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CONTENTdm : Overview : System requirements

System requirements

System requirements for using CONTENTdm are pretty basic—chances are you already have everything you need to get started today. Here are the specs.

Server requirements

CONTENTdm Server

The CONTENTdm Server requires the following:

  • Microsoft® Windows Server™ 2000 or 2003, Linux, or Sun™ Solaris™ 9 or higher
  • Dedicated Web server (IIS with Windows®, Apache with UNIX)
  • 32-bit x86 processor (Intel® Pentium® 4 class compatible processor or higher)
  • Minimum 512MB RAM. Recommended 1GB+ RAM
  • Adequate disk space to hold your collection. (The most common file types within collections are JPEGs with an average file size of 100KB. Five hundred JPEG images would require about 50MB of disk space. Larger image files or audio and video files require additional disk space. Assuming an average file size of 100KB, a one gigabyte system can store up to 10,000 display-quality JPEG-compressed images. Each additional gigabyte adds the capacity to store an additional 10,000 images.)

Note: CONTENTdm can, and usually does, coexist on systems with other Web sites and applications. The CONTENTdm Server should have its own Web server (IIS or Apache) instance.
JPEG2000 Server

The JPEG2000 Server requires the following:

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2000 or 2003, Linux, or Sun Solaris 9 or higher
  • Dedicated Web server (IIS with Windows, Apache with UNIX)
  • 32-bit x86 processor (Intel® Pentium® 4 class compatible processor or higher)
  • Minimum 512MB RAM. Recommended 1GB+ RAM
  • Adequate disk space to hold your collection

Note: CONTENTdm can, and usually does, coexist on systems with other Web sites and applications. The JPEG2000 Server should have its own Web server (IIS or Apache) instance.
Multi-Site Server

The CONTENTdm Multi-Site Server can run on UNIX or Windows. It can run on the same Web server as your CONTENTdm installation or it can run on a separate Web server. Server requirements are detailed below.

  • Microsoft Windows Server 2000 or 2003, Linux, or Sun Solaris 9 or higher
  • Web server (IIS with Windows, Apache with UNIX)
  • 32-bit x86 processor (Intel® Pentium® 4 class compatible processor or higher)
  • Minimum 512MB RAM. Recommended 1GB+ RAM

Acquisition station

CONTENTdm Acquisition Station

The CONTENTdm Acquisition Station requires the following:

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP
  • 32-bit x86 processor (Intel® Pentium® 4 class compatible processor or higher)
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later
  • Minimum 256MB RAM
  • 100MB of available hard-disk space for installation
  • Minimum display resolution of 1024 × 768
  • 128Kbps or faster connection
  • Acrobat® Reader® 7.0 or later
JPEG2000 Acquisition Station

The JPEG2000 Acquisition Station requires the following:

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP
  • 32-bit x86 processor (Intel® Pentium® 4 class compatible processor or higher)
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later
  • Minimum 256MB RAM
  • 100MB of available hard-disk space for installation
  • Minimum display resolution of 1024 x 768
  • 128 Kbps or faster connection
  • Acrobat Reader 7.0 or later
OCR Acquisition Station

The OCR Acquisition Station requires the following:

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP
  • 32-bit x86 processor (Intel® Pentium® 4 class compatible processor or higher)
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later
  • Minimum 256MB RAM
  • 100MB of available hard-disk space for installation
  • Minimum display resolution of 1024 x 768
  • 128 Kbps or faster connection
  • Acrobat Reader 7.0 or later

Additional technical information

Standards-based. CONTENTdm supports industry standards such as Dublin Core 1.1, the VRA Core (Visual Resources Association metadata element set), XML, JPEG2000, METS and EAD, as well as open exchange protocols—HTTP, Z39.50 and OAI (Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting).

Open, extensible and interoperable. While most users operate CONTENTdm as is, its open architecture supports extensions. A complete PHP-based API is available to technical staff, and its Web interface is fully customizable. Additionally, CONTENTdm readily works with other software such as OPAC systems and federated search applications. Records in existing databases can be easily imported into CONTENTdm, while exporting metadata is simple using the customized XML export function. CONTENTdm is standards-based, supporting interaction with other software to provide seamless access to all your collections.