Installing and Configuring Office Web Apps for SharePoint 2010 (part 1)

The Word Viewer Service and PowerPoint service applications use worker processes to then convert documents and presentations into PNG images or into XAML (if Silverlight is installed), which are stored in a cache, which can be used for future requests for the same content. The Excel Web Application uses DHTML and JavaScript to render and enable sharing and editing of content, and Excel Calculation Services is used to load the workbook, perform Excel calculations, and maintain the session.

This section gives instructions for installing Office Web Apps for SharePoint 2010 on a two-server farm, where SharePoint Server 2010 Enterprise is in use and has been fully configured. This section also outlines several areas where the default behavior for opening documents in the browser (that is, using Office web applications) or in the Office application (for example, Word, Excel, or PowerPoint) can be modified by the farm or site collection administrators.

Microsoft provides a detailed document titled, “Deploy Office Web Apps (Installed on SharePoint 2010 Products)” at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff431687.aspx, and this article also provides the PowerShell scripts that can be run to shortcut the manual process presented in this section. It is important to note that there are four installation scenarios that this document covers, whereas the following steps cover only a single common scenario. The Microsoft document covers the following different configurations:

• Install and configure Office Web Apps on an existing stand-alone SharePoint server

• Install and configure Office Web Apps on a new stand-alone SharePoint server

• Install and configure Office Web Apps on an existing SharePoint server farm

• Install and configure Office Web Apps on a new SharePoint server farm

The following steps apply to the third scenario, that of installing and configuring Office Web Apps on an existing SharePoint server farm. Assuming your environment meets that requirement, perform the following steps to configure Office Web Apps:

1.	Insert the CD/DVD or mount the .iso image (in this example, en_web_apps_2010_x64_dvd_515376.iso was used) and run Setup.exe.
2.	Enter the product key on the Enter Your Product Key page, and click Continue.
3.	Check the box next to I Accept the Terms of This Agreement, and click Continue.
4.	On the Choose a File location page, leave the defaults unless there is a specific reason for changing the file locations. If the existing server build, for example, stores the index files on the D:\ drive, then it makes sense to also store the Office web applications search index files on the same volume. Click Install Now.
5.	When the Run Configuration Wizard window opens, leave the box next to Run the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard Now checked and click Close.
6.	The Welcome to SharePoint Products window opens; click Next.
7.	Click Yes when the window opens, mentioning that several services might have to be started or reset during configuration.
8.	On the Completing the SharePoint Products Configuration Wizard window, click Next.
9.	When the process completes, the Configuration Successful window appears; click Finish and adminconfigintro.aspx page from Central Administration opens.
10.	Click Start the Wizard.
11.	Assuming the farm has already been configured, which was an assumption for this section, the Service Account section should already be filled in, and a number of the services should already be checked and grayed out because they will already be configured. Verify that Excel service application, PowerPoint service application, and Word Viewing service are checked and then click Next.
12.	Next, the createsite.aspx page appears. Because the assumption is that the farm was already configured, and a default site collection was already created, click Skip.
13.	The next page shows the results of the farm configuration and lists the configured and available service applications. Click System Settings in the Quick Launch.
14.	From the Servers section, click Manage Services on Server to ensure that the relevant services are enabled.
15.	Verify that Excel Calculation Services, PowerPoint Service, and Word Viewing Service are all started. If not, click Start for any that need to be started and complete any additional configuration if needed.
16.	Next, click Application Management from the Quick Launch.
17.	From the Service Applications section, click on Manage Service Applications. Verify that there is an Excel Services Application, a PowerPoint Service Application, and a Word Viewing service application. Figure 1 shows a portion of this page with the Excel service application and the PowerPoint service application visible. Figure 1. Service applications from the central administration site showing Excel services and PowerPoint service applications.

Steps at this point can vary based on the base farm configuration and the preferences of the administrator. For example, for testing purposes, the administrator may choose to create new service applications for one or more of the Office Web Apps. To create a new service application for Excel Services, follow these steps:

1.	From the Manage Service Applications page, on the Service Applications tab of the Ribbon, click the New drop-down menu, and select Excel Services Application.
2.	From the Create New Excel Services Application page, enter a name for the service application, such as Excel Services Application 2.
3.	Check the box next to Use Existing Application Pool, and choose SharePoint Web Services Default, as shown in Figure 2. Figure 2. Create New Excel Services Application window.
4.	Verify that the check box next to Add This Service Application’s Proxy to the Farm’s Default Proxy List is checked, and click OK.
5.	When this process completes, verify that the new service application appears in the list of service applications on the Manage Service Applications page.

A similar process should be followed to create additional PowerPoint service applications or Word Viewing service applications.