Deployment Architectures for Sharepoint

SharePoint may be deployed in several different architectural configurations from a single server utilizing SQL Server Express to a multiserver farm with an active-passive SQL cluster. The exact deployment architecture will be based on the number of users, storage requirements, and availability requirements. Small team-based installations may be able to use a single server while large Internet presence sites will need a farm. Table 2-3 lists the various configurations and their specifications based on an average corporate user with an average amount of activity.

Single-Server Configuration: A single-server deployment of WSS or MOSS can be created on a server that has a 2.8 GHz processor with 2GB of RAM and a 100GB hard drive. In this scenario, you would utilize SQL Server Express to create the required databases directly on the server without the need for a separate installation of SQL Server 2005. This deployment is remarkably easy to set up by simply running the WSS or MOSS installation and following the steps. However, this is the least reliable configuration because everything obviously relies on the availability of a single machine.

Small Farm Configuration: System performance can be improved by moving the database off of the single server and onto its own server. This requires a separate installation of SQL Server, but improves performance significantly because all database operations can happen on the separate server. However, this configuration is really no more reliable than the single-server configuration because it is still vulnerable to a single failure.

Medium Farm Configuration: True enterprise reliability begins with the medium farm configuration. In this configuration, the web front-end servers, application server, and database servers are separate. A typical configuration would have two front-end web servers, a single application server, and an activepassive SQL Server cluster. Generally, these servers are dual-processor machines with at least 4GB of RAM and upward of 200GB hard drives. Performance and reliability in this configuration are greatly enhanced by separating the required functions across machines.

Large Farm Configuration: The large farm configuration is a scaled-out version of the medium farm configuration. In the large farm, upward of four front-end web servers are used to handle hundreds of thousands of users. An application server and active-passive SQL Server cluster are employed in the same way as the medium farm configuration. This configuration is typical for a large Internet presence site.