This document describes the minimum requirements to install and use NorthScope. While it may be possible to run NorthScope on older versions of software or on hardware that does not meet the minimum specifications, NorthScope is not tested on these environments and there is no claim or guarantee that it will function correctly on them. For higher demand environments the website, database and servers can be separated however for this document the server where NorthScope is installed will be referred to as a single “NorthScope Server”. It is expected that your IT team will be responsible for ensuring you have the minimum requirements setup and configured before we install any NorthScope software.
Operating System: Windows Server 2016 or newer. Please also refer to the latest requirements for the most recent edition of Microsoft SQL Server.
Minimum Hardware Specs:
CPU: 1 dual core or 2 single core processors. Please also refer to the Microsoft SQL Server installation requirements for processor speed specifications and consider these as minimums.
RAM: 16 GB or more
Disk Space: 500Gb or more
While the initial NorthScope installation will not take much disk space it is helpful to have enough to create a test system that you can use alongside your live system. Additionally, some features of NorthScope will take more space than others depending on how you have your system configured. This amount of disk space considers some database backup planning but please let NLP know if you need any suggestions on how to plan for backups.
We also suggest to have two separate physical disks for SQL Server Log and Data files whenever possible.
Additional Features and Software:
Remote Access: To help support and configure your NorthScope instance the NLP team must have remote connectivity to your server. This should be supported with reliable VPN access to the network and remote access into the NorthScope Server. Additionally, port 1433 for SQL Server should be open on the firewall to support direct SQL access when needed. If several people will be using Remote Access to your NorthScope server, enough remote desktop licenses should be purchased to support the number of expected simultaneous connections.
SQL Server: NorthScope requires Microsoft SQL Server Standard Edition 2019 or newer and the SQL Server Management Studio tools need to be installed on the server for use during remote access. The default collation of SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS should be used for this server. Additionally, make sure the database compatibility level is set to 130 or higher if the database was created on an older version of SQL Server.
SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS): The version of SSRS that corresponds to the SQL Server version should be installed so users can run and view reports in NorthScope. SSRS can be installed on a separate server from the SQL Server if desired. SQL Server Data Tools should be installed on the NorthScope server to make sure NLP staff can make report changes if requested.
Internet Information Services (IIS): IIS, including the ASP.net features, is required to run the NorthScope website.
Security: NLP must be provided a username and password with System Administrator rights for the SQL Server, Report Server and the Windows Server.
Network Printers: If you want to configure direct printing from NorthScope (the ability for someone in one location to print to a printer in another location) you will need to install the printers you want to use directly on the NorthScope server.
Microsoft Office: Office should be installed on the server if any users will be remoting directly into the server and exporting data to Excel or if they have the need to use other Office features while using remote access.
SMTP for email: NorthScope has the ability to send emails and users often also want to configure automatic report email subscriptions through SSRS. To accomplish this, access to an SMPT server will be needed. NLP also has an SMTP server that can be used for this purpose if one is not already setup.
Operating System: Windows 8.1 or newer
Minimum Hardware Specs:
CPU: 1 dual core or 1 single core processor 2.6GHz or higher
RAM: 4 GB or more
Microsoft Office: Office 2014 or newer
Internet Browser: NLP officially recommends and tests with Google Chrome however we also do some testing Microsoft Edge as well as other browsers.