These are the minimum requirements for reasonable performance of the described products. They will help you decide whether the equipment you are currently using remains viable. If you are considering new equipment, bear in mind that these requirements are minimum, not optimal. Exceeding these specifications will in general lead to enhanced performance.
Note that installing Esko software on a terminal server (Microsoft, Citrix,…) is not supported.
Note that windows 8 and windows server 2012 are not yet supported in Suite12.
See more notes here.
Click here to go to the previous System Requirement page (Esko Software Suite 7 products, Nexus, Odystar...).
Automation Engine Server
Minimum Requirements for new installations:
Personal Automation Engine
• CPU: 2 processor cores (from x86-32 or x86-64 compatible processors)
• Memory: minimum 4GB RAM
Automation Engine with 10 clients
• CPU: 2 processor cores (from x86-32 or x86-64 compatible processors)
• Memory: minimum 4GB RAM
• Viewing and QA Module: add 1 processor core and 2 GB RAM per 2 "simultaneous viewing sessions".
Automation Engine with 20 clients
• CPU: 4 processor cores (from x86-32 or x86-64 compatible processors)
• Memory: minimum 8GB RAM
• Viewing and QA Module: add 1 processor core and 2 GB RAM per 2 "simultaneous viewing sessions".
Automation Engine with 50 clients
• CPU: 8 processor cores (from x86-32 or x86-64 compatible processors)
• Memory: minimum 16GB RAM
• Viewing and QA Module: add 1 processor core and 2 GB RAM per 2 "simultaneous viewing sessions".
Note: viewing sessions that view "unprepared files" or go into deep zoom mode are typically the viewing sessions that require the additional hardware resources. On average between 10% and 25% of the clients actually in use will be in this case – these are the ones that should be taken into account.
Example: a 50 client system where 30 clients are effectively used, will have on average not more than 8 simultaneous clients requiring additional hardware resources for viewing, e.g. additionally 4 processor cores and 8 GB RAM. For a 50 client system on one 1 physical machine this would require a 12 processor core machine with 24 GB of RAM. Note that is also possible to add an Automation Engine configured as Assistant to spread the load of processing and viewing over multiple servers (physical or virtual)
Knowing the exact customer situation and viewing requirements helps in more accurately determining the additional hardware resources needed for viewing.
For existing BackStage installations migrating to Automation Engine:
Upgrades from existing BackStage ESS7 R6 environments should run on existing hardware with comparable performance for the same functionality (however not on Windows Server 2000 as Automation Engine is not supported for Windows Server 2000). However the hardware requirements as for new installations should be encouraged for optimum performance.
Shuttle support for Automation Engine 10.1 only from Suite 10.1 editors, except for ArtPro 10.0.2
General requirements:
Harddisk: An NTFS volume is required. The software takes about 20GB of disk space. Also take into account the need for storage of temporary and production data. A backup solution is strongly advised.
Network: 10/100/1000 Base-T Ethernet, TCP/IP v4 protocol, TCP/IP v6 protocol is not supported.
Video Card: Minimum 1280 x 1024 resolution, true color depth
CD/DVD: DVD-ROM drive
Virtualization : VMware ESX (version 3, 3.5, 4, 4.1 and 5) and Microsoft Hyper-V are supported.
Note that hardware connections, including dongles, proofers, spectrophotometers and others may work, but are not supported. Customers should verify hardware support through their virtualization support channels.
Known issue:
When you run software (with a local license server) on a virtual machine, the Esko license server (a process called “esko.exe”) might take up 100% of one of the virtual processors. This problem has been escalated to the third-party who provides the licensing engine, but currently we can only offer 2 workarounds:
- Reboot the virtual machine if this problem occurs.
- Move your Esko license server to another (and preferably physical) machine.
Supported databases:
SQL Server 2000 (MSDE and Standard Edition),
SQL Server 2005(Express Edition, Workgroup Edition, Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition),
SQL Server 2008 and SQL server 2008 R2 (Express Edition, Workgroup Edition, Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition).
Please make sure that the database is compatible with the OS you're installing on.
