled
Office Web Apps Server environment to accompany the enterprise-scale SharePoint farm that is represented in this model.
Operatingsystemupdates
Theprocessthatupdatestheoperatingsystem
forserversinaSharePointfarmis
uncomplicatedandcanbeperformedserver
byserver(oneserveratatime):
Removeaserverfromtherotationofthe
loadbalancer.
Updatetheserver.
Returntheservertotherotationofthe
serverfarm.
Thisguidanceappliestobothphysicaland
virtualservers.
SQLServerupdates
WhetheryoucanapplyupdatesofSQLServer
inahighavailabilitystatedependsonthe
implementationofSQLServer:
SQLmirroringYoucanupdateserversin
ahighavailabilitystate.
SQLclusteringTheserverfarmthathosts
SharePointwillbedownwhileyouupdate
theconfigdb.
SeeSQLServerdocumentationforguidance
abouthowtopatchSQLServer,including
guidanceforSQLServer2012AlwaysOn.
Monitoringservers
Besuretocoordinatewithyouroperations
teamwhenserversaretakenofflinefor
maintenance.Remoteactionsthatbringa
serverbackonlineduringthepatchingprocess
canproduceunrecoverableerrorstates.
Disasterrecoveryenvironments
Ifastandbydisasterrecoveryenvironmentisin
place,beawareoftheeffectofusingSQLlog
shippingorSQLServer2012AlwaysOn
featureswhenthefarmsareondifferent
versionsofSQLServerorSharePointServer.
Safestupdatemethod
ThesafestmethodtoupdateaSharePointfarmistotaketheentirefarmoffline,updateallservers,and
thenbringthefarmbackonline.Itisimportanttotesttheupdateprocessinatestenvironmenteven
whenyouusethismethod.Thismethodrequiresamaintenancewindowthatmightnotbepractical
forallorganizations.
MonitoringserversduringtheupdateprocessAnoperationsteamcaninitiateremoteactions
thatinterferewithserversthatareofflineforupdating.Coordinatewiththeoperationsteamto
removeserversfrommonitoring.
UpdatingoneserveratatimeIfyoureturnupdatedserverstoafarmone-by-one,youcan
causeserverrolesoftwodifferentversionstorunintheproductionfarm.Thiscancompromise
performanceorcauseerrorstates.Instead,foreachserverrole,takehalfoftheserversofflineand
updatetheseservers.Beforeyoureturntheseserverstotherotation,removethesecondhalfofthe
serversthatrunthesamerolefromtherotation.
WaitingtoupdatedatabasesDatabasesdonotalwaysneedtobeupdatedatthesametimeas
therestofthefarm.Thisallowscriticalupdatestobeappliedtoaproductionfarmwithminimal
downtime.However,databasesshouldbeupdatedwithinthenextweekormonth.
NottestingtheupdateprocessandcodeSeebelow.
GeneralguidanceforSharePointenvironments
OfficeWebAppsServer
YoucanupdateOfficeWebAppsServer
independentofupdatesoftheSharePoint
environment.
BuildanduseatestenvironmentforSharePointupdates
ApplyingSharePointupdatestoalargeserverfarm
Scalingtoamulti-farmenvironmentfor
manageability
Topmistakestoavoidwhenyouupdatefarms
Optionalfortestenvironment
Optionalfortestenvironment
Testingtheupdateprocess
Theprimarypurposesfortestinginclude:
Confirmthattheupdatesperformasintendedanddonotcauseissuesfortheserverfarm.Thisis
especiallyimportantifyouapplymorethanoneupdateatthesametime.
Identifybreakingchangesthatmightoccurwithaspecificupdateorcombinationofupdates.
Testtheupdateprocessforyourorganization.
Therecommendedprocessfortestingvalidatesboththeupdatesandtheprocessthatappliesupdates
foryourorganization:
Testanddocumenttheprocessandprocedures,includingthespecificorderofrolesthatare
updated.
Validatethehealthoftheserverfarm.
Startalloverwithacleanenvironmentandusethedocumentationthatyouproducedtoreapply
theupdates.
Whenupdatesareappliedintheproductionenvironment,replicatethesameprocessandprocedures.
2
1
6
5
4
3
Example order
for updating
servers
Highavailabilityupdating
Highavailabilityupdatinginvolvesmoreplanning,testing,andcoordination.Thegeneraloutlinefor
theprocessincludesthefollowingsteps.
1.Updateserversbyrole,inthefollowingorder:
ApplicationserversStartwiththeservicesthataremostimportanttotheorganization.The
exampletotheleftupdatessearchserversbeforeotherapplicationservers.Withinthesearch
serviceapplicationroles,serversthathosttheindexareupdatedafterserversthathostother
searchroles.Ifadifferentserviceismoreimportanttoyourorganization,suchastheBusiness
DataConnectivityService,updatetheseserversfirst.
Webservers
DatabaseserversTheexampletotheleftupdatescontentdatabasesbeforesearch
databases.
2.Foreachrole,updatehalftheserversatatime.
Removethefirsthalfoftheserversfromtherotationoftheloadbalancer.Updatetheseservers.
Beforeyoureturnupdatedserverstotherotation,removethesecondhalfoftheserversofthe
samerolefromtheloadbalancingrotation.
