D's Viewpoint

Installing Sharepoint Server 2010 is easy for a single server installation. For a 2-tier installation things do get a little tricky. But all of the installation can be accomplished in about 30 minutes if you have the major pre-requisites installed. Here is how you get to a successful installation:

First the pre-requisites. For getting all the features of Sharepoint Server 2010, you must install the Enterprise edition (the standard edition is good, but the real power is the Enterprise edition. It does cost more for the Enterprise license). To install the Enterprise Edition you need to have Windows Server Enterprise Edition (Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition 64bit is recommended on the data as well as the Sharepoint Server itself) So coming to the pre-requisites:

• SQL Server. SQL Server 2008 R2 is recommended for the 2-tier configuration. We need the database engine and the SQL Server agent service installed and running on the database server. Make sure you have a domain account setup on this server which can be used by Sharepoint to connect.
• Application Server Role & Web Server Role. These 2 roles are required on the Sharepoint Server. The Web Server (IIS) role additionally needs to have ASP.NET installed. If these are not installed the Sharepoint Server Pre-requisite installer will try and install these for you. But having them installed prior to Sharepoint Installation is recommended.

Once the pre-requisites are met, you are ready to install Sharepoint Server 2010. After you insert the media and start the 'setup' wizard, the first thing you need to do is install all the pre-requisites using the tool that is named so. Once all of the pre-requisites are installed you need to restart the server to flush out all the setup dependencies.

Now you will begin the Sharepoint Server 2010 installation. You will need the product key to be entered so have it handy. After you have entered the product key, you are required to accept the license terms. Next is a decision point. You are asked if you would like a Stand alone Installation or Server Farm. You do not need the Stand alone installation (we doing a 2-tier remember!) and you are not ready for a farm yet. But go ahead and select 'Server Farm'. Now is a tricky part. You have 2 choices again 'Complete' and 'Stand alone" (second option beats me. Did we not click on 'Server Farm' earlier?). Select 'Complete' and continue on with the installation.

The following video walks you through the whole process: