This guide is valuable for anyone struggling to set up a SharePoint development environment in the cloud.
Required Infrastructure
We will need two Windows Server machines within the same VPC:
- Domain Controller (DC) & DNS Server
- SharePoint Server with SQL Server
Initially, we attempted an all-in-one setup without a Domain Controller. However, we encountered an issue when trying to add the Search Service Application—it required the SharePoint machine to be joined to a domain.
Adding a Domain Controller
To resolve this, we added a lightweight Windows Server instance with:
- 1 CPU
- 2GB RAM
- 60GB disk
We then assigned a static IP using ipconfig /all and updated the IPv4 properties of the network adapter accordingly. It’s crucial to ensure that the IP remains unchanged to avoid connectivity issues.
Configuring the Domain Controller
- Install the Domain Controller role via Server Manager, which also installs the DNS role automatically.
- Set up a new Active Directory forest, a straightforward process through the AD Directory Services interface.
Configuring AWS Security Rules
This step can be tedious, as it requires configuring multiple inbound rules in the AWS security settings. To ensure connectivity:
- Copy the Active Directory, DNS, and RPC inbound rules from the Domain Controller’s security settings.
- For RPC, since it uses dynamic ports, select ALL-TCP. However, you can restrict the RPC port range to limit exposure.
Connecting the SharePoint Server to the Domain
Once the domain setup is complete:
- On the future SharePoint server, open Server Manager → Local Server.
- Click on Workgroup, set a computer name, and join the domain.
Connecting the SharePoint Server to the Domain
it is also important to configure the DNS settings:
Manually add the DNS suffix that matches the domain you created (e.g., corp.local).
Open the network adapter properties on the SharePoint server.
Under IPv4 settings, click on Advanced, then go to the DNS tab.
Creating a Backup
Once the SharePoint server is successfully connected to the domain, it’s a good practice to create an image of the servers before proceeding with SQL Server and SharePoint installation.
Final Tweaks
We then need to tweak Windows Server, SQL Server, and SharePoint configurations based on experience and best practices to ensure optimal performance and stability. I hope that soon I will focus on this topic.