Question
I want to have a new workstation for Compass, what are the system requirements (hardware and software) for Compass?
Answer
The system requirements can be found in Compass User's Guide. Below are the requirements for Compass 2018 version.
Computer Hardware:
- Processor: Quad Core Pentium processor, 2.0 GHz or better
- RAM: 8 GB
- Screen resolution: 1600 x 1200 or higher
- NVIDIA Graphics Card: capable of OpenGL standard 2.1 or above; recommended 512 MB; NVIDIA GeForce 200-Series or better
Note: an NVIDIA graphics card is mandatory (see the requirements above). The computer should always use the high-performance NVIDIA processor for the COMPASS applications. In addition the graphics card acceleration should never be suspended e.g. for laptops which are not connected to the external power supply. - At least one network card needs to be available to directly connect with the measuring device, a second network card is required if simultaneous access to the LAN esp. in case of a remote DB set-up.
Network card connecting to a remote database should have a speed of 1 GB/s. Intel PRO/1000 MT is recommended. - Hard disk: 1.5 TB for data storage (supports app. 5000 patient records), 400 MB for the application program, and 2 GB for the .NET 4.7 framework
Computer Software
Operating Systems: Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 64-bit, Windows 10* 64-bit, US English
Note: Windows 10 built version must be built-version 1607 or later. The version of Windows 10 can be checked by starting "winver" from command line.
Note: with Windows 10, it is not recommended using COMPASS with a touch screen interface.
Note: please activate .NET Framework 3.5 if the Operating System is Windows 8 / 8.1.
Database Server Hardware
- Processor: a single 4 core 2.6 GHz Nehalem-based Xeon CPU or better is recommended.
- RAM: if a server is installed, 32 GB of DDR3 ECC RAM is recommended. A minimum of 16 GB should be available.
- Ethernet connection: min. 1 Gb/s Ethernet. Where available teaming of NICs should be considered.
It may be beneficial to team 1 or more network cards specifically for the SQL Server Service (for this multiple network cards would be required).
Possible backups and any other non-COMPASS client related activities should not use the same communication routes as COMPASS client communications. - Hard disk: OS drive can be under 200 GB in size and should be in a RAID 1 configuration.
RAID 10 is recommended as the underlying disk structure. 1.5 TB of effective space split across logical drives for a) Data and Logs and b) Filestream is recommended.
Database Server Software
- Combinations of operating system and SQL Server version that support the COMPASS databases:
Note: the Express Edition can be used with the limitation 10 GB of space.
Note: SQL 2016 is required to be used in the SQL 2012 compatibility mode. See Section 16.4.2 for setting the SQL 2016 in SQL 2012 compatibility mode. - Filestream: remote clients must have streaming access to FILESTREAM data
- Access rights: the user who installs the system needs to be both administrator on the machine and sysadmin on the database.