Microsoft recently announced the general availability of SharePoint Server 2016. To make this new version of SharePoint easy to install and test, the SharePoint product team created a new Microsoft Azure virtual machine gallery image with SharePoint Server 2016 and its prerequisites pre-installed.
This is a perfect use of Azure infrastructure services: to quickly and easily spin up a virtual machine to evaluate and test a new version of a flagship server product offered by Microsoft or other vendors.
The image contains a complete installation of the trial version of SharePoint Server 2016. We recommend using A5 (ExtraLarge), A6 or A7 virtual machine sizes. A separate virtual machine running SQL Server 2014 with Service Pack 1 or SQL Server 2016 CTP 2.2 and later is also required.
After you create the virtual machine, configure its role using the SharePoint 2016 Products Configuration Wizard from the Start screen. For additional configuration and administration, use SharePoint 2016 Central Administration and the SharePoint 2016 Management Shell, also available from the Start screen.
See SharePoint Server 2016 for the current document set published on TechNet.
The Resource Manager deployment model
You can create a Resource Manager-based virtual machine with the SharePoint Server 2016 Trial image using PowerShell or the Azure Command Line Interface (CLI). To specify an image for a Resource Manager virtual machine, you need to identify the image publisher, offer and SKU. The values for the SharePoint Server 2016 Trial image are listed below.
- Publisher: MicrosoftSharePoint
- Offer: MicrosoftSharePointServer
- SKU: 2016
Here is an example command set for Azure PowerShell 1.0 which builds a new Resource Manager-based virtual machine with this image.
Example Azure PowerShell command set
I need a virtual machine running SharePoint Server 2016 that:
- Has the name SP2016Test.
- Is in the FrontEnd subnet (subnet index 0) of the AZDatacenter virtual network.
- Is in the existing SPFarm resource group and the existing SP_WFE_AS availability set.
Here is the corresponding Azure PowerShell command set to create this virtual machine.
# Set values for existing resource group and storage account names $rgName="SPFarm" $locName="West US" $saName="contosospfarmserverssa" # Set the existing virtual network and subnet index $vnetName="AZDatacenter" $subnetIndex=0 $vnet=Get-AzureRMVirtualNetwork -Name $vnetName -ResourceGroupName $rgName # Create the NIC $nicName="SP2016Test-NIC" $dnsName="contoso-vm-sp2016test" $pip=New-AzureRMPublicIpAddress -Name $nicName -ResourceGroupName $rgName -DomainNameLabel $dnsName -Location $locName -AllocationMethod Dynamic $nic=New-AzureRMNetworkInterface -Name $nicName -ResourceGroupName $rgName -Location $locName -SubnetId $vnet.Subnets[$subnetIndex].Id -PublicIpAddressId $pip.Id # Specify the name, size, and existing availability set $vmName="SP2016Test" $vmSize="Standard_A6" $avName="SP_WFE_AS" $avSet=Get-AzureRMAvailabilitySet –Name $avName –ResourceGroupName $rgName $vm=New-AzureRMVMConfig -VMName $vmName -VMSize $vmSize -AvailabilitySetId $avset.Id # Specify the image and local administrator account, and then add the NIC $pubName="MicrosoftSharePoint" $offerName="MicrosoftSharePointServer" $skuName="2016" $cred=Get-Credential -Message "Type the name and password of the local administrator account." $vm=Set-AzureRMVMOperatingSystem -VM $vm -Windows -ComputerName $vmName -Credential $cred -ProvisionVMAgent -EnableAutoUpdate $vm=Set-AzureRMVMSourceImage -VM $vm -PublisherName $pubName -Offer $offerName -Skus $skuName -Version "latest" $vm=Add-AzureRMVMNetworkInterface -VM $vm -Id $nic.Id # Specify the OS disk name and create the VM $diskName="OSDisk" $storageAcc=Get-AzureRMStorageAccount -ResourceGroupName $rgName -Name $saName $osDiskUri=$storageAcc.PrimaryEndpoints.Blob.ToString() + "vhds/" + $vmName + $diskName + ".vhd" $vm=Set-AzureRMVMOSDisk -VM $vm -Name $diskName -VhdUri $osDiskUri -CreateOption fromImage New-AzureRMVM -ResourceGroupName $rgName -Location $locName -VM $vm
To construct your own Azure PowerShell command set that includes additional configuration, such as extra data disks or a static IP address, see Create and preconfigure a Windows Virtual Machine with Resource Manager and Azure PowerShell.
