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SDL LiveContent platform requirements

Overview of the platform requirements for server and client computers running SDL LiveContent products together.

Preliminary note

Performance primarily relates to the CPU power and the I/O characteristics of the hardware. High CPU power is needed to allow the application to make calculations as needed with minimum impact on performance to accomplish the task. The I/O performance largely influences the system's speed to gather and assemble information from the database to serve user requests.

No specific requirements for data storage are imposed. The appropriate hardware setup that is required largely depends on the specific requirements and settings of a project. This includes factors like the amount of concurrent users, the number of conditions, any translations of the content into different languages, publishing demands, and so on. Typically, a specific assessment of the hardware requirements occurs at the beginning of a project.

Database server requirements

The database server can run either UNIX or Microsoft Windows:
  • Oracle supports both Sun and HP. For the supported UNIX versions, refer to the Oracle documentation.
  • As an indication, a Microsoft Windows server running Oracle or MS SQL Server should run on at least a dual core Xeon® 2.0 GHz or higher, and it should have at least 8 GB RAM.
The database server should provide enough storage for the following assets:
  • All XML content and related metadata
  • All images
  • Published output (for example: PDF, CHM, and so on).

As a general rule, multiply the size of all images by 3 to get an estimate of the starting size for your database. For a normal documentation project, you can initially reserve 100 GB; this amount should be enough to satisfy storage needs for about 2 to 3 years.

Web and application server requirements

The minimum server configuration should include one or more dual core Xeon® 2.0 GHz processor systems with at least 8 GB RAM.

A recommended server configuration should include a quad core Xeon® X5550 2.66 GHz processor system with at least 12 MB Level 3 cache and 8 GB RAM, dual port Gigabit Ethernet, and a smart array RAID controller with 256 MB memory.

Virtualized environments

Virtualized environments are supported, as long as they behave like a standard Windows OS installed on a physical machine. If performance in a virtual environment becomes an issue, we recommend switching to physical servers.

Client requirements

No limitations, except the ones required and described by the software requirements.

Client tools like Publication Manager can hold and process a large amounts of information on the client side. Client machines should have at least a 2.0 GHz CPU and 4 GB RAM.

Network requirements

Due to its stateless model, SDL LiveContent Architect passes large quantities of data. A 10 Mbit network connection provides a more than acceptable throughput.