We have a Sharepoint 2013 on premises environment with SQL Server 2008 R2. We need to configure Power Pivot /Power view reports/dashboards with Sharepoint 2013 using Excel 2013. From the TechNet blogs so far I understand that we need to deploy Power Pivot for SharePoint 2013 add-in for all Power Pivot Features or Sharepoint with Analysis Services in SharePoint Mode for Power Pivot workbooks in the browser.

For Sharepoint 2013 farm we need to have SQL Server 2012 SP1 package to use to deploy analysis services or power pivot add-in depending on the case. My question however is to know whether it depends also on the Sharepoint farm backend SQL Version, as I have SQL Server 2008 R2 running for the SP Farm.

In other words, given that I have a SP Farm SP2013 with SQL Server 2008R2 On Premises, Can I go on and install Power Pivot Add-in (packaged with SQL Server 2012 SP1) on this environment? May be a dumb question but will this work?

Thanks

Vineet

You can continue using SQL 2008 R2 for your Database Engine for SharePoint.

Ideally, you'll dedicate a server for PowerPivot. You would then install the PowerPivot Addin (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35577) on the SharePoint server you want to run the PowerPivot System Service on. You should also run Excel Calc Services and Claims to Windows Token Service on this SharePoint server. You would then configure ECS to connect to the specific PowerPivot instance (e.g. SSASSERVER\POWERPIVOT).

In addition to what Trevor already mentioned, you need to install a SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services instance named POWERPIVOT to use the PowerPivot features. As far as the installation goes

1) SQL Server 2008 R2 will be your database engine for SharePoint databases

2) SQL Server 2012 with SP1 Analysis Services instance will be used by PowerPivot for SharePoint

3) PowerPivot Add In will be installed on the SharePoint servers where the PowerPivot service application is configured