System Requirements: Multi-user specification

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This document provides a set minimum and recommended system requirements, both hardware and software, for multi-user sites operating the current suite of CCH Software products.

Overview

This document provides a set minimum and recommended system requirements, both hardware and software, for multi-user sites operating the current suite of CCH Software products. The document is aimed at assisting in the platform choices made before installing the software as a new customer or when upgrading or replacing existing hardware and/or software in the environment.

The document has two distinct sections: Notes & Warnings and System Requirements. Notes & Warnings provides more generalised advice for certain aspects of system design, as well as covering software components that have reached end-of-life or are approaching end-of-life.

Guidance is provided for single-server environments, multi-server environments and client devices with the aim of assisting suitably qualified IT staff or staff with respected IT knowledge and experience in deriving a supported platform for CCH Software products.

For more complex architectural solutions, where multiple CCH Software products are being deployed, we would always recommend that additional advice is sought from the CCH Software Installations & Technical Services Team to ensure that all platform objectives in terms of deployment support and performance are met.

Notes & Warnings

General Recommendations

The preferred network cabling rating is CAT 5e, or higher, with the speed of connectivity being at least 100 megabit per second (Mbps) between client devices. The server backbone speed should be running at 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) or greater.
SAS drives (dual port and 6 or 12 Gbps) for any I/O channel hosting multiple I/O requests/users.
SAS hardware-based RAID 5 should be the minimum level of fault tolerance for RAID arrays hosting data. This includes any database server platform. RAID 5 should not be used for database transaction logs or the temporary database.
SAS/SSD/Persistent Memory recommended for optimal performance.
Disk space required on client devices at runtime: 70-80 MB per program.
Free disk space required on client devices at installation because of the use of temporary directories and temporary files: 500 MB or above.

Virtual Environments and Thin Client Environments

Virtual Environments are supported where the virtual environment is invisible to the application layer and it is designed to deliver a simulated physical environment of equivalent functionality and performance - architectural design, sizing, capacity planning, testing and end-user testing recommended
Microsoft® Windows Server 2016/2019 Terminal Services/Remote Desktop Services is supported, together with Citrix XenApp. Full Desktop Deployment only. Thin Client environments receive minimal testing only during our quality assurance phase of each release
We do not currently test VDI environments and therefore there is no support coverage for this environment
See the Thin Client dedicated section for an example specification

Unsupported Environments

Home Editions of Windows
- Windows 10 Home
- Windows 11 Home
RemoteApp/Published App Virtualisation for Thin Client deployments
- See KB 15322
Exchange Service
- 2007, 2010
Wide Area Networks (WANs) - where client and server are connected over a wide geographical distance, resulting in high latency couples with low bandwidth

End of Life

The following operating systems and software have reached end of life and are consequently no longer supported:

Windows 95, Windows NT4, Windows 98, Windows 2000 and Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2
SQL Server 2000 (including Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine), SQL Server 2005 (including SQL Server 2005 Express), SQL Server 2008 (including SQL Server 2008 Express), SQL Server 2008 R2 (including SQL Server 2008 R2 Express) and SQL Server 2012 (including SQL Server 2012 Express)
Microsoft Office 2000, XP, 2003, 2007, 2010 and 2013
Internet Explorer 8, 9, 10 and 11

Coming Soon

The following operating systems, platforms and software will be supported at a future date but are currently unsupported:

Approaching End of Life

SQL Server 2014
- 9th July 2024
Windows 10
- 14th October 2025
SQL Server 2016
- 13th October 2026
Microsoft Office 2021 (Retirement as part of Modern Policy)
- 13th October 2026
Windows Server 2016
- 12th January 2027
SQL Server 2017
- 12th October 2027

3rd Party Additions & Modifications to CCH Software

Any third party additions to the CCH Software program directories or databases fall outside of our responsibility and the ownership of such extensions should be fully documented and owned by the implementer of the non-standard functionality. Migrations of CCH Software are performed without any 3^rd party coverage, unless where details are explicitly given and scope of work is agreed in advance to extend our remit. Any risk of the 3^rd party software being rendered inoperable by either a migration or update to the latest release of the CCH Software suite falls outside of our responsibility. Modification of our database schema objects is expressly prohibited as part of the End-User License Agreement.

Peer-to-Peer

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) configurations are supported with the following conditions and warnings:

Connectivity issues do not fall within our remit, either at point of installation or through ongoing use. The CCH Software Support Team and Installations & Technical Services Teams are unable to assist with issues caused by network connectivity failures or mis-configuration.
The Workgroup network should be installed, configured and tested by your IT contractor or IT Team before the CCH Software suite is installed.
Extensive resources (Processor, RAM and Disk) will be consumed by the CCH Software suite on the machine provisioned as the P2P server. If the server is also to be used as a client computer, then we recommend that both workloads are witnessed at peak times to ensure performance levels are known. A dedicated server may be the preferred option if performance doesn’t meet business requirements.
The deactivation of anti-virus software and firewall may be required at point of installation.
We currently support up to 6 users with P2P configurations.

