Ulysses Ludwig’Blog

In this article, SharePoint 2013 is configured for remote and local access via the URL http://sharepoint/, security and the farm administrators group is defined, and the top level site collection is created.

With SharePoint 2013 installed on Windows Server 2012 with SQL Server 2012 and a 2012 domain controller, SharePoint is now ready to be configured. While the previous installs were relatively routine aside from a few errors, it is not unusual to run into a large number of issues while attempting to configure SharePoint 2013, thus it will take additional troubleshooting and technical savvy to get everything working properly.

SharePoint 2013 Lab build – 8 Part Series

• SharePoint 2013 Lab Build - Part 1 - Getting Started
• SharePoint 2013 Lab Build - Part 2 - Windows Server 2012 Installation
• SharePoint 2013 Lab Build - Part 3 - SQL Server 2012 Installation
• SharePoint 2013 Lab Build - Part 4 - Security Configuration
• SharePoint 2013 Lab Build - Part 5 - SharePoint Server 2013 Install
• SharePoint 2013 Lab Build - Part 6 - SharePoint Server 2013 Configuration (YOU ARE HERE)
• SharePoint 2013 Lab Build - Part 7 - Visual Studio and SharePoint Designer Installation (INCOMPLETE)
• SharePoint 2013 Lab Build - Part 8 - Windows Azure Workflow Installation and Configuration

Table of Contents

• Create a New Web Application
• Create a Site Collection
• Configure the Alternate Access Mappings
• Configure Internet Information Services (IIS)
• Configure DNS
• Configure Remote Access From Host Machine

Create a New Web Application

Note that it is realistic to use the Configuration Wizard to create the root SharePoint site, however, for knowledge and experience purposes, it is more helpful to create these items from scratch.

Click Manage web applications.

The New button is unfortunately disabled. Instead, log back in as ExpertAssist\SPAppPool.

Still not able to create a new webapp - this occurred while on and off the server…

Oddly enough, logging in as ExpertAssist\Administrator does enable the New button.

Create a new web application.

In some cases this Silverlight dialog never goes away. If it happens to stick for more than two minutes, close the dialog and click on Web Applications. There is a good chance the web application was created without incident.

Create a Site Collection

Creating a web application is not sufficient for SharePoint to begin responding to end user requests on port 80. The next step is to create a site collection — more specifically, the “root” site collection.

Choose the appropriate web application at the top, then provide a name and URL for this top level site

Specify the team site template and provide the SharePoint Admin and the dev users as the site collection administrators.

Note that ExpertAssist\Ulysses will be the primary development user.

Success!

Note that http://sharepoint will not load because no Alternate Access Mappings (AAMs) and Host Headers in IIS have been configured. Furthermore, no hosts or DNS entry exists to tell Internet Explorer where to look for the site on the SP2013 server.

Configure the Alternate Access Mappings

Next configure alternate access mappings so that vanity URLs such as http://sharepoint/ can be used to access the site.

Click on Edit Public URLs.

Change the mapping collection to SharePoint - SharePoint80.

Add http://sp2013 to the custom zone.

These zones are somewhat arbitrary other than the Default zone, which is supposed to be the default URL for referencing objects. Adding a mapping for the server http://sp2013 is useful for “backdoor” access to the web app.

Visit http://sp2013 and the team site should load, but it doesn’t because there is still a default IIS website listening on port 80.

Configure Internet Information Services (IIS)

Launch Start > Administrative Tools > Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager.

Unfortunately, two websites are attempting to listen to port 80 (the default internet port). The first is the Default Web Site, which comes by default with IIS, and the second is the newly created SharePoint - SharePoint80 website. In order for IIS to properly send the port 80 requests to SharePoint - SharePoint80, the Default Web Site has to be deleted or disabled.

Restart IIS.

After refreshing the http://sp2013/, “backdoor” entry to the site an error is displayed but the IIS default message is now gone.

Create bindings to the SharePoint - SharePoint80 website.

Add SP2013 to the bindings that already exist.

Also edit the SharePoint 80 binding to include all IP addresses.

IIS may show that SharePoint - SharePoint80 is now stopped. Either start or restart the site.

Refresh IIS to determine if the site started properly.

Next, refresh http://sp2013 in the browser.

Note that http://sharepoint will still NOT work.

Enter the credentials for a user with Site Collection Administrator permissions (in this case ExpertAssist\SPAdmin or ExpertAssist\Ulysses).

Success!

SharePoint 2013 is up and running.

Configure DNS

In order for the server to resolve http://sharepoint to the local machine, a DNS entry needs to be added to the server. To open the DNS Manager click the start button then start typing “DNS”

Expand forward lookup zones to the domain (ExpertAssist.com).

Right mouse key on the canvas and create a New Alias (CNAME).

Next, refresh http://sharepoint (on the server) and a dialog box will appear requesting the user’s credentials. Enter a user who has site collection administrator rights (in this case ExpertAssist\SPAdmin or ExpertAssist\Ulysses).

Because the server doesn’t trust the URL, add the site to the Trusted Sites zone. Unfortunately, in Windows Server 2012, this is not an easy task because URLs in the Trusted Zone must be https. Open Internet Options and add the URL to the Trusted Sites if it is not possible to add it from the dialog prompt that appears during login.

Success!

Configure Remote Access From Host Machine

If the trusted sites prevent adding, then the domain policy may prevent users from adding non-secure sites to Trusted Sites. If this is the case, simply access http://sharepoint remotely instead of attempting to load it directly on the server. On the host machine, http://sharepoint will not work because the URL does not resolve. In order to get http://sharepoint to resolve to the server, create an entry in the client’s host file.

In Windows 7, open C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\ and locate the hosts file. Make a backup and copy the editable version to the desktop.

Using Command Prompt or PowerShell, use the command ipconfig to determine the server’s IP address.

Edit the host file accordingly.

Replace the file in C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc with the editable copy of the host file (it is not possible to edit the file in place under standard Windows 7 security).

Test using Chrome.

Success!

Shut down the virtual machine and take a snapshot.

Continue onto SharePoint 2013 Lab Build Part 7 to install Visual Studio and SharePoint Designer.