Add a dedicated query server to the farm

Article
01/10/2017

Applies To: Office SharePoint Server 2007

This Office product will reach end of support on October 10, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see , Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

Topic Last Modified: 2008-08-04

You can use these procedures to install and configure a dedicated query server to be added to an existing Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 farm. Instructions are provided to:

Create a new server by using the user interface or the command line.
Configure the new server as a dedicated query server.

If you are converting from a distributed query service to a dedicated query service, remove the query service from each of your front-end Web servers. For more information about removing the query service, see Convert from distributed to dedicated query service.

Add a query server to the farm

The following procedures contain steps and settings specific to the job of creating and integrating a new query server into your farm. For detailed prerequisites and installation instructions, see Deploy in a simple server farm (Office SharePoint Server).

Before you begin:

Verify that you know the name of the database server used for the farm you are connecting to.
Ensure that the server you are adding has the following installed software:
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) and an NTFS file system
- The Microsoft .NET Framework version 3.0
- Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 with ASP.NET 2.0 installed and enabled

Important

You must be a member of the Farm Administrators SharePoint group to complete the following procedure.

Create a new server by using the user interface

From the product disc or file share containing the Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 installation files, run Setup.exe, or from the product download, run Setup.exe, on one of your Web servers.
On the Enter your Product Key page, enter your product key, and then click Continue.

Note

Setup automatically verifies the product key, places a green check mark next to the text box, and enables the Continue button after it validates the key. If the key is not valid, Setup displays a red circle next to the text box and prompts you that the key is incorrect.
On the Read the Microsoft Software License Terms page, review the terms, select I accept the terms of this agreement, and then Click Continue.
On the Choose the installation you want page, click Advanced. The Basic option is for stand-alone installations.
On the Server Type tab, click Web Front End. The Stand-alone option is for stand-alone installations.
Optionally, to participate in the Customer Experience Improvement Program, select the Feedback tab and select the option you want. To learn more about the program, click the link. You must have an Internet connection to view the program information.
When you have chosen the desired options, click Install Now.
When Setup finishes, a dialog box appears that prompts you to complete the configuration of your server. To use the configuration wizard, be sure that the Run the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration Wizard now check box is selected.
Click Close to complete the installation.
On the configuration wizard Welcome page, click Next.

A message is displayed, notifying you that Internet Information Services (IIS), the Windows SharePoint Services Administration service, and the Windows SharePoint Services Timer service may need to be restarted or reset during configuration. Click Yes to continue.
On the Connect to a server farm page, select Yes, I want to connect to an existing server farm, and then click Next.
On the Specify Configuration Database Settings page, in the Database server box, type the name of the database server used for the farm you are connecting to, and then click Retrieve Database Names.
In the Database Name box, on the drop-down list, click the configuration database. This database is usually named SharePoint_Config.
In the Specify Database Access Account section, type the user name and password to use to connect to Microsoft SQL Server, and then click Next.
On the Completing the SharePoint Products and Technologies Configuration wizard page, verify the settings, and then click Next.
On the Configuration Successful page, review your settings for the new server, and then click Finish.
To configure your new query server, see “Configure a new server as a query server” later in this article.

Important

You must be a member of the Administrators group on the local server computer to complete the following procedure.

Create a new server by using the command line

Open a command prompt window and change to the disk or file share containing the Office SharePoint Server 2007 installation files.
Type the following command, and then press ENTER:
setup.exe /config \\server name>\<folder name >\<configuration file name>

Note

When you run Setup.exe, you include a space after the command, followed by a forward slash (/) and the name of the switch, and sometimes followed by another space and one or more parameters. A setup configuration file is necessary when you install SharePoint Products and Technologies from the command line. You may have to choose from several different configuration files depending on the type of server you are installing. Be sure to choose the configuration file that will result in a Web server. For more information about Setup.exe parameters, see Setup.exe command-line reference (Office SharePoint Server).
After installation is complete, change to the following directory to begin configuration:
%COMMONPROGRAMFILES%\Microsoft Shared\Web server extensions\12\bin.
Type the following command, and then press ENTER:
psconfig –cmd configdb –connect –server <database server name> -database <database name>

where <database name> is the name of the configuration database for the Office SharePoint Server farm that you want to connect to.

Important

You must be a member of the Farm Administrators SharePoint group to complete the following procedure.

Configure a new server as a query server

On the SharePoint Central Administration Web site, on the Operations page, in the Topology and Services section, click Servers in farm.
On the Servers in Farm page, in the Server column, click the name of the server that you want to configure as your dedicated query server.

The Services on Server page opens.
On the Services on Server page, select Search Indexing.
On the Services on Server page, check the status of the Office SharePoint Server Search service. If the service is Stopped, click Start.
On the Configure Office SharePoint Server Search Service Settings page, in the Query and Indexing section, select the option for serving search queries.
In the Contact E-mail Address section, specify someone whom site owners can contact if problems occur when sites are being crawled.
In the Farm Search Service Account section, provide a name and password for an account with access to the database and content index.
In the Index Server Default File Location section, enter the address of the index server.
In the Indexer Performance section, select Maximum.
In the Web Front End and Crawling section, select Use a dedicated front-end computer for crawling and verify that the server name given is the one you specified earlier.
Click OK.

Add a dedicated query server to the farm

Add a query server to the farm

See Also

Concepts

Additional resources