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Server requirements (if hosting Phocas on your own infrastructure)

End of support notice for SQL Server 2014

Microsoft stopped supporting SQL 2014 in July 2014 and Phocas stopped supporting it in November 2024. More information.

This page describes the additional server specs you'll need to run Phocas on your own infrastructure.

Hardware requirements

Phocas recommends the following level of resources as a minimum specification.

IIS Web Server

  • 8 virtual CPU Cores

  • 64 GB RAM

  • Solid State Storage

  • The Windows Server 2019 IIS web servers we run at Phocas have 60GB hard drives. Further capacity may be required to store larger quantities of sync and temporary files.

SQL Database Server

  • 12 virtual CPU Cores

  • 96 GB RAM

  • 450 NVMe Solid State Storage

  • Separate data volumes for the Operating System, Data, Logs, TempDB and Backups

  • The SQL Servers we run at Phocas generally have the following hard drives configuration and capacity

    • 70GB for Operating System

    • 2TB for Data

    • 200GB for Logs and TempDB

    • 200GB for Backups

  • Further or reduced capacity may be required depending on data storage needs.

Software requirements

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2014 or later

  • Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) 8.5+ Web Management Tools

    • IIS Management Console

    • IIS Management Scripts and Tools

    • IIS Management Service

  • World Wide Web Services

    • Application Development Features

      • .NET Extensibility (for .NET 4.6.2+)

      • ASP

      • ASP.NET (for .NET 4.6.2+)

      • ISAPI Extensions

      • ISAPI Filters

      • Common HTTP Features

        • Default Document

        • HTTP Errors

        • HTTP Redirection

        • Static Content

        • NOT WebDAV Publishing

        • IIS Component WebSockets Enabled

      • Performance Features

        • Dynamic Content Compression

        • Static Content Compression

      • Security

        • Request Filtering

  • Microsoft .NET Framework 4.6.2 (Full Profile)

    Note: Some additional configuration steps are required if your site uses:

    • a Microsoft .NET Framework version lower than 4.7.2 or

    • an http:// protocol.

Checking Windows features

To install any of the .NET or IIS features, or check whether you have them installed, expand the section below.

 Go to the Windows Control Panel and select Turn Windows features on and off.

The required features may already be ticked. If not, tick as shown below and click OK.

Note - to see what version of .NET is being used, look at the number after '.NET' in your Windows features box.  

Language note

  • In order for PDF Exports in Chinese to work correctly, the application server needs to have the 'Arial Unicode MS' font installed.

Database requirements

  • Microsoft SQL Server 

    • Phocas has been tested on Microsoft SQL Server 2014 and above.

    • SQL authentication is to be used for Microsoft SQL Server 2016 and above.

    • Master databases must be running in compatibility level 'SQL Server 2014 - 120'.

    • All databases must be in the same collation as the SQL instance.

    • SYNC database the file extension (mdf and ldf) must be in lowercase.

    • SQL Server Express supported.

    • Phocas databases cannot be part of a SQL Server "Always On availability group".

Phocas cloud

Contact Phocas to find out about cloud-based solutions that may better suit your business.