System Requirements: Multi-user specification
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 2016/2019/2022 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
- Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD)
- Single and multi-session VDI environments
- Exchange Service
- 2007, 2010
- Wide Area Networks (WANs) - where client and server are connected over a wide geographical distance, resulting in high latency coupled 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)
- SQL Server 2014 (including SQL Server 2014 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:
- Windows Server 2025 (not currently released but RTM due end of 2024)
Approaching End of Life
-
- 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 3rd party coverage, unless where details are explicitly given and scope of work is agreed in advance to extend our remit. Any risk of the 3rd 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
- iFirm
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) |
|
|
Memory (RAM) |
Note: RAM requirements will increase with database growth. |
|
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:
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 |
Certain functions within CCH Central use integration with Microsoft Office. The currently supported Microsoft Office versions are:
Integration is typically implemented between the following Office applications:
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 |
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 and acceptance 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. Application issues encountered that are caused by the use of a VDI platform will not be rectified at this time and the customer is responsible for ensuring they are compliant with our supported platform requirements, and any deviation from the supported platform list above it is implied that you have accepted the risk in operating outside of the requirements. If instructed, you will have to supply a non-VDI environment for troubleshooting purposes and be prepared to prove that the incident in question is not solely experienced within the VDI environment. Any assistance by CCH Software to install our products into an environment does not automatically convey the status of a supported environment and the supported requirements list, together with clarification provided by the CCH Support Technical Team, are the final arbiter when determining if a given platform is supported or not.
Although no baseline specifications are offered, minimum and recommended client device specifications should be evaluated to arrive at a satisfactory underlying VM template. Performance of any public cloud infrastructure can vary day-to-day, and performance is not guaranteed as remaining consistent. Ensure you perform your own proactive monitoring of the underlying cloud infrastructure and revisit baseline performance on a regular basis to ensure it delivers the application performance expected.