SPS-1-New Requirements Overview

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New Requirements Overview

In a nutshell, these are the new requirements for SharePoint Server 2010:

> SharePoint Server 2010 is a 6 NN 4-bit only application.

>SharePoint Server 2010 will be able to run only on 64-bit Windows Server 2008 or 64-bit Windows Server 2008 R2.

> SharePoint Server 2010 will be able to use only 64-bit SQL Server 2008 or 64-bit SQL Server 2005 for database services.

There are a number of other specifics, but before you continue, you must have access to both the required Windows Server and SQL Server versions, as well as a 64-bit hardware platform. If you are using 32-bit hardware in either your production or testing environment, you will not be able to install or upgrade to SharePoint Server 2010. Also, earlier versions of Windows Server and SQL Server will not be adequate.

At this point, you may be questioning the rationale of Microsoft in making decisions relative to a 64-bit platform. 

If you currently administer MOSS 2007 in the enterprise, you likely already run 64-bit hardware and may even have upgraded to 64-bit Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2. If the advantages of running 64-bit aren’t apparent to you (and especially if you’re lamenting how moving from 32-bit is going to stretch your personal or professional budget), you’ll need to learn more about why Microsoft moved in this direction.

The Advantages of 64-Bit Hardware

The most memory a 32-bit system can support is 4 GB of RAM. A 64-bit system that is running a 64-bit edition of Windows Server can support up to 1024 GB of both physical and addressable memory. SharePoint is an application that’s designed to grow with a company’s needs. Its ability to use more memory means SharePoint can serve greater access and service requirements. 32-bit hardware supports up to 32 processors. That might seem like a lot, but in a truly demanding environment, particularly one where you anticipate needing to scale up based on business needs, the ability to expand to a maximum of 64 processors is a great advantage.

The Advantages of 64-Bit Server and Database Platforms

Even assuming a single physical server platform, Windows Server 2008 can take advantage of a lot more RAM and processing power than on a 32-bit machine, addressing up to 16 terabytes of virtual memory by using a flat addressing model. This gives SQL Server access to almost unlimited virtual memory, as well as physical memory. Database servers are extremely resource intensive, and any database administrator will immediately see the advantages.

Although the set of features available in 64-bit Windows Server 2008 is not appreciably different from its 32-bit counterpart, there are some important security considerations. 64-bit Windows Server 2008 offers greater buffer overflow protection because the first parameters of a procedure call are passed in registers. Since the correct values have to be assigned in the registers and both addresses and variables have to be aligned on the stack, the data buffer is less likely to become congested and thus present a security concern.

64-bit processors made by AMD and Intel include hardware support for data execution prevention (DEP) to prevent any malicious executables from running, even in the unlikely event of a buffer overflow. Also, Microsoft Patch Guard prevents any kernel mode drivers in third-party applications from extending or replacing kernel services in Windows Server 2008.

Considerations of 32-Bit and 64-Bit

It’s certainly possible to install some 64-bit applications on a 32-bit platform, but you won’t see any of the advantages offered by the software.

64-bit Windows Server 2008 does include the Windows on Windows 64-bit (WOW64) translation layer, which emulates a 32-bit operating system, so running a mixed 32-bit and 64-bit environment is possible. Although this may seem like an advantage if you need to run a legacy application on a 64-bit platform, in fact this doesn’t work with any of the 64-bit SharePoint applications and services. This means you cannot run a mixed 32-bit/64-bit environment, such as 64-bit SharePoint Server 2010 using 32-bit SQL Server 2005. The disadvantage from an up-front cost view is the requirement to upgrade all of your software and hardware platforms if you want to run SharePoint Server 2010.

Although this may seem terribly unfair of Microsoft, its analysis of SharePoint test data and feedback from customers running MOSS 2007 has indicated that the performance and scalability advantages far outweigh the initial cost of upgrading. Whether you agree with this decision or not, the reality of 64-bit is here, and it’s here to stay.

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Not all 64-bit processors are SharePoint Server 2010 friendly. The Intel Itanium 64-bit processor series uses a proprietary design that will not support any of the Microsoft SharePoint products and technologies. Before you choose to install or upgrade to SharePoint Server 2010, check the type of processors in your hardware.

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ISBN: 978-0-470-62701-3