Returnthefirsthalfoftheserverstotheload-balancingrotation.
Updatethesecondhalfoftheserversandthenreturnthesetotheload-balancingrotation.
3.RunthePsconfigcommand-linetooltoupdateSharePointdatabases.
Ifyouupdathalfoftheserversofthesameroleatthesametime,youeliminatethepossibilitythata
givenrolewillrunonthesamefarmwithtwodifferentversions.Sitewillnotbeaccessiblewhile
Psconfigruns.
ImportantBesuretotesttheupgradeprocessandcodeinatestenvironmentbeforeyou
attempttheupdateprocessinproduction.
Usingdatabasesnapshotsduringtheupdateprocess
AnewfeatureofSharePoint2013enablesyoutoupdatedatabasesinaproductionenvironment.The
snapshotmethodtakesasnapshotofthecurrentdatabaseandthenperformsallupdateoperations
thatapplytothedatabase,andoptionallytoitscontents.
Theexistingconnectionstothecontentdatabasearesettousethesnapshotinread-onlymodefor
thedurationoftheupdate,andthenswitchedbackaftersuccessfulcompletionofupgrade.Afailed
upgraderevertsthedatabasetoitsstatewhenthesnapshotwastaken.

ThisfeatureisimplementedbyusingtheWindowsPowerShellupdate-spcontentdatabasecmdletand
onlyworksforversionsofSQLServerthatsupportcreationanduseofsnapshots,suchas,SQLServer
Enterpriseedition.
Updatingmultiplefarms
Whenyouupdateenvironmentswithmultiplefarms,updatefarmsinthefollowingorder:
Servicefarms
Mysitefarm
Contentfarms
It'simportanttoupdateservicefarmsbeforeyouupdatefarmsthatconsumeservices.Servicefarms
supportconnectionstofarmsthatdonothavethesameupdatesinstalled.However,ifyouupdatea
consumingfarmbeforeyouupdateaservicefarm,theconsumingfarmmightencounterissueswhenit
connectstotheservicefarm.
Thismodelprovidesanexampleofaverylargeserverfarm.Whilefarmsofthissizearesupported,you
couldmoreeasilymanagetheenvironmentifyousplititintotwofarms.Giventhesearch
requirementsforthisenvironment,therecommendationformanageabilityistocreateaseparate
searchfarmthathostsallsearchroles.Theresultingcontentfarmcanhostallotherservice
applications.Anotheroptionistodividetheenvironmentintothreefarms,andthenon-searchservice
applicationsresideonadedicatedservicesfarm.
FormoreinformationabouthowtodesigndedicatedsearchfarmsseetheEnterpriseSearch
ArchitecturesforSharePointServer2013model.
Ifyoudividetheenvironmentintotwoormorefarms,yougreatlyreducethetimethatisrequiredto
updateanyoneofthefarms.
Contentdbsfor
CollabSites
Linkdb
SharePoint databases
Redundantcopiesofalldatabases
usingSQLclustering,mirroring,or
SQLServer2012AlwaysOn
Buildtheenvironment
Itisimportanttoreplicateaportionoftheproductionenvironmentinatestenvironmenttotestthe
updateprocessandcode.Theservershighlightedwiththegreenbackgroundrepresentthemaximum
numberofserversthatyouneedtotesttheupdateprocessforafarmofthissize.Thisenvironment
consistsof8-10servers,dependingonwhethertheredundantcopiesofthespecifieddatabaseservers
areincludedornot.BesuretoincludetheLinkdbandcontentdatabasesforbothMySitesandteam
sitesinthetestenvironment(alsohighlightedingreen).ThesecanbesharedonaVMwithotherdbs.
Theadvantagesofbuildingalargertestenvironmentincludethefollowing:
Theenvironmentmorecloselyresemblestheproductionenvironmentwithcombinationofvirtual
rolessharedonphysicalhardware.
Theperformanceofupdatingtheserverswillmorecloselymatchtheperformanceinproduction.
Thiswillgiveyouanideaofhowlongitwilltaketoupdatetheproductionenvironment.
Youcanuseproceduresandprocessesthatyoudevelopinthetestenvironmentwhenyouupdate
theproductionenvironment.
Smallerenvironmentscanbeusedtotesttheupdateprocess.Forexample,thefollowingthree-server
environmentrepresentsthesmallestenvironmentthatisrecommendedforanenterprise-scalefarm:
Host12Webserversand2applicationservers
Host2Allsearchrolesononeserver
Host3SQLServerwithalldatabaserolesincluded
Inanytestenvironment,besuretoincludeatleasttwoinstancesofeveryrolerepresentedonthe
farm.
Workingaroundsiteswithissues
Ifspecificsitescauseupgradeissues,youwillencountererrormessageswitheachserverthatyou
update.Thebestcourseofactionistoresolvetheissueswiththesites.However,ifyoucannotresolve
issuesduringtheupdatetimeframe,youcanconsiderthefollowingsolutions:
1.Movethesitestoadedicateddatabase.
2.Removethedatabasefromthefarmduringtheupdateprocess.
3.Reattachthedatabaseaftertheupdateprocess.
Analyticsdb
Analyticsdb
Analyticsdb
Analyticsdb
Analyticsdb
Linkdb
Administration