Sharepoint 2016 single server farm

Question

If we want to install a stand alone single server farm using SharePoint 2016 is it possible to install all the roles and features of the farm onto the same server together with the SQL 2014 server?

We would like to test the new functionality a bit and maybe later use this setup for our dev team.

So can we install everything on the same server (including the SQL 2016)?

Answer 1

Yes, this is purpose of the Single Server farm. There is only limitation that you cannot add more server into the farm.

Service applications, services, and components required for a single-machine farm belong on a Single-Server Farm. A Single-Server Farm is meant for development, testing, and very limited production use. A SharePoint farm with the Single-Server Farm role cannot have more than one SharePoint server in the farm.

Another Option is you can select the Custom role and start/stop services which you want.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt346114(v=office.16).aspx

Answer 2

To get best out of Sharepoint 2016 single server farm what you can do is setup your database server on different server. This would give you on advantage that SQL components will not consume your memory. This is advisable for development environment because, Development env we would require all the services to test/try things. SQL server can be an overhead in this case. Also only use feature which is minimal required, but we recently did SP 2016 installation there are many pre-requisites which are required for SharePoint and which will slow down your server.