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System requirements

System requirements

Basics:

Supported Windows operating systems (64bit):

  • Client: Windows 8.1, Windows 10 and Windows 11
  • Server: Windows Server 2012 R2, 2016, 2019 (from ObjectStore Update 22) and 2022 (from ObjectStore Update 25)

The ClassiX® system is integrated into an existing (Microsoft Windows) IT infrastructure by reserving a (Microsoft Windows) server - possibly to be newly procured - exclusively for the operation of the object-oriented database ObjectStore®.

All existing Windows PCs or workstations are then usually configured to access this database as application clients. Whether applications are also executed directly on the server or the server is also used as a terminal server depends on the technical equipment and performance of the existing computers.

It should also be checked whether the entire application to be installed or only some apps should be operated as a web application.

Before installing a server, it is therefore recommended to consider the following possible scenarios for operating ClassiX applications: Server-client configurations. The exact system requirements for server and clients depend on these scenarios.

Basically, the requirements for the server are only dependent on the number of possible users (and thus indirectly also on the expected size of the database). The requirements for each individual client are directly dependent on the amount of data to be processed on that client.

In short, the server needs fast hard disks/SSDs and sufficient main memory. A client requires sufficient processing power and also sufficient main memory.

To be able to understand these requirements, it is important to understand the technical basis for the object-oriented ObjectStore® database. In this case the database itself is considered as swapped main memory. This means that a larger main memory (RAM) means that more data of the database can be located in it, which leads to faster processing. And since the relations between the data are mapped directly via their memory addresses - without detours via relational keys - maximum possible processing speeds can be achieved.

For performance reasons, the following recommendations should therefore be considered:

Server design:
- fast hard disks (rule of thumb for calculating the size of the database: 10GB database size per 30 users)
- large working memory (in the order of magnitude of the database itself)
- fast network connection (min. 1GBit/s, low latency)

All servers can also run virtualised (with appropriate hardware equipment). To increase availability, they should be located in the SAN.

Client interpretation ("fat clients"):
- large main memory (min. 8GB recommended, plus 1 GB per additional instance)
- fast network connection to the database server (min. 1GBit/s, low latency)
- fast processor (as a guideline, you can take the Single Thread Rating of CPUbenchmark.net, which should be above 1900)

Administration:
The database is saved by ObjectStore as a single file. This means that a backup of the database essentially only requires the backup/copy of this one file. Thus, by means of a copy of a database ClassiX® can even be started on a normal notebook. The administration of the database server during operation can also be considered negligible.

Besides storing the database on a server, it must be possible to access the program libraries of ClassiX®. This directory can also be located on the database server (the database itself should always be on a separate partition) or can be loaded (read) from another file server. During operation, log files are written from ClassiX®, which can also be directed to a directory in the network (or to the database server).

In the following, the technical design of the individual hardware components for the operation of ClassiX® is described in more detail.

At the end of this document, the requirements for remote maintenance are briefly discussed.

Applications to be installed

The following applications must be installed for full functionality:

Application (Client) Functionality
MS Office 2010/2013/2016/2019 Word: editing and printing of forms and form modules, conversion to PDF
Excel: Ex- and import of data
Outlook: Create and send emails, synchronise contacts
MS-Project: Milestones
: PDF reader Display of PDF documents (reports)

: BIRT Runtime 4.6.0

: Java Runtime 1.8

or Adoptium openjdk 8 (from 1.8.0.265-b01)

or Red Hat openjdk 8 (from 1.8.0.265-b01)

A Java version greater than 8 is not supported.

 Output of reports

: BIRT runtime 4.9.0

: Java 11 (1.11.xxx)

or Adoptium OpenJDK 11 (from 1.11.x.xxx)

or Red Hat OpenJDK 11 (from 1.11.x.xxx)

A Java version lower than 11 is not supported.

Optional:
: : Eclipse with BIRT Creating and editing reports
: : Microsoft Visual Studio Code with InstantView feature Creating and editing modules

Web application

(server installation)

: Libre Office 5 Conversion to PDF

client:

Recommended equipment*:

PC with 64 bit Intel/AMD processor Dual Core 2-3 GHz, 8GB RAM (ECC memory).
It is recommended that the database manufacturer uses ECC memory modules of the highest quality, as memory errors can cause corruption in the database. If PCs without ECC memory are used, it is recommended to switch on the automatic memory check in the BIOS when starting up the PC.
Operating system: Windows 8.1, 10
Current browser with Java script enabled and Internet connection to display HTML online help.

