SharePoint farm:

 In the context of SharePoint, the term 'farm' is used to describe a collection of one or more SharePoint servers and
one or more SQL servers that come together to provide a set of basic SharePoint services bound together by a single
Configuration Database in SQL.

Server Services and Fault Tolerance:

Within a farm, there are several services that run on one or more servers. Some of these services are mandatory and some are
optional.

Typical Server
Service Purpose Fault Tolerance Things to note / Rules
Placement
If you are using multiple
servers, you must also
Windows implement a Network Load
This service is Balancing solution (NLB) to
SharePoint Typically there are
responsible for serving balance requests across the
Services Web two or more
the HTML to clients and Yes, this service can exist servers.
Application (often servers running
routing requests to on multiple servers.
referred to as this service ion a
other services in the
'Web Server' or farm. You must also use host
farm.
'WFE') headers for all web
applications in this
scenario.
This service is
Office SharePoint This service is
responsible for Since this service requires a
Server Search in typically placed on
executing search Yes, this role can exist on local copy of the index,
Query Mode (often each Web
queries against a locally multiple servers appropriate disk space is
referred to as Application server
stored copy of the needed to store the index.
'Query Server') in the farm.
index
It is possible to run both
No, you can only have 1
This service is the Index and Query roles
Index server for each SSP
responsible for on the same server.
Office SharePoint in the farm. If you have
indexing all of the This service is However, in this
Server Search in multiple SSPs (not
configured content typically placed on configuration you cannot
Index Mode (often recommended – see SSP
sources, creating an its own dedicated have multiple Query
referred to as section), you can have
index and propagating server. servers because when
'Index Server') multiple Index servers,
it to every Query server Index and Query are on the
but they have their own
in the farm same server, propagation
set of content sources.
of the Index is disabled.
This service is basically This service is
a slimmed down typically not used.
No. If you have more than If you have a MOSS farm,
version of the Office If you do run this
Windows one instance of this then the only reason for
SharePoint Server service in a MOSS
SharePoint service in a farm, it will be using this service would be
Search service which farm, it is
Services Search simply do the same thing to provide full text search
combines both the generally run on
as the other servers. of Help.
Query and Index roles the same server as
into a single service. the Index server.
This service is Although this service does
This service is typically placed on support fault tolerance, it
responsible for each Web does maintain session-state
Yes, many instances of Application server
Excel Calculation performing calculations information, therefore
this service can exist on in the farm
Services on Excel workbooks users will stay on the same
the same farm. initially.
that are stored in the Excel Calculation Services
content databases. server for the duration of
However, this is a their session.
 fairly resource
intensive role;
therefore, it is
typically moved to
a dedicated pair of
servers if the load
becomes too
heavy.
There is typically
No. An application server only one server
This service balances
Document can only have a single running this
document conversion
Conversions Load Document Conversions service in a farm. n/a
requests from across
Balancer Service Load Balancer Service This is typically
the server farm.
enabled. placed on the
Index server
This service is If you are using multiple
This service schedules
Document Yes. Multiple launchers typically placed on launcher services, they
and initiates the
Conversions can exist in the same each Web much each have the same
document conversions
Launcher Service farm. Application server set of document conversion
on a server.
in the farm. applications installed.
This service is Yes, this service can run
This service is
Windows responsible for on multiple servers. There are lots of pre-
typically placed on
SharePoint receiving incoming However this does have requisite steps that must
each Web
Services Incoming emails and placing additional configuration. be configured before using
Application server
E-Mail them in email enabled See the 'Things to note' this service.
in the farm.
lists. column for details.
This is not technically a
Windows SharePoint service but
SharePoint refers to an SMTP
n/a n/a n/a
Services Outgoing server which
E-Mail SharePoint send
outbound email to
Typically, this role
is placed on either The Central Administration
This service enables the the Index server or web application does run
central administration No, this service can only one of the web on every Web Application
Central
interface that is run on one server in the servers. By server in the farm; however
Administration
required for farm-wide farm. default, the first requests are always routed
administration server in the farm to the server that is running
will run this this service.
service.

Difference between an “Application Server” and “WFE Server”:

When SharePoint is installed, you have to select one of three installation options, they are:

 Application Server
 Complete
 Web Front End

An 'Application Server' is a server that is capable of running any of the services in the table above apart from the Windows
SharePoint Services Web Application service. A 'Web Front End' (sometimes called a WFE) is the opposite in that it can only run
the Windows SharePoint Services Web Application service. 'Complete' means that the server can run any SharePoint service.
The reason behind these options is that in some scenarios, very 'thin' web servers may be required which have a very small
installation footprint. In this case, it is not desirable to install all of the DLLs etc that are required to run any service apart from
the Windows SharePoint Services Web Application – these are true web servers. In my experience, this is a relatively rare
scenario and only really relevant when SharePoint is being used to host high traffic internet sites. The problem with selecting
anything other than 'Complete' is that it means if you ever change your mind about what services a server can run, you'll need
to re-install SharePoint on that server. For that reason alone, I would always recommend that you choose 'Complete' unless you
have a very good reason to do otherwise. This means that the terms 'Web Front End Server' and 'Application Server' are often
used incorrectly. Unless your server is only running the Windows SharePoint Services Web Application service, it is an
Application server. This means that the majority of servers in the majority of farms are actually Application servers.

When to have multiple farms?

The general answer is that wherever possible, you should have a single farm.

 Physically separate data centers

 Differing customization approaches and polices
 Differing support policies and SLAs
 Development, staging and test environments