The introduction of the App Store was among the most welcome enhancements to SharePoint with the 2013 release, signaling the arrival of a new method of extending the platform through versatile app offerings from the Microsoft Partner ecosystem. Naturally, there is much to learn about working with apps, and we’ve created this User’s Guide dedicated to helping you with configuring an environment for apps in SharePoint 2013. In part 2 of our 7-part series, “User’s Guide to Configuring an Environment for Apps in SharePoint” we’ll show you how to configure the subscription settings.

Start the Subscription Settings in Central Administration

To begin, open the SharePoint 2013 Central Administration page and click on System Settings.

On the System Settings page, in the Servers section, click on Manage Services on Server.

Go to the Services on Server page.  Make sure that the status of the Microsoft SharePoint Foundation Subscription Settings Service is listed as Started.

Configure the Subscription Settings service application by using Windows PowerShell

Before you begin, make sure that the user running the Windows PowerShell cmdlets has the following memberships on all databases that you will be using:

• db_securityadmin
• db_owner

Next, go to Start > All Programs.  Expand the folder MS SharePoint 2013 Products to reveal the SharePoint 2013 Management Shell program.

Select SharePoint 2013 Management Shell with the Run as administrator option.

Run the following commands:

• Get and set the name of the managed account in the SharePoint farm to the $account for later use.

$account = Get-SPManagedAccount “<AccountName>”

Please note that “<AccountName>” is the name of the managed account in the SharePoint farm.

For example: $account = Get-SPManagedAccount bamboovnspinstaller

• Press Enter.

• Create an application pool for the Subscription Settings service application:

$appPoolSubSvc = New-SPServiceApplicationPool -Name SettingsServiceAppPool -Account $account

• Press Enter.

• Create the Subscription Settings service application:

$appSubSvc = New-SPSubscriptionSettingsServiceApplication -ApplicationPool $appPoolSubSvc -Name SettingsServiceApp -DatabaseName <SettingsServiceDB>

Please note that <SettingsServiceDB> should be the name of the Subscription Settings service database.

For example: $appSubSvc = New-SPSubscriptionSettingsServiceApplication -ApplicationPool $appPoolSubSvc -Name SettingsServiceApp -DatabaseName SettingsServiceChauTeamDB

• Create a proxy for the Subscription Settings service application:

$proxySubSvc = New-SPSubscriptionSettingsServiceApplicationProxy -ServiceApplication $appSubSvc

Next, after running the command lines above, you will need to verify that the Subscription Settings Service was successfully created on the server.

To do this, go to the SharePoint 2013 Central Administration page and click Application Management.

On the Application Management page, select the Manage service applications hyperlink.

On the Manage service applications page, make sure that the status of SettingsServiceApp is listed as Started.

Next, you will need to go to the MS SQL Server to verify that, after running the command lines above, the database name was successfully created.

New to the 2013 platform, Apps for SharePoint provide a great channel for adding functionality to a SharePoint site. Are you ready to start enhancing your SharePoint site with apps? To enable users to install and use apps, you must configure your SharePoint environment to support them.  Check out the rest of our series to learn how to get your SharePoint environment app ready!

• Part 1: How to Configure the Domain Names in DNS
• Part 2: How to Configure the Subscription Settings
• Part 3: How to Configure the App Management Service Application
• Part 4: How to Configure App URLs Using Central Administration
• Part 5: How to Configure App URLs Using Windows PowerShell
• Part 6: How to Create an App Catalog
• Part 7: How to Add Apps from the SharePoint Store to a SharePoint Site