System Requirements

CCH Central/CCH SecTAX/CCH Trust Accounts

The below information is also valid when deploying the following modules of CCH Central:

CCH Accounts Production
CCH Audit Automation (SQL)
CCH Autofill
CCH Campaign Management
CCH Corporation Tax
CCH CGT & Dividend Scheduling
CCH Document Management
CCH Email Marketing
CCH Fee Protection
CCH OneClick
CCH Personal Tax
CCH Portal
CCH Practice Management
CCH Reporting
CCH Review & Tag
CCH Scan
CCH Workflow

Hardware requirements - single server installations and dedicated database servers

The requirements in the following table apply to a single server with a built-in database or dedicated database servers in the environment. Minimum specifications are provided as a guide only and should be used in conjunction with requirements for non-CCH software applications to compile a specification capable of supporting the set of applications that will be running concurrently on the system to meet an expected level of performance.

Medium to large sites should evaluate additional performance improvements by dedicating Application Servers to host specific CCH Windows Services (Workflow, Portal and CRM).

Component	Minimum Requirement
Processor (CPU)	64-bit, 2 cores for small deployments (fewer than 20 users) 64-bit, 2 cores for medium deployments (between 20 to 50 users) 64-bit, 2-4 cores for large deployments (between 50 to 100 users) 64-bit, 4+ cores for very large deployments (greater than 100 users) Note: SQL Server is a primarily single-threaded based workload and consequently benefits from being underpinned by the highest clocked processors. Careful selection of the CPU model, core count, cache and clock speed is recommended
Memory (RAM)	4 GB for small deployments (fewer than 20 users) 4 to 6 GB for medium deployments (between 20 to 50 users) 6 to 10 GB for large deployments (between 51 to 100 users) 10+ GB for very large deployments (greater than 100 users) Note: RAM requirements will increase with database growth. Additional provision should be made for the various CCH Windows Services that are installed. Both the Workflow and Portal Message Service require a RAM provision of 1 GB each. If these services are hosted on dedicated Application Services then sufficient resources should be allocated to meet the expected workload.
Hard Disk	80 GB for system drive with logical separation of workloads for data drives Hard disk space required depends on how much data you have in your deployment SAS or SSD (High performance 6/12 Gbps Dual-port SAS or NVMe)
Display	A monitor with a resolution of 1280 x 1024 or higher Default/Normal dots per square inch (DPI) recommended Default/Normal fonts recommended
Internet Connection	An ADSL connection with at least 10 megabit per second (Mbps) download speed. Downloading the complete CCH Central suite over a 10 Mbps connection will take approximately 1 hour.
Network	1 Gbps or higher
Microsoft .NET Framework	3.5 and 4.8
Miscellaneous	Database User language settings (e.g. VPMUSER) must be configured as US English under SQL Server Security > Logins for each login (user and/or group) utilised for connecting to the CCH Central suite.

Software Requirements

The requirements in the following section apply to the following installations:

Single server with built-in database
Dedicated database servers

Minimum software requirements

This section provides minimum software requirements for each server.

Minimum requirements for a single server with built-in database:

One of the following Server Operating Systems:
- 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2016 Standard or Datacenter
- 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2019 Standard or Datacenter
- 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2022 Standard or Datacenter
- The equivalent Windows Server Small Business or Windows Server Essentials platform
The Central Suite Installer (CSI) installs the following pre-requisite for a single server with built-in database:
- Microsoft SQL Server 2017 – Express Edition
- Instance Name: CCHSQL

Minimum requirements for a dedicated database server:

One of the following Microsoft SQL Server versions:
- The 32-bit or 64-bit edition of Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Service Pack 2
- The 32-bit or 64-bit edition of Microsoft SQL Server 2017
- The 32-bit or 64-bit edition of Microsoft SQL Server 2019
- The 32-bit or 64-bit edition of Microsoft SQL Server 2022
One of the following Server Operating Systems:
- 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2016 Standard or Datacenter
- 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2019 Standard or Datacenter
- 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2022 Standard or Datacenter

System Requirements - client devices

The requirements in the following table apply to client devices in the environment. Minimum and recommended specifications are provided as a guide only and should be used in conjunction with requirements for non-CCH software applications to compile a specification capable of supporting the set of applications that will be running concurrently on the system to meet an expected level of performance.

Sites wishing to utilise a peer-to-peer (P2P) network (otherwise known as one being workgroup based) should use the recommended specification as the minimum specification for the client device chosen as the P2P Server.

