Requirements

Component	Requirement
Operating system	Windows Server 2019 / 2022 / 2025 (64-bit). All SQL nodes joined to the same Active Directory domain
SQL Server edition	Enterprise (full Availability Group). Developer edition is Enterprise-equivalent and free for non-production, so it is suitable for lab and test environments
SQL Server version	2016 or later (Database Level Health Detection requires 2016 or newer)
SQL service account	A single domain account (for example `DOMAIN\svc-sql`), identical on both nodes, so the replicas can authenticate to each other
Cluster	Windows Server Failover Cluster (WSFC) across both SQL nodes, plus a file-share witness for quorum
Ports	`1433` (SQL client and listener), `5022` (Availability Group data-mirroring endpoint), `1434/UDP` (SQL Browser, only for named instances)

For the general MetaDefender® MFT prerequisites and the High Availability file storage requirements, see Requirements.

Info
Only a full Availability Group is supported, not a Basic Availability Group. This is why Enterprise (or the Enterprise-equivalent Developer) edition is required — Standard edition offers only Basic Availability Groups.

Warning
MetaDefender® MFT expects Force Encryption to be enabled on SQL Server, but the MetaDefender® MFT services cannot persist the TrustServerCertificate setting. Through a listener, each replica presents its own certificate whose name does not match the listener name, so validated TLS requires a certificate whose Subject Alternative Name covers the listener name and both node names, installed in the MetaDefender® MFT host's LocalMachine Trusted Root store. Alternatively, disable Force Encryption (or set --encrypt false when repointing) for environments where transport encryption is not required.

Continue to Setup.

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