System Requirements1

Microsoft SharePoint 2013 -
System Requirements
Verified Against Build #15.0.4128.1014
Prepared by
Sriram Bala
SharePoint Practice

Contents

System Requirements

Hardware and Software Requirements for SharePoint 2013

Hardware Requirements

Web servers, application servers, and single server installations

Software Requirements

Minimum requirements for front-end web servers and application servers in a farm:

Minimum recommended services

Office Client Software

Minimum requirements for Client Computers

Browser Support

Web browser

Mobile device browser

IP Support

Software boundaries and limits for SharePoint 2013

Overview of boundaries and limits

Limits by hierarchy

Limits by feature

System Requirements References

System Requirements

Before you install SharePoint 2013, you must make sure that:-

  • Required all hardware and software.
  • Web browsers support
  • Support for IP versions 4 and 6 is implemented in SharePoint 2013.
  • URL and path length restrictions in SharePoint 2013.

Hardware and Software Requirements for SharePoint 2013

Hardware Requirements

Web servers, application servers, and single server installations

Installation Scenario / Deployment type and scale / RAM / Processor / Hard disk space
Single server with a built-in database or single server that uses SQL Server / Development or evaluation installation of SharePoint Server 2013 or SharePoint Foundation 2013 with the minimum recommended services for development environments.. / 8 GB / 64-bit, 4 cores / 80 GB for system drive
Single server with a built-in database or single server that uses SQL Server / Development or evaluation installation of SharePoint Server 2013 or SharePoint Foundation 2013 running Visual Studio 2012 and the minimum recommended services for development environments. / 10 GB / 64-bit, 4 cores / 80 GB for system drive
Single server with a built-in database or single server that uses SQL Server / Development or evaluation installation of SharePoint Server 2013 running all available services. / 24 GB / 64-bit, 4 cores / 80 GB for system drive
Web server or application server in a three-tier farm / Pilot, user acceptance test, or production deployment of SharePoint Server 2013 or SharePoint Foundation 2013. / 12 GB / 64-bit, 4 cores / 80 GB for system drive

Database Servers

Component / Minimum requirement
Processor /
  • 64-bit, 4 cores for small deployments (fewer than 1,000 users)
  • 64-bit, 8 cores for medium deployments (between 1,000 to 10,000 users)

RAM /
  • 8 GB for small deployments (fewer than 1,000 users)
  • 16 GB for medium deployments (between 1,000 to 10,000 users)

Hard disk / 80 GB for system drive
Hard disk space depends on how much content that you have in your deployment.

Software Requirements

The requirements in the following section apply to the following installations:

  • Single server with built-in database
  • Server farm with a single server in the farm
  • Server farm with multiple servers in the farm

Minimum requirements for front-end web servers and application servers in a farm:

  • The 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter or the 64-bit edition of Windows Server 2012 Standard or Datacenter.
  • The SharePoint parsing process crashes in Windows Server 2008 R2 (KB 2554876)
  • FIX: IIS 7.5 configurations are not updated when you use the Server Manager class to commit configuration changes (KB 2708075)
  • Hotfix: ASP.NET (SharePoint) race condition in .NET 4.5 RTM:
  • Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (KB 2759112)
  • Windows Server 2012 (KB 2765317)
  • The Microsoft SharePoint Products Preparation Tool installs the following prerequisites for front-end web servers and application servers in a farm:-
  • Web Server (IIS) role
  • Application Server role
  • Microsoft .NET Framework version 4.5
  • SQL Server 2008 R2 SP1 Native Client
  • Microsoft WCF Data Services 5.0
  • Microsoft Information Protection and Control Client (MSIPC)
  • Microsoft Sync Framework Runtime v1.0 SP1 (x64)
  • Windows Management Framework 3.0 which includes Windows PowerShell 3.0
  • Windows Identity Foundation (WIF) 1.0 and Microsoft Identity Extensions (previously named WIF 1.1)
  • Windows Server AppFabric
  • Cumulative Update Package 1 for Microsoft AppFabric 1.1 for Windows Server (KB 2671763)
  • SharePoint 2013 Edition
  • SharePoint Server 2013 Standard/Enterprise Edition

Minimum recommended services

The following are the minimum SharePoint 2013 services and service applications that are recommended for development environments:

  • App Management service application
  • Central Administration web site
  • Claims to Windows Token service (C2WTS)
  • Distributed cache service
  • Microsoft SharePoint Foundation 2013 Site and Subscription Settings service
  • Secure Store Service
  • User Profile service application (SharePoint Server 2013 only)

Office Client Software

  • Office 2010 or Office 2013
  • SharePoint Designer
  • SharePoint 2010 designer only works for 2010 designer sites
  • SharePoint Designer 2013 works for both 2010 and 2013 designer mode sites
  • SharePoint Workspace
  • Workspace 2010 (14 mode) sites
  • SkyDrive Pro to replace this product – Part of office client installation

Minimum requirements for Client Computers

A supported browser

Browser Support

SharePoint 2013 supports several commonly used web browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari.

