You need one machine to act as the server, the central hub that stores data, coordinates jobs, and manages licenses. It runs 24/7 and shouldn't be used for production work, but it doesn't need to be enterprise hardware: 4 cores, 16 GB RAM, and 128 GB SSD storage are enough. For small studios and freelancers, a modest dedicated PC or a small server is fine. Larger studios typically run it on existing server infrastructure.

The server is the only machine that requires internet access (for the daily license and update check). Render nodes and workstations don't.