SharePoint 2016 Requirements

March 8, 2022 / Andreas Glaser

How to successfully prepare SharePoint your 2013 installation.

Install SharePoint 2016 - The Complete E-Book:

1.1 SQL Server

The numbers below are based on SharePoint 2013 [3] because there's no documentation for SharePoint 2016.

Anyway, the following numbers can be seen as a starting point for SharePoint 2016.

SharePoint 2016 - SQL Server Hardware requirements

Scenario	CPU	RAM	Hard Disk
Fewer than 1,000 users Small deployments	64-bit, 4 cores	8 GB	80 GB for system drive + additional storage [3]
Between 1,000 to 10,000 users Medium deployments	64-bit, 8 cores	16 GB	80 GB for system drive + additional storage

Please read "Storage and SQL Server capacity planning and configuration (SharePoint Server 2016)" [4] to estimate your own requirements:

• E.g. SQL Server memory is directly related to the size of the content databases.

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1.2 Windows Server (used to install SharePoint)

The following numbers are minimum values and depending on your scenario you need to exceed them:

SharePoint 2016 Hardware requirements - 3-tier farm

Scenario	CPU	RAM	Hard Disk
3-tier farm, Development or Evaluation, Minimum Services enabled	64-bit, 4 cores	12 GB	80 GB for system drive 80 GB for second drive
3-tier farm, Pilot, User Acceptance or Production, All Services enabled	64-bit, 4 cores	16 GB	80 GB for system drive 80 GB for second drive

SharePoint 2016 Hardware requirements - Single Server

Scenario	CPU	RAM	Hard Disk
Single server, Development or Evaluation, Minimum Services enabled	64-bit, 4 cores	16 GB	80 GB for system drive 100 GB for second drive
Single server, Pilot, User Acceptance or Development All Services enabled	64-bit, 4 cores	24 GB	80 GB for system drive 100 GB for second drive

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2.1 SQL Server

SharePoint 2016 needs one of the following version of SQL Server:

• SQL Server 2014 SP1, 64 bit
• SQL Server 2016 RTM
• SQL Server 2017 RTM
• SQL Server 2019 RTM

SQL Server Edition requirements

The decision which version and edition of SQL Server to use depends on different requirements like PowerPivot, High availability [6] and other features [7]:

SharePoint 2016 - Required SQL Server Editions

Requirement	SQL Server version	Standard	Enterprise
Power Pivot [8]	2016	-	yes
Power View [9]	2016	-	yes
Database mirroring*	2014, 2016	yes	yes
AlwaysOn Failover Cluster	2014, 2016	yes**	yes
Always On Availability Groups	2014, 2016	-	yes
Backup compression	2014, 2016	yes	yes
Transparent data encryption	2014, 2016	-	yes
Remote BLOB storage	2014, 2016	-	yes

* This feature will be removed in a future version of Microsoft SQL Server [10]
** Supports only 2 nodes

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2.2 Windows Server (SharePoint 2016 prerequisites)

SharePoint 2016 needs to be installed on one of the following versions of Windows Server:

• Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard or Datacenter, 64 bit
• Windows Server 2016 R2 Standard or Datacenter, 64 bit
• Windows Server 2019 R2 Standard or Datacenter, 64 bit

Each Windows Server where you want to install SharePoint also needs the SharePoint 2016 prerequisites:

• Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.6
• Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Native Client
• Microsoft WCF Data Services 5.6
• Microsoft Information Protection and Control Client
• Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 SP1 (x64)
• Microsoft Identity Extensions
• Windows Server AppFabric 1.1
• Microsoft ODBC Driver 11 for SQL Server
• Visual C++ Redistributable Package for Visual Studio 2012
• Visual C++ Redistributable Package for Visual Studio 2015

The following updates are also needed:

• Cumulative Update Package 7 for Microsoft AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server

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3. Domain Requirements

SharePoint 2016 doesn’t support single-label domain names like 'domain'. Please use instead 'domain.com' [11].

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4.1 Installation Accounts

For the initial deployment, you must have the following domain accounts [12]:

SharePoint 2016 Installation accounts

Account type	Account name (example)
SQL Server Service	domain\sqlSvcAcc
SharePoint Farm Administrator	domain\spAdmin
SharePoint Farm Account	domain\spFarmAcc

SQL Server Service Account

The SQL Server service account is used to run SQL Server and should be a domain account. SQL Server is required to store data from SharePoint and companies usually have a dedicated team of database administrators.

If you are a small startup or want to create an isolated environment you need to take care of this account.

SharePoint Farm Administrator

The setup administrator is used to install and configure SharePoint 2016.

