New Documentation: SharePoint Workflow Manager installation and configuration

We recently announced the release of SharePoint Workflow Manager which is a replacement for Microsoft Workflow Manager.

Meanwhile new documentation has been released covering the installation and configuration of SharePoint Workflow Manager:

26 Comments


  1. Hi Stefan,
    My farm consists of 3 server: Web, Search and one just for the Microsoft Workflow Manager.
    I was reading the documentation where I found “Install SharePoint Workflow Management Client on each server in the SharePoint Server farm after uninstalling any previous versions.”
    Do I have to install them on the 2 SharePoint Server or can keep this 3 server configuration where the Manager is just on the 3rd one?

    Reply

    1. Hi Borsoi,

      this is about the SharePoint Workflow Manager CLIENT component – not about SharePoint Workflow Manager.
      The Client component is required to ensure that the workflow code running in the IIS worker processes can communicate with your Workflow manager server.

      Cheers,
      Stefan

      Reply

      1. Ok thanks.
        What about compatibility of the already deployed workflows? We have a plugin/solution installed, which extends the Workflows actions and are wondering if our workflows will still run.

        Reply

        1. Hi Borsoi,

          I would recommend to evaluate the 3rd party component in a test environment first before performing the upgrade of the production farm. If any issues occur the first step would be to contact the provider of the relevant 3rd party to allow them to investigate the issue and if required update the component. If the 3rd party component provider needs assistance from Microsoft he can open a support case to get assistance from developer support.

          Cheers,
          Stefan

          Reply

  2. This documentation lacks the most important (most error-prone, most complicated) part: the actual configuration of Workflow Manager.

    Reply

    1. Hi Dirk, as the article has a long section about configuring SharePoint Workflow Manager with SharePoint. What exact information are you missing?

      Reply

  3. Not sure whether I understood the process correctly – but in order to do this (i.e., to have a workflow host URI endpoint) …

    Register-SPWorkflowService -SPSite “http://myserver/mysitecollection” -WorkflowHostUri “http://workflow.example.com:12291” -AllowOAuthHttp

    … you will need to run the Workflow Manager Configuration Wizard, that will create the corresponding databases, start services, …, right?

    Reply

    1. TBH the previous instructions didn’t cover that part of the setup either, so the updated documentation is no worse. Tucked away in the following section is a video series that covers the whole setup process, including the configuration wizard – https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/governance/video-series-install-and-configure-workflow-in-sharepoint-server-2013. It could possibly do with a refresh, but the workflow configuration part is still valid.

      Reply

    2. Got it! I have sent the feedback to the relevant team.

      Reply

  4. Hi Stefan, die MS Anleitung haut nicht hin.
    Wenn man der WF Farm rejoined, sagt die Config am Ende, dass wir noch part of the farm, wären und bricht ab. Das stimmt aber nicht.

    Reply

    1. Hi Marcel,
      it looks as if something went wrong on step 2: “Select Leave Workflow Manager Farm.”
      If you need assistance for this I would recommend to open a support case with Microsoft.
      Cheers,
      Stefan

      Reply

  5. Hi Stefan,
    just for info. We opened a case with this problem.

    Configuration progress..
    Add host to Service Bus farm – failed
    This host wvxxx.ppro.xxx.de is already part of Service Bus farm.

    Check:
    get-sbfarmstatus : This host is not joined to any Service Bus farm. To join a farm run Add-SBHost cmdlet.

    Greetings

    Reply

  6. There is a missing point in the MS documentation (Section:Upgrade tu SP Workflow Manager)

    Missing is “To Leave also the Service Bus Farm”

    MS Support will later try to clean up the wrong Service Bus connection.

    Reply

    1. Hi Marcel,
      just to clarify – you mean to remove the current server from the Service Bus farm using “Remove-SBHost”?

      Reply

      1. I mean, open Service Bus Configuration, than choose „Leave Service Bus Farm.“

        Reply

  7. SharePoint Workflow Manager Upgrade Summary

    Our problem:
    We did not leave the Service Bus farm because it was not in the MS documentation.

    So we could not join our WF Manager farm later.

    Solution:
    Remove SBHost

    Remove-SBHost -HostName xxxx.xx.xx.de -SBFarmDBConnectionString “Data Source=server\instance;Initial Catalog=TEST_Sb_ManagementDB;Integrated Security=True;Encrypt=False”.

    After that it still did not work.

    Normally two local groups should be created when installing MicrosoftServiceFabric, but were not!
    We created these,
    ServiceFabricAllowedUsers
    ServiceFabricAdministrators
    Member in each group is the account of the WF Manager.

    With this we already got further…
    But we still had to remove the WFHost.

    Remove WFHost

    Remove-WFHost -HostName xxxxx.xxx.xx.de -WFFarmDBConnectionString “Data Source=server\instance;Initial Catalog=TEST_WF_ManagementDB;Integrated Security=True;Encrypt=False”

    After that we could finally join the WF farm and when reopening the WF configuration select the item “Upgrade Workflow Manager Farm”.

    Translated with http://www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

    Reply

    1. Thanks for sharing these details! I have informed the relevant team in the product group about your experience. The info I got is that In general the step to leave the wf farm should automatically also perform the operation to leave the sb farm. They are now investigating what might have gone wrong here.

      Reply

  8. Hi Stefan – short update.
    Today, we installed WF Manager Client on SP server. Trust and proxy looks ok, but a workflow doesn`t work. We are waiting for next support meeting with MS.

    Reply

  9. Some clear instructions on installing the prerequisite Azure Fabric would probably also be exceedingly helpful because the existing documentation on that product isn’t really targeted at what you need to do with that installation to specifically support this workflow product.

    Reply

    1. Hi Deanna,
      thanks for the feedback – I have forwarded your suggestion to the relevant team.
      Cheers,
      Stefan

      Reply

      1. Thanks Stefan – Perhaps to clarify a bit, for workflow manager I believe the idea is to use the “MicrosoftServiceFabric executable rather than the Microsoft.Azure.ServiceFabric.WindowsServer ZIP package and having done the latter for other projects I didn’t realize this the first time through.

        Reply

          1. That is interesting because MS support told me to use ZIP file and install windows fabric using powershell script just as it was in older documentation.
            Anyway on fresh install I had issue that below groups were not created
            ServiceFabricAllowedUsers
            ServiceFabricAdministrators

            MS Support also advised me to manually add IIS role, that part is missing in documentation.


  10. I just want to add information on updating the Service Fabric, as the current version of 9.1.1048.9590 is considered a finding on ACAS scans with DoD. Must now be 9.1.1583.9590. Since no real information or guidance on how to just update the SF after you have SP Workflow Manager running, I ran through scenarios until something worked. You need to download the runtime version exe. First, you must leave the WFM farm. Then uninstall the current ver of SF. Install new version with /AcceptEULA in PS or CMD prompt. If the uninstall of current version doesn’t remove the files under c:\Program Files\Microsoft Service Fabric, the install of updated SF with fail. You’ll have to reboot and then remove leaselayr.sys file. Install the updated SF again. Rejoin Farm. Run Upgrade Workflow Manager. Test your workflows.

    Reply

  11. Would like to add additional info for Marian: The ServiceFabricAllowedUsers and ServiceFabricAdministrators are 2 groups that are added to the Local Users and Groups when installing the Service Fabric runtime. When you rejoin the farm, it will put the WFM service account back into these groups.

    Reply

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