SharePoint 2016 On-Premise Setup and Configuration – Part 1: Architecture

In this series of articles, we will be looking at on-premise setup of SharePoint 2016. Just so you know, with SharePoint 2016, there are four architecture models available:

• SharePoint Online/SaaS: With this model, SharePoint services are provides through Software-As-A-Service (SaaS) Subscription model. SharePoint will always be up-to-date but you will be responsible for managing SharePoint online environment.
• SharePoint Hybrid: This model combines the SharePoint Online Subscription with on-premises SharePoint solution. You can integrate the SharePoint Online services into your on-premise SharePoint offering, introduce SaaS architecture, and migrate on-premise sites and apps to SharePoint Online as needed.
• SharePoint in Azure/IaaS: With this model, your on-premises SharePoint environment is extended into Microsoft Azure Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) by deploying your SharePoint 2016 servers in the Microsoft Azure environment. This model is recommeded for high avialability/disaster recovery and dev/test environments.
• SharePoint On-premises:  With this model, your SharePoint environment is planned, deployed, maintained, and customized in your own data center. 

In the following diagram, you can see the IT responsibilities matrix of the above four models.

SharePoint 2016 Environment

A general overview of SharePoint 2016 on-premise solution is presented in the following picture:

For this article series, we will make this architecture simple by setting up our SharePoint 2016 environment in a virtualized environment which will consist of the following:

• Domain Controller – Windows Server 2012 R2 x64
• Database Server - Windows Server 2012 R2 x64 and SQL Server 2014 Developer Edition w/SP1 x64
• Search Server - Windows Server 2012 R2 x64/SharePoint 2016 w/Search Server Role
• Application Server - Windows Server 2012 R2 x64/SharePoint 2016 w/Application Server Role
• Distributed Cache: Windows Server 2012 R2 x64/SharePoint 2016 w/Distributed Cache Role
• Frontend Servers: Windows Server 2012 R2 x64/SharePoint 2016 w/Frontend Server Role