Hardware Requirements and Recommendations

Generally speaking, a server appliance does not have special hardware requirements beyond what is required to run Microsoft Windows Server 2003, other than an Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI)-compliant power switch to ensure that the computer's power can be turned off remotely. Server appliance availability and manageability can be enhanced by the addition of such hardware components as failover BIOS, nonvolatile random access memory (NVRAM), and a keypad and display for a local user interface (UI). For more information, see Server Appliance Hardware Requirements and Recommendations.

Because of the particular services that run on them, Windows Storage Server 2003 devices do have special hardware requirements. See Windows Storage Server 2003 Hardware Requirements and Recommendations for information about these requirements.

Because of the influence that it has on server appliance performance and availability, the way you configure volumes on the server appliance can make a sizable difference in the effectiveness of your server appliance in your customer's enterprise. See Volume Configuration for details.