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

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)

  • 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 2012/2012 R2/2016/2019 (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.

  • 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 3.1.8 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.)

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.

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 2012/2012 R2/2016/ 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. (.NET Core 3.1.8 is included with the prerequisites.)

  • 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 i3 or higher or AMD equivalent

  • 4 GB RAM or more

  • At least 1 GB free hard disk space

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

Software Requirements

Microsoft Windows Server 2012/2012 R2/2016/2019 (64-bit only), Windows 8/8.1, or Windows 10

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

Win 10 Enterprise Multi-Session/Windows Virtual Desktop Win10/Win 10 V1903,V1909, V2004

(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 11 SP2-SP3, or SuSE 12; i386/x86_64

  • SLES SuSE 15.2 - 32 & 64 bit

Ubuntu:

  • Ubuntu 14.04, or Ubuntu 16.04 LTS ;i386/x86_64, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04

Debian:

  • Debian 8, 9, 10; 32-bit/64-bit

Amazon Linux:

  • Amazon Linux AMI 2015.03, 2017.09,Amazon Linux 2

Supported Versions

  • macOS Big Sur 11

  • macOS Catalina 10.15

  • macOS Mojave 10.14

    • 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