Hardware requirements
Parallels RAS is extensively tested on both physical and virtual platforms. The minimum hardware requirements approved to run Parallels RAS are outlined below.
- Physical Machines – Dual Core Processor and a minimum of 4GB RAM.
- Virtual Machines – Two Virtual Processors and a minimum of 4GB of RAM.
The server hardware requirements to install and configure Parallels RAS can vary according to end-user requirements.
Typically for an installation of 30 users or under, Parallels RAS can be installed on one high specification server and the resources published directly from it. For more than 30 users, multiple servers may be required.
The below should be considered during the planning stage of a Parallels RAS deployment:
- High specification servers should be used, consisting of multiple CPU cores, a high specification disk transfer rate and plenty of RAM.
- A hypervisor-based virtual machine can be used as long as the resources needed to serve end-users are calculated accordingly.
- It is recommended that RAS Secure Gateway does not exceed 1200 users per server for incoming connections using the Gateway SSL mode.
- HALB usage should not exceed 2000 user sessions per HALB appliance. See https://kb.parallels.com/125229.
- When planning VDI Hypervisor resource requirements, extra requirements such as RAM usage per virtual machine and disk space should be taken into account.
When configuring RD Session Hosts, VDI, or Azure Virtual Desktop, please keep in mind that different types of workloads require different session host configurations. For the best possible experience, scale your deployment depending on your users' needs. The following table gives you an idea of how different workload types affect session host configurations.
Workload |
Example users |
Example apps |
Max users per vCPU |
Minimum |
Light |
Basic data entry tasks |
Database entry applications, command-line interfaces |
6 |
2 vCPUs 8 GB RAM 16 GB storage |
Medium |
Consultants and market researchers |
Database entry applications, command-line interfaces, Microsoft Word, static web pages |
4 |
4 vCPUs 16 GB RAM 32 GB storage |
Heavy |
Software engineers, content creators |
Database entry applications, command-line interfaces, Microsoft Word, static web pages, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint, dynamic web pages |
2 |
4 vCPUs 16 GB RAM 32 GB storage |
Power |
Graphic designers, 3D model makers, machine learning researches |
Database entry applications, command-line interfaces, Microsoft Word, static web pages, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft PowerPoint, dynamic web pages, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, CAD, CAM |
1 |
6 vCPUs 56 GB RAM 340 GB storage |
For port requirements, please see the Port Reference section.