System Requirements

The hardware and software requirements for installing Microsoft® Provisioning Framework are as follows.

Hardware

Machines must have sufficient processing speed and RAM to support the version of Microsoft® Windows® used in the MPF implementation. The following table summarizes the minimum hardware requirements.

Hardware	Requirement
Machine	Intel or compatible Pentium 166 MHz or higher.
Memory (RAM)	256 MB or more recommended (128 MB or more supported; 4 GB maximum).
Hard disk	20 MB or more recommended; the disk space required depends on the amount of data you want to store in the MPF databases.
Monitor	VGA or higher resolution.
Pointing device	Microsoft (or compatible) mouse.
CD-ROM	Required.

Software

Software requirements vary considerably, depending on which MPF components are included in the install.

Requirements for a typical install

For evaluation and development, Setup has a Typical option that installs all MPF components except ISAPI Extension (SOAP ISAPI) and Sample Provisioning Website and Database. For more information, see Running Setup. The following software is required for a typical install. For a deployment scenario, see Single-Computer Deployment.

Requirement	Notes
Microsoft® Windows 2000 Server with Service Pack 2	Or later versions of Windows.
SQL Server 2000 with Service Pack 1 or Microsoft® Data Engine (MSDE) 2000 with Service Pack 1	Or later versions of SQL Server and MSDE. If using MSDE, install as follows. Open a command prompt window. (Local installs only) Copy MSDE SP1 to a directory on the local machine, then go to that directory. (Network installs) Go to the network location for running MSDE SP1. Type the following command. For non-default MSDE instances, specify the INSTANCENAME parameter. `setup.exe /p SQLRUN [INSTANCENAME=NAME]`
Microsoft® Data Access Components (MDAC) version 2.61	Or later versions of MDAC.
Microsoft® Internet Information Server (IIS) version 5.0	Or later versions of IIS.

Requirements for individual MPF components

MPF components are usually installed separately and distributed to multiple machines in a domain. (In this context, "domain" refers to a Microsoft® Active Directory® or Microsoft® Windows NT® domain, not an Internet domain.) For examples of domain and clustered deployments, see Deploying MPF.

Note In addition to the items listed below, most components require Windows 2000 Server with Service Pack 2 or later server operating systems. The Administration Tools and Client Components can be installed on machines running Windows 2000 Professional with Service Pack 2 or later operating systems.

Component	Description	Prerequisites
Administration Tools	Tools used to administer the MPF, such as Provisioning Manager (a graphical user interface), , and ProvTest.exe.	MDAC 2.61 (all machines) Configuration database (one machine in the domain)
Audit (Log) Database	Optional SQL database that stores completed provisioning requests. You can also use the audit log as a data-mining repository. Important Set up at most one audit log per MPF deployment.	SQL Server 2000 SP1 or MSDE 2000 SP1 (all machines) Configuration database (one machine in the domain)
Client Components	Server-based client that receives incoming provisioning requests from users and routes them to provisioning engines and queue managers. All installs automatically include the client. In addition to handling load balancing, the client's SOAP ISAPI provides an HTTP/SOAP interface to MPF. The ISAPI should always run in an IIS virtual directory that has been configured for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).	MDAC 2.61 (all machines) IIS (if ISAPI Extension is installed) Configuration database (one machine in the domain)
Configuration Database	Stores configurations for , procedures, and other definitions used in the framework. Important Set up oneand only oneconfiguration database per MPF deployment. If you plan to install components on multiple machines in a domain, install the configuration database on one of the machines prior to installing other components.	SQL Server 2000 SP1 or MSDE 2000 SP1
Core Components	Collection of MPF components that includes the provisioning engine, test namespace, and supporting components for extended error reporting and auditing. Important If your installation will have multiple servers running Core Components, install the same MPF components on all of them. For example, if you install SQL Provider on one machine, install it on all machines. This is because any machine can end up processing a request. If a necessary component is missing, the request will fail.	MDAC 2.61 (all machines) Configuration database (one machine in the domain)
(Provisioning) Queue Manager Service	Manages provisioning requests that are queued for batch processing.	MDAC 2.61 (all machines) Configuration database (one machine in the domain)
Resource Manager	Allocates machine resources. Resource Manager is a critical component for scalability and optimization. Resource Manager consists of two providers (the engine) and a database. The providers use special algorithms to optimize requests for system resources. The database stores information about system resources.	SQL Server 2000 SP1 or MSDE 2000 SP1 (on machine with resource manager database) MDAC 2.61 (on machine with resource manager engine) Configuration database (one machine in the domain) Resource manager database (one machine in the domain)
Sample Provisioning Web Site	Demonstrates how to use MPF. This sample site is operational only for stand-alone evaluation purposes.	The following must be installed on the same machine: SQL Server 2000 SP1 or MSDE 2000 SP1 IIS Core components Configuration database
Service Providers	Standard providers and namespaces that execute specific types of requests. For example, Active Directory Provider executes requests such as creating user directories in Active Directory.	MDAC 2.61 (all machines) Configuration database (one machine in the domain)
Transaction Log Database	SQL database that stores active request transactions. If multiple databases are installed, MPF will load-balance between them.	SQL Server 2000 SP1 or MSDE 2000 SP1 (all machines) Configuration database (one machine in the domain)