Hardware requirements

The following hardware requirements apply to SQL Server 2016 and SQL Server 2017:

* The minimum memory required for installing the Data Quality Server component in Data Quality Services (DQS) is 2 GB of RAM, which is different from the SQL Server minimum memory requirement. For information about installing DQS, see Install Data Quality Services.

Software requirements

The table in this section lists the minimum software requirements for running SQL Server. There are also recommended configuration options for optimal performance.

The following software requirements apply to all installations:

SQL Server Setup installs the following software components required by the product:

• SQL Server Native Client
• SQL Server Setup support files

Operating System support

The following table shows which editions of SQL Server 2016 and 2017 are compatible with which versions of Windows:

For minimum version requirements to install SQL Server on Windows Server 2012 or Windows 8, see Installing SQL Server on Windows Server 2012 or Windows 8.

Server Core support

Installing SQL Server 2016 and 2017 on Server Core mode is supported by the following editions of Windows Server:

For more information on installing SQL Server on Server Core, see Install SQL Server on Server Core.

WOW64 support

WOW64 (Windows 32-bit on Windows 64-bit) is a feature of 64-bit editions of Windows that enables 32-bit applications to run natively in 32-bit mode. Applications function in 32-bit mode, even though the underlying operating system is a 64-bit operating system. WOW64 is not supported for SQL Server installations. However, Management Tools are supported in WOW64.

Features supported on 32-bit client Operating Systems

Windows client operating systems, for example Windows 10 and Windows 8.1 are available as 32-bit or 64-bit architectures. All SQL Server features are supported on 64-bit client operating systems. On supported 32-bit client operating systems Microsoft supports the following features:

• Data Quality Client
• Client Tools Connectivity
• Integration Services
• Client Tools Backwards Compatibility
• Client Tools SDK
• Documentation Components
• Distributed Replay Components
• Distributed Replay Controller
• Distributed Replay Client
• SQL Client Connectivity SDK

Windows Server 2008 R2 and later server operating systems are not available as 32-bit architectures. All supported server operating systems are only available as 64-bit. All features are supported on 64-bit server operating systems.

Cross-Language support

For more information about cross-language support and considerations for installing SQL Server in localized languages, see Local Language Versions in SQL Server.

Disk space requirements

During installation of SQL Server, Windows Installer creates temporary files on the system drive. Before you run Setup to install or upgrade SQL Server, verify that you have at least 6.0 GB of available disk space on the system drive for these files. This requirement applies even if you install SQL Server components to a non-default drive.

Actual hard disk space requirements depend on your system configuration and the features that you decide to install. The following table provides disk space requirements for SQL Server components.

*The disk space requirement for downloaded Books Online content is 200 MB.

Storage Types for Data Files

The supported storage types for data files are:

• Local Disk
  • SQL Server currently supports disk drives that have standard native sector sizes of 512 bytes and 4 KB. Hard disks with sector sizes larger than 4 KB may cause errors when attempting to store SQL Server data files on them. See Hard disk drive sector-size support boundaries in SQL Server for more information on hard disk sector-size support in SQL Server
  • SQL Server failover cluster installation supports Local Disk only for installing the tempdb files. Ensure that the path specified for the tempdb data and log files is valid on all the cluster nodes. During failover, if the tempdb directories are not available on the failover target node, the SQL Server resource will fail to come online.
• Shared Storage
• Storage Spaces Direct (S2D)
• SMB File Share
  • SMB storage is not supported for Analysis Services data files for either standalone or clustered installations. Use direct attached storage, a storage area network, or S2D instead.
  • SMB storage can be hosted by a Windows File Server or a third-party SMB storage device. If Windows File Server is used, the Windows File Server version should be 2008 or later. For more information about installing SQL Server using SMB file share as a storage option, see Install SQL Server with SMB Fileshare as a Storage Option.

Installing SQL Server on a Domain Controller

For security reasons, we recommend that you do not install SQL Server on a domain controller. SQL Server Setup will not block installation on a computer that is a domain controller, but the following limitations apply:

• You cannot run SQL Server services on a domain controller under a local service account.

• After SQL Server is installed on a computer, you cannot change the computer from a domain member to a domain controller. You must uninstall SQL Server before you change the host computer to a domain controller.

• After SQL Server is installed on a computer, you cannot change the computer from a domain controller to a domain member. You must uninstall SQL Server before you change the host computer to a domain member.

• SQL Server failover cluster instances are not supported where cluster nodes are domain controllers.

• SQL Server is not supported on a read-only domain controller. SQL Server Setup cannot create security groups or provision SQL Server service accounts on a read-only domain controller. In this scenario, Setup will fail.

   Note

  This restriction also applies to installations on domain member nodes.

• A SQL Server failover cluster instance is not supported in an environment where only a read-only domain controller is accessible.

   Note

  This restriction also applies to installations on domain member nodes.

Installation media

You can get relevant installation media from the following locations:

• SQL Server evaluation center
• Most recent cumulative updates

Alternatively, you can create an Azure virtual machine already running SQL Server though SQL Server on a virtual machine will be slower than running natively because of the overhead of virtualization.