This post is about the Minimum Requirements for SharePoint 2013. I also contrast them with SharePoint 2010’s Minimum Requirements. This will also help you see if your current SharePoint 2010 Infrastructure is ready for an upgrade to SharePoint 2013.
Here they are:
Hardware Requirements
SharePoint Servers
SharePoint 2013’s Minimum Requirements are the same as SharePoint 2010’s. Here is a table that shows the Minimum Requirements for both servers.
UPDATE: Microsoft released a new “version” of minimum requirements for the SharePoint servers and they are much higher than the original. I took my info from the SharePoint 2013 IT Training, however the Technet Article has been updated OCT2.
Here are the new specs.
The only thing that changed is the RAM. Here are the new Minimum Requirements Explained in plain english
SharePoint Foundation 2013 (Development) : 8GB Ram
SharePoint Server 2013 Single Server Development or Evaluation (Application, SQL(optional), and Front End all on same server) : 24GB Ram
Web server or application server in a three-tier farm (Means SQL + Application + WFE), each Application Server and Front End need : 12GB Ram.
Database Servers
Similarly to the SharePoint servers, there is no difference between the Minimum specs required for the SQL server between SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2013
Software Requirements
SharePoint Servers
Compared to the Hardware part, the Minimum Software Requirements for SharePoint Server 2013 are different from SharePoint Server 2010. For SharePoint 2013 you need:
Microsoft also released the Prerequisites that will be installed by the SharePoint prerequisite installer. This is very interesting if you want to do a complete offline installation. Here they are:
Database Servers
The minimum Software requirements for the Database Servers are also higher:
Looking to Upgrade From SharePoint 2010 to SharePoint 2013?
As you see, the hardware specifications between the two are the same so you should have no problems on the Hardware side. However, Microsoft has really updated the Minimum Software Requirements for SharePoint 2013. So if you were running on the minimum for SharePoint 2010, you might have to consider a Database-Attach method or even creating a brand new Farm with the latest Software.
Is your current infrastructure ready for an In-place upgrade? or you have to completely update your Software?