SCE 2007: Pre-Requisite Check

Here's some usefull info, also available on the SCE installation notes, about how to you will find information on how to prepare your Server for a fresh new installation of System Center Essentials (SCE) 2007. Cortesy of Don Hite @ myITForum.

You must install the SCE 2007 Management Server on any of the following Operating Systems either the 32-bit or 64-bit versions with Service Pack (SP) 1 or greater:

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (Both Standard and Enterprise Edition)
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 (Both Standard and Enterprise Edition)
• Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 (Both Standard and Premium Edition)
• Microsoft Virtual PC 2004
• Microsoft Virtual Server 2005

You must also ensure that the following are installed:

• Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1
• Internet Information Services (IIS) 6.0
• IIS Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) 2.0
• Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) 2.80.1022.0 or greater
• Windows Installer 3.1 or later must be installed
• .NET Framework 2.0 or greater
• .NET Framework 3.0 Components

Additionally you must ensure that the following are met:

• Active Directory (AD) must be deployed
• Your operating system must be installed on a drive formatted with NTFS

Tip: You must uninstall Software Update Server 1.0 before attempting to install Windows Server Update Services 3.0. This is if you're planning on upgrading from WSUS to SCE.

The following SCE 2007 Management Server hardware minimum requirements are listed below:

• 1.8 GHz processor (2.8 GHz or faster recommended)
• 1 GB of RAM (2 GB RAM recommended)
• 12 GB of available hard disk space (20 GB recommended)
• 1 GB of available hard disk space on the system drive.

In order to install SCE 2007 you should have a SQL server backend for the database already installed locally or you can use a Remote SQL database separate from the SCE server or the installation will install SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (Included on the CD-ROM Installation Media as SqlExpR_Adv.Exe in the Setup folder) with Advanced Services locally.

Note: You can also buy installation media with SCE 2007 and SQL Server 2005 Standard edition on it specifically licensed to use with SCE 2007.

You will need to install SQL Server 2005 any version listed below either the 32-bit or 64-bit versions with Service Pack (SP) 1 or greater installed and when you install SQL Server 2005 make sure that the SQL Reporting Services is installed as well as configured and patched with the SP 1 upgrade:

• SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition
• SQL Server 2005 Express Edition
• SQL Server 2005 Standard Edition
• SQL Server 2005 Workgroup Edition
  
  Tip: You must have SQL 2005 set to use Windows Authentication Mode.
  Note: SCE 2007 does not support SQL 2005 Database Mirroring nor cluster support.

After the installation has completed SCE 2007 will allow you to support the following as managed computer resources:

• Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
• Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
• All Service Pack (SP) 4 or greater
  
  
• Either the 32-bit or 64-bit versions with Service Pack (SP) 1 or greater
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Web Edition
  
  
• Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Premium Edition
  
  
• Microsoft Windows Vista Business Edition
• Microsoft Windows Vista Enterprise Edition
• Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Edition
  
  
• Either the 32-bit or 64-bit versions with Service Pack (SP) 2 or greater
• Microsoft Windows XP Professional
• Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
  
  
• Microsoft Virtual PC 2004
• Microsoft Virtual Server 2005

Hope this great compliled information from Don will help you prepare and plan your System Center Essentials 2007 (SCE 2007) deployment on your infrastructure.