SHAREPOINT 2013 FARM TOPOLOGIES

SharePoint 2013 has been out for some time now, and most of the new SharePoint engagements use SharePoint 2013. However, when it comes topology planning and which services component  should be run on each server, there isn't enough information available. Let discuss the two approaches Microsoft recommends.

SharePoint 2013 topologies

There are two type of approaches available for the SharePoint application topology as in the following:

• Streamlined topologies: the distribution of services and other components in a farm is intended to maximize system resources of server hardware. Streamlined architectures include front-end servers, batch-processing servers, and database servers
• Traditional topologies: Topologies are based on traditional approaches to building architectures with Web servers, application servers, and database servers.

Traditional topologies:

The traditional three-tier roles of a Microsoft SharePoint 2013 farm can be deployed on a single server for evaluation or development, or on many servers. The three-tier roles include the following

Web server role

Hosts web pages, Web services, and Web Parts that are necessary to process requests served by the farm. Directs requests to the appropriate application servers. In dedicated services farms, this role is not necessary because web servers at remote farms contact application servers directly.

Application server role

Provides the service features of SharePoint products and technologies. An application server often provides all or a subset of service features. Multiple redundant application servers can be load balanced.

Database server role

Stores content and service data. All databases can be assigned to one database server. Or databases can be spread across multiple servers. 

Service applications and Services on Server for traditional topologies

SERVICE APPLICATION	SERVICES ON SERVER	RECOMMENDATION
Access Services 2010	Access Database Service 2010	Application Server
Access Services	Access Services	Application Server
App Management Service	App Management Service	Application Server
Business Data Connectivity	Business Data Connectivity	Application Server
Excel Calculation Services	Excel Calculation Services	Application Server
Machine Translation Service	Machine Translation Service	Application Server
Managed Metadata Service	Managed Metadata Service	Application Server
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Subscription Settings Service	Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Subscription Settings Service	Web server or application server
PerformancePoint	PerformancePoint	Application Serve
PowerPoint Conversion	PowerPoint Conversion Service	Application Server
Lotus Notes Connector	Lotus Notes Connector	Application Server
Search	Search Host Controller Service	Application Server
Search	Search Query and Site Settings Service	Application Server
Search	SharePoint Server Search	Application Server
Secure Store Service	Secure Store Service	Application server
Usage and Health Data Collection	NA	NA
User Profile	User Profile Service	Application server
User Profile	User Profile Synchronization Service	Application Server
Visio Graphics Service	Visio Graphics Service	Application Server
Word Automation Service	Word Automation Service	Application Server
Work Management	Work Management Service	Application Server
Central Administration	Central Administration	Application Server
Claims to Windows Token Service	Claims to Windows Token Service	Web and application servers
Distributed Cache	Distributed Cache	Web and application servers
Document Conversions Launcher Service	Document Conversions Launcher Service	Application Server
Document Conversions Load Balancer Service	Document Conversions Load Balancer Service	Application Server
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Incoming E-Mail	Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Incoming E-Mail	Web server or application server
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Sandboxed Code Service	Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Sandboxed Code Service	Web server or application server
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Web Application	Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Web Application	Web server
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Workflow Timer Service	Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Workflow Timer Service	Web server
Request Management	Request Management	Web server or dedicated servers

Streamlined topologies:

A new approach to design farm and as an alternative to the traditional farm design, Microsoft SharePoint 2013 topologies can be designed to optimize system resources and to maximize performance for users.

Front-end servers: Service applications, services, and components that serve user requests directly are placed on front-end servers. These servers are optimized for fast performance. The following services can be run on the web front-end servers:

• Access Services
• Business Data Connectivity
• Managed Metadata
• User Profile

Batch-processing servers: optimized for load, the following services can be run on the application servers

• User Profile Synchronization
• Workflow
• Machine Translation
• Work Management

Specialized BI workloads

some services applications can cause spikes in performance, such as Excel Calculation Services or PerformancePoint. If an organization uses these service applications heavily then the recommendation is to place these on dedicated servers.

Search

The search workload uses many resources. When scaling beyond two batch-processing servers, place this role on dedicated servers.

Distributed Cache and Request Management

For small and medium-size architectures, a Distributed Cache can remain on the front-end servers. Beyond 10,000 users this service is expected to work better on dedicated servers. At this scale, Request Management can be added and shared on the same servers with the Distributed Cache. The Request Manager is CPU-intensive. The Distributed Cache is memory-intensive.

Service applications and Services on Server for streamlined topologies

SERVICE APPLICATION	SERVICES ON SERVER	RECOMMENDATION
Access Services 2010	Access Database Service 2010	Web Front End (WFE ) Server
Access Services	Access Services	WFE Server
App Management Service	App Management Service	WFE Server
Business Data Connectivity	Business Data Connectivity	WFE Server
Excel Calculation Services	Excel Calculation Services	WFE  or Dedicated Application Server
Machine Translation Service	Machine Translation Service	Batch-processing server
Managed Metadata Service	Managed Metadata Service	WFE Server
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Subscription Settings Service	Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Subscription Settings Service	WFE Server
PerformancePoint	PerformancePoint	Batch-processing server or specialized server
PowerPoint Conversion	PowerPoint Conversion Service	Batch-processing server
Lotus Notes Connector	Lotus Notes Connector	Batch-processing server or specialized server
Search	Search Host Controller Service	Specialized server for Search
Search	Search Query and Site Settings Service	Specialized server
Search	SharePoint Server Search	Specialized server
Secure Store Service	Secure Store Service	WFE Server
Usage and Health Data Collection	NA	NA
User Profile	User Profile Service	WFE server
User Profile	User Profile Synchronization Service	Application / Batch-processing server
Visio Graphics Service	Visio Graphics Service	WFE Server
Word Automation Service	Word Automation Service	Application / Batch-processing Server
Work Management	Work Management Service	Application / Batch-processing Server
Central Administration	Central Administration	Application / Batch-processing Server
Claims to Windows Token Service	Claims to Windows Token Service	Web and application servers
Distributed Cache	Distributed Cache	Web and application / Batch-processing Server
Document Conversions Launcher Service	Document Conversions Launcher Service	Application / Batch-processing Server
Document Conversions Load Balancer Service	Document Conversions Load Balancer Service	Application / Batch-processing server
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Incoming E-Mail	Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Incoming E-Mail	WFE server
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Sandboxed Code Service	Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Sandboxed Code Service	WFE server
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Web Application	Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Web Application	WFE server
Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Workflow Timer Service	Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Workflow Timer Service	WFE and Batch-processing server
Request Management	Request Management	Distributed Cache and Request Management tie