We are frequently asked to condense Microsoft’s detailed System Specifications for Dynamics GP. Following is a ‘short list’ of server hardware requirements and recommendations that will give maximum performance at reasonable cost:

  • 64-bit hardware platform, Hardware RAID. Microsoft Windows Server 64-bit Standard Edition and Microsoft SQL Server 64-bit Standard Edition (64-bit allows the use of memory over 4GB without disk swap). One or more quad-core processors.
  • 12GB RAM minimum.
  • Drive configuration – The recommendation is OS on RAID1 (2 drives), Data on RAID5 (3 or more drives), which is a minimum of 5 drives. One additional often-overlooked factor is drive speed. Use 10,000 RPM drives as a minimum for the data drives, 15,000 RPM preferred. If it’s a matter of size over speed, lower the size (15k RPM is not available in all drive sizes) to maintain speed. For OS, 80GB drive space minimum, for Data, (3 (or more)) 132GB in RAID5, yielding 260+GB of drive space. For maximum performance, add one additional small 15,000 RPM (or Solid State) drive and move the SQL tempdb to that drive. Isolating tempdb will boost SQL performance dramatically. This only works if it is a separate physical drive, not a logical partition sharing disk activity with other partitions and processes.

If you must back off the physical drive count, go for a RAID5 array of 10,000+ RPM drives in a single partition. In this configuration, partitioning data from OS has no good effect on performance, since all partitions are running on the same drives, and it is the division of tasks by array that increase performance, not cosmetic partitioning.

If the server is virtual, either Hyper-V or VMware architecture is supported. Allocate at least two processors and a minimum of 12GB RAM. Do not permit the host to dynamically allocate RAM.  File and folder layout is not critical, however you must use a fixed disk size rather than dynamic, and virtual disk files MUST be fully expanded at the host on creation. Calculate sufficient space for Microsoft SQL database growth, installation software, and on-disk data backups. Depending on the number of GP companies and anticipated data volume, a 80-120 GB System drive and 200GB data drive should be sufficient.

If you are evaluating a new ERP system or you would like to discuss the server requirements of Microsoft Dynamics GP, contact CAL Business Solutions at sales@calszone.com or 860-485-0910 x4.

By Charles Ray, CAL Business Solutions, Connecticut Microsoft Dynamics GP and Acumatica Partner, www.calszone.com