Web browser

Browser / Supported / Not supported
Internet Explorer 10 / X
Internet Explorer 9 / X
Internet Explorer 8 / X
Internet Explorer 7 / X
Internet Explorer 6 / X
Google Chrome (latest released version) / X
Mozilla Firefox (latest released version) / X
Apple Safari (latest released version) / X

Mobile device browser

Mobile device operating system / Operating system version / Browser / Smartphone device / Slate or tablet device
Windows Phone / Windows Phone 7.5 or later versions / Internet Explorer Mobile / Supported / Not applicable
Windows / Windows 7 or later versions / Internet Explorer / Not applicable / Supported
iOS / 5.0 or later versions
Note:
Video play experience requires iOS version 6.0 or later.
/ Safari / Supported / Supported
Important:
Office Web Apps full functionality is supported on iPad versions 2 and 3 using iOS 6.0 or later versions. Limited viewing and editing functionality is also supported on iPad versions 1, 2, 3 using iOS version 5.1.
Android / 4.0 or later versions
Note:
Video play experience requires Android version 4.1or later.
/ Android Browser / Supported / Supported

IP Support

SharePoint 2013 supports the following environments:

  • IPv4-only

In an IPv4-only environment, the network infrastructure supports address assignment, name registration and resolution, and routing for only IPv4-based network traffic. Note that even in an IPv4-only environment, the recommendation is that you leave IPv6 enabled on your Windows-based computers. If the network infrastructure does not support IPv6 traffic, SharePoint will use IPv4 traffic.

  • Mixed IPv4 and IPv6

In a mixed IPv4 and IPv6 environment, the network infrastructure supports address assignment, name registration and resolution, and routing for both IPv4 and IPv6-based network traffic.

  • IPv6-only

In an IPv6-only environment, the network infrastructure supports address assignment, name registration and resolution, and routing for only IPv6-based network traffic.

Software boundaries and limits for SharePoint 2013

Overview of boundaries and limits

Boundaries: Static limits that cannot be exceeded by design

An example of a boundary is the 2 GB document size limit; you cannot configure SharePoint Server 2013 to store documents that are larger than 2 GB. This is a built-in absolute value, and cannot be exceeded by design.

Thresholds: Configurable limits that can be exceeded to accommodate specific requirements

The default value of certain thresholds can only be exceeded up to an absolute maximum value. A good example is the document size limit. By default, the default document size threshold is set to 50MB, but can be changed to support the maximum boundary of 2GB.

Supported limits: Configurable limits that have been set by default to a tested value

Some supported limits are configurable parameters that are set by default to the recommended value, while other supported limits relate to parameters that are not represented by a configurable value.

Limits by hierarchy

This section provides limits sorted by the logical hierarchy of a SharePoint Server 2013 farm.

Web application limits

The following table lists the recommended guidelines for web applications.

Limit / Maximum value
Web application / 20 per farm
Zone / 5 per web application
Managed path for host-named site collections / 20 per farm
Managed path for path-based site collections / 20 per web application
Solution cache size / 300 MB per web application
Web server and application server limits

The following table lists the recommended guidelines for web servers on the farm.

Limit / Maximum value
Application pools / 10 per web server
Content database limits

The following table lists the recommended guidelines for content databases.

Limit / Maximum value
Number of content databases / 500 per farm
Content database size (general usage scenarios) / 200 GB per content database
Content database size (all usage scenarios) / 4 TB per content database
Content database size (document archive scenario) / No explicit content database limit
Content database items / 60 million items including documents and list items
Site collections per content database / 10,000 maximum (2,500 non-Personal site collections and 7,500 Personal Sites, or 10,000 Personal Sites alone)
Remote BLOB Storage (RBS) storage subsystem on Network Attached Storage (NAS) / Time to first byte of any response from the NAS cannot exceed 20 milliseconds
Site collection limits

The following table lists the recommended guidelines for site collections.

