System requirements

Before you install Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services on your Web server, make sure that you have installed the required hardware and software.

Web server hardware requirements

Hardware requirements for your Web server vary depending on the operating system you use. The following table describes the hardware requirements for the supported operating systems.

Operating system

Requirements for single server

Requirements for server farm installation

Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition, Datacenter Edition, or Web Edition

Same as requirements for Windows Server 2003

Pentium CPU/550 MHZ

1 CPU (2 recommended)

512 MB RAM

Note Windows SharePoint Services requires the NTFS file system.

Software requirements

To run Windows SharePoint Services, you must first install the following software on your server:

Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, or Web Edition, configured as a Web server (running Internet Information Services 6.0 in IIS 6.0 worker process isolation mode) and running ASP.NET. For more information about installing and configuring IIS and ASP.NET, see the Windows Server 2003 documentation.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 or later (best results with Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or later).
– or –

Netscape Navigator version 6.2 or later.

Database requirements

In addition to the operating system and Web server software, you must also have a database installed on your server (or on a separate server) to run Windows SharePoint Services. The following databases are supported:

Microsoft SQL Server 2000, Service Pack 3
Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services SQL Server Desktop Engine (Windows) 2000 (WMSDE)

Note If you do not have SQL Server installed on your server, WMSDE is installed automatically when you install Windows SharePoint Services. If you are using the command-line interface to install Windows SharePoint Services, or are using a script to run the installation, you can specify a separate server to use for your database.

Browser and client requirements

Any Windows, Macintosh, or UNIX client can use Windows SharePoint Services features, providing the client runs the following software:

Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.01 or later (best results with Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or later), Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.2 or later for Macintosh, or Netscape Navigator version 6.2 or later.
A client program, such as Microsoft Office 2003 (required if the user contributes documents to a Web site, but not necessary for browsing).