System Requirements

The hardware and software requirements for each Front End Server in an Enterprise Edition pool are shown in the following table.

Hardware Requirements

Hardware component	Minimum requirement
CPU	One of the following: 64-bit dual processor, quad-core, 2.0 GHz or higher 64-bit 4-way processor, dual-core, 2.0 GHz or higher
Memory	12 GB
Disk	Local storage with at least 30-GB free disk space
Network	2-port 1 Gbps network adapter (recommended)

Microsoft Communications Server 2010 is available only in a 64-bit edition, so each Enterprise Edition Pool Front End Server requires one of the following operating systems.

• The 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition with SP2 operating system, or the 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition with SP2 operating system.
  
  
• The 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise operating system, or the 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard operating system.
  
  

Table 1: Software Requirements

Software	Requirement
Active Directory Forest/Domain Level	Windows Server 2003 Windows Server 2008 Windows Server 2008 R2
Communications Server 2010	Windows Server 2008 SP2 x64 Windows Server 2008 R2 x64
Administration Tools	Windows 7 x64 Windows Vista SP2 x64
SQL Server Backend	SQL Server 2005 SP3 x64 SQL Server 2008 SP1 x64

Communications Server 2010 and the Administrative Tools also require installation of the following programs:

• Microsoft .Net 3.5 SP1. After installing the .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 package, you should immediately install the updates described in the following Knowledge Base articles:
  
  
  • For details about addressing a set of known application compatibility issues, see Knowledge Base article 959209, “An update for the .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 is available,” at KB959209.
    
    
  • For details about addressing a file association issue for XPS documents, see Knowledge Base article 967190, “Fix: You cannot open an XPS document by using the Microsoft XPS Viewer on a Windows Vista x64 edition-based computer that has .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 installed, at KB967190.
    
    
• Windows PowerShell v2. Windows PowerShell V2 is already available on Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. To install Windows PowerShell V2 RTM on Windows Server 2008 or Windows Vista, you must first uninstall any previous versions of Windows PowerShell prior to installing this required version:
  
  
  • You can download the Update for Windows Server 2008 (KB968930), which includes Windows PowerShell v2 RTM, from the Microsoft Download Center at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=D37E25CF-DB05-4B23-A852-CDF865D81B82&displaylang=en.
    
    
  • You can download the Update for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems (KB968930) from the Microsoft Download Center at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=0f73efa2-f8d6-45f3-a8f8-5cdc205b119a&displaylang=en.
    
    
• Internet Information Services (IIS) rewrite module
  
  
• Internet Information Services (IIS). The Web Components Server (collocated on the Front End Server) requires IIS 7.0 with the following role services installed:
  
  

  Table 2: IIS Role Services

  Role Heading	Role Service
  Common HTTP Features installed	Static Content
  Common HTTP Features installed	Default Document
  Common HTTP Features installed	Directory Browsing
  Common HTTP Features installed	HTTP Errors
  Common HTTP Features installed	HTTP Redirection
  Application Development	ASP.NET
  Application Development	.NET Extensibility
  Application Development	Internet Server API (ISAPI) Extensions
  Application Development	ISAPI Filters
  Health and Diagnostics	HTTP Logging
  Health and Diagnostics	Logging Tools
  Health and Diagnostics	Request Monitor
  Health and Diagnostics	Tracing
  Security	Basic authentication
  Security	Windows authentication
  Security	Request Filtering
  Performance	Static Content Compression
  Management Tools	IIS Management Console
  Management Tools	IIS Management Scripts and Tools

  You can install IIS 7.0 from Server Manager or by using the command line. Run the following command from the command line to install the IIS 7.0 role services:
  
  

  	Copy Code
  ServerManagerCmd.exe -Install Web-Server Web-Http-Redirect Web-Scripting-Tools Web-Windows-Auth Web-Asp-Net Web-Log-Libraries Web-Http-Tracing Web-Basic-Auth

Additionally, Communications Server requires the Microsoft Visual C++ 2008C redistributable, but it is automatically installed as part of the Server installation.

Communications Server uses Windows Installer technology to install, uninstall, and maintain various server roles. Windows Installer version 4.5 is available as a redistributable component for the Windows Server operating system. Download Windows Installer 4.5 from the Microsoft Download Center at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=5A58B56F-60B6-4412-95B9-54D056D6F9F4&displaylang=en.