Limit / Maximum value
Site collections per farm / 750,000 (500,000 Personal Sites and 250,000 other sites per farm)
Web site / 250,000 per site collection
Site collection size / Maximum size of the content database
Number of device channels per publishing site collection / 10
List and library limits

The following table lists the recommended guidelines for lists and libraries

Limit / Maximum value
List row size / 8,000 bytes per row
File size / 2 GB
Documents / 30,000,000 per library
Major versions / 400,000
Minor versions / 511
Items / 30,000,000 per list
Rows size limit / 6 table rows internal to the database used for a list or library item
Bulk operations / 100 items per bulk operation
List view lookup threshold / 8 join operations per query
List view threshold / 5,000
List view threshold for auditors and administrators / 20,000
Subsite / 2,000 per site view
Coauthoring in Word and PowerPoint for .docx, .pptx and .ppsx files / 10 concurrent editors per document
Security scope / 50,000 per list
Column limits

SharePoint Server 2013 data is stored in SQL Server tables. To allow for the maximum number of possible columns in a SharePoint list, SharePoint Server 2013 will create several rows in the database when data will not fit on a single row. This is called row wrapping.

Each time that a row is wrapped in SQL Server, an additional query load is put on the server when that item is queried because a SQL join must be included in the query. To prevent too much load, by default a maximum of six SQL Server rows are allowed for a SharePoint item. This limit leads to a particular limitation on the number of columns of each type that can be included in a SharePoint list. The following table describes the limits for each column type.

The row wrapping parameter can be increased beyond six, but this may result in too much load on the server. Performance testing is recommended before exceeding this limit.

Each column type has a size value listed in bytes. The sum of all columns in a SharePoint list cannot exceed 8,000 bytes. Depending on column usage, users can reach the 8,000 byte limitation before reaching the six-row row wrapping limitation.

Limit / Maximum value / Limit type / Size per column / Notes
Single line of text / 276 / Threshold / 28 bytes / SQL Server row wrapping occurs after each 64 columns in a SharePoint list. The default row wrapping value of six allows for a maximum of 384 Single line of text columns per SharePoint list (6 * 64 = 384). However, because the limit per SharePoint list item is 8,000 bytes, of which 256 bytes are reserved for built-in SharePoint columns, the actual limit is 276 Single line of text columns.
Multiple Lines of Text / 192 / Threshold / 28 bytes / SQL Server row wrapping occurs after each 32 columns in a SharePoint list. The default row wrapping value of six allows for a maximum of 192 Multiple lines of text columns per SharePoint list (6 * 32 = 192).
Choice / 276 / Threshold / 28 bytes / SQL Server row wrapping occurs after each 64 columns in a SharePoint list. The default row wrapping value of 6 allows for a maximum of 384 Choice columns per SharePoint list (6 * 64 = 384); ); however because the limit per SharePoint list item is 8,000 bytes, of which 256 bytes are reserved for built-in SharePoint columns, the actual limit should be 276 Choice columns.
Number / 72 / Threshold / 12 bytes / SQL Server row wrapping occurs after each 12 columns in a SharePoint list. The default row wrapping value of six allows for a maximum of 72 Number columns per SharePoint list (6 * 12 = 72).
Currency / 72 / Threshold / 12 bytes / SQL Server row wrapping occurs after each 12 columns in a SharePoint list. The default row wrapping value of six allows for a maximum of 72 Currency columns per SharePoint list (6 * 12 = 72).
Date and Time / 48 / Threshold / 12 bytes / SQL Server row wrapping occurs after each eight columns in a SharePoint list. The default row wrapping value of six allows for a maximum of 48 Date and Time columns per SharePoint list (6 * 8 = 48).
Lookup / 96 / Threshold / 4 bytes / SQL Server row wrapping occurs after each 16 columns in a SharePoint list. The default row wrapping value of six allows for a maximum of 96 single value Lookup columns per SharePoint list (6 * 16 = 96).
Yes / No / 96 / Threshold / 5 bytes / SQL Server row wrapping occurs after each 16 columns in a SharePoint list. The default row wrapping value of six allows for a maximum of 96 Yes / No columns per SharePoint list (6 * 16 = 96).
Person or group / 96 / Threshold / 4 bytes / SQL Server row wrapping occurs after each 16 columns in a SharePoint list. The default row wrapping value of six allows for a maximum of 96 Person or Group columns per SharePoint list (6 * 16 = 96).
Hyperlink or picture / 138 / Threshold / 56 bytes / SQL Server row wrapping occurs after each 32 columns in a SharePoint list. The default row wrapping value of six allows for a maximum of 192 Hyperlink or Picture columns per SharePoint list (6 * 32 = 192) ); however because the limit per SharePoint list item is 8,000 bytes, of which 256 bytes are reserved for built-in SharePoint columns, the actual limit should be 138 Hyperlink or Picture columns.
Calculated / 48 / Threshold / 28 bytes / SQL Server row wrapping occurs after each eight columns in a SharePoint list. The default row wrapping value of six allows for a maximum of 48 Calculated columns per SharePoint list (6 * 8 = 48).
GUID / 6 / Threshold / 20 bytes / SQL Server row wrapping occurs after each column in a SharePoint list. The default row wrapping value of six allows for a maximum of 6 GUID columns per SharePoint list (6 * 1 = 6).
Int / 96 / Threshold / 4 bytes / SQL Server row wrapping occurs after each 16 columns in a SharePoint list. The default row wrapping value of six allows for a maximum of 96 Int columns per SharePoint list (6 * 16 = 96).
Managed metadata / 94 / Threshold / 40 bytes for the first, 32 bytes for each subsequent / The first Managed Metadata field added to a list is allocated four columns:
  • A lookup field for the actual tag
  • A hidden text field for the string value
  • A lookup field for the catch all
  • A lookup field for spillover of the catch all
Each subsequent Managed Metadata field added to a list adds two more columns:
  • A lookup field for the actual tag
  • A hidden text field for the string value
The maximum number of columns of Managed Metadata is calculated as (14 + (16 * (n-1))) where n is the row mapping value (default of 6).

