Advanced T&A Products Minimum IT Specifications

Karishma Updated by Karishma

Purpose of this document:

This document provides the minimum IT specifications that are required to host and run Advanced applications. This document is intended to cover the high-level requirements for the main Advanced applications, e.g., T&A 8, Flexipay etc.

This document was last reviewed in March 2019.

Servers & Databases

Below, the specifications for the minimum levels of software and hardware for servers and databases to be used with Advanced applications are detailed.

Server Operating Systems

At a minimum, Microsoft Server 2012 R2 or higher is required to host Advanced applications.Note: Microsoft Server 2012 Essentials is also supported, however you must inform your Project Manager prior to software installation if you choose to use it.

Currently, Advanced do not support the following server operating systems:

Linux (and any derivatives)

Apple OS

All server operating systems should be fully service packed and hot-fixed to the latest release.

Microsoft .NET Framework v4.8 is also required for T&A 8.35.0 onwards.

Virtual Servers  

Advanced software is fully compatible with Microsoft HyperV, VMware, CITRIX, and other leading virtualization technologies.

Server Naming

The server name must only contain characters ‘a’ through ‘z’, the digits ‘0’ through ‘9’ and a hyphen (‘-‘). All other characters are invalid.

Databases

At a minimum, Microsoft SQL 2012 is required for Advanced’s applications’ databases. Microsoft SQL 2012 Express Edition is also supported.

Note: Database names can be a maximum of 60 characters long. 

Server Hardware

Advanced requires that the hardware for any servers hosting Advanced applications meet the minimum requirements for your chosen server operating system and database server platform.

For Microsoft Server 2012 R2, they are as follows:

  • 1.4 GHz 64-bit processor
  • 512mb RAM
  • 32GB Disk space (this does not include space you need for Advanced applications, which is shown below)
  • Super VGA (800x600) or higher resolution monitor
  • Keyboard and mouse
  • Internet access

Additional Disk Space requirements

Application

Minimum Disk space

Time & Attendance and Access Control

60GB

HR Manager

60GB

Flexipay

10GB

Depending upon the size and scope of the organisation, it may be necessary to spread the system installation across multiple servers (for example, you may need separate servers to host your database server, your file server, your web server, etc.). If this is necessary, each server should meet the minimum hardware requirements for a single server.

Backups  

It is of great importance that Advanced software and data is backed up at regular intervals. It is entirely the customer’s responsibility to ensure this is carried out. Advanced recommend that test restorations occur regularly to ensure backups are accurate.

Access to the Web server across the internet

To access T&A 8 across the internet, or use a mobile device to access it, an external IP address will be required for the server.

Advanced will only install the applications for Local Area Network (LAN) access.

For external internet access or mobile clocking, Advanced strongly recommends that you investigate and implement a higher level of security for the T&A 8 server than the standard security provided. The minimum security that the Advanced application requires is TSL (Transport Layer Security) or SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). 

Decisions made regarding a security policy for the T&A 8 application are important and should be made as part of a more general security audit. 

Wide Area Network (WAN)/Internet Requirements

Advanced do not recommend the use of the T&A/HR Manager application over a WAN without implementing either a thin-client solution (for example, Citrix or Terminal Server), or the use of T&A 8.Depending upon the size of the organisation, T&A 8 can produce complex and large web pages that need to be transmitted across the WAN/Internet. Advanced recommends a bandwidth of 2Mb/s when this type of operation is being considered.

Client PC specification

A client PC is defined as one which will be used to access any of the Advanced applications.

Client PC Operating systems  

At a minimum, Advanced applications require Microsoft Windows 7 or later. Client PC Hardware

Fat Client  

Advanced applications can run on PCs with a lower specification than the recommended levels detailed below, but performance cannot be guaranteed. Advanced cannot guarantee that PCs which do not meet the minimum specification are future-proofed, and clients may find that further applications and expansion of existing applications may render the PC unsuitable.

Minimum specification:

  • 3Ghz CPU
  • 4GB+ RAM
  • SVGA monitor capable of a minimum of 1280x960 with 32-bit colour.
  • 10GB+ free Hard Disk space

Although the disk space requirements for Advanced applications are negligible, the minimum free hard disk space is to enable the PC to function correctly (i.e., sufficient swap space available).

Thin Client

By design, a thin client is a network computer without a hard disk drive, which is designed to be especially small, so the bulk of the data processing occurs on the server. As this processing occurs elsewhere, the demands on the PC are significantly less than a Fat client. Please refer to the supplier of your thin client software for their recommended specifications. 

Access to T&A 8 

T&A 8

All modern browsers that support HTML5 can access the T&A 8 Web Module, including desktop PCs, tablets, and smartphones. T&A 8 can adapt the application layout to cater to the device.

Optional Modules

Lumidigm Biometric Module  

If Lumidigm Biometric registration is being undertaken at a PC, then the PC will require a free USB port to enable connection to the enrolment device. 

