Before you install the DualShield MFA system, you must prepare your environment and plan for choices that you will make during the installation process.

To prepare for installation:

1. A Windows or Linux server machine (virtual or real machine) with 8GM RAM, 4-core CPU, and 10GB free disk space 

2. An FQDN for your DualShield MFA server consoles, e.g. mfa.acme.com

3. An SSL certificate for your DualShield MFA server consoles in a PFX file (a wildcard certificate is acceptable, e.g. *.acme.com)

4. An AD service account for the connection between your MFA server and AD server. For a quick start, you can use an existing domain admin or domain user account. Or, you can create a new service account with the appropriate privileges

5. (Optional) An AD user group for MFA enforcement

6. (Optional) An MS-SQL service account

7. (Optional) Configure corporate firewall

8. Download the DualShield server software, and save it on your DualShield MFA server machine