External Data columns have the concept of a primary column and secondary columns. When you add an external data column, you can select some secondary fields of the external content type that you want to be added to the list. For example, given an External Content Type “Customer” which has fields like “ID”, “Name”, “Country”, and “Description”, when you add an External Data column of type “Customer” to a list, you can add secondary fields to show the “ID”, “Name” and “Description” of the Customer. Overall these are the columns that get added:

  • Primary column: A text field.
  • Hidden Id column: A multi-line text field.
  • Secondary columns: Each secondary column is a text/number/Boolean/multi-line text that is based on the data type of the secondary column as defined in the Business Data Catalog model. For example, ID might be mapped to a Number column; Name might be mapped to a Single line of text column; Description might be mapped to a Multiple lines of text column.
Page limits

The following table lists the recommended guidelines for pages.

Limit / Maximum value
Web parts / 25 per wiki or Web Part page
Security limits
Limit / Maximum value / Limit type / Notes
Number of SharePoint groups a user can belong to / 5,000 / Supported / This is not a hard limit but it is consistent with Active Directory guidelines. There are several things that affect this number:
  • The size of the user token
  • The groups cache: SharePoint Server 2013 has a table that caches the number of groups a user belongs to as soon as those groups are used in access control lists (ACLs).
  • The security check time: as the number of groups that a user is a member of increases, the time that is required for the access check increases also.

Users in a site collection / 2 million per site collection / Supported / You can add millions of people to your web site by using Microsoft Windows security groups to manage security instead of using individual users.
This limit is based on manageability and ease of navigation in the user interface.
When you have many entries (security groups of users) in the site collection (more than one thousand), you should use Windows PowerShell to manage users instead of the UI. This will provide a better management experience.
Active Directory Principles/Users in a SharePoint group / 5,000 per SharePoint group / Supported / SharePoint Server 2013 enables you to add users or Active Directory groups to a SharePoint group.
Having up to 5,000 users (or Active Directory groups or users) in a SharePoint group provides acceptable performance.
The activities most affected by this limit are as follows:
  • Fetching users to validate permissions. This operation takes incrementally longer with growth in number of users in a group.
  • Rendering the membership of the view. This operation will always require time.

SharePoint groups / 10,000 per site collection / Supported / Above 10,000 groups, the time to execute operations is increased significantly. This is especially true of adding a user to an existing group, creating a new group, and rendering group views.
Security principal: size of the Security Scope / 5,000 per Access Control List (ACL) / Supported / The size of the scope affects the data that is used for a security check calculation. This calculation occurs every time that the scope changes. There is no hard limit, but the bigger the scope, the longer the calculation takes.

Limits by feature

This section lists limits sorted by feature.