Installation Overview and Step by Step Notes

ExCM is provided as a standard SharePoint Farm Solution.  The diagram below provides an overview of the process to install and deploy the software in a SharePoint farm.

Phase 1 in the diagram needs to be performed on the server that runs your Central Administration webiste - whether that server is a web-front end (WFE) or an application (APP) server (or both in the case of a single-server farm).  

Phase 2 needs to be performed after Phase 1 and is only necessary if your Central Administration website does not run on a WFE and/or you have more than one WFE.

Please review the Installation and Farm Deployment Overview Diagram to become familiar with the installation and deployment process:
 

(click diagram to open up full image - click here to download the full image) 

Step by Step Instructions:

Phase 1 (to be performed only on the server where your Central Administration website runs):

1. Make sure to run the downloaded installer file (ExCM2019.exe, ExCM2016.exe, or ExCM2013.exe) as a local administrator.
2. Click on Install.  The first part of the installation only unpacks and copies files to the Program Files directory on the server.  No files are copied to any SharePoint folders or uploaded to SQL Server at this point.
3. A new folder is created (named SharePoint Solutions) at C:Program Files.  Inside of that folder are an ExCM folder and a License Manager folder.  Those folders contain various installation files - the most significant being the SPSolutionsExtranetCollaborationManager.20xx.wsp file, which is the cabinet file that represents a custom farm solution for SharePoint.
4. Click on Configure and then click on Run the ExCM Configuration Wizard.  This wizard 1) checks to make sure that a list of prerequisites for your server are met, 2) asks you to select the web applications you would like the solution deployed to (select the extranet web application you created as part of the prerequisites and any other web applications desired), and 3) begins by uploading the .wsp to SharePoint's solution store in SQL Server (the equivalent of the Add-SPSolution powershell command).
5. Next the Configure wizard does the equivalent of the Install-SPSolution powershell command.    This command unpacks the .wsp file and begins the solution deployment process to the hard drives of all of the servers in your farm.  (Note:  SharePoint's solution deployment process will only deploy files to SharePoint servers that have the Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Web Application service started on them.  This is why it is critical (as indicated in the Prerequisites topic) to have that service started on the server that runs your Central Administration website.  You can learn more about this requirement here).
6. SharePoint's solution deployment mechanism 1) reads the manifest.xml file that is included in the .wsp and 2) creates a special timer job to 3) deploy the solution components that are specified in the manifest to every server in the farm. An example of what SharePoint is doing is shown in this diagram:
   
   (click image to open in full size)
   
   
7. Because ExCM deploys new special-purpose timer jobs to the farm, it is important to run the following commands, at an elevated command prompt, on each server in your farm, before proceeding:
    

   net stop SPTimerV4
   iisreset
   net start SPTimerV4

    

8. At this point, the ExCM solution deployment is complete.  In a healthy SharePoint farm, all components will have been automatically deployed by SharePoint to all servers in the farm.  You also need to go ahead and install and activate an ExCM license key on the Central Administration server.  Once that is done you have completed all work that is necessary on this server and can proceed to Phase 2.

Phase 2 (to be performed on each remaining server in your farm):

9. Copy the downloaded installation file (ExCM2019.exe, ExCM2016.exe, or ExCM2013.exe) to the server.  Make sure to run the .exe file as a local administrator.
10. The purpose of Phase 2 is simply to install the License Manager software on each remaining server so that a license key can be installed and activated on each server.  By running the installer on each server, the License Administrator software gets automatically installed on each server:
    
    
11. The License Administrator software is installed and its DLLs and other files copied to the server at C:Program FilesSharePoint SolutionsLicense Manager.  After this, you will be presented with the option to run the "Configure" wizard again.  You should cancel out of this screen, as shown in the diagram, since the Configure wizard has already been run once in the farm and to do it again would be redundant:
    
    
12. The next step is to install and activate a license key on the server.  Once that is done, you can repeat Steps 9 - 12 on all remaining web front-end (WFE) servers in the farm until each one has the License Administrator software installed and an ExCM 2019, 2016, or 2013 license key installed and activated.

After you have installed and activated licenses on all web front-end servers in your farm, proceed to the Verify Installation page.

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