Simple infrastructure for MOSS deployment

Hi,

We have a requirement for installing MOSS for a small number of users,
mainly for document management. We don't need a high availability
solution, and hardware can be replaced within 1 hour.

We are planning to have a front-end web server, and a back-end SQL
database.

Questions:

* Is Active Directory required for MOSS. As a standalone system, is it
possible to create users as domain users or local accounts?
* If AD is required, is it possible to use one of the servers as AD
controllers?
* If we schedule indexing of documents in quiet period, is it possible
to have the search capability running of the front-end web server?
* Where does the search engine store its index files. Is it in SQL or
on the local storage?

Thanks,
Seb

John
Thu Jun 12 16:05:38 CDT 2008

> * Is Active Directory required for MOSS. As a standalone system, is it
> possible to create users as domain users or local accounts?

You can install without AD
http://abortretryfail.net/2008/06/02/sharepoint-without-ad-and-clean-database-names-and-fba/

With a front end server, and back end SQL its not stand alone - you can
make it work without it but its a pain for the sake of connecting it to AD.

> * If AD is required, is it possible to use one of the servers as AD
> controllers?

You can run MOSS on a DC, but its not recdommened
http://www.google.ca/search?q=installing+sharepoint+domain+controller

> * If we schedule indexing of documents in quiet period, is it possible
> to have the search capability running of the front-end web server?

Yes

> * Where does the search engine store its index files. Is it in SQL or
> on the local storage?

Local

--
--
Regards

John Timney (MVP)
http://www.johntimney.com
http://www.johntimney.com/blog



"SebTomato" <solive@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:f9c88cd0-efa7-4516-a25c-36c1b41664ce@w7g2000hsa.googlegroups.com...
> Hi,
>
> We have a requirement for installing MOSS for a small number of users,
> mainly for document management. We don't need a high availability
> solution, and hardware can be replaced within 1 hour.
>
> We are planning to have a front-end web server, and a back-end SQL
> database.
>
> Questions:
>
> * Is Active Directory required for MOSS. As a standalone system, is it
> possible to create users as domain users or local accounts?
> * If AD is required, is it possible to use one of the servers as AD
> controllers?
> * If we schedule indexing of documents in quiet period, is it possible
> to have the search capability running of the front-end web server?
> * Where does the search engine store its index files. Is it in SQL or
> on the local storage?
>
> Thanks,
> Seb

KZ
Fri Jun 13 08:14:20 CDT 2008

On 12 Jun, 18:44, SebTomato <sol...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> We have a requirement for installing MOSS for a small number of users,
> mainly for document management. We don't need a high availability
> solution, and hardware can be replaced within 1 hour.
>
> We are planning to have a front-end web server, and a back-end SQL
> database.
>
> Questions:
>
> * Is Active Directory required for MOSS. As a standalone system, is it
> possible to create users as domain users or local accounts?
> * If AD is required, is it possible to use one of the servers as AD
> controllers?
> * If we schedule indexing of documents in quiet period, is it possible
> to have the search capability running of the front-end web server?
> * Where does the search engine store its index files. Is it in SQL or
> on the local storage?
>
> Thanks,
> Seb

If you only want to use it for Document management then consider using
WSS only and not full MOSS. This will also save you significant
licensing costs.
You do not need AD but if the SQL is a separate box then why have the
nightmare of not using it.
You also need to take into consideration any requirements for emailing
functionality. Will users expect to create alerts for example?
Installing MOSS on a DC means the local groups are moved to the built
in group of the DC. This may cause you a problem with some MOSS
functionality when it runs certain jobs as a low priviledged account
it expects to find local to the server such as web publishing
functionality from Word docs.
Plan this carefully as once installed without AD you will have a very
manual and significant reconfiguration task to move it to using domain
accounts

SebTomato
Sat Jun 14 04:50:31 CDT 2008

Hi,

Thank you both for the information, very useful.

We do have to use MOSS as opposed to WSS3, due to a couple of features
only present in MOSS (records management, content expiration,
auditing). You are right, this will cost more due to each user
requiring a CAL, and MOSS server licences. WSS3 probably does 95% of
the requirements, but they want the extra features.

I have been advised that having a single AD/DC server is an issue, as
it is very difficult to recover from backups, and possibly all
accounts have to be created again.

Therefore, it looks like we will have a three server configuration:

* 1 DC server (Active Directory). Small server (1GB Ram etc) only used
for authentication.
* 1 webserver, with MOSS and Search. Enough local storage for the
search index. IIS SMTP server used for sending email alerts.
* 1 Database server (full SQL) for storage of documents, and secondary
AD
All servers with RAID storage. There will be a Cisco firewall.

The configuration is not resilient, but hard to justify doubling
everything up for a small number of users. Also, the hosting company
has got a SLA of 1 hour for hardware replacement, so the down time in
case of server failure is probably a few hours (probably availability
of 99% or greater).

Thanks,
Seb

John
Sat Jun 14 16:16:08 CDT 2008

Just bear in mind that resilience is not about the number of users, its
about the costs of downtime and the potential value of the data or time
lost. So make sure you work out your DR strategy for site collections
(like buy a cheap NAS and back them up nightly offsite), and document your
build deeply while you go, so you are in a position to recover easily if a
failure does occur. At least that way you'll sleep better at night.
Everything is in your DB, so tighten your SLA around that server and you
should be OK.

Regards

John Timney (MVP)
http://www.johntimney.com
http://www.johntimney.com/blog



"SebTomato" <solive@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:a2f44200-a83b-4cf9-829f-bfb52f635a2f@d45g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
> Hi,
>
> Thank you both for the information, very useful.
>
> We do have to use MOSS as opposed to WSS3, due to a couple of features
> only present in MOSS (records management, content expiration,
> auditing). You are right, this will cost more due to each user
> requiring a CAL, and MOSS server licences. WSS3 probably does 95% of
> the requirements, but they want the extra features.
>
> I have been advised that having a single AD/DC server is an issue, as
> it is very difficult to recover from backups, and possibly all
> accounts have to be created again.
>
> Therefore, it looks like we will have a three server configuration:
>
> * 1 DC server (Active Directory). Small server (1GB Ram etc) only used
> for authentication.
> * 1 webserver, with MOSS and Search. Enough local storage for the
> search index. IIS SMTP server used for sending email alerts.
> * 1 Database server (full SQL) for storage of documents, and secondary
> AD
> All servers with RAID storage. There will be a Cisco firewall.
>
> The configuration is not resilient, but hard to justify doubling
> everything up for a small number of users. Also, the hosting company
> has got a SLA of 1 hour for hardware replacement, so the down time in
> case of server failure is probably a few hours (probably availability
> of 99% or greater).
>
> Thanks,
> Seb
>

SebTomato
Mon Jun 16 01:06:48 CDT 2008

Hi,

All servers will have RAID disks, and all are backed up each night off
site. All servers have a SLA of 1 hour replacement.

I can't do much more, apart from doubling the servers and adding a SAN
for resilience, and also more than double the cost. However, it is
down to cost/benefit and our business users are going to be very clear
on what they are getting and what the risks are: interruption of
service for up to a day, files lost if failure in between backups etc.
If people are clear, I will sleep well at night!

With the measures above, I think we can aim for 99% availability but
not much more.

Thanks,
Seb