To create a Resource Manager virtual machine using the SharePoint Server 2016 Trial image with the Azure Command Line Interface (CLI), see TASK: Quick-create a VM in Azure.
Once your SharePoint farm is up and running, to allow Internet access to the SharePoint web site or Central Administration, you must configure a load balancer and inbound NAT rules for the SharePoint server virtual machine. For more information, see Get started configuring an Internet-facing load balancer using Azure Resource Manager.
The classic deployment model
For classic Azure virtual machines, you can specify the SharePoint Server 2016 Trial image in the Azure classic portal by clicking New > Compute > Virtual Machine > From Gallery. In the left-hand tree, click SharePoint, then click SharePoint Server 2016 Trial. Click the right arrow button to continue the configuration of the new virtual machine.
You can also create a classic virtual machine with the SharePoint Server 2016 Trial image using Azure PowerShell or the Azure CLI.
For Azure PowerShell, you must specify the name of the SharePoint Server 2016 Trial image, which is required for the New-AzureVMConfig cmdlet. To obtain the name of the most current image and store it in the $image variable, use these commands:
$family="SharePoint Server 2016 Trial" $image=Get-AzureVMImage | where { $_.ImageFamily -eq $family } | sort PublishedDate -Descending | select -ExpandProperty ImageName -First 1
Here is an example command set for Azure PowerShell 1.0 and later that builds a new classic virtual machine with this image.
Example Azure PowerShell command set
I need a virtual machine running SharePoint Server 2016 that:
- Has the name SP2016Test.
- Is a member of the corp.contoso.com domain.
- Is in the FrontEnd subnet of the AZDatacenter virtual network.
- Is in the existing Azure-TailspinToys cloud service.
Here is the corresponding Azure PowerShell command set to create this virtual machine.
$family="SharePoint Server 2016 Trial" $image=Get-AzureVMImage | where { $_.ImageFamily -eq $family } | sort PublishedDate -Descending | select -ExpandProperty ImageName -First 1 $vmname="SP2016Test" $vmsize="ExtraLarge" $vm1=New-AzureVMConfig -Name $vmname -InstanceSize $vmsize -ImageName $image $cred1=Get-Credential –Message "Type the name and password of the local administrator account." $cred2=Get-Credential –Message "Now type the name (not including the domain) and password of an account that has permission to add the machine to the domain." $domaindns="corp.contoso.com" $domacctdomain="CORP" $vm1 | Add-AzureProvisioningConfig -AdminUsername $cred1.GetNetworkCredential().Username -Password $cred1.GetNetworkCredential().Password -WindowsDomain -Domain $domacctdomain -DomainUserName $cred2.GetNetworkCredential().Username -DomainPassword $cred2.GetNetworkCredential().Password -JoinDomain $domaindns $vm1 | Set-AzureSubnet -SubnetNames "FrontEnd" $svcname="Azure-TailspinToys" $vnetname="AZDatacenter" New-AzureVM –ServiceName $svcname -VMs $vm1 -VNetName $vnetname
To construct your own Azure PowerShell command set that includes additional configuration, such as extra data disks or a static IP address, see Use Azure PowerShell to create and preconfigure Windows-based Virtual Machines.
To create a classic virtual machine using the SharePoint Server 2016 Trial image with the Azure CLI, see Commands to manage your Azure virtual machines.
Once your SharePoint farm is up and running, to allow Internet access to the SharePoint web site or Central Administration, you must configure endpoints for the SharePoint server virtual machine. For more information, see Set up endpoints on a virtual machine in Azure.
Create a SharePoint 2016 dev/test farm
See this article for the instructions to build out a single-server SharePoint 2016 dev/test environment, complete with a domain controller and SQL server.
Be bold. Go forth. Use this virtual machine image and experience the new generation of SharePoint.