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 SQL service account

7. (Optional) Configure corporate firewall

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