Since ConfigMgr Beta 1 is now available publicly I wanted to share some more information about the prerequisites.

Support
I want to address that beta 1 is not supported in production environments. This does not apply to customers that are involved with TAP.

Schema
With ConfigMgr v.next the schema changes are the same as for ConfigMgr 2007. Also the 'System Management' container is required with the specific rights. More information about the schema: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb680608.aspx (related to ConfigMgr 2007 but also applies)

Internet Information Services
With v.next we still need IIS for some of the components. The prerequisites are same as for ConfigMgr 2007, only webdav is no longer required. More information about the IIS prerequisites for ConfigMgr 2007: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc431377.aspx

Operating System
For v.next we support the Windows Server 2008 (R2) operating system. We only support 64-bit for site systems, x86 is only supported for a branch DP or a file share DP.

SQL Server
Now we only support Microsoft SQL Server 2008 with SP1 and Cumulative update package 6 (KB977443). This update package can be downloaded here.

Microsoft .Net Framework 4.0
ConfigMgr v.next requires the latest .net framework: 4.0. The standalone installer can be found here.

Installation
Opening the beta 1 and running the splash screen you might be looking for the prerequisite checker. This is now called 'Asses server readiness'. In this build it is not implemented. During the installation wizard a prerequisite checker will run.

I'm running my lab in Microsoft Hyper-V with a single Domain Controller and two member servers running SQL server. One member server is the 'Central Administration Site' (CAS).

The CAS server is basically a central site as we know today with ConfigMgr 2007. The highest site in the hierarchy. One difference though is that it cannot manage clients. You need a CAS when you deploy more than one primary site. For single site environments a CAS is not required.

If you want to test with Secondary Sites keep in mind they require SQL as well with v.next. Reason is that we now use SQL replication to replicate information between sites. A full SQL installation is not required for Secondary Sites, SQL express can also be used. SQL express can be installed post of the installation or you can let v.next install it for you during the site installation.

I hope this gives you all a good start with installing v.next! Have fun!