Fileservers: All Esko applications running on Windows OS can use data that is available on network shares. These shares need to be on Windows or Unix/Linux (using SMB) file servers. We recommend to use Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008 as file server. Mac OS X (version 10.5.x; 10.6.x, 10.7.x) data servers are also supported, but with limitations. These are standard limitations encountered when connecting to a Mac OS X server from Windows workstations or servers. They are related to losing resource forks of the MAC-application data when a Windows component moves or copies data.
Compatibility: If you intend to run other applications as well on this hardware, make sure to check compatibility with the specifications of all other applications as well
Remote Support: Esko Customer Support is using TeamViewer as a solution for remote access and support over the Internet, it can be downloaded from http://www.teamviewer.com/download/index.aspx
Operating Systems compatibility matrix:
Windows XP
|
32 bit |
64 bit |
|
|
SP1 |
SP2 |
SP3 |
|
SP1 |
SP2 |
SP3 |
| Home Edition |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
|
|
|
|
| Professional Edition |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
Windows Vista
|
32 bit |
64 bit |
|
|
SP1 |
SP2 |
|
SP1 |
SP2 |
| Windows Vista Starter |
NO |
NO |
NO |
|
|
|
| Windows Vista Home Basic |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows Vista Home Premium |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows Vista Business |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows Vista Enterprise |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows Vista Ultimate |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
Windows 7
|
32 bit |
64 bit |
|
|
SP1 |
|
SP1 |
| Windows 7 Home Basic |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows 7 Home Premium |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows 7 Professional |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows 7 Enterprise |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows 7 Ultimate |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
Windows 2000
|
32 bit |
|
|
SP1 |
SP2 |
SP3 |
SP4 |
| Windows 2000 Professional |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows 2000 Server |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows 2000 Advanced Server |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows 2000 Datacenter Server |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
Windows Server 2003
|
32 bit |
64 bit |
|
|
SP1 |
SP2 |
|
SP1 |
SP2 |
| Windows Server 2003 Standard ** |
YES |
YES |
YES* |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows Server 2003 Enterprise |
YES |
YES |
YES* |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows Server 2003 Datacenter |
YES |
YES |
YES* |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard ** |
|
YES |
YES* |
|
NO |
NO |
| Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise |
|
YES |
YES* |
|
NO |
NO |
| Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter |
|
YES |
YES* |
|
NO |
NO |
Windows Small Business Server 2003 is not supported
Windows Server 2003 Web is not supported
Windows Server 2008
|
32 bit |
64 bit |
|
|
SP2 |
|
SP2 |
| Windows Server 2008 Standard |
YES |
YES* |
YES |
YES* |
| Windows Server 2008 Enterprise |
YES |
YES* |
YES |
YES* |
| Windows Server 2008 Datacenter |
YES |
YES* |
YES |
YES* |
Windows Small Business Server 2008 is not supported
Windows Web Server 2008 is not supported
Windows Server 2008 HPC Edition is not supported
Windows Server 2008 R2
|
64 bit |
|
|
SP1 |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard |
YES* |
YES* |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise |
YES* |
YES* |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter |
YES* |
YES* |
Windows Small Business Server 2008 is not supported
Windows Server 2008 R2 Foundation is not supported.
Windows Web Server 2008 R2 is not supported
Windows Server 2008 R2 HPC Edition is not supported
* Recommended Operating Systems
** Only fit for configurations requiring 4GB of RAM or less
For more info about Windows memory limitation, please consult this table.
Automation Engine Client
Automation Engine Pilot - Client for Mac Automation Engine Pilot - Client for PC
Automation Engine Pilot - Client for Mac
- CPU: Mac with Intel processor (PowerPC is not supported anymore)
- Memory: Minimum 1GB RAM
- Harddisk: The software takes about 1GB of disk space. Also take into account the need for storage of temporary and production data. A backup solution is strongly advised.
- Video Card: Minimum 1280 x 1024 resolution, true color depth
- Network: 10/100/1000 Base-T Ethernet, TCP/IP v4 protocol, TCP/IP v6 protocol is not supported.
