System Requirements

This topic lists the minimum system requirements for each ObserveIT component.

Each of the server-side components can be installed on a single platform or on multiple platforms, depending on your organization’s needs and performance considerations. Actual recommended resources depend on the number of Agents that are deployed, the amount of activity on each Agent, and the volume of historical data that is retained in the database.

For a list of supported platforms in this release, see Supported Platforms.

7.12.0 was the last version to support:
SQL Server 2012
Win 32 bit agent
Win 8.1
Win Server 2012 (not R2)
Debian 9

Version 7.13.0 and up can be deployed only on SQL Servers that support partitions. You can upgrade to 7.13 (or later) only if your original deployment was installed as partitioned. If your system was installed not as partitioned, a migration will need to be performed. Contact Support to get help with it.

To see whether your current SQL Server deployment supports partitions. use the following commands:
use observeit
go
/*
You want to see the following partition schema:
PS_Day
PS_Day_DayTime
*/ select * from sys.partition_schemes
go

Following are the recommended hardware and software requirements for deploying the ObserveIT components:

The ObserveIT Application Server is implemented as an ASP.NET Web application that runs on a Windows Server-based computer (physical server or VM) in the context of Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) 8.0 or higher. It can coexist with other IIS Web services. For most implementations, the Application Server and the Web Console run on the same hardware platform.

FIPS is only supported on Agents side. You should not deploy or enable FIPS on ObserveIT application servers.

Hardware requirements:

The computer on which the ObserveIT Application Server is installed can be a virtual machine (VM) if all performance issues are considered.

  • CPU: 4 - 8 cores

  • RAM: 8 - 16 GB

  • Operating System hard disk: 100-200 GB (15K or SSD)

  • Recommended :2 NICs: One for the Agent traffic, the second for the SQL Server and file share path traffic - 1 GB Ethernet (10 GB Ethernet is recommended)

If you plan to use encryption for data in transit (either the traffic between the Agents > Application Server(s) and/or the traffic between the Application Server(s) to SQL Server), plan for CPU overhead.

Software Requirements:

  • Microsoft Windows Server: 2016/2019 (64-bit only).

    It is recommended that you always use the latest Service Pack for your operating system.

  • NET Framework version 4.7.2 or higher must always be installed.

  •  Most recent version of Microsoft ASP .Net Core Runtime Windows Hosting Bundle. (.NET Core 3.1.20 is supported and is included with the prerequisites.)

ObserveIT stores all the captured data and configuration settings in Microsoft SQL Server databases. During installation, the ObserveIT Database Server creates the following databases on the SQL Server:

  • ObserveIT

  • ObserveIT_Analytics

  • ObserveIT_Data

  • ObserveIT_Archive_1

  • ObserveIT_Archive_template

Database collation must be one of the following:

  • The SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS collation (SQL collation)

  • Latin1_General_CI_AS collation (Windows collation)

The SQL server collation must be the same as the ObserveIT databases collation.

Hardware requirements:

Notes:

  • The computer on which the Database Server is installed can be a virtual machine (VM) if all performance issues are considered.

    If planning to use data encryption, plan for CPU overhead.

  • If you plan to use the archiving feature of ObserveIT, make sure that you have available at least twice the disk space expected for the archived data.

  • It is recommended that you use Windows Authentication.

Hardware (Small Deployment)

  • CPU: 4-8 cores

  • RAM: 16 GB

  • Operating System hard disk: 100-200 GB (15K or SSD)

  • 2 NICs - 1 GB Ethernet (10 GB Ethernet is recommended)

Hardware (Medium Deployment)

  • CPU: 8-16 cores

  • RAM: 24-32 GB

  • Operating System hard disk: 100-200 GB (15K or SSD)

  • 2 NICs - 1 GB Ethernet (10 GB Ethernet is recommended)

Hardware (Large Deployment)

  • CPU: 16-24 cores

  • RAM: 64-128 GB

  • Operating System hard disk: 100-200 GB (15K or SSD)

  • 2 NICs - 1 GB Ethernet (10 GB Ethernet is recommended)

Hardware (Extra-Large Deployment)

  • CPU: 24-32 cores

  • RAM: 128-256 GB

  • Operating System hard disk: 100-200 GB (15K or SSD)

  • 2 NICs - 1 GB Ethernet (10 GB Ethernet is recommended)

Software Requirements:

  • Microsoft SQL Server 2014 (Enterprise only) /2016/2017/2019.

