1. SharePoint is only an application so it has to run on top of Windows Server Windows 2008 R2 SP1 or Windows 2012 Standard, Enterprise, or Data Center Still 64 bit SharePoint will do all of the other software work for you. Just install Windows Updates and add the server to the domain. Except the prereqs it misses http://www.toddklindt.com/sp2013forgottenprereqs Hardware and Software requirements for SharePoint 2013 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262485(v=office.15).aspx

2. 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter 2012 Standard, BI, or Datacenter 2012 SP1 required for Business Intelligence bits Remember this is where your performance comes from!

3. Best place to keep track of build numbers is http://www.toddklindt.com/SP2013Builds Patches Hotfixes Cumulative Updates Service Packs You cannot uninstall any patches Install Hotfixes as soon as is prudent Only install CUs if they fix a problem you’re having They break stuff Test in a test environment first Wait at least a month before putting in production Install Service Packs as soon as is responsible

4. Services by SKU Foundation App Management BDC * Usage and health data collection Subscription settings Standard Machine Translation * Managed Metadata * Search * Secure Store * State User Profile * Word Automation Work Management Enterprise Access Access 2010 Excel PerformancePoint Visio Graphics * = Cross Farm = Has Database

5. Project Server 2013 Add on product for managing Project 2013 projects Requires SharePoint 2013 Enterprise CAL SQL Server Reporting Services Requires SQL 2012 Installs as a service application Requires SharePoint Server Office Web Apps Licensed separately Read is free Create/edit will cost you Stand alone install Can no longer be installed on a SharePoint server PowerPivot SharePoint Server required (Excel Services)

6. Web Front End – WFE These are servers that host the IIS sites (web applications) that your users interact with You have to setup your own load balancing to direct web traffic Application Server Catch all for the servers in your farm that run the various services SharePoint is very flexible, you can spread the load any way you want SharePoint does the load balancing of service for you Search needs some extra lovin’ Database Server Can be any supported version of SQL Can be cluster or mirrored or any other cool SQL trick you know You can have multiple SQL servers

13. 100 GB C: Drive Windows SharePoint root All of those hotfixes & service packs for the next few years Some SharePoint operations spool here X GB second drive Move all possible files here (logs, etc.) All servers must have the same drive letters 4 cores Memory 12 GB for production servers in 3 tier topology 24 GB for all-in-one test or dev 8 GB for test or dev Foundation Gigabit Ethernet All servers must have less than 1 ms of latency to each other

14. The corner has been turned Don’t be stingy with hardware Tiers Web front ends – Sure Application – Be careful SQL – Be very, very careful TechNet: SharePoint 2013 Hardware and software requirements http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc262485(v=office.15).aspx Session on virtualizing SharePoint – MDC-B356 http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/MDC- B356#fbid=agHp9LMH8AJ http://channel9.msdn.com/Events/TechEd/NorthAmerica/2013/MDC- B356#fbid=agHp9LMH8AJ

15. Prerequisite Installer (prerequisiteinstaller.exe) Don’t forget the forgotten Prereqs http://www.toddklindt.com/sp2013forgottenprereqs Installing the bits (setup.exe) If you have any hot fixes, service packs, or language packs now is the time to install them Configure the bits (grey wizard/PowerShell if you’re cool) Farm Configuration (white wizard or PowerShell/Central admin)

16. Pretty straightforward You can do the install on all of the servers in the farm at the same time You should be logged in as the sp_install account for this step Must be local administrator on all SharePoint Servers Must have SQL Server roles of dbcreator, securityadmin, and public Service account guidelines http://www.toddklindt.com/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=237

19. Everything old is new again