Sommaire

What is the goal of this tool ?

Versions

Prerequisites

Tool’s Folder path

User Account

Operating System

ExecutionPolicy

Languages available

Tool structure

Install and Configure OWA Server.ps1

“ConfigurationFiles” Folder

“Downloads” Folder

“Includes” Folder

Description of the major steps

Environment settings

OS Prerequisites

OWA Server Installation

OWA Server Update

OWA Server Language Packs

OWA ServerConfiguration

OWA Farm Configuration verification

SharePoint Configuration Script generation

How to use it ?

Script to launch

Configuration Files

How to disable UAC modification

How to build a single OWA Server, with HTTP

How to build a single OWA Server, with HTTPS

How to install language pack(s)

How to enable document editing

How to add an external URL

How to join an existing server

How to enable SSLOffloading

How to set another parameter(s)

Offline Mode

OWA Server

OWA Update

OWA Language Pack(s)

Things to come / KNOWN ISSUES

Tool’s Folder path

Use of existing OWA media

Languages available

User Interface

Case of an existing farm

Problems when installing language packs (Windows 8)

Internet Explorer

What is the goal of this tool ?

This tool is intended to install and configure Office Web Applications Server (2013) + update + language packs and configure SharePoint 2013 automatically.

You do not have any interaction during the process, except when the server will reboot after roles installation.

The following tasks are done automatically :

  • Office Web Applications Server installation,
  • OWA update Installation,
  • Language Pack(s) Installation,
  • OWA farm creation, or addition of the server to an existing OWA farm,
  • Generation of the script which had to be executed on the SharePoint server, in order to configure SharePoint to use the OWA farm.

Versions

Date / Version / Comment
15/09/2013 / Beta Version / Initial Publication

Prerequisites

Tool’s Folder path

Important :In this first version, the tool folder’s pathmust not contain spaces.

User Account

Your account should be administrator on the OWA Server.

Operating System

Your OS must be :

  • Windows 2012,
  • Windows 2008 R2 with Service Pack 1, .net 4.5, PowerShell 3.0 and KB2592525 installed.

ExecutionPolicy

Launch "Set-ExecutionPolicyRemoteSigned" in the PowerShell window before running the tool.

Languages available

The languages available are the following :

  • OWA Server :English, French, Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Dutch, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian,Spanish.
  • OWA Update :For now, this setting is not implemented; the update language will be the same than the OWA Server language.
  • OWA language Packs :English, French, Arabic, Basque, Bulgarian, German, Italian, Spanish, Turkish.

Tool structure

The structure of the package copied to the OWA Server should be like this (a verification is made by the tool when you launch it) :

Install and Configure OWA Server.ps1

This script is the one to have to execute; no modifications should be made inside.

“ConfigurationFiles”Folder

This folder contains 2 files :

  • Configuration.xml is the file where you should set all the parameters for the OWA Server installation,
  • SilentInstall.xml allows you to set if you want to see the installation windows or not – By default you will see the windows.

“Downloads”Folder

This folder contains 3 subfolders where the downloaded files are stored.

“Includes”Folder

You do not have to modify something here, the folder contains PowerShell files used by the main script “Install and Configure OWA Server.ps1”.

Description of the major steps

Environment settings

The tool verify the following points:

  • Internet Connection : If no internet connection is available, the tool will run in offline mode,
  • Operating System and updates :
  • If no Windows 2012 or Windows 2008 OS is found, the tool stops,
  • If Windows 2012 is found, no further verifications are done,
  • If Windows 2008 is found, the tools checks if the OS prerequisites are installed (Service Pack 1, .net 4.5, PowerShell 3.0, KB2592525).

If one of them is not installed, the tool stops.

In this first version of the tool, you have to install these 4 OS prerequisites manually.

  • Tool content : Check if all files are present in the tool’s directory,
  • User is administrator of the server; if not, the tool stops,
  • The server belongs to a domain; if not, the tool stops.

Some more elements can be verified, depending of the XML file configuration, like :

  • Installation of the certificate (for HTTPS farms),
  • Remote server connectivity (if you want your server to join an existing OWA farm).