  •  Most recent version of Microsoft ASP .Net Core Runtime Windows Hosting Bundle. (.NET Core 3.1.8 is included with the prerequisites.)

Version 7.13.1 is the last version to support SQL Server 2012. From version 7.13.2 SQL Server 2012 will no longer be supported.

Microsoft Windows Server 2008/R2 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008/R2 are not supported from version 7.5 and up.

SQL Server Express edition is not supported for production environments. It is recommended that you use a Standard or Enterprise edition of SQL Server, since the SQL Server Express edition has database size limitations and other restrictions that make it unsuitable for production environments.

The ObserveIT Web Console is implemented as an ASP.NET Web application that runs on Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS). It can coexist with other IIS Web services. For most implementations, the Application Server and the Web Console run on the same hardware platform.

FIPS is only supported on Agents side. You should not deploy or enable FIPS on ObserveIT Web consoles.

Website Categorization

Website Categorization module can be installed only on Window Server 2016/2019 64 bit. (See Installing the Website Categorization Module.)

Supported Web Browsers for the ObserveIT Web Console:

  • Mozilla Firefox version 31 and higher

  • Google Chrome version 36 and higher

  • Microsoft Edge for Windows 10 version 25 and higher

Hardware requirements

The computer on which the ObserveIT Web Consoe is installed can be a virtual machine (VM) if all performance issues are considered.

  • CPU: 8 cores

  • RAM: 16 GB

  • Operating System hard disk: 80 GB (15K or SSD)

  • SIEM integration hard disk (when using the Monitor Log option): 500 GB (15K or SSD)

  • 1 NIC - 1 GB Ethernet (10 GB Ethernet is recommended)

If you plan to use encryption for the Web Console traffic, plan for CPU overhead.

If you plan to install the ObserveIT Database server on the same computer, additional storage and processor capacity might be required.

Software requirements

Microsoft Windows Server 2016/ 2019 (64-bit only). It is recommended that you always use the latest Service Pack for your operating system.

Microsoft Windows Server 2008/R2 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008/R2 are not supported from version 7.5 and up.

Install Internet Information Server (IIS) 8.0 or higher depending on the version of the operating system.

  • .NET Framework version 4.7.2 or higher must always be installed.

  •  Most recent version of Microsoft ASP .Net Core Runtime Windows Hosting Bundle.

  • A SQL native client must be installed when using SSPI. (Advanced Web Console only)

  • sqlncli-2012-64-QFE.msi (Advanced Web Console only)

The ObserveIT Windows Agent can be installed on any supported Windows-based operating system (server or desktop) that you want to monitor. For a small number of monitored servers, it is recommended that you manually install the Agent on each system.

Hardware Requirements

  • Processor: Intel i5 or higher or AMD equivalent

  • Physical RAM: at least 8 GB RAM with at least 2 GB available for Agent activity

  • At least 5 GB free hard disk space

  • Network Adapter: 100 Mb/1Gb Ethernet adapter (1 Gigabit link speed recommended)

Software Requirements

Microsoft Windows Server 2016/2019 (64-bit only), Windows 8/8.1, Microsoft supported versions of Windows 10, Windows 11

Citrix XenApp & XenDesktop 5.X/Citrix XenApp & XenDesktop 6.X/Citrix XenApp & XenDesktop 7.X

(it is recommended that you always use the latest Service Pack for your operating system)

  • .NET Framework 4.7.2 or higher must be installed

The ObserveIT Agent can be installed on all Unix or Linux-based systems which require monitoring. The Unix or Linux Agent installer is a self-extracting file which includes the package and an installation script.