SharePoint Farm Account

The farm account is used:

1. for configuration and management of the server farm by SharePoint itself,
2. as an application pool account for Central Administration and
3. to run the Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Workflow Timer Service.

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4.2 Application Pool Accounts for Web Applications

Any kind of site you create in SharePoint like Team Sites are part of a Web Application and a Web Application requires an Application Pool plus Application Pool Account [13] to run:

SharePoint 2016 Application Pool Accounts for Web Applications

Account type	Account name (example)
Application Pool Account for Content Sites, e.g. Team Sites	domain\spAppPool
Application Pool Account for My Sites	domain\spAppPool

It is recommended that you use one account for both Web Applications if you don’t have special isolation requirements for the content you store [14]. Both accounts:

• Must be a domain user account created in Active Directory.
• Must not be a member of the SharePoint Farm Administrators group.

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4.3 Application Pool Accounts for Service Applications

Service Applications [15] provide additional functionality for your sites and require a lot of different accounts. Sometimes one Service Application requires more than one account so you may want to group accounts by Service Application.

A better way is to group Service Applications by account.

Application Pool Account for Service Applications:

SharePoint 2016 Application Pool Account for Service Applications

Service Application	Account name (example)	Requirement
Access Services Access Services 2013 App Management Service Business Data Connectivity service Machine Translation service Managed Metadata Service PerformancePoint Service PowerPoint Conversion Service* Search Service Secure Store Service Usage and Health Data Collection Service* User Profile Service Visio Graphics Service Word Automation services	domain\spService	Must be a domain user account.

* Only available using PowerShell, aren’t displayed in Central Administration

Unattended Service Accounts (Accounts for accessing External Data):

If you want to access external data sources or refresh data with Excel Services, PerformancePoint Services or Visio Graphics Service you may need an unattended service account in certain cases [17]. This kind of account is stored inside the Secure Store Service Application.

SharePoint 2016 Accounts for Accessing External Data

Service Application	Account name (example)	Requirement
PerformancePoint Service Visio Graphics Service	domain\spUnattended	Must be a domain user account.

Search Accounts:

SharePoint 2016 Accounts for Search

Service Application	Account name (example)	Requirement
Search Service (The default content access account is used by the indexer to access content)	domain\spSearchDCA	Must have Read Access to the content being crawled.
Search Service (Optional separate content access account used with a custom crawl rule)	domain\spSearchCA	Must have Read Access to the content being crawled.

Synchronization Connection Account:

SharePoint 2016 Accounts for User Profiles

Service Application	Account name (example)	Requirement
User Profile Service (Inside the User Profile Service Application, you can create connections to directories where your company’s user profile information is stored. Each connection needs an account to access the directory.)	domain\spUPSync	Must be a domain user account. Replicating Directory Changes permissions on the domains being synchronized.

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4.4 Summary

So, if you plan to configure SharePoint you usually need additional domain accounts depending on your needs:

SharePoint 2016 Required Accounts Summary

Account type	Account name (example)
Application Pool Account for Content Sites, e.g. Team Sites	domain\spAppPool
Application Pool Account for My Sites	domain\spAppPool

And:

SharePoint 2016 Required Accounts Summary

Account type	Account name (example)
Application Pool Account (for Service Applications)	domain\spService
Unattended Service Account	domain\spUnattended
Default Content Access	domain\spSearchDCA
Optional Content Access	domain\spSearchCA
Synchronization Connection	domain\spUPSync

At this point you need to decide which isolation requirements the business owner needs. I suggest requesting all accounts from your Domain Administrator at once. This scenario applies to most companies, SharePoint farms and isolation requirements.

Anyway, your business owner might have more isolation requirements if you’re working e.g. for a bank. You can use the list above as a starting point and enhance it with new accounts based on your requirements.

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Resources

• [1] Hardware and software requirements for SharePoint Server 2016
• [2] Hardware and software requirements for SharePoint Server 2016
• [3] Hardware requirements - database servers
• [4] Storage and SQL Server capacity planning and configuration (SharePoint Server 2016)
• [5] Hardware and software requirements for SharePoint Server 2016
• [6] Create a high availability architecture and strategy for SharePoint Server 2016
• [7] Choose SQL Server version and edition
• [8] Analysis Services Features Supported by the Editions of SQL Server 2016
• [9] Reporting Services Features Supported by the Editions of SQL Server 2016
• [10] High Availability Solutions (SQL Server)
• [11] Software requirements
• [12] Initial deployment administrative and service accounts in SharePoint Sever 2016
• [13] Account permissions and security settings in SharePoint Server 2016
• [14] Service account recommendations
• [15] About administrative and service accounts
• [16] Service account recommendations
• [17] About administrative and service accounts