Component	Minimum Requirement	Recommended Requirement
Processor (CPU)	Dual-core 2.5 gigahertz (GHz) or equivalent or Intel i5 Quad-core 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) if using AA SQL Travel Mode	Dual-core, or more, with a clock speed of 3.5 GHz or faster using an Intel i5/i7/i9 or AMD Ryzen 2000/3000/4000/5000/7000 CPU. The latest generation of CPUs are recommended or Intel i5 Quad-core, or more, 3.5 GHz+ or faster if using AA SQL Travel Model
Memory (RAM)	8 gigabytes (GB): 64-bit Operating System or 16 gigabytes (GB) if using AA SQL Travel Mode	8 GB +: 64-bit Operating System or 16+ GB if using AA SQL Travel Mode
Hard Disk	20 gigabytes (GB) available	> 20 GB or 20% free space available
Display Device	A monitor with a resolution of 1280 x 1024 or higher Default/Normal dots per square inch (DPI) recommended Default/Normal fonts recommended	Same as minimum
Network	100 Mbps	Same as minimum
Network Latency	< 1 millisecond	Same a minimum
Operating System	CCH Central and its associated modules are supported on the following Windows operating systems: Windows 10 (64-bit) Windows 11 (64-bit) Windows Server 2016 (64-bit) Windows Server 2019 (64-bit) Windows Server 2022 (64-bit) Note: Windows Server 2016, 2019 and 2022 are only available in 64-bit architecture.	Same an minimum
Internet Browser	Opera; Microsoft Edge; Mozilla Firefox; Apple Safari; or Google Chrome	Same as minimum
Microsoft .NET Framework	3.5, 4.8 and 6.0 For .NET 6 the Desktop Runtime and ASP.NET Core 6.0 Runtime are required	Same as minimum
SQL Server Native Client	2012 (CCH Audit Automation SQL)	Same as minimum
Additional requirements and considerations	Certain functions within CCH Central use integration with Microsoft Office. The currently supported Microsoft Office versions are: Microsoft Office 2016 Microsoft Office 2019 Microsoft Office 2022 Microsoft 365 Integration is typically implemented between the following Office applications: MS Word MS Excel MS Outlook Choose the appropriate edition of Office to enable the entire suite of functionality. 64-bit Office only supported if running Central 2020.3 or later with MS Office 2019/2022. PDF functionality requires the presence of PDF viewer software such as Acrobat® Reader® or an Internet Browser with built-in PDF reader functionality. Client Portal and CCH OneClick solutions for mobile devices such as phones or tablets operate within iOS (ver. 10 or above) or Android environments only. Regional & Language settings within the Operating System (at System and User level) must be set as English (UK).	Same as minimum

System Requirements - dedicated OCR workstation/server

The requirements in the following table apply to a dedicated OCR workstation or server for use with CCH Document Management and CCH Autofill. Minimum and recommended specifications are provided as a guide only and should be used in conjunction with requirements for non-CCH software applications to compile a specification capable of supporting the set of applications that will be running concurrently on the system to meet an expected level of performance.

Component	Minimum Requirement	Recommended Requirement
Processor (CPU)	Dual-core 2 gigahertz (GHz) x64-bit processor	2 GHz + Dual-Core x64-bit processor or faster
Physical Memory (RAM)	4 gigabytes (GB)	6-8 GB +
Hard Disk	20 gigabytes (GB) available	20 GB or 20% free space available
Network	100 Mbps with a fixed IP address	1 Gbps with a fixed IP address
Operating System	Windows 10 (32-bit or 64-bit) Windows 11 (32-bit or 64-bit) Windows Server 2016 (64-bit) Windows Server 2019 (64-bit) Windows Server 2022 (64-bit) Note: Business-orientated editions of Microsoft Operating Systems are supported only. Home and Core editions not supported. Note: Windows Server 2016, 2019 and 2022 are only available in 64-bit architecture.	Same an minimum
Microsoft .NET Framework	3.5 and 4.8	Same as minimum

Thin Client Environments

Thin client environments require a particular focus during the planning and deployment phases of a rollout to ensure successful delivery. If you are running a large number of modules, or the compliance-related modules, within CCH Central then you will experience heavy demands being placed across all of the major components of the hosting environment. The following specification is given as a starting point and we recommend that you engage with our Technical Services Team if you are planning a Thin Client deployment using either Microsoft or Citrix technologies:

8 vCPUs
56 GB RAM
120 GB OS Disk
4 GB RAM Cache (with MVS or PVS Write Caching on XenApp) – and an appropriate disk overspill allocation to begin with just in cache the RAM cache isn’t large enough to avoid overspill

A Server with the above specification will be able to support between 30-40 concurrent desktop sessions (RemoteApp/Published Applications are not supported). The clock speed of the CPUs in this environment do need to be carefully considered because a number of areas within the CCH Central suite can drive high CPU utilisation rates. Disk performance will also play a significant roll in overall system response and should be balanced with the number of total sessions supported per server together with the number of applications open simultaneously. IOPS per user will be substantially greater if a RAM caching feature is not available within the Thin Client environment chosen for deployment.

Pre-live load testing performed by the end users should be conducted prior to any final sign-off of the environment to ensure it meets the performance goals of the project.

Note: Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) deployments should also be undertaken with due care in the areas of capacity planning and testing to ensure performance goals are achieved and user productivity levels are verified pre-live.

These environments are currently not quality assurance tested during our produce development lifecycle and therefore thorough pre-live capacity planning and testing is required to validate your own environment as being suitable for production.

Although no baseline specifications are offered, minimum and recommended client device specifications should be evaluated to arrive at a satisfactory underlying VM template.