This document provides an overview of topologies for SharePoint Server 2010, including: 1) Server roles like web, application, and database servers that can be combined on small farms or separated on larger farms with dedicated servers. 2) Service applications that are deployed to application servers and include multiple components. 3) Services associated with service applications or that run independently on servers. 4) Recommendations for grouping services and databases with similar performance onto server groups that can be scaled out. 3) Examples of small, medium, and large farm topologies with different server configurations.

1. Topologies for SharePoint Server 2010
Physical servers, service applications and components, and services on server
Overview Server roles Components for service applications Services on server
The traditional three-tier roles of a Microsoft® SharePoint® Server 2010 farm can
be deployed on a single server or many servers. The three-tier roles include:
Web server None. Services listed in this row are recommended for Web servers.
· Web server role Other services
· Host Web pages, Web services, and Web
· Application server role Parts that are necessary to process requests Microsoft SharePoint Microsoft SharePoint
served by the farm. Foundation Incoming E-Mail Foundation Web Application
· Database server role · Direct requests to the appropriate application
servers.
In a small farm, server roles can be combined onto one or two servers. For * Microsoft SharePoint Windows SharePoint Services
· This role is necessary for farms that include Foundation User Code Service Workflow Timer Service *
example, the Web server and application server roles can be combined on a other SharePoint Server 2010 capabilities. In
single server or onto two or more servers to achieve redundancy. dedicated search service farms, this role is not
necessary because Web servers at remote * Can also be deployed to application servers.
farms contact query servers directly.
Service applications · In small farms, this role can be shared on a
Service applications are services that are shared across sites within a farm (for server with the query role.
example, Search and Excel Calculation Services). Some service applications
can be shared across multiple farms.
Service applications are deployed to the application server tier. Some services Application server roles
include multiple components and deployment of these components require
Application server roles are associated with
planning. For example: services that can be deployed to a physical Search roles (cross-farm) Other cross-farm services Services associated with service applications Other services
· The Search service application includes multiple application components and computer.
Cross-farm services can be Access Database Managed Metadata Application Registry Microsoft SharePoint
Business Data Web shared across multiple farms.
Secure Store Service Visio Graphics Service
multiple databases. Includes index partitions and query Services Web Service
· Each service represents a separate Query User Profile
Connectivity Analytics
Service Foundation Incoming E-Mail
components.
application service that can potentially reside
· The People service application includes multiple databases. Business Data Microsoft SharePoint
Foundation Subscription
SharePoint Server Web Analytics Data * Microsoft SharePoint
on a dedicated application server. Includes the search administration Managed Secure Store Connectivity Search Processing Service Central Administration
Settings Service Foundation User Code Service
Each service application is associated with at least one service on the Services · Services with similar usage and performance Crawl
component and crawlers. Metadata Service
on Server page in Central Administration. characteristics can be grouped on a server Excel Calculation PerformancePoint Web Analytics Web Document Conversions
and scaled out onto multiple servers together. User Profile Service SharePoint Foundation
Services Service service Launcher Service Search
For example, client-related services can be
Services on server combined into a service group. Lotus Notes Search Query and Site User Profile Word Automation Document Conversions
· After deployment, look for services that Connector Settings Service Synchronization Service Services Load Balancer Service
Client-related services (single farm) Other single-farm services
The Services on Server page in Central Administration lists services that are consume a disproportionate amount of
started or stopped on specific servers in the farm: resources and consider placing these services
Access Word Microsoft Single-farm services can be
on dedicated hardware. PowerPoint Usage and State Service used only within a single farm.
· Some of these services are associated with service applications. You deploy Excel Service Services Health Data SharePoint
service applications by starting the associated services on the desired server Calculation Collection Foundation
Services Visio Graphics Word Subscription
computers. Service Viewing Settings
Performance
· Some of these services are not associated with service applications. Point
Windows PowerShell only
This model lists these services and indicates which server roles the services are
recommended for.
Note: Search components for the query and crawl roles are deployed to servers
using the Search service application pages in Central Administration, not the
Services on Server page.
Other service databases
Detailed service guidance
Search databases
Database server Windows
Business Data Secure Store Social
Scaling out a farm with server groups In a small-farm environment, all databases
Search
Connectivity Service
Profile
Tagging SharePoint
Admin db Services
In SharePoint Server 2010, the number of services and corresponding can be deployed to a single server. In larger
environments, group databases by roles and Usage and
Subscription
databases is greater than previous releases. The recommendation for scaling Managed Profile User Profile Settings This table lists the services that appear on the Services on Server page in Central Administration and provides additional topology guidance, if it
deploy these to multiple database servers. Property db Property db Metadata Health Data Synchronization applies. Note that search service application components are deployed to servers by using the search administration page, not the Services on
out a farm is to group services or databases with similar performance Multiple property Collection databases
and crawl databases Server page.
characteristics onto dedicated servers and then scale out the servers as a
Crawl db Crawl db for medium- and State Service
group. large-sized farms. Service Is this service Server recommendation Additional information
associated with
For example, group all client-related services onto one or two servers and then a service
add servers to this group as needed to satisfy user demand for these services. application?
In some cases, you might need to create a dedicated server group for a single
Content databases Access Database Services Yes Application server
service, such as Excel Calculation Services or Search.
Multiple content databases, depending on the Application Registry Service No Application server Backward compatibility version of the Business
This model groups service applications and related components (for example, Content Content Content Data Catalog service.
volume of content and sizing goals for an
databases) into several different logical groupings that can be used as a starting environment. Business Data Connectivity Yes Application server
point. In large environments, the specific groups that evolve for a farm depends
Content Content Central Administration No Application server This service runs the Central Administration site.
on the specific demands for each service.
