System Requirements

The following are minimum hardware requirements for the server:

• Intel Pentium III–compatible 700-MHz 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.

 Note   If you are planning to install SharePoint Portal Server 2003 on a 32-processor server, you must first apply an update to the .NET Framework. For more information, search for article 821157 in the Microsoft Knowledge Base. Before you install the update, make sure that you have the most recent version of the .NET Framework installed on the server.

SharePoint Portal Server 2003 requires the following amounts of disk space for installation and data storage.

Installation requirements for disk space:

• 300 MB on your operating system hard disk drive
• 200 MB in the Program Files installation directory that is selected during Setup
• 75 MB in the Data Files installation directory that is selected during Setup

Data storage after installation varies considerably depending upon usage, but the minimum recommendation is:

• 700 MB free disk space in the Data Files installation directory, including the 75 MB required for installation
• 2.0 GB free disk space in the directory used by Microsoft SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE 2000) to store data

 Note   You specify this directory during installation of SQL Server 2000. If you choose the option to install MSDE 2000 during installation of SharePoint Portal Server 2003, the directory is specified for you on your operating system drive.

The optional server components for backward-compatible document libraries require the following additional amounts of disk space.

Installation requirements:

• 150 MB on your operating system hard disk drive
• 70 MB in the Program Files installation directory that is selected during Setup
• 80 MB in the Data Files installation directory that is selected during Setup

Data storage after installation varies considerably depending upon usage, but the minimum recommendation is:

• 250 MB free disk space in the Data Files installation directory, including the 80 MB required for installation

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, you can use the SharePoint Portal Server computer running Windows Server 2003, Web Edition as a front-end Web server only. You cannot use it as a search server or index management server.

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

 Important   Make sure that FrontPage 2002 Server Extensions is not selected.

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 non-English versions of the server components for backward-compatible document libraries for SharePoint Portal Server 2003 must be installed on servers with the matching regional settings. If the settings do not match, Setup fails. For more information about regional settings, see Windows Help.

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 â€” the computer running SQL Server 2000 can run on any supported operating system for SQL Server 2000.

All non-English versions of the server components for backward-compatible document libraries for SharePoint Portal Server 2003 must be installed on servers with the matching regional settings. If the settings do not match, Setup fails. For more information about regional settings, see Windows Help.

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 Office Server Extensions

 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.

SharePoint Portal Server 2003 includes a version of Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE 2000) with Service Pack 3. If you are using MSDE 2000 you must update it by installing SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4. For more information, see Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4 (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=86989&clcid=0x409).

 Note   MSDE 2000 has limitations in terms of data size supported and other areas. If these limitations are exceeded, SharePoint Portal Server 2003 will not function correctly. For more information, see the MSDE 2000 documentation.

SharePoint Portal Server 2003 requires one of the following database servers:

• Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition, plus SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4
• Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition, plus SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4
• Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Workgroup Edition, plus SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4
• Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition, plus the latest service pack
• Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition, plus the latest service pack
• Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition, plus the latest service pack
• Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine, plus SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4

 Note   You must use the version of MSDE 2000 that SharePoint Portal Server 2003 installs.

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.

When installing SharePoint Portal Server 2003 on a domain controller, the option to install with the database engine is not available. You must have Microsoft SQL Server installed on the domain controller or on a separate computer.

 Note   Please refer to http://www.microsoft.com/security for any security bulletins related to your SQL Server 2000 or MSDE 2000 installation.

SharePoint Portal Server is supported only on servers that are members of a Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, or Windows Server 2008 domain. Using SharePoint Portal Server in a Windows 2008 Active Directory Domain Services domain that has a writable domain controller is a supported configuration (using a read-only domain controller is not supported in this configuration).

 Notes 

• Installing SharePoint Portal Server 2003 on a server running Windows Server 2008 is not supported.
• You must install and operate SharePoint Portal Server 2003 in a domain environment. Installing and operating SharePoint Portal Server 2003 in a workgroup environment is not supported.
• All servers in a server farm must be members of the same domain. If the connection between a computer in the server farm and the domain controller fails during Setup, the installation can fail. This can occur because a computer in the server farm is not connected to the network, is not configured properly, or is logged on with cached credentials. To avoid this problem, ensure that every computer in the server farm is properly configured and connected to the network.
• If you have a computer that is a member of a domain and is not currently connected to the network, you must install the Microsoft Loopback Adapter before running Setup. To install the Loopback Adapter, from Control Panel, open the Add Hardware Wizard. On the Select Network Adapter page of the wizard, in the Manufacturer list, click Microsoft. In the Network adapter list, click Microsoft Loopback Adapter. After completing the wizard, from Control Panel, open Network Connections. Right-click the network connection for Microsoft Loopback Adapter, and then click Properties to configure network connection properties. You must disable the Microsoft Loopback Adapter network connection before reconnecting to another network connection. If you are using Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine, you may have to restart the MSSQL$SHAREPOINTPORTAL service.

You cannot install and operate SharePoint Portal Server 2003 on a server with an existing installation of SharePoint Team Services 1.0 from Microsoft. It is not supported. You must uninstall SharePoint Team Services before installing SharePoint Portal Server 2003.

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, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003

 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 are used by coordinators for backward-compatible document libraries must be running any version of Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional, or Windows Server 2003.

 Note   Installing the backward-compatible document library components on a computer that is a member of a Windows NT Server 4.0 domain will take considerably longer than installing on computers that are members of Windows 2000 or Windows Server 2003 domains. This delay does not occur when installing other components of SharePoint Portal Server 2003. The installation may take over an hour to complete, and the computer CPU may show no activity for some of this duration. This is expected, and when Setup is complete, you can use the product normally.

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, 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 6.02 or later

 Note   Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting support is required if you are running Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows NT 4.0. If you choose the custom installation option for Internet Explorer when you are installing on Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, or Windows NT 4.0, ensure that you install Visual Basic Scripting support.