Install Workflow Manager on SP2019

Recently I am working on my first SP2019 and need to install Workflow Manager. I found Microsoft is not very helpful on it. You can feel they are not going to make any effort on on-premise products anymore.

The official installation guide is here. The last update is on 2018 while this article support SP2019?! Yes the procedure is the same but the software component are different.

An 2018 article that support production in 2019

Here is a quick summary:

1. Plan for your Workflow Manager Server topology. Think about which is “WF Manager” (WFM) and which is “WF Client”. WFM is the service actually handle the workflow. WF client is a service installed on each SharePoint server to communicate with WFM.
   Usually we will install WFM on SharePoint server(s) but you can configure WFM on non-SharePoint server (for better performance I believe). The only limitation is you can only have 1, 3 or 5 WFM topology. 2 and 4 are not supported. (as usual I cannot find official support but MVP said so you better follow)
2. Download and install Web Platform installer (PI) on each SharePoint server. The PI will download component selected from Microsoft server thru Internet. If your environment have blocked Internet you will need to download them separately.
3. Login to your planned WFM servers. In the PI, look for “Workflow Manager 1.0 Refresh (CU2)” and install it. Then close and reopen PI, install “Workflow Manager Client 1.0 Cumulative Update 5”.
4. After install completed, select Workflow Manager Configuration. Follow the wizard to complete the installation. (fig 2) Several workflow related databases and windows services will be deployed by the wizard. (Service Bus Gateway, Service Bus Message Broker, etc)
5. Open SP2019 Management Shell as administrator, run:
   Register-SPWorkflowService -SPSite “https://yoursharepointsite.com" -WorkflowHostUri https://wfm_hostname:12290
6. Finally, login to all the remaining SharePoint servers (i.e. WF Clients). In the PI, look for “Workflow Manager Client” (it is cumulative update 4 at the time being) and install it. Then run the same PowerShell:
   Register-SPWorkflowService -SPSite “https://yoursharepointsite.com" -WorkflowHostUri https://wfm_hostname:12290
   Without install SSL in workflow management site, run:
   Register-SPWorkflowService -SPSite “https://yoursharepointsite.com" -WorkflowHostUri “http://wfm_hostname:12291” -AllowOAuthHttp

fig2 You can find Workflow Manager Configuration in Windows menu

At this point you should be able to create your 2013 workflow with SharePoint Designer 2013. For troubleshooting, you may refer back to official article.

What if your farm have more than 1 web application? Although the Register-SPWorkflowService cmdlet have parameter “https://yoursharepointsite.com”, the registration is for entire farm.

One major mistake most people make is the WFM server hostname. Make sure all your servers within the farm can be resolved to the correct IP using your hostname. In my example, it is “wfm_hostname”. Also, make sure the WFM server’s IIS is listening this hostname and port number. Make sure the windows firewall or security software is not blocking the port (12290 by default).

Check IIS’s “Workflow Management Site” is existing, running and the binding is correct.