If your business depends on an on-premise solution, such as Microsoft Dynamics GP, for its key processes, having your server properly configured is crucial. The benefits of an optimized system include:

• Better software performance
• Faster processing time for reports and transactions
• Reduced downtime and support costs

Disclaimer: Microsoft Is Sunsetting Dynamics GP

As Microsoft emphasizes cloud-first development for business software, legacy solutions like Dynamics GP will receive less support over the coming years. Support for Dynamics GP will end in 2029, while security patches will continue until 2031. Even if your instance of Dynamics GP is completely up to date, this lack of support and security will leave the software and its integrations prone to breaking.

System Requirements for Dynamics GP (18.6, 18.5, 18.4, etc.):

System Requirement Details

*Roughly equivalent to Office 365 versions 15, 16, and 17 if you select Help > About. See Microsoft Office below.

**A 6-core processor is the best choice for an optimized Dynamics GP experience. 

The following are no longer supported by Microsoft Dynamics GP (18.6, 18.5, 18.4, etc.): 

• Windows Server 2008 (all editions) 
• Microsoft SQL Server 2012 and 2014 (all editions) 
• Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) (Windows 2019) 

SQL server. You can use the Standard or Enterprise editions, but we do not recommend SQL Server Express edition or SQL Server Web edition. The Express edition has severe limits on RAM and maximum database size, while the Web edition won’t allow backup compression and is only available when offered from legitimate server hosting companies. 

SQL Server licenses. Cargas offers a runtime server license for SQL Server. Basic server access is $6, and each Client Access License (CAL) is $76. You can estimate the number of CALs you will need by adding up your total number of GP users, your number of Management Reporter users not using GP, your number of SQL Server Reporting Services users not using GP, and your server administrator, who will be running SQL Server Management Studio plus a 20% annual enhancement plan. The runtime server licenses are significantly less costly than other comparable options. 

Keep in mind, the SQL Server Runtime License only grants access to Dynamics GP. If your Dynamics GP solution integrates with external solutions that require SQL databases, you will need to consider an alternate SQL Server license. 

Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office 2013 or better is only needed for any Microsoft Office integrations, like the Word template add-in or Outlook-based email integration. 

RAM. Increase the RAM if any other applications or services will be run on the server, or if there will be major integrations syncing data into or out of the Dynamics GP instance. Also increase the RAM if any users will consistently connect to the server remotely during typical business hours. Finally, if you are using Management Reporter Datamart (not typically recommended), 48 GB RAM is the recommended minimum. 

Disk space. Please note that the C:\Windows\ folder alone for Windows Server 2019 is typically more than 30 GB, while for Windows Server 2012 R2 it is over 40 GB. While solid-state hard drives are more expensive than other types, we recommend solid-state (or at least 15k drives) for any new server. The increased performance is worth the investment. If you’re using Management Reporter Datamart (not typically recommended), increase the amount of disk space. Datamart uses up roughly 1/3 of the size of all company databases (data and log files) combined. 

Terminal server or RDS server. A terminal server is often used when the Dynamics GP end user is not located in the same building as the GP database server—for example, if GP is hosted in the cloud or if some users work from home regularly. The terminal server allows users to run Dynamics GP from the same backbone as the GP database server by sending screen and keyboard information to the remote client over the internet or VPN. Running the Dynamics GP client locally while the Dynamics GP databases are remote is not recommended and can lead to very slow performance and possible data corruption. A terminal server can also be used locally when there are more than 10 or 15 users to minimize client installations and maintenance. Our recommendations for a terminal server for Dynamics GP are: 

• 4- or 6-core processor 
• 12 GB RAM plus 1 GB per concurrent user 
• 100 GB hard drive (solid state drive recommended) 

Web client server. This machine will need IIS and an SSL certificate. A Dynamics GP partner like Cargas will need to install Dynamics GP web services and the web client. Our recommendations for a web client server for Dynamics GP are: 

• 4- to 6-core processor 
• 12 GB RAM 
• 80 GB hard drive (solid state drive recommended) 

You may need to increase the hard drive space or RAM depending on the number of users you have. 

Management Reporter domain. Management Reporter, Dynamics GP’s financial reporting application, requires a network domain. A domain is also needed to install eConnect and Integration Manager with the optimal configuration and to use a file share like “GPShare.” Other third-party applications also require a domain account, like eOne SmartConnect. We recommend the following domain accounts for a typical Dynamics GP implementation: 

• Name: GPAdmin, which is a local administrator on the server, a system administrator within SQL server, a domain user, and a local administrator on the terminal server, if in use. 
• Name: GPService, which is a local administrator on the server, a system administrator within SQL server, and a domain user. 

From Microsoft

For more technical information about Dynamics GP and other versions of the software, please check out the following links:

• System Requirements for Dynamics GP (Microsoft)
• System Requirements for Dynamics GP 2016 (Microsoft)
• System Requirements for Dynamics GP 2015 (Microsoft)
• System Requirements for Dynamics GP 2013 (Microsoft)
• System Requirements for Dynamics GP 2010 (ERP Software Blog)