System Requirements
Standard ERP requires at least 100 MB of free hard disk space at the time of installation, but more will be required as the database grows with regular use. The program is suitable for use on mixed networks (e.g. networks with macOS, Windows, iOS and Android clients in any combination), provided all machines have TCP/IP installed.
Standard ERP does not require Windows or macOS file sharing to be switched on.
Any employee can work with Standard ERP in a local area network or a wide area network. As Standard ERP supports firewall technology independent of the type of internet connection, it is recommended that firewall software be installed on the server machine.
Concerning security, it is important to mention that the data flow between the Standard ERP server and its clients is encrypted. Back-up files created using the facility built in to Standard ERP feature are also encrypted. Every user will require a unique user name and password to log in.
Server Hardware
Standard ERP will typically be installed as the core ERP system in a business, or as the core ERP system with an integrated on-line front-end. It will therefore often be the most critical piece of software in use in a business. The cost of a slow or unavailable installation is therefore usually very high. As hardware gets older the risk of failure increases. As the business grows and the usage of Standard ERP changes and expands, the hardware requirements also change. For these reasons we recommend that users plan on buying a new server every 12 to 18 months. The old server can usually be repurposed for less critical duties outside the primary ERP system.
When recommending hardware we first look at three factors that will determine performance requirements. These factors should be measured at the peak hour of the month, or year if the business is highly seasonal:
- The number of simultaneous active users;
- The type of users: CRM, Stock, Invoicing, Bookkeeping, POS, Hotel etc.; and
- The number and type of transactions added and changed.
There are also some special considerations that can cause the required size of the system to grow:
- Use of the system outside office hours reduces the time available for maintenance;
- The proportion of historical data saved in the system (when comparing two systems with the same rate of data entry, the one in which the greater amount of historical data is stored will require more memory);
- Complex customisations;
- Large or frequent imports of data from other systems; and
- Integrated web-server with more than five hundred visitors per day.
Below we describe three sample configurations. These configurations have been shown to give acceptable performance in normal use. If your usage is expected to be very heavy or very light you may need to make adjustments, as follows:
- Extra capacity will be required if you have other functions running, such as those included the list of special considerations above; and
- The requirements of any other software that might be running on the server must also be taken into account.
The users in the example configurations are assumed to be normal users in a typical system using the Sales, Purchase and Nominal Ledgers, Logistics and CRM. In a system with a significantly different usage pattern, the hardware requirements could be different. For example, a high volume Point-of-Sales environment in which users create many large Invoices that update stock would need more powerful hardware than the average.
Small Server - up to 10 users
- CPU 3 GHz base frequency, two cores
- RAM 8 GB
- Disk 2 x eMLC mirrored SSD units
- Internal network speed (network card, switches etc) 100 Mb/s
Medium Server - up to 30 users
- CPU 3 GHz base frequency, four cores
- RAM 16 GB
- Disk 2 x eMLC mirrored SSD units
- Internal network speed (network card, switches etc) 1 Gb/s (to allow for backing up over the network)
Medium to Large Server - up to 60 users
- CPU 3.5 GHz base frequency, eight cores
- RAM 24 GB
- Disk 4 x eMLC or SLC SSD units in RAID configuration for database
- Disk 4 x 15000 RPM magnetic disks in RAID configuration for OS and backups
- Internal network speed (network card, switches etc) 1 Gb/s (to allow for backing up over the network)
- Database Accelerator is recommended
The recommended CPUs are the current generation (2023) ARM CPUs or Intel and AMD x86 CPUs. You can also use IBM POWER8 and later based systems with similar GHz ratings.
SSD units should normally be of the Enterprise Medium Level Cell (eMLC) or Single Level Cell (SLC) types as other types are less durable and have shorter lifespans.
For larger configurations please contact your HansaWorld partner for help with configuring the appropriate hardware for your situation. A cost-effective alternative to purchasing a new server every 12 to 18 months is to use HansaWorld cloud-hosting services. For a fixed monthly rate, this provides you with access to the best hardware and the latest software, as well the opportunity to start using Standard ERP without additional server investments.
The RAM requirement of the server should be calculated as follows:
- Minimum 2 GB RAM the operating system
- + 0.5 GB for the Standard ERP engine
- + 10-50% of the database (HDB) size
For example, if the database size is 8 GB, the server should have between 2.3 and 5.5 GB RAM. The higher percentage applies when the database contains little or no historical data, and the lower percentage when it contains 10 or more years' worth of historical data.
Operating Systems
The Standard ERP server application runs on the following operating systems
- macOS 13 and later
- Windows Server 2022 and later.