OS Prerequisites

The tool verify here :

  • If the required server roles are installed (depending if the OS is Windows 2008 or 2012); if not, the tool installs them,
  • If the UAC is activated; if this setting is not blocked in the configuration file, it is deactivated.

In this step, the server will be restarted if one restart is pending (server role, UAC, other).

OWA Server Installation

This step download and install the OWA Server :

  • If the OWA Server are already installed, no modifications are made.
  • If the OWA media corresponding to the language configured is not found in the “Downloads\OWAServer” folder, it is downloaded and copied to that folder.
  • If the tool is in “offline mode”, the tools stops and you’re invited to store the required file in the folder.

OWA Server Update

This step download and install the OWA Server Update (April 2013 CU) :

  • If the OWA Server Updateis already installed, no modifications are made.
  • If the media is not found in the “Downloads\Updates” folder, it is downloaded and copied to that folder.
  • If the tool is in “offline mode”, the update isn’t applied.

OWA Server Language Packs

This step download and install one or more OWA Server Language Pack(s) :

  • If the OWA Server Language Pack is already installed, no modifications are made.
  • If the media is not found in the “Downloads\LanguagePacks” folder, it is downloaded, renamed and copied to that folder, example :
  • If the tool is in “offline mode”, the language pack isn’t applied.

OWA ServerConfiguration

This step create the OWA farm, corresponding to the configuration file.

OWA Farm Configuration verification

An Internet Explorer window is launch, with the URL http(s)://yourserver.yourdomain /hosting/discovery.

You have to check here that a XML structure is displayed.

SharePoint Configuration Script generation

This step generate a script named “Install and Configure OWA Server.ps1” in the tool’s folder; this script must be executed on the SharePoint server–Its content will changed regarding to the configuration file.

After its execution, the Office Web Applications are availableon the SharePoint 2013 sites.

How to use it ?

Script to launch

The only script you have to launch (in a PowerShell window, as administrator) is the script named “Install and Configure OWA Server.PS1”.

Configuration Files

As explained in the previous paragraph, the “ConfigurationFiles” folder contains 2 files :

  • Configuration.xml is the file where you should set all the parameters for the OWA Server installation,
  • SilentInstall.xml allows you to set if you want to see the installation windows or not – By default you will see the windows.

How to disable UAC modification

Open the file “Configuration.xml” in the “ConfigurationFiles” folder, and change the field “BlockUAC” to “Yes”, example :

LanguageFrench</Language

BlockUACYes</BlockUAC

How to build a single OWA Server, with HTTP

Open the file “Configuration.xml” in the “ConfigurationFiles” folder, and change the field “Language”, example:

LanguageFrench</Language

How to build a single OWA Server, with HTTPS

Open the file “Configuration.xml” in the “ConfigurationFiles” folder, and change the field “CertificateName”, example :

LanguageFrench</Language

CertificateNameOWACert</CertificateName

How to install language pack(s)

Open the file “Configuration.xml” in the “ConfigurationFiles” folder, and change the field “LanguagePacks”, by adding one or more language pack(s), separated by a “,”.

Example :

LanguageFrench</Language

LanguagePacksEnglish,German</LanguagePacks

How to enable document editing

Open the file “Configuration.xml” in the “ConfigurationFiles” folder, and change the field “EditingEnabled” to “Yes”, example :

LanguageFrench</Language

EditingEnabledYes</EditingEnabled

How to add an external URL

Open the file “Configuration.xml” in the “ConfigurationFiles” folder, and change the field “ExternalURL”, example :

LanguageFrench</Language

ExternalURLextowa.spasipe.local</ExternalURL

How to join an existing server

Open the file “Configuration.xml” in the “ConfigurationFiles” folder, and change the field “ServerToJoin”with the servers’s name to join, example :

LanguageFrench</Language

ServerToJoinExistingOWAServer</ServerToJoin

How to enable SSLOffloading

Open the file “Configuration.xml” in the “ConfigurationFiles” folder, and change the field “SSLOffloaded”to ”Yes”, example :

LanguageFrench</Language

SSLOffloadedYes</SSLOffloaded

How to set another parameter(s)

