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New Requirements Overview 3
There are a number of other specifics, but before you continue, you must have access to
both the required Windows Server and SQL Server versions, as well as a 64-bit hardware
platform. If you are using 32-bit hardware in either your production or testing environment,
you will not be able to install or upgrade to SharePoint Server 2010. Also, earlier versions of
Windows Server and SQL Server will not be adequate.
At this point, you may be questioning the rationale of Microsoft in making decisions
relative to a 64-bit platform. It’s important both to understand why 32-bit hardware and
server environments are no longer supported and to learn about other changes and compat-
ibility issues.
If you currently administer MOSS 2007 in the enterprise, you likely already run 64-bit
hardware and may even have upgraded to 64-bit Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server
2008 R2. If the advantages of running 64-bit aren’t apparent to you (and especially if you’re
lamenting how moving from 32-bit is going to stretch your personal or professional budget),
you’ll need to learn more about why Microsoft moved in this direction.
To find out the basics of x86 64-bit architecture, visit http://en.wikipedia
.org/wiki/64-bit
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86-64.
The Advantages of 64-Bit Hardware
Comparing 64-bit hardware to 32-bit hardware is a little like comparing a mid-range sedan
to a high-end sports car. Each has its purpose and does well in the area it’s designed for,
but the sports car will go a lot faster when asked.
Bus architecture supports more and wider registers and improves overall application per-
formance speeds by reducing the need to write persistent data to memory.
The most memory a 32-bit system can support is 4 GB of RAM. A 64-bit system that is
running a 64-bit edition of Windows Server can support up to 1024 GB of both physical
and addressable memory. SharePoint is an application that’s designed to grow with a com-
pany’s needs. Its ability to use more memory means SharePoint can serve greater access and
service requirements. 32-bit hardware supports up to 32 processors. That might seem like
a lot, but in a truly demanding environment, particularly one where you anticipate needing
to scale up based on business needs, the ability to expand to a maximum of 64 processors
is a great advantage.
The Advantages of 64-Bit Server and Database Platforms
The aforementioned hardware advantages don’t just apply to SharePoint Server 2010 as an
application but to the Windows Server 2008 and SQL Server platforms in terms of speed,
security, and scalability.
Even assuming a single physical server platform, Windows Server 2008 can take advan-
tage of a lot more RAM and processing power than on a 32-bit machine, addressing up
to 16 terabytes of virtual memory by using a flat addressing model. This gives SQL Server
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