Planning Farm Topology in SharePoint 2013: Part I

In this article we can learn various types of topology available in SharePoint 2013. SharePoint 2013 has been out for some time now, and most of the new SharePoint projects use SharePoint 2013. However, when it comes topology planning and which services should be run on each server, there isn't enough information available. I wrote this article to resolve all this confusion and to give you an idea of the various types of topology that we can use.

SharePoint 2013 topologies

There are two type of approaches available for the topology as in the following:

• Streamlined topologies: the distribution of services and other components in a farm is intended to maximize system resources of server hardware. Streamlined architectures include front-end servers, batch-processing servers, and database servers
• Traditional topologies: Topologies are based on traditional approaches to building architectures with Web servers, application servers, and database servers.

We can discuss each of them in detail.

Traditional topologies

The traditional three-tier roles of a Microsoft SharePoint® 2013 farm can be deployed on a single server for evaluation or development, or on many servers. The three-tier roles include the following.

Web server role

Fast, light-weight server that responds to user requests for web pages. All web servers in a farm are mirrors of each other and are load balanced.

• Hosts web pages, Web services, and Web Parts that are necessary to process requests served by the farm.
• Directs requests to the appropriate application servers.
• In dedicated services farms, this role is not necessary because web servers at remote farms contact application servers directly.

Application server role

Provides the service features of SharePoint products and technologies. An application server often provides all or a subset of service features. Multiple redundant application servers can be load balanced.

• In many farms, all services will run on two identically configured application servers for redundancy.
• The Search service application automatically configures the necessary services on application servers. Using the Services on Server page is not necessary.
• After deployment, look for services that consume a disproportionate amount of resources and consider placing these services on dedicated hardware.

Database server role

Stores content and service data. All databases can be assigned to one database server. Or databases can be spread across multiple servers. All databases can be clustered or mirrored for failover protection. In a small farm, server roles can be combined on one or two servers. For example, web server and application server roles can be combined on a single server or on two or more servers to provide redundancy.

• In a small farm environment, all databases can be deployed to a single server. In larger environments, group databases by roles and deploy these to multiple database servers.
  

Service Applications

Service applications are services that are shared across sites within a farm. Some service applications can be shared across multiple farms. Service applications are deployed to the application server tier. Some services include multiple components, and deployment of these components require planning.

Service applications and Services on Server for traditional topologies

If we are using the traditional approach then the following are the service applications that should run on each server. I took this table from the MSDN so if you have any clarification then please check on the link.