Deploying SharePoint Server 2016 with SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Groups in Azure

• 10/19/2017
• 3 minutes to read
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APPLIES TO: 2013 2016 2019 SharePoint Online

Step through the deployment an intranet-only, high availability SharePoint Server 2016 farm in Azure with these virtual machines:

• Two SharePoint front end and distributed cache servers

• Two SharePoint application and search servers

• One cluster majority node server

• Two domain controllers

Here is the configuration, with placeholder names for each server.

An intranet-only, high availability SharePoint Server 2016 farm in Azure

Two virtual machines for each role ensure high availability. All of the virtual machines are in a single cross-premises Azure virtual network. Each group of virtual machines for a specific role is in its own subnet and availability set.

Bill of materials

This baseline configuration requires the following set of Azure services and components:

• Nine virtual machines.

• Four availability sets.

• One cross-premises virtual network with five subnets.

• One Azure subscription.

Here are the virtual machines and their default sizes for this configuration.

To compute the estimated costs for this configuration, see the Azure pricing calculator.

Phases of deployment

You deploy this SharePoint Server 2016 farm with the following phases:

• SharePoint Intranet Farm in Azure Phase 1: Configure Azure

  Create resource groups, availability sets, and a cross-premises virtual network.

• SharePoint Intranet Farm in Azure Phase 2: Configure domain controllers

  Create and configure replica Windows Server Active Directory (AD) domain controllers

  Note

  SharePoint Server 2016 also supports the use of Azure Active Directory (AD) Domain Services as a substitute for virtual machines running as domain replicas. However, at this time, this deployment guide only describes the use of virtual machine-based replica domain controllers.

• SharePoint Intranet Farm in Azure Phase 3: Configure SQL Server Infrastructure

  Create and configure the SQL Server virtual machines, prepare them for use with SharePoint, and create the cluster.

• SharePoint Intranet Farm in Azure Phase 4: Configure SharePoint servers

  Create and configure the four SharePoint server virtual machines.

• SharePoint Intranet Farm in Azure Phase 5: Create the availability group and add the SharePoint databases

  Prepare databases and create a SQL Server AlwaysOn availability group.

This configuration is a prescriptive, phase-by-phase guide for a predefined architecture to create a highly available intranet SharePoint Server 2016 farm in Azure infrastructure services. Keep the following in mind:

• If you are an experienced SharePoint implementer, feel free to adapt the instructions in phases 3 through 5 and build the farm that best suits your needs.

• If you already have an existing Azure hybrid cloud deployment, feel free to adapt or skip the instructions in phases 1 and 2 and host the new SharePoint farm on the appropriate set of subnets.

To build a dev/test environment or a proof-of-concept of this configuration, see Intranet SharePoint Server 2016 in Azure dev/test environment.

Next step

Start the configuration with SharePoint Intranet Farm in Azure Phase 1: Configure Azure.

See also

Concepts

Install SharePoint Server

Other Resources

SharePoint Server 2016 in Microsoft Azure

Designing a SharePoint Server 2016 farm in Azure