Here will see the Sharepoint 2013 3 Tier installation with step by step instructions  and the installation of SQL server with it’s best practices.

Before we begin the installation let’s look at the 3 tier architecture of the SharePoint 2013 installation. (Image credit – https://technet.microsoft.com )

Step 1

So the next step is to create the required service accounts! Below are the required service accounts based on their roles. Names can be absolutely changed according to your companies standards.

Once you have the service accounts created proceed to the next step of deploying the servers.

Step 2

In-order to build a 3 tier farm we need to build 3 servers as below. (Server specifications are based on the Microsoft best practices) Expecting that we are building Virtual Machines.

Make sure you have completely updated your windows with latest patches – Never install the Dot net versions higher than 3.5 on the WFE and CA Servers.

Step 3

SQL Installation:-

Best practices for SQL server preparation.

* Always create the second drive on the SQL server and configure the DB file location to the D drive and install the binaries on the C Drive.

* Format the SQL server D Drive as GPT drive and set the disk allocation unit size to 64K

a) So let’s begin the installation by launching the setup executable.

b) Select the “SQL Server Feature Installation Option.

c) Select the features as per the requirements below and proceed next.

d) Setup is running the rules before the configurations and installation.

e) Instance Configuration – Let the instance name stay default and point “instance root directory” to D drive. Then click Next.

f) Review the disk space summary and click Next.

g) Service account configurations – Go to the service account tab and configure as per below. Then click Next.

Change the Startup Type for the “SQL Server Agent” to Automatic.
Change the Account Name for the “SQL Server Database Engine” to NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Change the Account Name for the “SQL Server Analysis Services” to NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM

h) On the Database Engine Configuration window specify the database engine security mode as “Mixed Mode) and add the SQL Admin account that we created and also you can add any additional admin accounts. The click Next.

i) On the Analysis Services Configuration page add the same accounts that we added for the database engine authentication.

j) Now the “Reporting Services Configuration” keep the default configuration and click Next.

k) For the error reporting page, it’s up to your if you want to send the data to Microsoft. Here I did n’t select the option to send. Click Next.

l) Again the installation configuration rule runs and then on completion click Next.

m) Next window, verify the roles and then click Next.

n) So the installation will progress based on our configurations and let’s wait for it to complete.

1. Add Setup admin and Farm admin accounts to SecurityAdmin and DB_Creator  groups on the SQL Server.
2. Once the SQL installation is complete login to the SQL Management Studio and set the “Max Degree of Parallelism” value to 1. (Refer below screenshot)

3. Set the maximum amount of memory SQL server can use. It’s good to reserve 10% of the      total available memory for the OS and other services.

4. Select the “Compress backup” option to make sure the backup files are compressed to save on the disk space.

Step 4

Now let’s prepare the applications servers.

SharePoint 2013 Front Servers and Applications server pre-requisites requirements as below. Before we begin the application installation make sure the pre-requisites are complete.

* Web Server (IIS) role
* Application Server role
* Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.5
* SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 Native Client
* Microsoft WCF Data Services 5.0
* Microsoft Information Protection and Control Client (MSIPC)
* Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 SP1 (x64)
* Windows Management Framework 3.0 which includes Windows PowerShell 3.0
* Windows Identity Foundation (WIF) 1.0 and Microsoft Identity Extensions (previously named WIF 1.1)
* Windows Server AppFabric
* Cumulative Update Package 1 for Microsoft AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server (KB 2671763)

Step 5

>Installing SharePoint 2013 on Central Administration server.

1. Considering that the server is prepared with prerequisites.
2. Run the “default.hta” and the setup will give a screen as below.
3. Click on the “Install software prerequisites” to initiate the automated prerequisites installation.

   Once the prerequisites installation is complete, restart the server.

1. Run the “default.hta” again and click on “Install SharePoint Server” It will initiate the SharePoint 2013 installation.
2. Enter the product key to begin.
   
3. Select the Server type as “Complete” This will install all the components in a farm and the farm can be later expanded.
4. Ensure the “Run the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard now.” Option is selected. Then click Close

5. On the Welcome to SharePoint Products page, Click Next.

6. Click Yes to restart the below mentioned services during the installation.

7. On the Connect to server farm page select “Create a new server farm” and click Next.

Configure the database settings as below:

Database server : Mention the database server alias you created.

Database access account : This should be the Setup Admin Account credentials.

Once the required details are filled in click Next.

Enter the farm passphrase here and make sure you document it. This passphrase is required whenever we need to add a new server to the farm.

 

On the below screen you can either enter port number of your choice or you can leave the settings as it and click next. This will configure the Central administration web application with a random port.

On the next window review the configuration parameters. If you are happy you can click Next.

On the next screen SharePoint will do the configurations for completing the farm setup and create necessary configuration database.

Once the installation is complete you will see a screen as below. So you can note down the Central administration URL. Then Click Finish.

 

Once you click on Finish a new internet explorer window will open up and prompt as you see below. Select “No, I don’t wish to participate” and click OK. Then on the next screen click on the “Start the Wizard” box.

On the next screen “User existing managed account” and select the services that you wish to run on the farm and click Next.

On the next window it will show as “Working on it..” it will take some time to finalize the settings. Once the configuration is complete it will show a window as below. Click “Skip” button to exit the site collection creation.

And this will complete the initial farm configuration. Here you will notice the list of service application enabled on the farm.

Step 6

Installing SharePoint 2013 on the Web Front End Server.

1. Login as Setup admin to your WFE Server.
2. Complete the same prerequisites installation as we completed for the Central Administrations server and create the SQL Server alias as mentioned above.
3. Run the “default.hta” again and click on “Install SharePoint Server” It will initiate the SharePoint 2013 installation.
4. Enter the product key to begin

5. Select the Server type as “Complete” This will install all the components in a farm and the farm can be later expanded.

6. Ensure the “Run the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard now.” Option is selected. Then click Close

7. On the Welcome to SharePoint Products page, Click Next.

 

8. Click Yes to restart the below mentioned services during the installation.

9. On the connect to a server farm option, Select “Connect to an existing server farm” radio button and click Next

10. On the next page enter the database server name (Enter the Alias you have created for your SQL DB Server) then click on the “Retrieve Database Names” box to populate the Database name. Then click Next.

11. Enter the passphrase and click Next

12. Finally you are on the window to review the settings and go ahead with the installation. Here you will notice an “Advanced Settings” box. This was not active when you first install the SharePoint 2013 on the Central Administration server. So click on the “Advanced Settings” to see the options.

On the Advanced Settings page it gives an option to enable Central Administration application on the WFE server. If you host the CA app on the WFE server, the central administration URL will be working in load balanced mode and it gives a redundancy. If you prefer to have redundancy for your CA URL you can select the option “Use this machine to host the website.” Here I am choosing with the defaults as “Do not use this machine to host the web site.”

13. So click OK and Click Next to proceed further.

14. Setup is complete now press Finish and wait for the CA URL to open.

15. Then click on the “System Settings” Under Servers “Manage Servers in this Farm”

16. Now open the Central administration URL from the App server and verify that the WFE server is available under this farm.

17.  Now come back to WFE server and click on the “Start the Wizard” button.

18. Now choose the services that you want to enable on the server and click Next.

On the Create Site Collection page enter the title and description and from the URL list select “/” and then click OK

This will create a team time at the URL http://*FrontendServerURL”

That will complete the farm configuration.