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Hardware requirements to Application server to 1700 users

Answered Hardware requirements to Application server to 1700 users

  • Tuesday, May 08, 2012 11:29 PM
     
     
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    I need to implement an appl sever on Hyper v that support 1700 users . users will open http://server to use an application. what should be the minimum hardware requirements that this virtual machine should have? 

     

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  • Wednesday, May 09, 2012 12:46 AM
     
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    It's very difficult to begin to answer that question when we have no idea what the application does or how it's structured.

    For example, I worked at a place that was trying to run Project Server 2007 on a virtual machine with only 4GB RAM and SQL Server database services, analysis services and reporting services all installed on the one virtual machine. It was so slow and unreliable it practically ceased to function and we ended up pulling it apart and running it across four servers (one physical, three virtual). So, as you can see, while it's "one" application, it ended up being quite a complex solution.

    If you can provide us with more information we might be able to provide a more relevant answer.

    You might want to read through the various topics linked on this Hyper-V planning page.

    Cheers,
    Lain

     
  • Wednesday, May 09, 2012 2:55 AM
     
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    I agree with Lain, we need to know the spec, and don't forget that usually the software vendor will provide the minimum spec too. You just have to watch for CPU, I/O or network bottleneck all depending of the application.

    MCP | MCTS 70-236: Exchange Server 2007, Configuring

     
  • Wednesday, May 09, 2012 12:55 PM
     
     
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    the application is a document management software.  the server has 64gb ram with 1tb of disc and 2 sixcores . the idea is to install windows 2008 datacenter  with the rol of the database, then with hyper-v virtualize the role of appl, terminal server, print sever, file server and cat server.  what do you think? :)
     
  • Wednesday, May 09, 2012 2:33 PM
     
     
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    I would consider using the physical server with W2008 R2 Datacenter Edition with the role of Hyper-V only. Then virtualize everything else. However, it also depends on what your 1TB is - SAN, DAS, etc. As discussed in the preceding posts, you really need to spec out the application - and I'm assuming that the roles you specified are part of the application. If not, then you'll want to spec out what resources the other roles you mentioned will use as well. It's a pain and kind of a shot in the dark, or rather an educated guess, as to what resources will be used, but it's a worthwhile and very helpful excercise.

    Also, if it's a high priority app, you might think about a Hyper-V cluster (assuming you have a SAN) with 2 nodes instead of only one - some level of redundancy is preferrable.

     
  • Wednesday, May 09, 2012 10:49 PM
     
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    Sammy raises good points. In addition to those, you need to think about how many people will use this system, how frequently, and what the typical kind of file is as there's a world of difference between Word documents (0 MB - 5 MB) and something like AutoCad documents (50 MB - 100 MB).

    Is the database going to be SQL Server? If so, you'll also want to consider if the files are being stored internally as BLOBs or externally through the FILESTREAM mechanic.

    Still, you have given us some very basic information, which we can at least generalise from.

    As Sammy said, you should look at using the physical host to purely run Hyper-V and nothing else, leaving the database as a virtualised host just as you had planned for the others. In addition to Enterprise 2008 R2 SP1 (make sure you're using the SP1 version of Hyper-V), you should also look at Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 with SP1 (download).

    Document management systems don't typically overuse the database, so I don't think loading will be an issue, though you still need to configure memory usage within the SQL Server management console correctly or else it will try to use all available memory, completely destroying performance in the process. Either way, the database host should be fine as a virtual host on this kind of hardware. Just be sure to assign it two vCPU's.

    The file and print server roles should not be an issue.

    I can't say much about the Remote Desktop role as thta really depends on what applications you're expecting to run within it and how many users you expect to have concurrently logged on, but the role itself has very low requirements and on its own will perform well.

    Overall, this hardware platform should be more than enough for the functions you've listed. The only virtual hosts I'd assign two vCPU's to are the database host and the Remote Desktop host. The rest should be using just one. Roles like file and print will likely only need 4 GB - 6 GB RAM, though I can't comment on the Remote Desktop role without knowing anything about the application(s). The database host could get by with anywhere from around 10 GB - 20 GB, depending on the answers to how many users and how the files are being stored.

    Cheers,
    Lain

     
  • Thursday, May 10, 2012 12:43 AM
     
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    The key point is to follow the software vendor.

    Like an exemple for Office 2010;

    Plan for Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services)

    Deploy the 2007 Office system on a Terminal Services-enabled computer

    Windows Server version

    Core processor

    Memory

    Concurrent sessions

    2008

    32

    256 GB

    1140

    Like sammy said, your bottleneck can be the disk IO. If you go virtual you got to have a good I/O, a DAS, or better a SAN if you got a cluster of TS.

    If your concurrent session is gonna be like in the link I paste and your application use the same ressource as Office in exemple, then your server is low on spec, but it all depend of what your application need.

    The best's one to approve your design is the application team, if they make a bad decision it will be on their side, else you put yourseft at risk for something you don't have coded.

    I already got in the past a vendor that sell a hypervisor, and to find after that the software vendor did not want to support the sql database if it was virtualized. So they sell after another server to support the vendor spec..

    MCP | MCTS 70-236: Exchange Server 2007, Configuring