- CD/DVD: DVD-ROM drive
- Compatibility: If you intend to run other applications as well on this hardware, make sure to check compatibility with the specifications of all other applications as well
- Remote Support: Esko Customer Support is using TeamViewer as a solution for remote access and support over the Internet, it can be downloaded from http://www.teamviewer.com/download/index.aspx
Automation Engine Pilot - Client for PC
- CPU: An x86-32 or x86-64 compatible dual-core processor (Intel or AMD), minimum dual-core
- Memory: Minimum 1GB RAM
- Harddisk: An NTFS volume is required. The software takes maximum 1GB of disk space. But take into account the need for storage of temporary and production data. A backup solution is strongly advised.
- Network: 10/100/1000 Base-T Ethernet, TCP/IP v4 protocol, TCP/IP v6 protocol is not supported.
- Video Card: Minimum 1280 x 1024 resolution, true color depth
- CD/DVD: DVD-ROM drive
- Virtualization: Parallels Desktop or Vmware Fusion is supported, but please be aware that Esko doesn't test all combinations of MacOSX and Parallels Desktop/Vmware Fusion.
- Compatibility: If you intend to run other applications as well on this hardware, make sure to check compatibility with the specifications of all other applications as well
- Remote Support: Esko Customer Support is using TeamViewer as a solution for remote access and support over the Internet, it can be downloaded from http://www.teamviewer.com/download/index.aspx
Operating Systems compatibility matrix:
Windows XP
|
32 bit |
64 bit |
|
|
SP1 |
SP2 |
SP3 |
|
SP1 |
SP2 |
SP3 |
| Home Edition |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
|
|
|
|
| Professional Edition |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES* |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
Windows Vista
|
32 bit |
64 bit |
|
|
SP1 |
SP2 |
|
SP1 |
SP2 |
| Windows Vista Starter |
NO |
NO |
NO |
|
|
|
| Windows Vista Home Basic |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows Vista Home Premium |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows Vista Business |
YES |
YES |
YES* |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows Vista Enterprise |
YES |
YES |
YES* |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows Vista Ultimate |
YES |
YES |
YES* |
NO |
NO |
NO |
Windows 7
|
32 bit |
64 bit |
|
|
SP1 |
|
SP1 |
| Windows 7 Home Basic |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows 7 Home Premium |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows 7 Professional |
YES* |
YES |
YES* |
YES |
| Windows 7 Enterprise |
YES* |
YES |
YES* |
YES |
| Windows 7 Ultimate |
YES* |
YES |
YES* |
YES |
Windows 2000
|
32 bit |
|
|
SP1 |
SP2 |
SP3 |
SP4 |
| Windows 2000 Professional |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows 2000 Server |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows 2000 Advanced Server |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows 2000 Datacenter Server |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
NO |
Windows Server 2003
|
32 bit |
64 bit |
|
|
SP1 |
SP2 |
|
SP1 |
SP2 |
| Windows Server 2003 Standard |
YES |
YES |
YES |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows Server 2003 Enterprise |
YES |
YES |
YES |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows Server 2003 Datacenter |
YES |
YES |
YES |
NO |
NO |
NO |
| Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard |
|
YES |
YES |
|
NO |
NO |
| Windows Server 2003 R2 Enterprise |
|
YES |
YES |
|
NO |
NO |
| Windows Server 2003 R2 Datacenter |
|
YES |
YES |
|
NO |
NO |
Windows Small Business Server 2003 is not supported
Windows Server 2003 Web is not supported
Windows Server 2008
|
32 bit |
64 bit |
|
|
SP2 |
|
SP2 |
| Windows Server 2008 Standard |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
| Windows Server 2008 Enterprise |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
| Windows Server 2008 Datacenter |
YES |
YES |
YES |
YES |
Windows Small Business Server 2008 is not supported
Windows Web Server 2008 is not supported
Windows Server 2008 HPC Edition is not supported
Windows Server 2008 R2
|
64 bit |
|
|
|
SP1 |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard |
YES |
YES |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise |
YES |
YES |
| Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter |
YES |
YES |
Windows Small Business Server 2008 is not supported
Windows Server 2008 R2 Foundation is not supported.
Windows Web Server 2008 R2 is not supported
Windows Server 2008 R2 HPC Edition is not supported
* recommended Operating system.
- For more info about Windows memory limitation, please consult this table.