Open the file “Configuration.xml”in the “ConfigurationFiles” folder, and change one of the fields below the field “AllowCEIP”, example :

LanguageFrench</Language

AllowCEIP</AllowCEIP

AllowHttpSecureStoreConnections</AllowHttpSecureStoreConnections

CacheLocation</CacheLocation

CacheSizeInGB</CacheSizeInGB

ClipartEnabled</ClipartEnabled

DocumentInfoCacheSize</DocumentInfoCacheSize

ExcelAllowExternalData</ExcelAllowExternalData

ExcelConnectionLifetime</ExcelConnectionLifetime

ExcelExternalDataCacheLifetime</ExcelExternalDataCacheLifetime

ExcelPrivateBytesMax</ExcelPrivateBytesMax

ExcelRequestDurationMax</ExcelRequestDurationMax

ExcelSessionTimeout</ExcelSessionTimeout

ExcelWarnOnDataRefresh</ExcelWarnOnDataRefresh

ExcelWorkbookSizeMax</ExcelWorkbookSizeMax

FarmOU</FarmOU

LogLocation</LogLocation

LogRetentionInDays</LogRetentionInDays

LogVerbosity</LogVerbosity

MaxMemoryCacheSizeInMB</MaxMemoryCacheSizeInMB

MaxTranslationCharacterCount</MaxTranslationCharacterCount

OpenFromUncEnabled</OpenFromUncEnabled

OpenFromUrlEnabled</OpenFromUrlEnabled

OpenFromUrlThrottlingEnabled</OpenFromUrlThrottlingEnabled

Proxy</Proxy

RecycleActiveProcessCount</RecycleActiveProcessCount

RenderingLocalCacheLocation</RenderingLocalCacheLocation

TranslationEnabled</TranslationEnabled

TranslationServiceAddress</TranslationServiceAddress

TranslationServiceAppId</TranslationServiceAppId

Offline Mode

In case of an offline installation (if no internet connection is detected by the tool), you have to put the required files in the “Downloads” folder.

These files must reside in their respective subfolders, depending on their usage.

The syntax for their name is :Language-FileName.FileExtension.

OWA Server

The file must be copied in the “OWAServer” subfolder, example :

OWA Update

The file must be copied in the “Updates” subfolder, example :

OWA Language Pack(s)

The file(s) must be copied in the “LanguagePacks” subfolder, example :

Things to come / KNOWN ISSUES

The following points will be corrected or improved in afuture version of the tool.

Tool’s Folder path

The tool structure must be copied in a path withoutspaces in it.

Use of existing OWA media

If you already have an OWA media, you can’t use it by mounting it on your server as an additional drive.

In this version of the tool, you have to put the file in the “OWAServer” subfolder, see previous paragraph for the instructions.

The tool will mount your media as a temporary drive.

Languages available

For now, not all the languages are available, as the choice of the update language isn’t implemented.

Please see the paragraph “Languages available” for more information.

User Interface

Actually, there’s no user interface to change the tool’ssettings, you have manually to change the “Configuration.xml” file.

Case of an existing farm

When an existing farm is detected by the tool and the update or a language pack has to be installed, according to the TechNet articlesApply software updates to Office Web Apps Serverand Deploy Office Web Apps Server:

  • Single server farm : the server is removed from the farm, then the farm is recreated,
  • Multiple server farm :you have to recreate the farm on the first server (see previous line), then run the tool by joining the other servers to the new farm.

If the update is already installed, the farm is recreated using the “-force” parameter.

Problems when installing language packs (Windows 8)

With Hyper-V hosted on a Windows 8, I encountered (sometimes) problems when installing language packs :

After spending many hours on this problem without finding a solution, I decided to add a functionality which will retry to install the languagepack (or the OWA server, or the update) 3 times before aborting.

If the problem concernsthe OWA Server Installer, the tool stops at the 4th retry.

See example below :the language pack fails to install one time, and succeeds at the first retry :

Internet Explorer

When launching Internet Explorer to check the farm configuration, like the previous point, I encountered ramdom errors; for now, if an error occurs, a message will display the URL to launch manually.