SharePoint 2019 Requirements

March 7, 2022 / Andreas Glaser

How to successfully prepare your SharePoint 2019 installation including hardware and software requirememts for SQL Server and Windows Server, domain requirements as well as administrative and service accounts.

Install SharePoint 2019 - The Complete E-Book:

1.1 SQL Server

You can use the SQL Server hardware requirements below although they are based on SharePoint 2013 [3].

There's no documentation for SharePoint 2019 but they are a good starting point for SharePoint 2019.

SharePoint 2019 - 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)" [4] to estimate your own requirements:

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

Back to top

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 2019 Hardware requirements - 3-tier farm

Scenario	CPU	RAM	Hard Disk
n-tier farm, Development or Evaluation, Minimum Services enabled	64-bit, 4 cores	12 GB	80 GB for system drive 80 GB for second drive
n-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 2019 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

Back to top

2.1 SQL Server

SharePoint 2019 only supports one of the following versions of SQL Server:

• SQL Server 2016 RTM
• SQL Server 2017 RTM for Windows
• SQL Server 2019 RTM

SQL Server Edition requirements

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

SharePoint 2019 - Required SQL Server Editions

Requirement	SQL Server version	Standard	Enterprise
Power Pivot [8]	2016 / 2017	-	yes
Power View [9]	2016 / 2017	-	yes
Database mirroring*	2016 / 2017	yes**	yes
AlwaysOn Failover Cluster	2016 / 2017	yes***	yes
Always On Availability Groups	2016 / 2017	-	yes
Backup compression	2016 / 2017	yes	yes
Transparent data encryption	2016 / 2017	-	yes

* This feature will be removed in a future version of Microsoft SQL Server [10]
** Availability for the Configuration database requires the full recovery model of the SQL Server Enterprise version [11]
*** Supports only 2 nodes

Back to top

2.2 Windows Server (SharePoint 2019 prerequisites)

In order to install SharePoint 2019 you need one of the following versions of Windows Server:

• Windows Server 2016 Standard or Datacenter, 64 bit
• Windows Server 2019 Standard or Datacenter, 64 bit
• Windows Server 2022 Standard or Datacenter, 64 bit

Each Windows Server where you want to install SharePoint also needs the SharePoint 2019 prerequisites:

• Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.7.2
• Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 4 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
• Visual C++ Redistributable Package for Visual Studio 2012
• Visual C++ Redistributable Package for Visual Studio 2017

The following updates are also needed:

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

Back to top

4. Virtualization Requirements

If you’re using virtualization products to run SharePoint Server you need to pay attention to the following limitations. [13]

The following virtualization features are not supported by SharePoint Server:

• Dynamic Memory
  Please allocate a fixed amount of RAM to your virtual machine running SharePoint Server. Hyper-V Dynamic Memory or VMware Memory Ballooning are not supported.
  
  
• Virtual machine online backups
  Backing up running virtual machines leads to an inconsistent state of the SharePoint farm because the backup doesn’t happen at the same time for every server in the farm.
  If you need to backup virtual machines you need to shut down every server which is part of the SharePoint farm including SQL Server. You also need to restore every virtual machine during the restore process.
  
  
• Virtual machine snapshots
  "If a snapshot of SharePoint is required, shut down all SharePoint Servers and SQL Servers in the farm prior to taking a virtual machine snapshot. If a restore is required, restore all servers in the farm. Delete the snapshot as soon as possible as it may incur a performance penalty." [14]
  
  
• Differencing disks
  Microsoft suggest not using differencing disks for a long period of time because of performance issues. Therefore, I suggest not using them at all.
  
  
• Virtual machine replication
  
  
• SAN (Storage Area Network) replication of SharePoint Server virtual disks

Creating Virtual Machine Templates is supported. You can install SharePoint Server prerequisites, SharePoint Server and updates. You can save your virtual machine as a template as long as the Configuration Wizard has not been run.

Back to top

5.1 Installation Accounts

You must have the following domain accounts for the initial deployment [15]:

SharePoint 2019 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 2019.

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.

Back to top

5.2 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 [16] to run:

SharePoint 2019 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 [17]. Both accounts:

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

Back to top

5.3 Application Pool Accounts for Service Applications

Service Applications [18] 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 2019 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):

PerformancePoint Services or Visio Graphics Service can access and display data from external sources. You may need an unattended service account in certain cases [20]. This kind of account is stored inside the Secure Store Service Application in SharePoint.

SharePoint 2019 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 2019 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 2019 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.

Back to top

5.4 Summary

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

SharePoint 2019 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 2019 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.

Back to top

Resources

• [1] Hardware and software requirements for SharePoint Server 2019
• [2] Hardware and software requirements for SharePoint Server 2019
• [3] Hardware requirements - database servers
• [4] Storage and SQL Server capacity planning and configuration (SharePoint Server)
• [5] Hardware and software requirements for SharePoint Server 2019
• [6] Create a high availability architecture and strategy for SharePoint Server
• [7] Choose SQL Server version and edition
• [8] Analysis Services features supported by SQL Server editions
• [9] Reporting Services Features Supported by the Editions of SQL Server 2016
• [10] High Availability Solutions (SQL Server)
• [11] Gather storage and SQL Server space and I/O requirements
• [12] Software requirements for SharePoint Server 2019
• [13] Plan for virtualization of SharPoint Server
• [14] Limitations
• [15] Initial deployment administrative and service accounts in SharePoint Sever
• [16] Account permissions and security settings in SharePoint Server 2016 and 2019
• [17] Service account recommendations
• [18] About administrative and service accounts
• [19] Service account recommendations
• [20] About administrative and service accounts