Steven Dz
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 Posted:
Wed Nov 23, 2005 9:30 am Post subject:
Capacity Planning - Server Hardware |
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Hi all,
I've been charged with setting up internal servers with the ability to handle up to 5,000 concurrent connections for (6) 300Kbps clips of about 1:20 (one minute, twenty seconds) in duration. It's for an internal 'commercial' of sorts (exciting HR stuff!)
Bandwidth isn't an issue as we run a campus wide GigE network (I've calculated the bandwidth requirement to be 188MB max - sound right?)
What I'm not sure of is how many servers do I need to allocate. Our preferred box is a dual xeon 3Ghz 64bit with 2GB or 4GB RAM and mirrored SATA 80GB drives. I'm assuming the clips (about 5MB each) would all be cached in memory, so it's really a matter of how many sessions each server can support and how much bandwidth it can push out a couple GigE or 100MB NICs.
I've searched around and the MS document on capacity planning says:
"For example, if online training content is delivered at a bit rate of 300 Kbps to 500 concurrent users, the server system and network must be capable of handling 150 megabits per second. If the server meets the minimum requirements for running Windows Media Services, at least six Windows Media servers would be required to service this demand."
but this is based on server specs of "single processor (233 megahertz) computer with 256 MB of RAM". How do I extrapolate this to current hardware? Does anyone have a good calculator for this? I fear I'll come back with a number and be asked to adjust the server count based on variables (bit rate, connections, etc).
According to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/serve/features.aspx,
"Using a 64-bit version of Windows Media Services can result in scalability increases of over 40% compared to the 32-bit version running on the same hardware."
Oh, if you could reply back / cc to my (spam friendly!) email account snurf_co@hotmail.com, I'd greatly appreciate it.
Thanks in advance,
Steve Dz
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Neil Smith [MVP Digital M
Guest
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| Posted:
Wed Nov 23, 2005 1:30 pm Post subject:
Re: Capacity Planning - Server Hardware |
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On Tue, 22 Nov 2005 23:15:35 -0700, "Steven Dz" <snurf_co@hotmail.com>
wrote:
| Quote: | Hi all,
I've been charged with setting up internal servers with the ability to handle up to
5,000 concurrent connections for (6) 300Kbps clips of about 1:20 (one minute,
twenty seconds) in duration. It's for an internal 'commercial' of sorts (exciting HR stuff!)
Bandwidth isn't an issue
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No perhaps not, but congestion and packet collision might be. I hope
your network admins don't mind you taking down their system in this
way ;-)
Perhaps you'd be better considering using multicast if your campus
network is private - provide a unicast station (proxy) at each end of
a star and you're only moving that data over the subnet rather than
the entire network <g>
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/serve/multiwp.aspx
| Quote: | as we run a campus wide GigE network (I've calculated the bandwidth requirement to be 188MB max - sound right?)
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Not according to my maths. I got 1500Mbps from windows calculator -
you should have too ( 5 000 * 300 000 / 1 000 000) in Mbps.
Then you've forgotten "fast start" and "fast cache", where the
streaming server is *by default* configured to send the data to the
client faster than realtime. So, if the client reports it can accept
500kbps and the server has spare bandwidth, it'll send down 500kbps
resulting in delivery of the complete clip in 48 seconds.
That's just multiplied your network congestion by 40%. You may want to
consider turning off the fast start features because when everybody
potentially hits the server at once, the network may choke.
| Quote: | What I'm not sure of is how many servers do I need to allocate.
Our preferred box is a dual xeon 3Ghz 64bit with 2GB or 4GB
RAM and mirrored SATA 80GB drives. I'm assuming the clips
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That's way more RAM than is actually needed to run a media server.
Is this a one-off event or are you staking out your turf ?
Maybe you can use them for a render farm afterwards ?
| Quote: | (about 5MB each) would all be cached in memory, so it's really
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Yep, that happens while the clip is still being requested so you
should be good to go there.
| Quote: | a matter of how many sessions each server can support and
how much bandwidth it can push out a couple GigE or 100MB NICs.
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Pretty much right, yeah.
| Quote: | I've searched around and the MS document on capacity planning says:
"For example, if online training content is delivered at a bit rate of 300
Kbps to 500 concurrent users, the server system and network must be
capable of handling 150 megabits per second. If the server meets the
minimum requirements for running Windows Media Services, at least six
Windows Media servers would be required to service this demand."
but this is based on server specs of "single processor (233 megahertz)
computer with 256 MB of RAM". How do I extrapolate this to current
hardware? Does anyone have a good calculator for this? I fear I'll
come back with a number and be asked to adjust the server count
based on variables (bit rate, connections, etc).
According to http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/serve/features.aspx,
"Using a 64-bit version of Windows Media Services can result in scalability
increases of over 40% compared to the 32-bit version running on the
same hardware."
Oh, if you could reply back / cc to my (spam friendly!) email account
snurf_co@hotmail.com, I'd greatly appreciate it.
Thanks in advance,
Steve Dz |
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