- RedHat Enterprise Linux version 9 and later, SuSE Enterprise Server version 15 and later, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and later and Amazon Linux latest (currently 2023) are supported Linux distributions because of the level of OS, security and stability support that is available. Only use versions of Linux distributions that are officially supported by their developers. Glibc 2.6 or later is required, and Linux kernel version 3.0 or later is recommended for performance reasons. It is not recommended that you install these systems with user interfaces (X/Windows, KDE, Gnome etc)
- ARM64 architecture is supported for Linux servers.
You should consider the following when choosing the software environment in which you will use Standard ERP:
- You should not use desktop version of Windows for the Standard ERP server.
- You must of course install appropriate anti-virus software on your server and clients.
- On all platforms, back-up software is strongly recommended.
- When using Windows, 2 GB RAM should be available to be dedicated to the operating system.
- When installing in a virtual environment (VMware, Xen etc.), take special care to ensure disk-writing consistency. Standard ERP normally ensures the consistency of its database by forcing data to the physical disk device, or battery backed cache if available. In some configurations with virtualisation software these safety features can fail to be enabled. You must ensure that this disk synchronisation is enabled inside the virtual environment.
- Virtualisation environments have a small performance impact especially during database rebuilds, so we recommend avoiding them for larger installations.
- For large installations we recommend the purchase and use of the HansaWorld Database Accelerator. This will give a performance improvement when Standard ERP writes to the database.
- The Asterisk server used by the Standard ERP Telephony module only runs on a Linux-based OS (see supported versions above). If your Standard ERP server is running on Windows or macOS, you will also need a Linux machine for the Asterisk server in order to use Telephony.
The Standard ERP client/single-user application runs on the following operating systems:
- macOS 13 and later
- Windows 11 and later. Note: Home and Education editions are not supported. All Windows updates should be fully installed at all times
- iOS 17 and later
- Android 13 and later. Note: avoid using devices that are more than two years old
For a normal client, the system specifications required by the operating system are sufficient to run Standard ERP if no other applications are being used simultaneously. If other applications are being used at the same time, more CPU and memory may be needed. For a synchronised Point of Sale client, 4 GB RAM, a 2ß GHz CPU and a 100 Mb/s network are recommended.
Network
HansaWorld communicates using TCP/IP networking, and has relatively low bandwidth requirements. However, for a good user experience we do recommend a low latency.
A network connection of 30 kb/s for the first user and an additional 10 kb/s per user tends to give an acceptable working environment. The recommended bandwidth is 50 kb/s for the first user and an additional 15 kb/s per user. This is the bandwidth that should be dedicated to Standard ERP. This bandwidth figure should be increased if users will also be using the network for other purposes such as web-browsing. Bandwidth requirements will also increase in the following situations:
- Routinely producing large reports with many pages of output;
- Frequent use of the Document Manager feature to attach files to records or mails;
- Attaching pictures on Items, especially if you are using the CoverFlow 'Paste Special' feature on macOS.
If the users are idle, the bandwidth usage will decrease.
Network latency should preferably be at or below 0.1 seconds. Latencies up to 0.5 seconds can generally be accommodated; however, the user experience will start to suffer at this level or above.
As an example, a 128 kb/s line into the server with a 0.1s latency can be expected to perform well for up to six users and will be useable for 10-11 users, providing it is used exclusively for Standard ERP.
Business Intelligence
If you plan to use
flex.bi or any other Business Intelligence (BI) software, you may need a separate physical server for the BI server application for performance reasons. The configuration of this server will probably be different to that of the Standard ERP server. For example, BI tools need more RAM than the Standard ERP server application.
Relational Database Connection
If you plan to use the Relational Database Shadowing capability that is built in to Standard ERP, you should consider the following:
- You may need a separate physical server for the Oracle or Microsoft SQL database for performance reasons; and
- Running in "shadowed" mode will have a small performance impact on the Standard ERP server.
Back-ups and Reliability
It is vital for your business survival that you take proper responsibility for the safety, reliability and disaster-recoverability of your installation. A modern company that faces a computer disaster without proper back-ups will often face serious difficulties even to survive. You need to take very seriously your responsibility for your own system and its data, and your company's profitability and survival.
Listed below are some minimum recommendations. You must not use this as a final checklist of all you need to do to be "safe".
- It is vital that your disks have protection (RAID 1, 5, 1+0 etc.) Unprotected disks, such as single disks and disks in RAID 0 configuration, will put your vital data at considerable risk.
- Off-site back-ups are an important part of any back-up and recovery strategy, in case of fire or other disaster. Possible solutions include network transfers of your back-up files and/or regularly sending physical tapes to a different location.
- Reserve systems and infrastructure onto which back-ups can be restored in case of a disaster are a must. A full back-up will not help if your server fails and you have no fallback machine: your business will still come to a standstill.
- You must periodically test your recovery process. If you have not successfully tested that you can use the latest back-up file to restore your database, you should assume that the process will fail.
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