[This is pre-release documentation and subject to change in future releases. This topic's current status is: Milestone-Ready]

Topic Last Modified: 2010-07-18

Instant messaging (IM) and presence always run on Front End Servers. This section details the hardware and software requirements for Front End Servers and Back End Servers, and the supported collocation scenarios for Front End Servers.

Hardware Requirements for Front End Servers

The hardware requirements for Front End Server are the same as for many other server roles in Microsoft Communications Server 2010. The following table outlines these requirements.

Hardware Requirements for Front End Servers

Hardware component Minimum requirement

CPU
  • Dual processor, quad-core 2.0 gigahertz (GHz)+

  • 4-way processor, dual-core 2.0 GHz+

Memory

12 gigabytes (GB)

Disk
  • 10K RPM hard disk drive (HDD) (multiple spindles recommended)

  • High-performance solid state drive (SSD) with performance equal to or better than 10K RPM HDD

Network
  • Dual 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) network adapters (recommended)

  • Single 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) network adapter (supported)

Software Requirements for Front End Servers

The Front End Server role can be deployed only on servers running Microsoft Communications Server 2010 Enterprise Edition.

One of the following operating systems is required for all roles of Communications Server 2010 Enterprise Edition, including Front End Server, A/V Conferencing Server, Director, Mediation Server, Edge Server, Archiving Server, and Monitoring Server:

  • The 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 SP2 Standard, the 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 SP2 Enterprise, or the 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 SP2 Datacenter

  • The 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard, the 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise, or the 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter

Note:
The Datacenter editions of Windows Server 2008 SP2 and Windows Server 2008 R2 are supported, but their use with Communications Server 2010 has not been fully tested by Microsoft.

Hardware Requirements for Back End Servers

The hardware requirements for Back End Server as follows:

Hardware Requirements for Back End Servers

Hardware component Minimum requirement

CPU
  • Dual processor, quad-core 2.33 gigahertz (GHz)+

  • 4-way processor, dual-core 2.33 GHz+

Memory

32 gigabytes (GB)

Disk

For a direct attached system drive:

  • 10K RPM hard disk drive (HDD) (multiple spindles recommended)

  • High-performance solid state drive (SSD) with performance equal to or better than 10K RPM HDD

For direct attached data storage:

  • 10K or 15K RPM hard disk drive (HDD) (multiple spindles recommended)

  • High-performance solid state drive (SSD) with performance equal to or better than 10K RPM HDD

  • Multiple spindles required

  • RAID 0 or RAID 10

  • Recommended minimum size per HDD: 72 GB

Network
  • Dual 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) network adapters (recommended)

  • Single 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) network adapter (supported)

Software Requirements for Back End Servers

The Back End Servers must run one of the following 64-bit versions of Microsoft SQL Server:

  • SQL Server 2008 Enterprise with SP1 (64-bit)

  • SQL Server 2008 Standard with SP1 (64-bit)

  • SQL Server 2005 Enterprise with SP2 (64-bit)

  • SQL Server 2005 Standard with SP2 (64-bit)

Supported Collocation

The Front End Server role can be collocated with the following Communications Server 2010 roles: A/V Conferencing Server, Mediation Server, Monitoring Server, and Archiving Server. It cannot be collocated with Edge Server or Director.