Cloud Kiosk and Web Enroller

PC Specification:

  • 1GHz processor with 2048 MB RAM
  • Integrated graphics
  • Integrated sound
  • 1 USB Port
  • Ethernet port
  • Windows 7
  • Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0
  • Advanced T&A T&A.Net V7.13.1.1
  • Internet Explorer 9 or higher (Internet Explorer 11 is recommended) 

Compatible readers:

  • Lumidigm Mercury USB reader
  • Millennium Proximity USB reader (T&A V7.13 onwards)
  • Keyboard

Advanced Desktop Proximity Card Sensor

Supported Platforms:

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 (32 and 64-bit operating system)
  • Windows Server 2012 (32 and 64-bit operating system)
  • Windows Server 2016 (32 and 64-bit operating system)
  • Windows 7(32 and 64-bit operating system)
  • Windows 8 (32 and 64-bit operating system)
  • Windows 8.1 (32 and 64-bit operating system)
  • Windows 10 (32 and 64-bit operating system)

Advanced Desktop Biometric Sensor

Supported platforms:

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 (32 and 64-bit operating system)
  • Windows Server 2012 (32 and 64-bit operating system)
  • Windows Server 2016 (32 and 64-bit operating system)
  • Windows 7(32 and 64-bit operating system)
  • Windows 8 (32 and 64-bit operating system)
  • Windows 8.1 (32 and 64-bit operating system)
  • Windows 10 (32 and 64-bit operating system)

Polling and Processing 

A “Polling” PC is the machine on which the Advanced Polling application will be run. This application is an interface by which the clocking terminals and / or access units communicate with the main T&A / Access Control database. This is a two-way interface, which involves employee clocking and access transactions being recovered from the terminals and written to the database, and employee details and access rights downloaded from the database to the terminals and units. It also performs other ancillary tasks such as synchronising the terminals with the correct time etc. More than one Polling PC may be required, the number being determined by the number, type and location of the clocking terminals and / or access units, the type of network and the size of the site.

To enable communication, the Polling PC must either have a LAN/WAN connection or, in the case of serial terminals (MF/AC 2/4/600), a serial port.  

Where serial terminals are used, Advanced recommend that native serial ports are installed as USB->Serial converters have been known to cause problems.  In addition, Advanced recommend a maximum of 25 terminals per serial port. The serial ports must also be enabled within the PC. It is essential that all power saving options be disabled except for graphics / monitors.  

In addition to the above, a second application, the Processor, is usually run on the same PC. The purpose of this application is to convert the time & attendance transactions that the Poller has recovered from the terminals into processed hours within the database. Only one such Processor is required for each site.

The recommended specification for a Polling PC is:

  • 3 Ghz CPU with 4Gb RAM
  • 100MB Network Connection
  • SVGA monitor capable of 1024x768 32-bit colour
  • 10GB+ Hard Disk Space
  • Sufficient spare free serial port(s) (if using Serial communications)

It is possible to run multiple copies of the Poller program on a single PC, however, this will require more resources (both CPU and Memory) to function satisfactorily.

Poller and Processor as services

These can be run as services either on a dedicated machine or an existing machine. If running on an existing machine, it is advised that this is used for as little other work as possible.

To setup Poller and Processor as services, an account will need to be available which has the following user assignment rights with Local Policy:

  • Logon as service
  • Replace process level token.
  • Logon as a batch job

And will also require full read/write access to the T&A applications and data directory/database.

For testing connections initially, it is often useful to the relevant account to be provided with Allow login locally privileges.

It is often required to use the poller as a service to print onsite reports in the case of an emergency. Therefore, the relevant printers need to be defined on the machine that is running the services. If the poller and processor are running as services and wish to be controlled from a separate machine, then a full local administrator account will need to be available on the polling/processing machine.

Poller and Processor as applications  

These can be run as applications on a machine, if required, it is advised that this machine is not utilised for any other purpose. 

Fire Evacuation System (FES)

Note: As of December 2018, FES has been discontinued. 

The optional Advanced Fire Evacuation System (FES) application is designed to be run on a dedicated DOS-based box supplied by Advanced.

The FES PC is connected via an RS232 serial link to another PC on, from which the Windows Polling program will be run. Due to the limitations of RS232 (50 feet), this polling machine should be seated close to the FES PC. The recommended specifications for this PC are outlined in here. In order to produce fire roll-calls directly, a dedicated parallel printer is also required:

Minimum specification:

8-page-per-minute laser printer or

300-cpm dot-matrix printer 

Advanced supplies software that runs as a service to produce fire rollcalls on network printers. As this is running on a separate machine, Advanced cannot guarantee the production of these rollcalls. It is advised that this software is run on the Polling PC physically connected to the FES PC. 

With T&A v5.04L and above, FES supports a maximum of 60 Advanced terminals.For T&A version earlier than this, FES will only support a maximum of 30 Advanced terminals. 

Auto-ID (Digital Imaging)  

Cards and Card Printers – Minimum requirementsThe Advanced Auto-ID package is designed to produce employee swipe/identity cards. To achieve compatibility with Advanced swipe readers the following guides must be followed:

Laminated card production 

Where the customer is printing barcode badges on paper, to then be laminated, these should be produced on a HP LaserJet-compatible printer. The printer MUST be capable of producing “Carbon Black” output. 

Although, carbon impact printers (i.e., Dot Matrix) are compatible with Auto-ID, their practical use should be limited to basic swipe-card production due to the reduced quality of their output.Advanced advice that DeskJet/Inkjet printers should NOT be used due to the inconsistent nature of being able to produce “Carbon Black” ensuring a valid readable card.

Due to the heating of the card during the lamination process, it is not possible to use wax dye sublimation printers.

Generally, Advanced will recommend a card printer during the pre-sale’s discussions. Due to the vast array of card printers in existence, it would be impossible to list all compatible printers. Please contact a member of the Advanced Implementation team to discuss suitability or for further advice.

Capturing images – guidance

Advanced recommends the use of a separate digital camera for capturing images for use with Auto-ID.These images should be captured in .JPG at a maximum resolution of 1024x768. 

Advanced applications and Email

T&A, HR Manager & Flex pay support the use of SMTP email.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is the standard method of sending email across the Internet. It is supported by Outlook, Exchange, Lotus, and all other email-compatible systems. It works equally well in both an interactive environment (T&A) and a non-interactive environment (T&A.Net).We recommend reviewing the security of your email system before using it with Advanced applications.

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