The following hardware and software are needed to run the Ares system effectively. They are not provided as part of the licensing of Ares or as part of the service contract with Atlas Systems.
These requirements ensure that Ares will perform well for you and have all the necessary features available to support functionality. While Ares may run in unsupported environments with older software and hardware, we cannot guarantee operation.
Note: Integrating Ares with an external system (e.g., a course/learning management system such as Blackboard or Canvas) may require higher hardware/software requirements depending on the requirements for the integrating system.
Client Requirements
The following hardware and software are compatible with the Ares client:
| Processor |
- 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor or System on a Chip (SoC)
|
| RAM |
More RAM will increase system performance.
|
| Hard Drive |
- 18GB of free hard drive space (recommended)
- 5GB of free hard drive space (minimum)
|
| Display |
- 1280x1024 resolution or larger
Some forms may not display correctly at a DPI over 100% if the resolution is
less than 1280x1024.
|
| Printer |
|
| Windows |
- Windows 11
- Windows 10 (minimum)
|
| Microsoft .NET |
- Microsoft .NET 4.6.2 Framework or higher full version
|
| Microsoft Office |
32-bit or 64-bit can be used.
- Microsoft Word and Excel 2021
- Microsoft Word and Excel 2019
- Microsoft Word and Excel 2016
- Microsoft Word and Excel 2013 (minimum)
|
| Internet |
|
| Other |
- *Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 Redistributable
|
*Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 Redistributable can be downloaded from Microsoft and manually installed.
Server Requirements
You can install Windows on a physical server or virtual server as long as it meets the hardware and software requirements.
The following hardware and software are compatible with the Ares server:
| Processor |
- Intel Xeon 3Ghz or greater processor (recommended)
- Intel Pentium 4 2Ghz or greater processor (minimum)
|
| RAM |
More RAM will substantially increase system performance
- 8GB of RAM (recommended)
- 4 GB of RAM (minimum)
|
| Hard Drive |
- 72GB high-speed hard drive (recommended)
- 36GB hard drive (minimum)
|
| Backup |
|
| Microsoft .NET |
|
| Windows Server OS |
- Windows Server 2022 (Desktop Experience only)
- Windows Server 2019 (Desktop Experience only)
- Windows Server 2016 (Desktop Experience only) (minimum)
|
| SQL Server |
SQL Express is not a supported database system
- **SQL Server Native Client
- Microsoft SQL Server 2022
- Microsoft SQL Server 2019
- Microsoft SQL Server 2017
- Microsoft SQL Server 2016 Service Pack 2
- Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Service Pack 3
- Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 4(minimum)
SQL Server must be configured to use Mixed Mode authentication
|
| IIS |
- Internet Information Services 7.5 or later
|
**The SQL Server Native Client is installed as part of the client & server installation and is also part of the server update process, so no action is typically required. However, installing or updating to SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) v19 or later will remove the SQL Server Native Client from the server, at which point this component will need to be reinstalled.
