Frequently Asked Questions

• Is there a friendlier way to edit the XML than good ol' Notepad/Visual Studio/etc.?
  • Yes - check out the new AutoSPInstaller Online. It includes real-time validation & smarts to avoid those "oops" moments during script run-time. We welcome your feedback!
• Is this thing safe/ready/appropriate for Production?
  • It sure is! I've personally set up many live customer farms with AutoSPInstaller in the past few years. In fact it's even been used by organizations like CloudShare to create SharePoint VM templates. The standard caveats apply though: As the importance of your target farm increases, so should your level of knowledge about how to properly size, architect and build SharePoint. AutoSPInstaller does not mitigate this, it merely eases, standardizes and accelerates the process.
• Does AutoSPInstaller support SharePoint Foundation?
  • Basically, no. Some folks have had success getting it to work by editing the script themselves (search thru the discussions to find examples) but as I (selfishly) have no need for SPF I have not spent any time researching this. If however someone puts forth a tried, tested & true patch that can (very) easily be integrated, I may consider including it.
• Can I use AutoSPInstaller to install Office Web Apps 2013?
  • Office Web Apps 2013 (also known as WAC) is now a separate product which is not installed on the same server as SharePoint 2013. As it's technically-speaking no longer part of the SharePoint farm, and because of the complexity it would introduce, I've decided to leave Office Web Apps 2013 out of AutoSPInstaller for the time being.
• What about the Request Management service (in SharePoint 2013)? Will it be included in AutoSPInstaller?
  • After a discussion with Spencer Harbar, it was agreed that it might be best to leave it out, as there can be some ramifications with provisioning it without full awareness of its intended use - e.g. by folks who want to blindly "turn everything on" in SharePoint 2013.
• Where's all the #@)%#$ documentation??
  • Well, this FAQ is part of it I suppose :) I've written up a few pointers and gotchas which you can review here, but in addition, several AutoSPInstaller supporters have provided some great step-by-step guidance on their various blogs. For example:
    • Tobias Lekman's step-by-step: http://blog.lekman.com/2010/11/automated-sharepoint-2010-installations.html
    • Wahid Saleemi's series on AutoSPInstaller: http://www.wahidsaleemi.com/series/autospinstaller
    • Another step-by-step with some important prep items by Noorez Khamis: http://www.khamis.net/Blog/Post/315/Step-by-Step-SharePoint-2013-installation-instructions-using-AutoSPInstaller-V3-and-AutoSPInstallerGUI-–-System-Setup
    • An article that helps clear up the steps & requirements for remote installations by Kartik Vega: http://sharepointjournal.com/2014/04/21/sharepoint-2013-remote-installation-using-autospinstaller-multi-server-farm
• My SharePoint server(s) and SQL instance are in different, untrusted domains. Can I use SQL authentication instead of Windows Integrated?
  • Although support for SQL auth in SharePoint (especially around things like the User Profile Service) has gotten better, AutoSPInstaller doesn't currently support connecting to your databases using anything other than Windows Integrated authentication. It certainly wouldn't be impossible to make the required modifications, but you'd have to do this yourself or reach out to the community for guidance.
• I want to make a single/isolated configuration change to an existing SharePoint farm (e.g. provision a service application). Do I really need to re-run the whole script?
  • No - in fact you can usually just run individual functions to achieve what you're after by following the instructions here.