Creating Web Application in SharePoint with multiple Web front ends - sharepoint

How do you go about creating a web application in a Sharepoint server farm that has multiple Web front ends(identical ones for load balancing), especially if you creating it from command line? When you create it on one web server does it get automatically copied to other servers as well? Or do you have to extend the app to other servers?

As long as you play by SharePoint's rules you don't have to worry about the multiple Web front ends.
SharePoint will automatically make the changes on all of them (including future ones)
BUT if you go and make modifications in IIS manager or the filesystem (could be web.config) then you have to make these modifications to all Web front ends (also the ones you'll add in the future)
So always do all your modifications through Cdentral Admin, STSADM or the object model. And always use wsp packages when adding functionality

It's quite simple (in theory):
Install SharePoint
Add the server to the farm through Central Admin
This goes into a little more detail.
When you deploy new code/solutions to any one server, it will create a timer job that deploys to all servers in the farm. So, to answer your question, applications are deployed to the farm, not to servers.

Related

Using Web Deploy to synchronize web application files

We develop a website that our customer is using internally, we host the application in 3 - 10 windows servers for them. If we want to modify the content of our application, we are forced to access all the servers manually and deploy in all of them. We have decided to deploy the files to one location that will be accessible without needing our customer's internal network access(we've asked them to setup a DMZ) and from there synchronize the contents to all servers.
From just browsing through, I've come across IIS Web Farms and Web Deploy which does something similar to this, my question is, we want the deployment so happen to all servers one by one, or all at once and on demand. Is it possible to configure WebFarms/Web Deploy to work like this? Also if synchronize fails, restoring backups, pulling reports. Is this all doable with Web Deploy/WebFarms?

How do I setup SharePoint 2013 (On Premise) for third party apps?

I have created a provider-hosted app which was developed and tested against SharePoint Online. I now want to install this on SharePoint 2013 On Premise.
It is my intention that, despite being a provider hosted app, I wish to host the app web in IIS on the SharePoint server (single farm not a cluster). I then intend to use a local URL for my App Web URL.
I understand the process of setting up an App Catalog (On SharePoint Online) as a repository for my App which in turn will enable users to add it to a site.
I have only been able to find a guide to setup On Premise SharePoint to allow users to use the SharePoint store but I only want to set it up for third party apps.
My question is do I need to go through all the steps in this link https://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/fp161236.aspx even if I don't want/require store access? I don't not want to do more than necessary and I would prefer a simple solution for my clients.
I followed this guide https://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/fp161234.aspx in the hope that creating the app catalog would be sufficient but I get the error "Sorry, apps are turned off. If you know who runs the server, tell them to enable apps."

Sharepoint 2013 Intranet and Extranet Topology - How?

I am currently trying to decide on a Sharepoint Farm Topology.
Currently (in terms of our needs), I think a simple three tier topology will work.
i.e.
Web Front-End Server
Application Server
Database server
To start with our primary aim will be to use SharePoint as a Intranet. However, on our roadmap we would like to extend some elements of this - as an Extranet with some coustomers.
Should we go with an Extranet option in the future, so do we just (in simple terms) create a new web application in Sharepoint 2013 on the existing web front end, sort out a host header and SSL and a means to manage permissions.
Or could we create a new front-end server, which is only houses a new web application (the Extranet) - but still uses the same Application and Database server (as it will be potentially sharing the some of the same content databases)?
I am primarily a C# Web Developer - which is typically how I view most things. As I am learning - in the world of SharePoint nothing is simple!
If the extranet users need access to the same content, you can stick with option 1 and and Extend the existing Webapplication for Extranet.

What's the best strategy to add WFE server to a SharePoint farm in virtualised environment?

My organization has a farm with 3 servers, 1 WFE, 1 APP and 1 DB. These are all VMs and we want to add a new WFE server to it.
What is the best strategy here? Should we start from scratch by installing OS, SharePoint etc. OR can we make a clone of the existing WFE.
Below are the services currently running in the WFE server.
Any suggestion will be appreciated.
First of all, clonning SharePoint Farm components is not supported by Microsoft.
But to save some time you can clone existing WFE, put it offline (Disconnect-SPConfigurationDatabase) to not interfere with current Farm, remove all Application Pools and Sites in IIS, remove SharePoint Logs, do SysPrep and then connect it to Farm with different name.
I recommend you do fresh install (OS,SP,Updates), but do not connect to Farm, then do SysPrep and save this image for future use (clonnable).
Also you should check AutoSPInstaller project, it's awesome for Enterprise Farm setup, also good to prepare new nodes to join Farm.
There is a detailed article on this topic:
Add a Web or application server to the farm (SharePoint Server 2010)
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc261752%28v=office.14%29.aspx
In a nutshell, you do create it from scratch. There is no way to clone.
This worked for me in a production environment.
To clone a WFE:
Put one of the WFEs offline/remove from any load balancing cluster.
Run the Disconnect-SPConfigurationDatabase command in PowerShell.
Disconnect the web site in IIS.
Delete SharePoint Logs.
Sysprep, clone and create a template from the clone.
Create a new server from the template and do the usual work getting it on your domain.
I used the psconfiggui.exe to join the server to the farm. Keep an eye on the Timer service and WWW service during the process, they will need to be restarted.
A good way to know if you have everything right is that during the psconfig process you will be asked for your farm passphrase.
Before bringing the server on line you have to add the desired applications to the server and make sure you have the correct certificates in the server certificates store in IIS.

Identify server that made call to web service

I am working within an intranet environment. We have both a production and development sharepoint server (WSS 3).
We have a 3rd party workflow product which runs on top of sharepoint. It is installed on both the production and development sharepoint servers. The workflow product can call web services I have written which are hosted on our web server.
How would I have the web services determine which sharepoint server made the call to the web service, be it the production or development server?
I would then use this information to retrieve server specific information from web.config or database etc.
Currently the site hosting web services is setup to allow anonymous access so code such as
System.Web.HttpContext.Current.User.Identity.Name;
returns an empty string. If windows authenticaion is used it returns the identity of the currently logged in user, which is no use in identifying the server the call was made from.
I need a push in the right direction to address what I believe is probably a common scenario please.
Try System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Request.UserHostName

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