System Requirements

The following are minimum hardware requirements for the server:

• Intel Pentium III–compatible processor.
• 512 megabytes (MB) of random access memory (RAM).
• 550 MB free hard disk space.

  Important  The operating system partition and any partitions on which SharePoint Portal Server components will be installed, including the paths chosen during setup for program and data files, must be formatted as NTFS file system.

• Program and data file paths cannot point to removable or networked storage.

Note  If you use Windows Network Load Balancing or another network load balancing solution that does not allow each front-end Web server to contact the other front-end Web servers, it is recommended that you install a second network interface card (NIC) to support this communication. Two NICs are recommended on front-end Web servers in a server farm. This is especially important if your search services are running on the front-end Web servers.

The server must be running one of the following operating systems:

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, plus the latest service pack
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition, plus the latest service pack
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition, plus the latest service pack
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition, plus the latest service pack

  Note  If you are running SharePoint Portal Server on Windows Server 2003, Web Edition, you must have Microsoft SQL Server installed on a separate computer. You cannot use SQL Server Desktop Engine for database storage.

In addition to the operating system, the following operating system components must be installed on the computer running SharePoint Portal Server:

• Application Server with the following components:
  • Microsoft ASP.NET
  • Enable network COM+ access
  • Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) with the following components:
    • Common Files
    • Internet Information Services Manager
    • World Wide Web Service with the following components:
      • World Wide Web Service

The following operating system components must be installed on the computer running the optional component for backward-compatible document libraries:

• Application Server with the following components:
  • Internet Information Services (IIS) with the following components:
    • SMTP Service
    • World Wide Web Service with the following components:
      • Active Server Pages

All servers in a server farm must run the same version and language of the operating system, and (where applicable) the same version and language of Microsoft SQL Server 2000, with the following exception — the computer running SQL Server 2000 can run on any supported operating system for SQL Server 2000.

If you are installing SharePoint Portal Server on a domain controller, you must install without the database engine. When installing on a domain controller, the option to install with the database engine is not available.

The backward-compatible document library server component of SharePoint Portal Server cannot run on servers on which the following are installed:

• Microsoft Exchange Server (any version)
• Microsoft Site Server (any version)
• Microsoft Office Server Extensions
• Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server 2001

Note  For small, medium, and large server farm deployments, the component for backward-compatible document libraries and SQL Server 2000 cannot be installed on the same computer.

You must use one of the following for your database server:

• Microsoft SQL Server 2000, plus the latest service pack
• Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition, plus the latest service pack
• Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE 2000)

  Note  You must use the version of MSDE 2000 that SharePoint Portal Serverinstalls.

The database server can be running any of the supported operating systems for SQL Server 2000. For more information, see the documentation for SQL Server 2000.

SharePoint Portal Server is supported only on servers that are members of a Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, or Windows Server 2003 domain.

Notes

• Installing and operating a SharePoint Portal Server computer is supported only if your server is a member of a domain, not a member of a workgroup.
• All servers in a server farm must be members of the same domain.

The following are minimum hardware requirements for a computer running the client components for backward-compatible document libraries:

• Intel Pentium III–compatible 200 Mhz processor.
• 64 MB of RAM.
• 50 MB hard disk space on Microsoft Windows 98 and Microsoft Windows NT 4.0; 30 MB disk space on Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

  Note  The disk can be formatted as NTFS, FAT, or FAT32.

Computers running the client components for backward-compatible document libraries must be running one of the following operating systems:

• Microsoft Windows 98
• Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, plus the latest service pack
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional, Server, or Advanced Server, plus the latest service pack
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional, plus the latest service pack
• Any version of Microsoft Windows Server 2003, plus the latest service pack

Note  Computers that coordinators for backward-compatible document libraries use must be running Windows 2000 Professional, Server, or Advanced Server, Windows XP Professional, or Windows Server 2003.

In addition to the operating system, client computers must have the following installed:

• Microsoft Outlook Express 5.01 or later

To access the portal site, computers must have one of the following Web browsers installed:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01, plus the latest service pack
• Internet Explorer 5.5, plus the latest service pack
• Internet Explorer 6.0, plus the latest service pack
• Netscape Navigator 6.2 or later
• Internet Explorer 5.2 for Mac OS X, plus the latest service pack
• Netscape Navigator 6.2 for Mac
• Netscape Navigator 6.2 for UNIX

Computers running the client components for backward-compatible document libraries must have one of the following Web browsers installed:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 with Service Pack 2 and update Q324929. Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting support is required. This is included in the default installation of Internet Explorer 5.
• Internet Explorer 5.5 with Service Pack 2 and update Q324929. Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting support is required.
• Internet Explorer 6.0 with update Q324929. Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting support is required.
• Netscape Navigator 6.02 or later.