In principle, ClassiX is also compatible on computers with less RAM and slower processors. However, too little hardware equipment can have a negative effect on performance.

ObjectStore
The database client version must match the corresponding ClassiX version:

ClassiX Version ObjectStore Version
4.6 / 4.7 2013.0, VC-11.0, 32-bit
5.0 2013.0, VC-11.0, 64-bit

network:

Minimum requirement:
Switched 1 GBit Ethernet.

Recommended equipment:
Backbone with 10 GBit

Database server:

ObjectStore 2013.0 is supported on the database server side. For restrictions regarding 32/64-bit operating system see below.

Recommended equipment*:
Computer as for the client with free disk space of 30 GB plus size of the database (typical size as above).

As already described above under "Basics", what matters is a large main memory, fast hard disks/SSD and fast network connection. The CPU plays a rather subordinate role and from experience - in contrast to the client - is never used to full capacity.

Main memory min. 8GB. This size depends strongly on the size of the database. The database manufacturer recommends to use ECC memory modules of highest quality, because memory errors can lead to corruption in the database. If PCs without ECC memory are used, it is recommended to switch on the automatic memory check in the BIOS when starting up the PC.
Note: The use of 64 bit hardware together with 64 bit operating systems is recommended for reasons of investment security and larger maximum memory capacity.
Operating system: Windows Server 2012 R2 with hotfix KB2253063, 2016, 2019 (from ObjectStore Update 22) and 2022 (from ObjectStore Update 25)

* You can also do it with less, but if you save too much on the equipment, it can have a negative effect on performance.

Supported versions:

Basically the server must have at least the same ObjectStore version (incl. patch level) as the clients. This means that a server with a higher version number can also be used. On the database side it does not matter whether the server is executed as 32 or 64 bit version.

  • On 32-bit Windows ObjectStore 2013.0 32-bit is supported.
  • On 64-bit Windows ObjectStore 2013.0 32-bit and 64-bit are supported.
  • A combination of a 64-bit database server with a 32-bit client computer is possible.
  • A 32-bit database server cannot be used with a 64-bit client computer.

An overview of important parameters of the ObjectStore server and their optimal values can be found here!

terminal server:

Recommended equipment:
Depending on the number of users, PC as above with multi-processor equipment of dual core or higher, min. 8 GB RAM (ECC memory) per user.
(Rule: 1 core and 8GB RAM per active client. Example: with 30 possible, but maximum only 10 simultaneously active clients = 10 cores and 80 GB RAM)

The database manufacturer recommends to use ECC memory chips of highest quality, because memory errors can cause corruption in the database. If PCs without ECC memory are used, it is recommended to switch on the automatic memory check in the BIOS when the PC is started.
Operating system: 64-bit Windows Server 2012 R2 with hotfix KB2253063, 2016, 2019 (from ObjectStore Update 22) and 2022 (from ObjectStore Update 25)
MS Office 2010 or higher.
Important: In the rights management it must be ensured that remote desktop users are allowed to create global objects, otherwise these users may prevent other users from starting the ClassiX application.

Stand alone:

If the database server is merged with the application server (see client-server configuration), this computer must perform correspondingly more.

Recommended equipment:

Equipment as for the terminal server + hard disk as for the database server + 1 additional core for the database server.

Remote maintenance

Recommended equipment:
Access via Windows Terminal Server under Citrix via VPN.

If the line speed is sufficient, remote maintenance can also be implemented without Citrix via RDP, an alternative would be Nomachine NX, for example.

As a further possibility we support IPSec as VPN protocol with one of our computers as end node. Access is then via RDP.

Resource Management

Process CPU load Hard disk utilisation Network load Memory usage
Server Not intensive. Intensive. Intensive. Not intensive.
Low usage for communication with client.
Client Can be intensive;
depending on the application 		ObjectStore does not access the local hard disk.
However, the application itself has the option. 		Can be intensive. Can be very intense.
Mapping of many data into virtual memory.
Cache Manager Not intensive. Not intensive. Not intensive.
Sends and receives short messages. 		Not intensive.