Hardware and Software Requirements

Hardware

Running the Ensembl web site can be rather taxing on hardware. At a minimum you will need:

  • A machine capable of running a UNIX-like OS* (e.g. Tru64, Solaris, Linux, OS X, etc.)
  • 4-8 Gb of RAM (A minimum of 4G required to run BioMart)
  • Up to 500 Mb hard drive space to install source code required by the web server
  • Depending on usage - temporary storage space for images/session information - for light usage less than 1G
  • about 1Gb of hard drive space for a local MySQL (or SQLite) database to store session configurations

You can run an Ensembl installation locally and connect remotely to our public MySQL server to retrieve genomic data. However if you require a full local installation, including some or all genomic databases, you will additionally need:

  • Around 2.7 Tb hard drive space in which to install the Ensembl MySQL databases, and about the same again for downloading and unpacking the data. Depending on your requirements, you may wish to install data for only one (or a small selection of) species. See below for the approximate size requirements for each species (note that the compara database is required, regardless of which subset of species you are using).

* Note that whilst Windows can run the required software, it is not officially supported as a platform for Ensembl. Additional documentation on using Ensembl on Windows can be found in the installation guide.

Software

The Ensembl website system is built on open source software: Apache, mod_perl and MySQL. To install a local mirror of Ensembl you will need:

  • Apache 2 and mod_perl 2
  • Perl 5.14.x or better (used for running utility scripts)
  • MySQL 5.0.x (if installing genomic databases locally)

