system requirements

Introduction

This section will detail the minimum and recommend infrastructure to successfully operate the EMS Pro system on.

EMS Pro has three components:

  • Backend NT Service,
  • Client Application, and
  • Intranet Site

Lastly it is very dependent on MS SQL so this will also be covered in this section.

EMS Pro NT Service

Purpose

The NT Service is a backend service that:

  • downloads emails, processes them and inserts them into SQL database(s),
  • Uploads emails that need to be sent, and
  • Performs client auto-updates

Dependencies

  • POP3 configured on the mail server environment and the POP3 port (usually 110) open on the machine where it runs.
  • SMTP configured in the mail server environment with SMTP port (usually 25).
  • Port 65319 open for TCP/IP traffic.
  • MS SQL access via ODBC

Minimum Requirements

  • Any Windows version from 2000
  • 512MB of RAM
  • 200MB free drive space.

Recommended

  • Windows Server 2003 or 2008 either 32 or 64bit
  • 4 GB RAM (more is better in the 64 bit environment)
  • 1GB free drive space
  • Dedicated NT service account

Mitigating Risk

Here we recommend that the NT service be installed in a clustered environment with an active and a passive node and shared backend storage.  The reason for the shared storage is so that when there is a need to failover that the NT service starts up on the passive node and picks up where it left off in terms of the temporary files created as part of its processing.

Shared Environments

Care must be taken when selecting the mix of services running on a particular shared server.

The EMS NT Service is a real time processor of mails.  If it were to be in the same environment as a very intensive process that runs during the day then it may not get sufficient CPU to clear the emails in the mailboxes or there may be delays in the delivery of the email.

The EMS NT Service works best when in an environment with other services that apply a fairly consistent load on the server and routinely relinquish CPU to the other processes.  If there are intensive CPU services then they should run after hours when mail volumes are very low.

EMS Pro Client Application

Purpose

This is the thick client GUI that users interact with working on emails going through the EMS managed mailboxes.

Dependencies

  • Network connectivity via LAN to other dependencies.
  • MS SQL access via ODBC.
  • Port 65319 open for TCP/IP traffic.
  • MAPI access for GAL retrieval in MS Exchange environments.
  • Internet Explorer

Minimum Requirements

  • Windows 2000
  • 512MB RAM
  • 500MB free drive space
  • Internet Explorer 6
  • Outlook 2003 client (for GAL access via MAPI)

Recommended

  • Windows 7 32/64 bit
  • 3 GB RAM
  • 1 GB free drive space
  • Internet Explorer 10
  • Outlook 2010 client (for GAL access)

WAN and Internet

We do not recommend that EMS be used directly across a WAN or the Internet.  There are two reasons: speed and data confidentiality.

Users will, during the course of their day, need to retrieve many emails from the server and often this traffic will amount to hundreds of MB of data transfer. WAN and the Internet will result in serious performance degradation.

Users generally refer to emails while they are the process of resolving client enquiries so the EMS Client caches emails for the duration of the EMS session and clears this cache on exiting EMS at the end of the day.  This differs from other mail clients which create a synchronized copy client side.   The EMS caching method is more suitable for confidential client emails.

The way to overcome remote instances is to use a Remote Windows session like a Windows Remote Desktop or Citrix to obtain a remote Window Desktop environment.

EMS Pro Intranet

Purpose

The EMS Pro Intranet provides a thin client for less performance critical activities like Dashboards and specialized reports.

Minimum Requirements

  • .NET 3.5
  • Microsoft Reporting Services

Recommended

  • .NET 4.0
  • Microsoft Reporting Services

Special Accounts and NT Groups

Purpose

Special accounts and NT groups control access to EMS and from EMS to the different environments.   Special accounts are like normal user accounts except that their passwords never expire and they are usually linked to specific machines and specific tasks to limit the accounts ability to do damage should its credentials be compromised.

Requirements

POP3 Special Account

This account is used to collect mail from an MS Exchange mailbox or from a POP3 enabled server.

NT Service “Run As” Special Account

This account is used as the “Run As” special account for the EMS NT Service.  It is linked to a NT Group which has rights to the SQL databases and an associated Database role.  This account must have full rights to the base NT service folder and all sub-folders.  The same special account is used in both nodes when EMS is configured in a clustered server environment.

EMS User NT Group

This NT security group is used to hold all the users and the EMS NT Service special account which have access to EMS.  It is linked to each of the SQL servers, each of the EMS databases and finally the database role.

EMS NT Group – Read only

This group is used to hold users or special accounts that have read only rights to EMS.  They are then linked to the SQL servers, EMS databases and finally the appropriate readonly rights on stored procedures and tables as needed.

EMS NT Group – Support Change - Prod

This group is used to hold the users who are senior EMS support users and is then associated with a change role on the EMS production database(s).

EMS NT Group – Support Change – Dev

This group is used to hold the users who are EMS support users and is then associated with a change role on the EMS development database(s).

Microsoft SQL Server Environment

Purpose

The MS SQL Server houses the EMS databases which hold all the emails and associated tables.

Minimum Requirements

  • Windows Server 2003.
  • MS SQL 2005.
  • 3 GB RAM.
  • Enough drive space to house the projected database storage requirements.

Recommended

  • Windows Server 2008 64 bit or later
  • MS SQL 2008 R2 (Certification for MS SQL 2012 underway)
  • 16 GB RAM
  • Enough drive space to house the projected database storage requirements.

Notes

First off we are not SQL experts and have rather chosen to have specialists in this space design solutions for larger clients.  That said we are able to provide some pointers.

The design of the SQL environment is the most important aspect for EMS to work well.  If the SQL environment is being taken close to or at its capacity it will result in slower responses.

Ensure that the blend of databases on a SQL instance complement each other rather than compete for resources.  A CPU intensive month end reporting database that runs during the day should not be placed on an instance that has real time databases.

EMS traffic is pretty constant throughout the working day with two spikes at 11h00 and 15h00 respectively.  This is normally true for 1, 10, 100 or 150 mailboxes.