Note: Server groups is a planning concept. This term and concept is not found Document Conversions No Application server Schedules and initiates the document conversions
Launcher Service on a server.
in Central Administration.
Document Conversions Load No Application server Balances document conversion requests from
Balancer Service across the server farm. Each Web application can
only have one load balancer registered with it at a
time.
Excel Calculation Services Yes Application server
Small to medium topology examples Large farm examples
Lotus Notes Connector Yes — Search Application server — Start this service This service is required to crawl content from
on the index server. Lotus Notes Domino Servers.
Managed Metadata Web Yes Application server
Service
Microsoft SharePoint No Web server or application server Typically, this service runs on a Web server. If you
Foundation Incoming E-Mail need to isolate this service, you can start it on an
Limited deployments Medium farm architectures Topologies with server groups Microsoft SharePoint Yes Web server or application server — In
application server.
Start this service if you have deployed service
Foundation Subscription hosting environments, this service is applications in multitenant mode or if the farm
Note: This service
Settings Service typically started on one or more includes sites using site subscriptions. This service
application is deployed
Limited deployments Medium topologies only by using
application servers. stores settings and configuration data for tenants
Description: Evaluation environments and production environments for limited numbers of users. The recommendation for scaling out a large farm is to group services or databases with similar performance in a multitenant environment. After it is started,
The medium server farm illustrated is scaled for search to serve approximately 40 million items. Beyond this search scale, the Windows PowerShell.
recommendation is to deploy a dedicated search farm. Scale out all other servers based on the utilization of other services characteristics onto dedicated servers and then scale out the servers as a group. The following topology illustrates a Web applications consume this service
Two-tier farm within the farm and the volume of content the farm will host. practical example of this concept. The red text lists one possible way to build server groups. automatically.
One-server farm
Evaluation or <100 users Up to 10,000 users
Microsoft SharePoint No Web server or application server — This service runs code deployed as part of a
Foundation User Code Start this service on computers in the sandboxed solution in a remote, rights-restricted
All roles on one server, All Web and application The number of users will affect the requirement for Web servers. Factor 10,000 Web servers Service farm that run sandboxed code. This process and measures the server resources used
Web servers Web server group 1 Web server group 2
users per Web server as a starting point. Adjust the number based on how
including SQL Server server roles can include Web servers and during execution against a site collection-scoped,
heavily the servers are utilized. Heavy use of client services will increase the
load on Web servers. application servers. daily quota.
Databases High availability — For environments above Microsoft SharePoint No Web server — Ensure that this service This service provides Web server functionality. It
1,000, two clustered or mirrored database Foundation Web Application is started on all Web servers in a is started by default on Web servers.
servers are recommended.
Start with all application server roles installed on one
farm. Stop this service on application
server (except search roles). Based on utilization,
Web servers for all incoming Dedicated Web server(s) for servers.
Application servers requests crawling and administration
consider either adding additional servers with all the
non-search roles installed, or add additional servers to Microsoft SharePoint No Web server This service is automatically configured to run on
dedicate resources to specific services. For example, if Foundation Workflow Timer all Web servers in a farm.
performance data indicates that Excel Services is Application servers Application server group 1 Application server group 2 Application server group 3 Application server group 4 Service
Small farm topologies
Combined query and All other application server using a disproportionate amount of resources, offload
crawl server roles and services this service to a dedicated server. PerformancePoint Service Yes Application server
Search Query and Site Yes — Search Application server — Start this service Load balances queries across query servers. Also
Settings Service on all query servers in a farm. detects farm-level changes to the search service
Small multi-purpose SharePoint Server 2010 topologies Add additional database servers based on However, if it becomes memory and puts these in the Search Admin database.
Database servers
Description: Small farm architectures serve a larger number of users and scale out based on how heavily services are used. the volume of content in your environment Crawl servers Query servers All other services (use on of these Servers for running sandboxed intensive, consider moving this
Due to the greater number of services, including client Web applications, more requests per user are expected in the new and sizing targets for your organization. servers for the Central Admin site) code service to a dedicated computer to
version compared with the old version. free up memory for query processing.
Search databases All other SharePoint databases Database servers
Two-tier small farm Three-tier small farm Three-tier small farm optimized for search
Database group 1 Database group 2 Database group 3 Secure Store Service Yes Application server
Two Web servers are predicted to Add a dedicated application server for With hardware dedicated to search databases,
serve 10,000-20,000 users environments with moderate service this topology is optimized for search to work SharePoint Foundation No In a SharePoint Foundation farm, This service provides search in a SharePoint
usage. well in environments with up to 10 million items. Search start this service on the search Foundation farm. For SharePoint Server farms,
server. In a SharePoint Server farm, this service is only used to search online Help.
this service is only needed to search Start this service only on one computer.
online Help. Start the service on any
Search databases Content databases All other SharePoint databases server in the farm.
Web server Web server SharePoint Server Search Yes — Search Automatically configured to run on the This service cannot be stopped or started from the
Web/Query server Web/Query server
Query server Query server appropriate computers. Services on Server page.
All other app roles
Application Application User Profile Service Yes Application server
server server
All SharePoint User Profile Synchronization Yes Application server
databases Service
Visio Graphics Service Yes Application server
All SharePoint
databases Web Analytics Data Yes — Web Analytics Application server
Processing Service
Search All other SharePoint
databases databases Web Analytics Web service Yes — Web Analytics Application server
Word Automation Services Yes Application server Performs automated bulk document conversions.
When actively converting, this service will fully
utilize one CPU for each worker process
(configured in Central Administration). If the
service is started on multiple servers, a job will be
shared across all the servers.
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