System Requirements

This page outlines the minimum and recommended system requirements for running HelpDesk Pro effectively.

Server Requirements

Minimum Requirements

Component	Requirement
PHP	8.2 or higher
Database	MySQL 8.0+ or MariaDB 10.4+
Web Server	Apache 2.4+ or Nginx 1.18+
Memory	512MB RAM
Storage	100MB free space
Extensions	See PHP Extensions below

Recommended Requirements

Component	Recommendation
PHP	8.3+
Database	MySQL 8.0+ with InnoDB
Web Server	Nginx 1.20+ or Apache 2.4+
Memory	2GB+ RAM
Storage	1GB+ free space (SSD recommended)
CPU	2+ cores

PHP Extensions

HelpDesk Pro requires the following PHP extensions:

Required Extensions

BCMath - For arbitrary precision mathematics
Ctype - For character type checking
cURL - For HTTP requests and API calls
DOM - For XML/HTML processing
Fileinfo - For file type detection
JSON - For JSON data handling
Mbstring - For multibyte string handling
OpenSSL - For secure communications
PCRE - For regular expressions
PDO - For database abstraction
Tokenizer - For PHP tokenization
XML - For XML processing

Optional Extensions (Recommended)

GD - For image processing
Imagick - For advanced image manipulation
Redis - For caching and sessions
Memcached - For caching
Zip - For file compression
Intl - For internationalization

Check PHP Extensions

You can check if required extensions are installed:

bash

# Check all extensions
php -m

# Check specific extension
php -m | grep curl

# Or use PHP info
php -i | grep -i extension

Database Requirements

MySQL/MariaDB

Minimum Version: MySQL 8.0+ or MariaDB 10.4+

Recommended Configuration:

sql

-- Character set
SET NAMES utf8mb4;
SET CHARACTER SET utf8mb4;

-- InnoDB engine
SET default_storage_engine = InnoDB;

-- Time zone support
SET time_zone = '+00:00';

Required Privileges:

CREATE
DROP
ALTER
INSERT
UPDATE
DELETE
SELECT
INDEX
REFERENCES

Database Size Estimates

Component	Estimated Size
Base Installation	~50MB
1,000 Tickets	~10MB
10,000 Tickets	~100MB
File Attachments	Variable
Chat Messages	~1MB per 1,000 messages

Web Server Configuration

Apache

Minimum Version: 2.4+

Required Modules:

mod_rewrite
mod_ssl (for HTTPS)
mod_headers (recommended)

Configuration Example:

apache

<VirtualHost *:80>
    ServerName helpdesk.yourdomain.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/helpdesk-pro/public
    
    <Directory /var/www/html/helpdesk-pro/public>
        AllowOverride All
        Require all granted
    </Directory>
    
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/helpdesk_error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/helpdesk_access.log combined
</VirtualHost>

Nginx

Minimum Version: 1.18+

Configuration Example:

nginx

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name helpdesk.yourdomain.com;
    root /var/www/html/helpdesk-pro/public;
    index index.php;
    
    location / {
        try_files $uri $uri/ /index.php?$query_string;
    }
    
    location ~ \.php$ {
        fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php8.2-fpm.sock;
        fastcgi_index index.php;
        fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $realpath_root$fastcgi_script_name;
        include fastcgi_params;
    }
    
    location ~ /\.ht {
        deny all;
    }
}

Development Requirements

Node.js

Version: 18.0+ (LTS recommended)

Check Version:

bash

node --version
npm --version

Composer

Version: Latest stable

Installation:

bash

# Download and install Composer
curl -sS https://getcomposer.org/installer | php
sudo mv composer.phar /usr/local/bin/composer

Check Version:

bash

composer --version

Git

Version: 2.0+

Check Version:

bash

git --version

Performance Considerations

Memory Requirements

Usage Level	RAM Recommendation
Small (< 100 users)	1GB
Medium (100-500 users)	2-4GB
Large (500+ users)	4-8GB
Enterprise (1000+ users)	8GB+

Storage Requirements

Component	Storage Needs
Application Files	~200MB
Database	10MB per 1,000 tickets
File Attachments	Variable (user-dependent)
Logs	1-10MB per day
Cache	50-500MB

CPU Requirements

Usage Level	CPU Recommendation
Small	1-2 cores
Medium	2-4 cores
Large	4-8 cores
Enterprise	8+ cores

Security Requirements

SSL/TLS

Recommended: TLS 1.2+ with strong ciphers

Certificate: Valid SSL certificate (Let's Encrypt recommended)

Firewall

Required Ports:

80 (HTTP)
443 (HTTPS)
22 (SSH) - for administration

Optional Ports:

