When installing Essentials 2007 on the designated management server, the Setup program runs a prerequisite checker that lists which prerequisite tests have passed and which have not. The prerequisite checker provides links to help you comply with the requirements for running System Center Essentials.

Hardware Requirements

The following table describes the minimum disk space requirements for running Essentials 2007. For more information, see System Center Essentials Deployment.

Component Minimum requirement Recommended

Essentials 2007 Management Server (all management components on a single server)
  • 1.8 GHz processor

  • 1 GB of RAM

  • 12 GB of available hard disk space (1 GB on the system drive)
  • 2.8 GHz or faster processor

  • 2 GB of RAM

  • 20 GB of available hard disk space (1 GB on system drive)

Essentials 2007 console only
  • 1.0 GHz processor

  • 512 MB of RAM

  • 512 MB of available hard disk space
  • 2.8 GHz or faster processor

  • 1 GB of RAM

  • 512 MB of available hard disk space

Managed computers
  • Refer to the minimum hardware requirements for the operating system
  • Refer to the minimum hardware requirements for the operating system

Operating System and Other Software Requirements

The following table describes the operating system requirements for running Essentials 2007.

Component Operating System

Management Server
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard or Enterprise Edition, x86 or x64 (SP 1 or later).

  • Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, Standard or Premium Edition (SP 1 or later).

  • Microsoft Virtual Server 2005.

  • Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0 and Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) 2.0 must be enabled.

  • Active Directory must be deployed in the environment.

Essentials 2007 console only
  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard or Enterprise Edition, x86 or x64 (SP 1 or later).

  • Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, Standard or Premium Edition (SP 1 or later).

  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2, 32-bit and 64-bit.

  • Windows Vista, Business, Enterprise or Ultimate Edition.

  • Microsoft Virtual PC 2004.

  • Microsoft Virtual Server 2005.

Managed computer
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional SP4.

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server SP4.

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server SP4.

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard or Enterprise Edition, x86 or x64 (SP 1 or later).

  • Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003, Standard or Premium Edition (SP 1 or later).

  • Windows Vista, Business, Enterprise or Ultimate Edition.

  • Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2, 32-bit and 64-bit.

  • Windows XP Tablet PC Edition (SP2 or later).

  • Windows Server 2003 Web Edition (SP1 or later).

  • Microsoft Virtual PC 2004.

  • Microsoft Virtual Server 2005.

Requirements for the Deployment Environment

The following list describes the Microsoft SQL Server versions and editions that are supported in System Center Essentials 2007.

  • SQL Server 2005 Express Edition SP1 or later (32-bit only)

  • SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition SP1 or later (32-bit only)

  • SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition SP1 or later (32-bit and 64-bit)

  • SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition SP1 or later (32-bit and 64-bit)

Requirements for the Deployment Environment

The environment in which you plan to deploy Essentials 2007 must comply with the following requirements:

  • Microsoft Active Directory Domain Services must be deployed in your environment. Active Directory Domain Services simplifies the setup, security, configuration, and ongoing total cost of ownership when using the product.

  • All Essentials 2007 server components and all managed computers must be members of the same domain.

Unsupported Environments for System Center Essentials

  • No cluster support for any Essentials 2007 components.

  • No support for any Essentials 2007 components across Active Directory forests.

  • No SQL Server 2005 Database Mirroring support.

  • Essentials 2007 does not support managing computers with IA-64-based processors.

See Also