Sharepoint 2013 introduced a new way to manage workflows. It involves the feasibility of hosting workflows on a separate Server, so that the load on the Web front Server is reduced. To use the Server as a Workflow Manager Server, we have to install a new workflow manager in the server.
Share Point 2013 workflow is based on .NET Framework 4.0 and in order to use Designer/VS workflows in SP 2013, we will have to install the workflow manager prior to that.
If we go to SharePoint Designer 2013, we can see that only SharePoint 2010 is available in Platform Options.
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This is because Workflow Manager comes separate and is not installed with SharePoint 2013. In order for SharePoint 2013 to appear in the Platform type we will have to install Workflow Manager 1.0.Let’s see how we can install and configure workflow manager. The installation file can be downloaded from here.
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Once the Workflow manager is installed, it can be configured using Workflow Manager configuration wizard which involves:
- Workflow Manager Configuration
- Service Bus Configuration
Go to the downloaded executable and click it. Click on install to start the installation process.
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Select Workflow Manger 1.0 and click accept to agree to the license terms.
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This will start the installation process.
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Wait for the installation to complete.
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Click on Continue so as to start configuring the Workflow engine.
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You can select either one of the above options.
- Select the first option, if you want to set up the Workflow Manager using default setting.
- Select the second option, if you want to configure Workflow Manager using custom settings.
- Select the third option, if you want to add the computer to an already existing Workflow Manager.
Here I have selected the Custom settings option.
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Specify the DB Names, if they are not already present in the text boxes and click the Test Connection.
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Green ticks indicate successful validation of the connection. Now, click next arrow to proceed to the next page.
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Specify the Service account credentials under which the WF Manager Services will run. Also, specify a certificate. Generation Key needs to be saved somewhere, as it will be needed every time a computer is added to the WF Manager.
Now, proceed to the next page which is the Service Bus Configuration step.
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The text box will be pre-populated with the values. If there are some changes that need to be made, say DB name, make the change and click the Test Connection. Once the green tick appears, specify the Service account credentials. The ideal was the one which was used earlier to configure the Workflow Manager. Now Click OK.
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This will continue with the final configuration of the Workflow Manager and Service Bus.
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Accept the Summary screen, as shown above. The configuration will now start and the progress will be shown, as below:
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Once the configuration is done, it will summarize the success, as shown below:
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Now let’s see if the Work Flow Manager configuration was successful. In order to do that, go to http://ServerName:12291. This will show the XML below, which states the Workflow Manager configuration. Thus, the WF Manger configuration is successful.
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Now, we need to create a Workflow Service connection using PowerShell. Spin up the SharePoint Management Shell as an administrator. Register the Workflow Manager, using the Register-SPWorkflowService Command.
Register-SPWorkflowService -SPSite "SiteCollectionName" -WorkflowHostUri “https://ServerName:12291” -AllowOAuthHttp
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Upon registration, we can verify the success of the Workflow Service by going to the central administration. Spot the Workflow Service Application Proxy Service Application.
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Click it and it will show the message, below, if the registration is successful:
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In case the WF Service Registration has some issue, the screen, shown below, will be shown on clicking the Proxy Service Application.
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The final step to make sure that the installation and configuration has gone pretty smootly is to spin up the Share Point Designer and click the create List Workflow. If the installation and configuration is together a success, we can see SharePoint 2013 Workflow option, as shown below, else it will list only Share Point 2010 Workflow option.
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Thus, we have successfully configured the Workflow engine for use with SharePoint 2013. SharePoint 2013 workflow comes with lots of powerful features like state machine workflow and the ability to call Web Services from the Workflow.