Recommended System Specifications:

Work Stations:

  • Intel Pentium 4 (faster the better, system speed is mostly up to the local workstation)
  • Minimum 512 Mb RAM (the more you have the faster it is)
  • Minimum 20 Gb Hard Drive
  • Minimum SVGA Video Card @ 800 x 600 x 16 bit color (65,536 colors) • prefer 1024 x 768 x 16 bit color or higher
  • 15" SVGA Monitor • Prefer 17" SVGA Monitors or larger
  • Minimum 100 BaseT Network Card • (Printers can use 10 BaseT, 100 BaseT still preferred)
  • CD/DVD Writer/Rewritable (at least one Workstation on the network)
  • Recommended: Windows Vista Business®, Windows XP Pro®, Windows 2000 Pro®, Windows 2000 Terminal Server
    Will Work With: Windows 95® • Windows 98® • Windows Me® • Windows XP Home® • Windows NT Workstation® • Windows NT Server / Terminal Server® • Windows 2000 Server® • Citrix Metaframe®
    We Recommend NOT using: Windows 95® • Windows Me® • Windows XP Home® (networking issues)

Network File Server:

We recommend using Windows 2000/2003 Server® with Microsoft's SQL Server 2000/2005 as the main Database server.  You will also need a 100 BaseT Network Switch/Hub with at least 8 ports.  Have at least two open ports after connecting all workstations and printers.

Check with your local hardware supplier for recommended configurations for your number of workstations. Although, the following should be used as a minimum recommendation:


Microsoft SQL Server 2000/2005

Recommended Server Configurations:

up to 10 users:

  • Intel Pentium 4 +
  • 1 GB RAM
  • 20 GB Hard Drive (or more)
  • CD-ROM Drive
  • 100 BaseT Network Interface Card
  • Windows 2000/2003 Server
up to 20 users:
  • Intel Pentium 4, 1 GHz + (minimum)
  • 2 GB RAM
  • Three 20 GB Hard Drive 10k RPM (Raid 5)
  • CD-ROM Drive
  • 100 BaseT Network Interface Card
  • Windows 2000/2003 Server
up to 80 users:
  • Two Intel Xeon Core 2 Duo, 2 MHz +
  • 4 GB RAM
  • Three 40 GB Hard Drive 10k RPM (Raid 5)
  • CD-ROM Drive
  • 100 BaseT Network Interface Card
  • Windows 2000/2003 Server
up to 160 users:
  • Two Intel Xeon Quad Core, 2 GHz +
  • 8 Gb RAM
  • Three 80 GB Hard Drive 10k RPM (Raid 5)
  • CD-ROM Drive
  • 100 BaseT Network Interface Card
  • Windows 2000/2003 Server


In General:

We strongly recommend finding a local hardware and operating system software vendor to take care of all your hardware and operating system software installation and support needs. We will be glad to talk with anyone you feel is a good prospect to help you decide on the right local provider. This is where most of your support will happen: printers, server issues, Windows 98/2000/XP/Vista questions/configurations, etc. We would like to work very close with your local provider to develop the best system configuration, based on our experience with various system types and sizes. We then develop an on-going working relationship with your local provider to help determine specific solutions to "not so" specific problems that may or may not be obvious to either one of us. This ultimately keeps most of your support close to home and immediate. This also keeps Softbase support fees down to you.

We need you to have one computer running Terminal Services available for support.  This can be a dial up connection (modem) or a direct connection to the Internet with a Static IP Address (frame relay, fractional T1, DSL, cable modem, etc.).  We prefer the direct internet connection because of reliability and speed.

Also, one workstation needs to have a CD Writer for additional support, and/or backup, if necessary.


This site created and maintained by Terry Eutsler @ Softbase Development, Inc.