Help sizing a system

  • Thread starter Thread starter markr
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markr

Hello

I've been tasked with investigating Thin Client for a 25 user system. I've had some experience of Thin Client in the past, having helped admin a Citrix Metaframe solution for a remote office of 12 workers. I don't need to be sold on the benefits of Thin Client, I experienced it first hand some years ago!

At that time the 12 user system ran on a dual CPU server (2 x P3 900Mhz) + 1Gb RAM, and to be honest, even though this was a few years ago and they were using Office 97, it struggled a little.

I'm now looking to support 25 users, and would like to standardise on Office 2007 as the common application. My investigations so far lead me to believe a dual CPU system with 2Gb RAM would be sufficient. However I'm a little sceptical, in particular I don't want to undersize the system and have the corresponding (possible) lack of performance reflect badly on the whole Thin Client experience from the users point of view.

Assuming my company can afford something better, would I be wise to look at Quad Core CPU's / extra RAM etc. (am I right in thinking Windows 2003 Server can't support more than 4Gb anyway?). Is it better to have more CPUs or more Cores (i.e. 2 x dual core -v- 1 x quad core)? Would a 2 server solution (with load balancing) be a better idea?

Any help, or links to better guides than I've found so far, would be appreciated.
 
Hello,
Are you going to stick to 25 users or there are expandigs plans present?
 
At the moment there are no specific expansion plans, but we have been on the lookout for complimentary businesses to acquire to expand our operation.

i.e. no plans at the moment to go beyond 25 users, but we'd obviously like the flexibility to do so one day if required, although I figure plugging in a 2nd server at that point would be the most likely course of action, as if we did acquire another business it would most likely result in a batch of users to be added rather than a few at a time.

I'm getting the impression that 25 users is pushing it for one server? If 2 servers gives more room for expansion AND provides some redundancy right now, that would perhaps be an option to consider.
 
Hello,
I think the solution you were planning to go with should be enough for publishing MS Office for 25 users.
As for the CPUs - you have to bear in mind - the systems you are talking about usually support only two CPU sockets, which will limit you to having two physical CPUs and going for 1 multicore will increase scalability of the server. However the Windows 2003 SE supports only 2 CPU, irregardless is it a 1 Dual Core or 2 single core ones.
The RAM can be increased at any stage.
So you might go with the specifications you suggested the first time and then scale it to the desired performance rating.
Adding the second server will help you to keep the system up to date. But you need to bear in mind that if you have 2 servers you will need to loadbalance them.
 
Sergei said:
However the Windows 2003 SE supports only 2 CPU, irregardless is it a 1 Dual Core or 2 single core ones.
Click to expand...

According to this document:-

http://download.microsoft.com/download/ ... _brief.doc

Windows Server 2003 R2 supports up to 4 physical CPUs, regardless of how many cores each may have. I'm assuming therefore that a single Quad Core CPU to start, with the option of adding a 2nd Quad Core CPU later, would be the wisest choice, even if possibly 2 x Dual Core might be better than 1 x Quad Core in terms of raw performance.
 
Hello,
I have spoken with Microsoft.
Windows 2003 Server SE has a technical limitation. It can only work with 4 CPUs irregardless are they cores on one chip or 4 individual chips.
So it will take only 1 quad-core processor.
 
Yes, that might be your option.
However 1 dual core CPU should be able to handle 25 clients with only MS Office being used pretty easily.
The thing you need to be concerned about is the amount of RAM, network used and the HDD speed.
And if the amount of the clients will slightly increase adding 2nd CPU could be done.
 
I think the system I'll be proposing is 2 x Dual Core Xeon + 4Gb RAM + 2 x 73Gb SAS 15,000rpm drives in RAID 1. As this is an application server I think the amount of storage is more than enough (?) and 15,000rpm drives should cope nicely with the hammering they're going to get!

As we're saving ourselves a bundle by not buying Citrix (which is why I'm here in the 1st place!) I'll hopefully be able to swing it with my boss!

Thanks for all your help! :)
 
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