Here is an overview of the SQL Server configurations and requirements for supported SQL Server installations for ConfigMgr 2012.
Source: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg682077.aspx
Configurations for the SQL Server Site Database
Each System Center 2012 Configuration Manager site database can be installed on either the default instance or a named instance of a SQL Server installation. The SQL Server instance can be co-located with the site system server, or on a remote computer.
When you use a remote SQL Server, the instance of SQL Server used to host the site database can also be configured as a SQL Server failover cluster in a single instance cluster, or a multiple instance configuration. The site database site system role is the only System Center 2012 Configuration Manager site system role supported on an instance of a Windows Server cluster. If you use a SQL Server cluster for the site database, you must add the computer account of the site server to the Local Administrators group of each Windows Server cluster node computer.
| Note |
| SQL Server database mirroring is not supported for the Configuration Manager site database. |
When you install a secondary site, you can use an existing instance of SQL Server or allow Setup to install and use an instance of SQL Server Express. Whichever option that you choose, SQL Server must be located on the secondary site server. The version of SQL Server Express that Setup installs depends on the version of Configuration Manager that you use:
- Configuration Manager without a service pack: SQL Server 2008 Express
- Configuration Manager with SP1: SQL Server 2012 Express
The following table lists the SQL Server versions that are supported by System Center 2012 Configuration Manager.
| SQL Server version | SQL SP | SQL CU | ConfigMgr version | ConfigMgr Site type |
SQL Server 2008
|
SP2 | Min CU9 |
|
|
| SP3 | Min CU4 |
|
|
|
SQL Server 2008 R2
|
SP1 | Min CU6 |
|
|
| SP2 | NO CU |
|
|
|
SQL Server 2012
|
NO SP | Min CU2 |
|
|
| SQL Server 2008 R2 Express | SP1 | Min CU6 |
|
|
| SP2 | NO CU |
|
|
|
| SQL Server 2012 Express | NO SP | Min CU2 |
|
|
- When you use SQL Server Standard for the database at the central administration site, the hierarchy can only support up to 50,000 clients. For more information, see Site and Site System Role Scalability.
- Configuration Manager with no service pack does not support the site database on any version of a SQL Server 2008 R2 cluster. This includes any service pack version or cumulative update version of SQL Server 2008 R2. With Configuration Manager SP1, the site database is supported on a SQL Server 2008 R2 cluster.
SQL Server Requirements
The following are required configurations for each database server with a full SQL Server installation, and on each SQL Server Express installation that you manually configure for secondary sites. You do not have to configure SQL Server Express for a secondary site if SQL Server Express is installed by Configuration Manager.
| Configuration | More Information |
| Database collation | At each site, both the instance of SQL Server that is used for the site database and the site database must use the following collation: SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS. |
| SQL Server features | Only the Database Engine Services feature is required for each site server.
(Configuration Manager database replication does not require the SQL Server replication feature.) |
| Windows Authentication | Configuration Manager requires Windows authentication to validate connections to the database. |
| SQL Server instance | You must use a dedicated instance of SQL Server for each site. |
| SQL Server memory | When you use a database server that is co-located with the site server, limit the memory for SQL Server to 50 to 80 percent of the available addressable system memory.
When you use a dedicated SQL Server, limit the memory for SQL Server to 80 to 90 percent of the available addressable system memory. Configuration Manager requires SQL Server to reserve a minimum of 8 gigabytes (GB) of memory in the buffer pool used by an instance of SQL Server for the central administration site and primary site and a minimum of 4 gigabytes (GB) for the secondary site. This memory is reserved by using the Minimum server memory setting under Server Memory Options and is configured by using SQL Server Management Studio. For more information about how to set a fixed amount of memory, see How to: Set a Fixed Amount of Memory (SQL Server Management Studio). |
SQL Server Optional Configuration
The following configurations either support multiple choices or are optional on each database server with a full SQL Server installation.
| Configuration | More Information |
| SQL Server service | On each database server, you can configure the SQL Server service to run by using a domain local account or the local system account of the computer that is running SQL Server.
For information about SQL Server best practices, see the product documentation for the version of Microsoft SQL Server that you are using. For information about SPN configurations for Configuration Manager, see How to Manage the SPN for SQL Server Site Database Servers. For information about how to change the account that is used by the SQL Service, see How to: Change the Service Startup Account for SQL Server (SQL Server Configuration Manager). |
| SQL Server Reporting Services | Required to install a reporting services point that lets you run reports. |
| SQL Server ports | For communication to the SQL Server database engine, and for intersite replication, you can use the default SQL Server port configurations or specify custom ports:
When a SQL Server hosts a database from more than one site, each database must use a separate instance of SQL Server, and each instance must be configured to use a unique set of ports.
Configuration Manager does not support dynamic ports. Because SQL Server named instances by default use dynamic ports for connections to the database engine, when you use a named instance, you must manually configure the static port that you want to use for intrasite communication.
If you have a firewall enabled on the computer that is running SQL Server, make sure that it is configured to allow the ports that are being used by your deployment and at any locations on the network between computers that communicate with the SQL Server. For an example of how to configure SQL Server to use a specific port, see How to: Configure a Server to Listen on a Specific TCP Port (SQL Server Configuration Manager) in the SQL Server TechNet library. |
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Hi,
Thanks for this nice article. Can you please suggest whts the max latency is supported, by Microsoft , between site server and site database server.
Thanks
Umesh
hi,
typically the Latency should be no more than 15-20 ms for SCCM to work properly.
For site servers there is a nice article available from Microsoft support:
http://blogs.technet.com/b/configmgrteam/archive/2011/08/16/remote-site-systems-and-network-latency.aspx
Hope this helps!
/Stephan