Hardware and Software Requirements

IBM® Connect:Direct® for Microsoft Windows has the following requirements.

IBM Connect:Direct for Microsoft Windows and related software require the following hardware and software.

Component	Hardware	Software
IBM Connect:Direct for Microsoft Windows	3 GB or more recommended. The amount may vary depending on the product configuration and usage. 3 GB disk space*	64-bit Microsoft Windows operating system options: Microsoft Windows Server 2022 with Desktop Experience Microsoft Windows 11 Microsoft Windows 10 Clustered environment supported on: Microsoft Windows Server 2022
Microsoft TCP/IP Support		Microsoft TCP/IP WinSOCK interface installed as part of the Microsoft Windows system
Database Software	2 GB or more. The amount may vary depending on the product configuration and usage.	Install one of the following before you install IBM Connect:Direct for Microsoft Windows: Note: PostgreSQL is the default database provided and installed with IBM Sterling Connect:Direct for Microsoft Windows release 6.4 Microsoft SQL Server 2022 are supported. This software is not provided. You can configure SQL Server during the IBM Connect:Direct installation. Note: Only Enterprise and Standard editions of Microsoft SQL Server are supported. Express and Developer editions are not supported. For more information, see the IBM Sterling Connect:Direct for Microsoft Windows Getting Started Guide.
Connect:Direct Integrated File Agent	50MB of disk space	Same requirements as IBM Connect:Direct for Microsoft Windowss
IBM Connect:Direct Web Services	Same as requirements for IBM Connect:Direct for Microsoft Windows	Same requirements as IBM Connect:Direct for Microsoft Windows. For more details, refer to Browser Compatibility
IBM Connect:Direct for Microsoft Windows SDK	Same as requirements for IBM Connect:Direct for Microsoft Windows	This software is required to build the samples, but is not required to run the samples.

* When upgrading IBM Sterling Connect:Direct for Microsoft Windows through IBM Sterling Control Center Directer, an extra 3 GB is required for temporary storage.

Virtualization and public cloud support

IBM cannot maintain all possible combinations of virtualized platforms and cloud environments. However, IBM generally supports all enterprise class virtualization mechanisms, such as VMware ESX, VMware ESXi, VMware vSphere, Citrix Xen Hypervisor, KVM (Kernel-based virtual machine), and Microsoft Hyper-V Server.

IBM investigates and troubleshoots a problem until it is determined that the problem is due to virtualization. The following guidelines apply:

If a specific issue is happening because the system is virtualized and the problem cannot be reproduced on the non-virtualized environment, you can demonstrate the issue in a live meeting session. IBM can also require that further troubleshooting is done jointly on your test environment, as there is not all types and versions of VM software installed in-house.
If the issue is not able to be reproduced in-house on a non-virtualized environment, and troubleshooting together on your environment indicates that the issue is with the VM software itself, you can open a support ticket with the VM software provider. IBM is happy to meet with the provider and you to share any information, which would help the provider further troubleshoot the issue on your behalf.
If you chose to use virtualization, you must balance the virtualization benefits against its performance impacts. IBM does not provide advice that regards configuring, administering, or tuning virtualization platforms.