Here is a minimalist check list for Polygraph.

1. Unix operating system. Polygraph has been tested (to various degrees) on FreeBSD, Linux, Solaris, Digital Unix, HPUX, and IRIX.

2. A C++ compiler. Polygraph uses C++ features that are widely supported. Polygraph does not use STL library. A recent version of g++ from the GCC distribution should suffice.

3. Processor, memory, disk, network, and other resource requirements depend on the workload to be used. For most production tests, at least two machines are required (to run Poly-client and Poly-server).

   You may not need more than 1024 filedescriptors, but you probably will need more than 256. Be sure your OS can support the limit you need.

As an example of decent benchmarking environment, check out our PolyLab resources.