Microsoft Project Server 2010 Requirements

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My name is Treb Gatte and I’m the Program Manager responsible for Setup and Upgrade for Microsoft Project Server 2010. 

In this post, we will review the major requirement changes for Project Server 2010 and give you the locations of the documentation.  In subsequent posts, we will review the “shopping list” of required patches and software levels and then delve into the setup process itself.

What’s different from Project Server 2007?

While much of Project Server 2010 will look familiar to Project Server 2007 users, there are some key items that have changed in the infrastructure. 

Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. 

Project Server 2010 now requires Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 as a setup prerequisite.  SharePoint Server 2010 is the latest version of what was Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007.  This is a higher SKU than in the previous release where only Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 was required.  The key takeaway is that this change may impact your infrastructure and licensing needs.

Project Server 2010 leverages SharePoint Server 2010 to provide workflow capabilities to our new Portfolio features, charting support for Resource and Portfolio charting and Excel Services and the Business Intelligence Center to greatly enhance our Business Intelligence capabilities. 

64 Bit Only Hardware

Project Server 2010 will only be offered in 64 bit versions this release.  The 64 bit requirement is the same for all tiers (web front end, application server and SQL Server).  This change was done to take advantage of better performing hardware.  The key takeaway is that this change may impact your infrastructure needs.

Most customers we’ve talked to seem to already use 64 bit SQL Servers.  The impact appears to be to the Web Front End /Application Server tiers. 

Internet Explorer 7 or Higher

Project Server 2010 requires Internet Explorer 7 or higher only.  This means if you attempt to use Firefox and Safari to browse to PWA, it will not load as these browsers are explicitly blocked.  The key takeaway is that this may have an impact on how you implement the solution. 

If your company is planning to implement Windows 7 on the desktop and you have internal applications that require Internet Explorer 6, you may consider the XP mode feature of Windows 7 for IE 6 support while keeping IE 7/8 on the native desktop for other applications, such as Project Server.

Windows 2008

The final release of Project Server 2010 can be hosted on Windows Server 2008 SP2 or later or Windows Server 2008 R2.  Please note, the Public Beta can be hosted on Windows Server 2008 SP2 initially.  Windows Server 2008 R2 support will be added to the Public Beta in the near future.  We’ll post a note when that support is available.

SQL Server

Project Server 2010 will require SQL Server 2005 SP3 CU3 or SQL Server 2008 SP1 CU2 to be installed.  As a result, we will no longer support SQL Server 2000.  We are currently testing SQL Server 2008 R2 November CTP.  Therefore, it isn’t officially supported for Public Beta yet.  A note will be posted when this support is available.

What’s Improved from Project Server 2007?

Bye, Bye ActiveX.

Absolutely, positively no ActiveX controls anywhere.  This will reduce the long term impact of cumulative updates and service paces and well as make initial installation much easier.

Windows PowerShell

Windows PowerShell support has been added to Project Server 2010.  This capability makes managing and setting up SharePoint Server and Project Server much easier.  If you’ve never used Windows PowerShell, this primer would be a great place to start.  https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee176949.aspx

Exchange Integration

Project Server 2010 now integrates directly with Exchange Server 2007 SP2 or later rather than use the Outlook Add-In.   If your users want to update task status via Outlook, you no longer have to contend with the Outlook Add-In ActiveX control.  All configuration is done on the Project Server and the Exchange Server.

No More DSO.

If you are using OLAP, Project Server now requires SQL Server 2008 Analysis Management Objects instead of DSO.  The setup details and link to the download can be found here:  https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee662106(office.14).aspx#section2

Configuring the System Changes

Post Installation Configuration

The number of post installation configuration steps are greater than in past releases and are needed in both SharePoint and Project Server.  Project Server 2010 is now dependent on the following services for Business Intelligence features.  As such, there are post configuration steps to enable the functionality for each Project Web Application instance.

  • Excel Services
  • Secure Store
  • PerformancePoint Services

For charting in the Portfolio and Resource features, there is a dependency on the State Service.  However, this service is automatically configured by our provisioning process since it is a farm wide service.

In Project Server, you will now have to configure Time Reporting Periods as the newly redesigned My Tasks and My Timesheet interfaces depend on having those periods configured.  If you previously configured Timesheet Periods in Project Server 2007, these values will populate this table automatically on upgrade.

There are also some recommended SQL Server settings that will improve your performance, which we will cover in a separate post.

Setup and Migration Documentation

To make it easier for you to correctly setup the product, the setup and upgrade documentation is located here.  

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc197280(office.14).aspx

Videos

Sometimes, seeing the process performed can be a great way to see beyond the documentation.  Therefore, we’ve created videos of the entire setup process for you to review.

Deploy Project Server – Single Application Server Farm

Deploy Project Server – Multi Application Server Farm

Create Project Web Access Site:

Configure Reporting:

Add an Application Server to a Project Server Farm:

Technorati Tags: Project Server 2010,Setup,Administrators

Comments

  • Anonymous
    April 12, 2011
    Bye, Bye ActiveX. Absolutely, positively no ActiveX controls anywhere.  This will reduce the long term impact of cumulative updates and service paces...  I think that is supposed to be packs not paces.

  • Anonymous
    June 15, 2014
    Pingback from Microsoft Project Server 2010 Requirements | Acura Bharti International Pvt. Ltd.

  • Anonymous
    June 15, 2014
    Pingback from Microsoft Project Server 2010 Requirements | Acura Bharti International Pvt. Ltd.

  • Anonymous
    June 16, 2014
    Pingback from Microsoft Project Server 2010 Requirements | Acura Bharti International Pvt. Ltd.