You can deploy ObserveIT Agents on the following Unix/Linux-based operating systems:

  • Solaris

  • AIX

  • HP-UX

  • RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) / CentOS (Community Enterprise Operating System)

  • Oracle Linux

  • SLES (SuSE Linux Enterprise Server)

  • Ubuntu

  • Debian

  • Amazon Linux

Hardware requirements

CPU: 2.4 GHz CPU is recommended.

For minimal Citrix/TS Gateway requirements, contact ObserveIT.

Supported CPU Architectures:

  • Linux: i386, x86-64

  • Solaris: Sparc, i386, x86-64

  • HP-UX: Itanium

  • AIX: PowerPC

RAM: A minimum of 2 GB of free memory is recommended.

Hard Drive: 1 GB of available disk space is the minimal amount for ObserveIT installation.

Network Adapter: 100 Mb/1Gb Ethernet adapter (1 Gigabit link speed recommended)

Software requirements

Following are the supported software requirements for ObserveIT Agents on Unix/Linux operating systems:

Solaris:

  • Solaris 10, updates 7-11; x86/x64 or Sparc

Solaris 10 with OpenSSL version 1.0.1 is supported ONLY for ObserveIT Agents version 7.0 and higher.

Solaris 10 with OpenSSL version 0.9.7/0.9.8 is supported ONLY for ObserveIT Agents up to 6.7.2 on best effort.

Solaris Whole Root Zones are supported; you must install an ObserveIT Agent in each zone. Solaris Sparse Zones are not supported.

  • Solaris 11, updates 1-4; x86/x64 or Sparc

AIX:

  • AIX 6.1, AIX 7.1, or AIX 7.2; 32-bit/64-bit

HP-UX:

  • HP-UX 11.31 Itanium architecture (64-bit)

    HP-UX 11.23 Itanium architecture (64-bit) is supported for ObserveIT Agents up to 6.7.0 on best effort.

RHEL/CentOS:

  • RHEL/CentOS 6.7-6.10 i386/x86_64/ppc64

  • RHEL/CentOS 7.x

  • RHEL/CentOS 8.x

Oracle Linux:

  • Oracle Linux 6.7-6.10 i386/x86_64

  • Oracle Linux 7.x

  • Oracle Linux 8.x

SLES (SuSE Linux Enterprise Server):

  • SuSE 12; i386/x86_64

  • SLES SuSE 15.2 - 32 & 64 bit

Ubuntu:

  • Ubuntu 16.04 LTS ;i386/x86_64, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04

Debian:

  • Debian 10; 32-bit/64-bit

Amazon Linux:

  • Amazon Linux 2

Supported Versions

  • macOS Monterey R 12

  • macOS Big Sur R 11

  • macOS Catalina 10.15

    • macOS Mojave 10.14 is not supported from ObserveIT 7.12.4

    • macOS High Sierra 10.13 supported from ObserveIT 7.10.x on best effort only

    • macOS Sierra 10.12 supported from 7.9.x on best effort only

    • macOS Yosemite 10.10 and macOS El Capitan 10.11 supported ONLY for ObserveIT Agents up to 7.6.2 on best effort.

Apple M1 CPU is now supported. (Prerequisite - endpoint must have an emulation software (Rosetta 2) installed prior to installing a 7.11.1 Mac Agent.)

Hardware Requirements

  • 1.6 GHz or faster Intel Core processor

  • or Apple M1 Chip CPU

    Prerequisite for Apple M1 Chip - endpoint must have an emulation software (Rosetta 2) installed prior to installing a 7.11.1 Mac Agent.

  • 4 GB RAM or more

  • 1 GB free hard disk space

  • 100 Mb/1Gb Ethernet adapter (1 Gigabit link speed recommended)

  • VNC support for remote connections

  • Fast user switch for recording multiple users

  • MacBook / iMac / Mac mini

Server side components such as the Application Server and Web Console use the following software development frameworks:

  • Node.js 14.18.1

  • .Net 6.0.6 (previously Net Core)