MOSS 2007 SERVER FARMS

SERVER FARM VS. STANDALONE

An enterprise typically installs network-wide servers and common services in a cluster of computers, commonly referred to as a server farm. A server farm is two or more networked computers in a single location that host server software or shared network services. Server farms distribute the processing of client requests and server workload between the clustered computers in the farm using load-balancing techniques to more efficiently provide services across a client/server environment.

At the enterprise level, MOSS is installed on a server farm to better process user client requests to and from other servers, which could also be clustered into the server farm (more on this in the next section). However, MOSS can also be installed on a single, standalone computer—meaning, a single server application. It can be installed on a single desktop computer, too, but much of its benefits would be lost. However, as we discuss a bit later in the chapter, SharePoint can provide some benefits on a peer-to-peer network. Overall though, MOSS and the collaborative features built into Microsoft Office 2007 would be best in an enterprise installation.


Server Farms

A server farm is a group or cluster of interconnected computers (servers) created to provide processing capabilities beyond the capabilities of a single computer server. The primary configurations of a server farm are commonly of three types: a highavailability (HAC) cluster, a high-performance cluster (HPC), a load-balancing cluster (LBC), or some combination of all three.

An HAC server farm is configured so each primary computer server, dedicated to a single task, application, or activity, has a backup computer server also dedicated to the same functions. This arrangement allows the server support to continue without interruption should the primary server fail while the backup server is being activated in place of the primary (an action called failover). This is commonly used in situations where system availability is of extreme importance.

An HPC server farm divides a computational workload across several processor nodes in the cluster. This type of cluster is most commonly used in scientific and complex engineering situations.

An LBC server farm is what is most commonly referred to as a server farm. Each of the computer servers in the cluster has one or more specific functions it fulfills to support client requests to the server farm. The workload in this arrangement is distributed using a front-end load-balancer appliance or specialized server software. This is the type of server farm and clustering best suited to an MOSS installation.


MOSS SERVER FARM CONFIGURATION

Depending on the size and scope of the MOSS environment you are creating, the components that make up your server farm will vary somewhat. While there are no hard and fast rules or metrics to gauge the size of the server farm needed, recommended configurations exist for MOSS server farms in small, medium, and large environments: 
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-- A small MOSS server farm commonly includes the following:---------

■ Front-end web and application servers to provide web content and MOSS services, such as search and indexing

■ A database server running Microsoft SQL Server (optional)

■ A server supporting IIS and MOSS

---------- A medium MOSS server farm consists of the following:
■ An MOSS application server
■ One or more front-end servers to provide IIS and MOSS services, such as
indexing and Excel calculation
■ A front-end web server
■ A database server running Microsoft SQL Server (optional)-
------------------- A large MOSS server farm consists of the following:
■ Multiple load-balanced front-end web servers providing IIS and MOSS services
■ Multiple applications servers supporting specific MOSS applications or services
■ At least two clustered database servers running Microsoft SQL Server MOSS requires that each of the web servers in the server farm have the same MOSS services and applications installed, regardless of the primary purpose of the server.

This means that a standalone server cannot be added to the server farm to support a single Microsoft Office 2007 application. For example, a Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 server cannot be added to the server cluster and hope to integrate the Project 2007 data into the MOSS environment. The new server must also have MOSS installed—to the same level as any other web or application servers in the server farm—to function properly. However, on a particular application or web server, specific functions and services can be disabled as a security measure.