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Nimbus SQL
Specifications for SQL Server and Workstations

Hardware specs
SQL Server specs

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Hardware Requirements

Nimbus SQL uses Microsoft SQL Server as its database engine and requires at least SQL Server 2005 Express.

The following specifications are for running Nimbus applications. Please consult with your Systems Integration Provider to assess the requirements or impact of other software to be operated on the Network. 

Full Client

Component	Minimum requirements
Operating system	Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 Microsoft Windows Vista Microsoft Windows 7 (32 bit or 64 bit)
Desktop Productivity Software	Microsoft Office XP Microsoft Office 2003 Microsoft Office 2007
Hardware	Any hardware capable of hosting the above operating systems.

Web Client

Component	Minimum requirements
Browser	Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, 7 or 8

Terminal Server
Terminal servers are commonly used to provide a single point of access to an application suite. Nimbus client software is supported on the following terminal servers. Please consult with your Systems Integration Provider for advice on a suitable configuration.

Windows 2003 Terminal Services	Terminal Services in Windows Server 2003 provides new options for application deployment, more efficient access to data over low bandwidth, reuse of older hardware, remote management, and other tasks.
Windows 2008 Remote Desktop Services (formerly known as Terminal Services)	Remote Desktop Services (RDS) makes it possible to run an application or an entire desktop in one location, but have it be controlled in another. With RDS, you can install and manage session-based desktops and applications, or virtual-machine based desktops on centralized servers in the data center; screen images are delivered to the users, and the users' client machines, in turn, send keystrokes and mouse movements back to the server.
Citrix XenDesktop	Citrix XenDesktop™ is a desktop virtualization and VDI solution that delivers a complete Windows desktop experience as an on-demand service to any user, anywhere.
VMWare View	VMware View 4 allows you to consolidate virtual desktops on datacenter servers and manage operating systems, applications and data independently for greater business agility while providing a flexible high performance desktop experience for end users, over any network.

Nimbus Server
The Nimbus server platform needs to provide three essential components

· an intranet (application) server (i.e. Internet Information Server 6 or later),

· a file server (i.e. Windows File Server) and

· a SQL database server (i.e. SQL Server 2005 Express or later).

For a very small site these could all be hosted on a single Windows XP/Vista or Windows 7 machine. For larger sites, however, the following configurations are recommended:

Nimbus Server (5-10 user)

Configuration	Minimum requirements	Recommended Requirements
Single Windows server hosting all three components	Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with Internet Information Server 6/7 and SQL Server 2005 Express 2GB Memory Current Generation Processor RAID 1 disk array Note: single RAID 5 disk arrays are not recommended unless a battery backed up write cache of at least 128MB is present.	Essential Business Server 2008 with IIS 7 and SQL 2008 Standard Edition (32bit or 64bit) 3GB Memory Current Generation Processor Disk controller with battery backed up write cache and RAID 1 disk configuration

Nimbus Server (10-25 user)

Configuration	Minimum requirements	Recommended Requirements
Single Windows server hosting all three components	Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with IIS 6/7 and SQL Server 2005 (Workgroup edition) 3GB Memory Disk controller with battery backed up write cache and RAID1 disk configuration or two disk arrays^1 Current Generation Processor	Essential Business Server 2008 (Premium) with IIS 7 and SQL 2008 Standard Edition (32bit or 64bit) 3GB Memory Disk controller with battery backed up write cache and two RAID1 disk arrays^1 Dual or Quad Core Processor

Nimbus Server (25-50 user)

Configuration	Minimum requirements	Recommended Requirements
Dual Windows servers, one dedicated to SQL the other hosting the intranet and file servers.	1) Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with IIS 6/7 2) Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition Each having 2GB Memory Disk controller with battery backed up write cache 10,000RPM SAS hard disks 2 x RAID1 disk arrays^1 Dual Core Processor	1) Essential Business Server 2008 (Premium) with IIS 7 2) Windows Server 2008 with SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition (32bit or 64bit) Each having 3GB Memory Disk controller with battery backed up write cache 15,000RPM SAS hard disks 2 x RAID1 disk arrays^1 Quad Core Processor

Nimbus Server (50-100 user) ²

Configuration	Minimum requirements	Recommended Requirements
Server 1 - TRM Server	Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 (WEB Edition or higher) 1GB Memory 1 x RAID1 disk array Current Generation Processor	Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (32bit or 64bit) 2GB Memory 1 x RAID1 disk array Current Generation Processor
Server 2 – Nimbus Intranet and Files	Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 (Standard Edition) 4GB Memory Disk controller with battery backed up write cache 10,000RPM SAS hard disks 2 x RAID1 disk arrays^1 Dual Core Processor	Essential Business Server 2008 (Premium) with IIS 7 (32bit or 64bit) 4GB Memory Disk controller with battery backed up write cache 15,000RPM SAS hard disks 3 x RAID1 disk arrays^1 Quad Core Processor
Server 3 – SQL Server	Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition (clustered configurations are not supported) 4GB Memory Disk controller with battery backed up write cache 10,000RPM SAS hard disks 2 x RAID1 disk arrays^1 Dual Core Processor	Windows Server 2008 with SQL Server 2008 Standard Edition (32bit or 64bit) (clustered configurations are not supported) 4GB Memory Disk controller with battery backed up write cache 15,000RPM SAS hard disks 3 x RAID1 disk arrays^1 Quad Core Processor

¹Where more than one disk array is used, the SQL database should be located on the least busy array. SQL Log files should not be on the same array as the database files. System Integrators need to determine the best location for the database and log files prior to Nimbus SQL installation.

²Nimbus is supported in VMWare and Hyper-V Virtual Server environments where sufficient resources are available. Enterprise Configurations with more than 100 Nimbus users require specification consultation.

Microsoft have a stress test utility available at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q231619.The SQLIOStress utility is specifically designed to simulate the read and write patterns of a heavily loaded SQL Server.

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SQL Server versions supported

• MSDE
  • MSDE implementations are still supported but we recommend that these be upgraded to MS SQL Server 2005 Express when convenient. Note that SQL Express does not provide a scheduler but we have a solution to address the automatic backup of the Nimbus database.
    
    
• SQL Server 2000
  • SQL 2000 installations are still supported, Nimbus requires the latest Service Pack, but we recommend that these servers be upgraded to MS SQL Server 2005 or later when convenient..
    
    
• SQL Server 2005 Express or Standard Edition
  • This is supported by Nimbus, and requires some additional Backwards Compatibility components to utilise earlier features of SQL Server that Nimbus uses.
    
• SQL Server 2008 Express or Standard Edition (32bit or 64bit)
  • This is supported by Nimbus, and also requires the Backwards Compatibility components to utilise earlier features of SQL Server that Nimbus uses.
    
    
• SQL Express
  • SQL Express 2005 or 2008 is adequate for small clients with 2 - 5 users depending on usage.
  • For more information see Microsoft’s web page, http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2005/en/us/express.aspx. The latest Service Pack(s) should be installed.
  • SQL Express also requires the Backwards Compatibility components to utilise earlier features of SQL Server that Nimbus uses.