3306 (MySQL) - if external access needed
6379 (Redis) - if using Redis

File Permissions

bash

# Application files
chmod -R 755 /path/to/helpdesk

# Storage and cache
chmod -R 775 storage/
chmod -R 775 bootstrap/cache/

# Ownership
chown -R www-data:www-data /path/to/helpdesk

Cloud Hosting Recommendations

Shared Hosting

Minimum Requirements:

PHP 8.2+
MySQL 8.0+
512MB RAM
mod_rewrite enabled

Recommended Providers:

SiteGround
A2 Hosting
InMotion Hosting

VPS/Dedicated Servers

Recommended Specifications:

2GB+ RAM
2+ CPU cores
20GB+ SSD storage
Ubuntu 20.04+ or CentOS 8+

Recommended Providers:

DigitalOcean
Linode
Vultr
AWS EC2

Managed Hosting

Laravel-Specific Hosts:

Laravel Forge
Laravel Vapor
Ploi
ServerPilot

Browser Compatibility

Supported Browsers

Browser	Minimum Version
Chrome	90+
Firefox	88+
Safari	14+
Edge	90+
Mobile Safari	14+
Chrome Mobile	90+

Required JavaScript Features

ES6+ support
Fetch API
WebSocket support (for real-time features)
Local Storage
Session Storage

Third-Party Services

Required Services

Service	Purpose	Required
Email Provider	SMTP for notifications	Yes
Database	Data storage	Yes

Optional Services

Service	Purpose	Required
OpenAI	AI features	No
Pusher	Real-time features	No
Redis	Caching	No
CDN	File delivery	No

System Check Script

You can use this PHP script to check if your server meets the requirements:

php

<?php
// requirements-check.php
echo "HelpDesk Pro Requirements Check\n";
echo "===============================\n\n";

// PHP Version
$phpVersion = PHP_VERSION;
echo "PHP Version: $phpVersion ";
if (version_compare($phpVersion, '8.2.0', '>=')) {
    echo "✓\n";
} else {
    echo "✗ (Requires 8.2+)\n";
}

// Required Extensions
$requiredExtensions = [
    'bcmath', 'ctype', 'curl', 'dom', 'fileinfo',
    'json', 'mbstring', 'openssl', 'pcre', 'pdo', 'tokenizer', 'xml'
];

echo "\nRequired Extensions:\n";
foreach ($requiredExtensions as $ext) {
    echo "- $ext: ";
    if (extension_loaded($ext)) {
        echo "✓\n";
    } else {
        echo "✗\n";
    }
}

// Memory Limit
$memoryLimit = ini_get('memory_limit');
echo "\nMemory Limit: $memoryLimit\n";

// Upload Limits
echo "Upload Max Filesize: " . ini_get('upload_max_filesize') . "\n";
echo "Post Max Size: " . ini_get('post_max_size') . "\n";
echo "Max Execution Time: " . ini_get('max_execution_time') . "s\n";

echo "\nCheck complete!\n";
?>

Next Steps

Once you've verified your system meets the requirements:

Proceed to Installation Guide
Review Configuration Guide
Check Troubleshooting Guide if you encounter issues

Need Help? If you're unsure about any requirements, please contact our support team for assistance.

System Requirements ​

Server Requirements ​

Minimum Requirements ​

Recommended Requirements ​

PHP Extensions ​

Required Extensions ​

Optional Extensions (Recommended) ​

Check PHP Extensions ​

Database Requirements ​

MySQL/MariaDB ​

Database Size Estimates ​

Web Server Configuration ​

Apache ​

Nginx ​

Development Requirements ​

Node.js ​

Composer ​

Git ​

Performance Considerations ​

Memory Requirements ​

Storage Requirements ​

CPU Requirements ​

Security Requirements ​

SSL/TLS ​

Firewall ​

File Permissions ​

Cloud Hosting Recommendations ​

Shared Hosting ​

VPS/Dedicated Servers ​

Managed Hosting ​

Browser Compatibility ​

Supported Browsers ​

Required JavaScript Features ​

Third-Party Services ​

Required Services ​

Optional Services ​

System Check Script ​

Next Steps ​

System Requirements

Server Requirements

Minimum Requirements

Recommended Requirements

PHP Extensions

Required Extensions

Optional Extensions (Recommended)

Check PHP Extensions

Database Requirements

MySQL/MariaDB

Database Size Estimates

Web Server Configuration

Apache

Nginx

Development Requirements

Node.js

Composer

Git

Performance Considerations

Memory Requirements

Storage Requirements

CPU Requirements

Security Requirements

SSL/TLS

Firewall

File Permissions

Cloud Hosting Recommendations

Shared Hosting

VPS/Dedicated Servers

Managed Hosting

Browser Compatibility

Supported Browsers

Required JavaScript Features

Third-Party Services

Required Services

Optional Services

System Check Script

Next Steps