POS Requirements

In this article

Online POS requirements

Offline POS requirements

General requirements for the POS:

Online POS requirements

LS Retail follows Microsoft's guidelines regarding specifications for clients that are online in SaaS, the only requirement being that the client can run the latest version of supported browsers.

For connection to peripherals, you need to install the latest version of Hardware Station for LS Central. For more information, refer to the General requirements for the POS.

For more information on Business Central requirements see Client Components - Browser Requirements

Choosing a network connection

Microsoft recommends choosing a secure network that has lower latency, because in general the user interface performs better when latency is low.

Business Central is designed for networks that have a latency of 250–300 milliseconds (ms) or less. This latency is the latency from a browser client to the Microsoft Azure data center that hosts the app. We recommend that you test network latency at AzureSpeed.com or similar services.

You can use a third-party tool, for example Speedometer 3.0, to assess the performance of a user's device. LS Central POS relies heavily on JavaScript, and using this tool can be a good way to acquire metrics and to compare the score for different devices.

Select a typical device from the customer's organization and run Speedometer 3.0. If the resulting score is below 7, it may indicate that the device's performance could negatively impact the Business Central Web Client's functionality.

According to Microsoft, bandwidth requirements for Business Central depend on the customer. Most typical scenarios require a bandwidth of 1 megabyte per second (MBps) or more. However, Microsoft recommends more bandwidth for scenarios that have high payload requirements, such as scenarios that involve rich media or client add-ins.

Offline POS requirements

Resilient POS (running both database and service tier)

  • CPU i5
  • RAM 4-8 GB
  • Preferably an SSD hard drive (recommended for Windows 10) or fast spindle HDD or HHD.

    The size is abstract – 100 GB if you find one that small and want to clean up the installation.

High-Volume POS

  • CPU i7
  • RAM 8 GB
  • SSD drive
    The size is abstract – 100 GB if you find one that small and want to clean up the installation.

Note: You may need to increase RAM to ensure optimal performance if:

  • The POS is running offline, running both database and service tier.
  • The database size increases.
  • Other software is running, for example anti-virus software or other more demanding software.

For information on what operating system version is supported, see the Microsoft documentation on Server Components.

For connection to peripherals, you need to install the latest version of Hardware Station for LS Central. For more information, see General requirements for the POS.

General requirements for the POS:

We recommend running the POS in LS Central AppShell. This lets you start LS Central in a controlled way, and, in some scenarios, provides direct access to hardware​ (see below).

The Hardware Station for LS Central (HWS) runs only on Windows (Windows 10). Use this link on the LS Retail Portal (login required) to download the latest version. This means that the POS, started in LS Central AppShell, has to connect to an HWS running on a Windows machine.

With the LS Central AppShell, the POS can also connect to peripherals through the AppShell's own HWS (see below for more details).

  • The Windows AppShell access to hardware is through Hardware Station for LS Central.

  • The Android AppShell access to hardware can be through Hardware Station for LS Central.

    AppShell has additional direct hardware access to built-in hardware or to hardware connected via Bluetooth or WiFi.

    Supported printers:

    • Zebra LinkOS (Bluetooth or Network)
    • Epson Epos (Bluetooth or Network)
    • Bixolon (Bluetooth)
    • PED Printers

    Payments:

    • LS Pay Service
    • Android payment devices supported by LS Pay

    For more details see Peripherals.

  • The iOS AppShell access to hardware can be through Hardware Station for LS Central, and additional direct hardware access:

    Supported printers:

    • Bixolon
    • Payments
    • LS Pay Service

    For more details see Peripherals.