In order for MCS Software Products to successfully run on your District's network, certain system requirements must be met prior to installation and usage.
Security Update
End-of-support for .NET Framework 4.5.2
As of May 28th 2021, all MCS products ended support for running on the .NET Framework 4.5.2. The minimum supported version is now .NET Framework 4.8.
Rationale
In order to comply with industry-wide standards and to protect you and our other customers, we are increasing our minimum supported version of .NET Framework to 4.8.
Impact
Any PCs that remain on .NET Framework 4.5.2 will be unable to use MCS Client Applications. Please review this knowledge article for more information.
Newton POS Serving Lines (or “cash registers”) are not expected to be impacted by this change. All communication between Newton POS serving lines and the manager’s workstation utilize proprietary communication protocols that are not affected.
Windows Server:
The following Windows Servers are supported:
- Windows Server 2008 R2 (*NOTE: Microsoft has announced End of Life support for January 14, 2020. You may read additional details about Microsoft's EOL here.)
- Windows Server 2012
- Windows Server 2012 R2
SQL Server:
The following SQL Servers are supported:
- SQL Server 2012
- SQL Server 2014
SQL Server 2016
Important Information Regarding SQL Servers
The MCS Product Line is tested on SQL Server 2014 & 2016. Any older supported versions, although not tested, will be supported as issues are identified. Newer versions will be supported as they are released.
SQL Server Version Releases
Only the latest service pack of a given SQL Server version is supported.
Backups:
Each District/District IT Department is responsible for coming up with their own backup solution. For additional information about what is expected for backups, refer to Recommended Server Backup.
Virtualization:
MCS HSS supports running our product suite on virtualized servers; however, it is critical that the virtualization software is properly configured for SQL server to perform satisfactorily. MCS HSS does not provide support for the virtualization environment itself.
Server Requirements:
| Minimum/Supported | Recommended |
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 Server (*NOTE: Microsoft has announced End of Life support for January 14, 2020. You may read additional details about Microsoft's EOL here.) NOTE: Used as a Server Only | Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 |
Processor | Dual Core Processor | 4 Core Processor |
SQL Server Version | SQL Server 2012 | SQL Server 2016 |
| .NET Framework | .NET Framework 4.5.2 (Full) | .NET Framework 4.7.2 (Full) |
Hard Drive Space | 100 GB | 100 GB (Hardware RAID 10 array/SSD) |
Memory (RAM) | 8 GB | 16+ GB (0 to 25 schools) / 24+ GB (25 – 50 schools) / 32+ GB (50 – 100 schools) |
Networking | TCP/IP | TCP/IP |
Large School Districts
Contact Support for custom recommendations for districts larger than 100 schools.