ITSM 7.0 Installation

Well, the saga continues. I've now installed ITSM 7.0 several times, with each time taking several days to complete. By the end, I still don't have a working installation. Learning from my mistakes, here are some tips:

* You need a lot of memory. We're talking 4GB minimum.
* You need a lot of hard drive space. Your database needs to be 2GB minimum, with another 1GB allocated to your transaction log.
* Get the latest version. If you, like me, downloaded a pre-release version, you'll find it sorely lacking and downright confounding when it doesn't match the documentation. While you're at it, get all the patches too. There's already patches for Change Management and the CMDB.
* Installation order of the apps is now unimportant, HOWEVER, you do need to install approval and assignment engine prior to the applications. Both of these come with ARS 7.0, but are installed separately (as is the email engine and flashboards). CMDB is also a prerequisite, as one might expect - being the basis of any ITIL process.
* You need to license before you install the apps.
* If your app installation goes wrong and you want to repeat it, you'll need to remove all evidence of the application from your system, or it will not reinstall.

I've settled for the fact that my two-year-old laptop, used and abused as it has been by years of consulting, is not a welcoming environment to the new applications.