Species databases

Species Data size (Gb)
Acanthochromis polyacanthus 4.8
Accipiter nisus 2.2
Ailuropoda melanoleuca 5.6
Amazona collaria 2.0
Amphilophus citrinellus 3.5
Amphiprion ocellaris 4.1
Amphiprion percula 4.5
Anabas testudineus 1.9
Anas platyrhynchos 6.4
Anas zonorhyncha 3.0
Anolis carolinensis 4.5
Anser brachyrhynchus 1.6
Anser cygnoides 2.6
Aotus nancymaae 17.4
Apteryx haastii 2.4
Apteryx owenii 2.1
Apteryx rowi 2.2
Aquila chrysaetos 2.2
Astatotilapia calliptera 5.4
Astyanax mexicanus 10.7
Athene cunicularia 1.8
Balaenoptera musculus 3.4
Betta splendens 2.9
Bison bison 4.5
Bos grunniens 6.9
Bos indicus 8.3
Bos mutus 5.0
Bos taurus 89.7
Bubo bubo 1.8
Buteo japonicus 1.9
Caenorhabditis elegans 2.0
Cairina moschata 3.8
Calidris pugnax 2.8
Calidris pygmaea 2.4
Callithrix jacchus 19.8
Callorhinchus milii 4.4
Camarhynchus parvulus 2.0
Camelus dromedarius 3.8
Canis lupus 72.1
Capra hircus 43.1
Carassius auratus 7.8
Carlito syrichta 14.7
Castor canadensis 4.1
Catagonus wagneri 4.8
Catharus ustulatus 2.0
Cavia aperea 6.1
Cavia porcellus 8.0
Cebus imitator 6.0
Cercocebus atys 20.6
Cervus hanglu 5.8
Chelonoidis abingdonii 3.3
Chelydra serpentina 3.4
Chinchilla lanigera 8.0
Chlorocebus sabaeus 7.7
Choloepus hoffmanni 4.4
Chrysemys picta 7.4
Chrysolophus pictus 1.6
Ciona intestinalis 4.7
Ciona savignyi 2.9
Clupea harengus 2.9
Colobus angolensis 17.1
Corvus moneduloides 2.7
Cottoperca gobio 2.3
Coturnix japonica 2.8
Cricetulus griseus 28.2
Crocodylus porosus 3.1
Cyanistes caeruleus 2.8
Cyclopterus lumpus 1.4
Cynoglossus semilaevis 4.3
Cyprinodon variegatus 4.5
Cyprinus carpio 44.1
Danio rerio 26.8
Dasypus novemcinctus 10.9
Delphinapterus leucas 4.3
Denticeps clupeoides 2.5
Dicentrarchus labrax 3.5
Dipodomys ordii 10.9
Dromaius novaehollandiae 2.8
Drosophila melanogaster 1.3
Echeneis naucrates 1.6
Echinops telfairi 6.0
Electrophorus electricus 1.8
Eptatretus burgeri 5.9
Equus asinus 8.7
Equus caballus 89.3
Erinaceus europaeus 7.7
Erpetoichthys calabaricus 5.5
Erythrura gouldiae 1.7
Esox lucius 6.9
Falco tinnunculus 2.1
Felis catus 11.8
Ficedula albicollis 3.9
Fukomys damarensis 8.1
Fundulus heteroclitus 5.2
Gadus morhua 3.5
Gallus gallus 101.7
Gambusia affinis 3.4
Gasterosteus aculeatus 5.1
Geospiza fortis 1.9
Gopherus agassizii 5.9
Gopherus evgoodei 3.7
Gorilla gorilla 22.3
Gouania willdenowi 2.5
Haplochromis burtoni 4.6
Heterocephalus glaber 18.2
Hippocampus comes 3.2
Homo sapiens 2435.1
Hucho hucho 9.0
Ictalurus punctatus 4.6
Ictidomys tridecemlineatus 7.2
Jaculus jaculus 7.0
Junco hyemalis 2.3
Kryptolebias marmoratus 3.5
Labrus bergylta 4.7
Larimichthys crocea 4.9
Lates calcarifer 3.4
Laticauda laticaudata 2.6
Latimeria chalumnae 8.7
Lepidothrix coronata 1.8
Lepisosteus oculatus 6.4
Leptobrachium leishanense 6.5
Lonchura striata 2.2
Loxodonta africana 7.5
Lynx canadensis 4.9
Macaca fascicularis 7.7
Macaca mulatta 29.4
Macaca nemestrina 21.1
Malurus cyaneus 1.6
Manacus vitellinus 2.2
Mandrillus leucophaeus 18.5
Marmota marmota 4.0
Mastacembelus armatus 2.0
Maylandia zebra 4.7
Meleagris gallopavo 3.6
Melopsittacus undulatus 2.1
Meriones unguiculatus 4.3
Mesocricetus auratus 6.7
Microcebus murinus 14.4
Microtus ochrogaster 6.5
Mola mola 3.0
Monodelphis domestica 8.5
Monodon monoceros 3.7
Monopterus albus 4.0
Moschus moschiferus 5.3
Mus caroli 5.0
Mus musculus 411.0
Mus pahari 4.9
Mus spicilegus 4.6
Mus spretus 15.3
Mustela putorius 13.8
Myotis lucifugus 7.0
Myripristis murdjan 1.9
Naja naja 2.9
Nannospalax galili 8.1
Ncbi taxonomy 0.6
Neogobius melanostomus 2.1
Neolamprologus brichardi 3.8
Neovison vison 4.0
Nomascus leucogenys 17.8
Notamacropus eugenii 6.2
Notechis scutatus 3.0
Nothobranchius furzeri 5.1
Nothoprocta perdicaria 1.4
Numida meleagris 2.7
Ochotona princeps 9.1
Octodon degus 7.9
Oncorhynchus kisutch 10.8
Oncorhynchus mykiss 14.4
Oncorhynchus tshawytscha 10.8
Oreochromis aureus 1.9
Oreochromis niloticus 6.2
Ornithorhynchus anatinus 6.7
Oryctolagus cuniculus 11.4
Oryzias javanicus 3.0
Oryzias latipes 14.2
Oryzias melastigma 4.4
Oryzias sinensis 5.0
Otolemur garnettii 7.7
Otus sunia 1.8
Ovis aries 142.1
Pan paniscus 22.9
Pan troglodytes 26.7
Panthera leo 3.8
Panthera pardus 6.0
Panthera tigris 5.6
Papio anubis 22.0
Parambassis ranga 1.8
Paramormyrops kingsleyae 6.6
Parus major 2.8
Pavo cristatus 1.9
Pelodiscus sinensis 8.2
Pelusios castaneus 2.8
Periophthalmus magnuspinnatus 3.2
Peromyscus maniculatus 3.9
Petromyzon marinus 4.0
Phascolarctos cinereus 5.4
Phasianus colchicus 2.1
Phocoena sinus 3.6
Physeter catodon 4.1
Piliocolobus tephrosceles 17.0
Podarcis muralis 3.2
Poecilia formosa 6.7
Poecilia latipinna 3.8
Poecilia mexicana 4.4
Poecilia reticulata 4.8
Pogona vitticeps 5.3
Pongo abelii 5.8
Procavia capensis 5.7
Prolemur simus 11.0
Propithecus coquereli 12.4
Pseudonaja textilis 2.8
Pteropus vampyrus 5.9
Pundamilia nyererei 3.8
Pygocentrus nattereri 5.4
Rattus norvegicus 36.5
Rhinolophus ferrumequinum 3.6
Rhinopithecus bieti 19.8
Rhinopithecus roxellana 19.5
Saccharomyces cerevisiae 0.6
Saimiri boliviensis 16.0
Salarias fasciatus 1.9
Salmo salar 31.4
Salmo trutta 7.8
Salvator merianae 3.5
Sander lucioperca 2.4
Sarcophilus harrisii 8.5
Sciurus vulgaris 3.8
Scleropages formosus 3.0
Scophthalmus maximus 5.7
Serinus canaria 2.4
Seriola dumerili 3.7
Seriola lalandi 3.9
Sinocyclocheilus anshuiensis 4.6
Sinocyclocheilus grahami 5.0
Sinocyclocheilus rhinocerous 4.3
Sorex araneus 5.6
Sparus aurata 4.2
Spermophilus dauricus 4.7
Sphaeramia orbicularis 2.7
Sphenodon punctatus 8.1
Stachyris ruficeps 1.6
Stegastes partitus 3.8
Strigops habroptila 2.3
Strix occidentalis 1.8
Struthio camelus 2.7
Suricata suricatta 5.2
Sus scrofa 194.0
Taeniopygia guttata 4.1
Takifugu rubripes 3.7
Terrapene carolina 3.6
Tetraodon nigroviridis 4.5
Theropithecus gelada 16.3
Tupaia belangeri 6.6
Tursiops truncatus 6.4
Urocitellus parryii 4.1
Ursus americanus 5.2
Ursus maritimus 5.1
Ursus thibetanus 4.2
Varanus komodoensis 2.4
Vicugna pacos 4.5
Vombatus ursinus 7.0
Vulpes vulpes 7.7
Xenopus tropicalis 6.7
Xiphophorus couchianus 2.9
Xiphophorus maculatus 4.4
Zalophus californianus 5.0
Zonotrichia albicollis 2.1
Zosterops lateralis 1.5
Sub-total 5237.9
Multi-species
Ancestral 137.9
Archive 0.0
Autocomplete 0.6
Compara 754.6
Mart 2303.9
Metadata 20.5
Ontology 1.6
Production 0.0
Stable 29.9
Website 0.0
Total 8486.9