Requirements
You can install the server on these operating systems:
- Windows Server 2016/2019/2022 x64 any edition.
- Windows 10/11 x64 any edition.
Some features are limited to Windows Server editions: Branchcache Role and Deduplication option.
The user running Host Provisioning Server application on IIS must be part of the IIS_IUSRS group, otherwise you should manually give permissions to the MountedDatostore folder to the user running the application. The default user for running IIS is part of this group.
Hardware
No special requirements needed to run Host Provisioning Server. A fast I/O system and disk is recommended.
Antivirus Exclusion
The Host Provisioning Helper program performs heavy I/O operations when compressing, compacting or in other VHDx tasks, an antivirus exclusion is highly recommended.
You can set an antivirus exclusion for real-time scanning for processes:
- HostProvisioningServerHelper.exe
- DismHost.exe
- w3wp.exe
Network Requirements
Servers use by default these incoming ports, make sure the system's firewall allow the traffic.
| Service | Protocol | Port |
|---|---|---|
| High Availability | UDP | 8001 |
| Broadcast | UDP | 8888 |
| DHCP Proxy (PXE) | UDP | 67, 4001 |
| TFTP Server (PXE) | UDP | 69 |
| IIS Administration Console* | TCP | 80, 443 |
| IIS Service Port** | TCP | 9443 |
*set at installation time, they might be different if ports were in use. **this port needs to be free
Some ports can be changed in the Environment variables option. The IIS ports can be changed in the IIS Console.
Server installer gives you the option to automatically open ports on Windows Firewall at installation time.
Branchcache uses a set of specific ports depending on the configured Branchcache mode, in Distributed mode the Host Provisioning client will open the default ports on Windows firewall, when installing Hosted mode, the server will take care of setting the exceptions for the ports used.