Nosh and Shim are saying almost the same thing -- that you have to separate out some of the SCSM related roles for reporting. They differ as to exactly what and how to separate.
To answer your follow up question: If you leave out reporting can you install FIM Sync, FIM Service, FIM Portal, and FIM SSPR on a single server -- the answer is yes.
If you add in reporting according to the
SCSM setup guide you do need to separate a few pieces (this provides a great image).
The SCSM deployment scenarios
clearly indicates the need for separate computers for separating SCSM services "you cannot deploy a Service Manager management server and a data warehouse management server on the same computer. In fact, Setup prevents you from installing both on a
single server."
It does go on to describe how to install it on one server: "Describes how to install Service Manager on a single computer. This scenario requires you to use a
virtual machine for the data warehouse management server. This scenario is useful for evaluation purposes." So you can put them all on the same physical box but on different instances of the OS.