System Requirements

The basic requirements are a 64-bit Windows Server, 2 processors, and 3.5 GB of RAM—an SSD driver is also welcome. NetCrunch is designed to run efficiently on both virtual and physical server machines.

Hardware Requirements

Server

NetCrunch must be installed on a 64-bit Windows Server (Windows Server 2016, 2019, 2022, 2025). It has a web server and an embedded SQL database for storing and monitoring event data.

NetCrunch can be installed on a virtual machine, provided you assign at least 4 cores and 4 GB RAM.

More processors are better for monitoring 1000+ nodes; the recommended number in such cases is at least 8 CPU cores.
Monitoring a large volume of performance metrics (100,000 network interfaces) requires additional RAM (500,000 performance metrics will need an extra 4GB).

The other important component is the hard drive. We strongly recommend using SSD drives.

The Architecture and Concepts section explains why this is so important.

Administration Console

NetCruch Console runs on 32-bit or 64-bit Windows 10 or later systems with at least 4 GB of RAM. It requires a 24-bit color depth and high resolution. It should be run on at least Full HD screens or multiple monitors. The console also works excellently with touchscreen Windows tablets.

Web Console

Web Console is compatible with modern, evergreen browsers, including the latest versions of Chrome, Opera, Edge, Firefox, and Safari.

Antivirus on Server

Interference with NetCrunch

NetCrunch keeps part of the data in memory, writes some to trend log files (NetCrunch opens thousands of them), and stores other data in an SQL database. A problem can occur when NetCrunch writes a file containing a snapshot of in-memory data, and antivirus software attempts to access it at the same time.

Antivirus software can sometimes cause high disk and CPU utilization and may prevent NetCrunch from accessing data.

Excluding data folders

We know that sometimes you can't change the company policy, and after Solorigate, it seems even better practice to run security software on servers. In this case, you must exclude all data directories where NetCrunch writes data.

Our experience shows that servers sometimes behave in unexpected ways, depending on the antivirus vendor.

Please also note that disabling antivirus software resembles disabling stability control in your vehicle—it's only partially off. The hooks installed in the system are still in place and continue to unpredictably alter the system's behavior. The other problem is that antivirus software might sometimes cause 100% utilization of a single processor.

Avoid Server Sharing

Depending on the processed data, NetCrunch can heavily utilize a server machine. Avoid competing with other programs for resources. NetCrunch includes many servers, such as the database, monitoring, and web server, so we are already putting a heavy load on a single machine.

In some cases, NetCrunch cannot process all data (events) due to hardware limitations. Remember that a single machine's speed is limited by its slowest components (hard drive, memory, or lack of cores).

Use Appropriate VM resources

Assign the machine an appropriate amount of processing time. Memory must also be physically available, as disk swapping should not occur. You need to reserve at least 4 cores and 4 GB. We recommend doubling these numbers to monitor more than 100 nodes.

NetCrunch is a real-time Network Monitoring System.