white paper Capacity and Scaling of Microsoft Terminal Server on the Unisys ES7000/600 Unisys Systems & Technology Modeling and Measurement This technical white paper has been written for IT professionals who are responsible for preparing and deploying a Unisys ES7000/600 server configured as a Microsoft Terminal Server. The paper reviews the scalability benchmark results of a 4- and 8-processor ES7000/600 server configured as a Terminal Server, and discusses specific results about server resource usage and user response times. 2 Table of Contents Executive Overview 5 Introduction 6 Test Environment 6 Test Components and Tools 6 Hardware 7 Software 8 Remote Desktop Client 8 Simulated User Scripts 8 Microsoft Office 9 Mail and Web Service 9 Print Service 9 Analysis Support Tools 9 Operating System 9 Methodology 9 Test Procedure 10 Terminal Server Capacity 10 X64 versus x86 10 Scaling Terminal Server 11 CPU Usage and Hyperthreading 11 Response Time 12 System Characteristics 13 Resource Requirements 13 Memory Usage 13 Disk Usage 15 Network Usage 16 3 Settings, Tunings, Best Practices 16 Office Configuration Settings 17 Registry Settings 17 ConnManagerPoll 17 NoRecentDocsHistory 18 Best Practices 18 Conclusion 18 Additional Online Resources 19 List of Figures Figure 1. Test Configuration 6 List of Tables Table 1. Benefits of a Terminal Server 5 Table 2. Unisys ES7000/600 7 Table 3. Supporting Systems 8 Table 4. Workload Descriptions 8 Table 5. Theoretical Limits for Knowledge Worker Sessions 10 Table 6. Office Options 17 List of Charts Chart 1. Terminal Server Scaling 11 Chart 2. Response Time 12 Chart 3. User Cycle Time 12 Chart 4. Memory Usage 14 Chart 5. Disk Utilization 15 Chart 6. Network Traffic 16 4 Executive Overview A Terminal Server allows remote client devices to access and use Windows server desktops and applications via a TCP/IP connection. A user’s applications are executed on the server and the virtual desktop is transmitted across the network to the client device. Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition1 with Terminal Server enabled, breaks the barrier imposed by the predecessor x862, 32-bit architecture, for scaling up the number of terminal server users. Furthermore, the x64 edition effectively runs 32-bit legacy applications without emulation in addition to newer 64-bit applications. In this report we show that a Unisys ES7000/600 Terminal Server, with Windows Server 2003 x64, exceeds previous Windows x86 limits with a 4-processor configuration and further scales up with 8-processors while running the Knowledge Worker workload described later in this paper. The ES7000/600 can support up to 620 Knowledge Workers, which is more than twice the number that can be supported on an x86 Windows system. The ES7000/600 can operate at a higher processor utilization level than commodity servers while still providing the same amount of processing headroom per server. The tests performed in this benchmark pushed the ES7000/600 server’s utilization levels to the limit while still delivering acceptable response times. However, in a real-world configuration, a system administrator should reserve processing headroom for varying user workloads. Scaling up your Terminal Server with the advantages of server-based computing is now a viable business decision. Consider the advantages of building a large server to include more economies of scale and fewer licenses. 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Windows Server 2003 x64 Editions require x64 processors. X64 allows x86 32-bit applications to run natively. X64 processors have 64-bit extensions. X64 and 64-bit are interchangeable in this paper. 2. X86 is an architecture and a hardware platform that uses 32-bit addressing. X86 Windows refers to any version of Windows that runs on an x86 platform and thus uses 32-bit addressing. X86 and 32-bit are interchangeable in this paper. 3. Content in this table was extracted from a Microsoft Technical Overview of Terminal Services 2003. 5 Introduction Test Environment Simulating the potential use of a product has long been Test Components and Tools known to be a useful guideline for system planners. In this The test environment is defined by Microsoft’s Terminal white paper, Unisys provides actual data from a benchmark Services Scalability Planning Tools (TSScaling). This is a that simulated a Terminal Services user workload on a suite of tools to assist with capacity planning for Microsoft Unisys ES7000/600 enterprise server. The information in Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server. Organizations can this white paper is useful for customers and system manipulate simulated loads on a server to determine planners as they seek to make reasonable decisions whether it is able to handle the load that the organization regarding Terminal Services solutions. expects. TSScaling is available online from the Processing capacity and memory are two of the most Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit Tools. important capabilities of a Terminal Server. The ES7000/600 The measurement environment consisted of hardware and provides both of these qualities, making it an ideal platform software components. The hardware components - depicted for Terminal Server solutions. Using the results of the 4- and below - communicated through a Local Area Network (LAN). 8-processor platform tests, we will show that the Unisys This LAN configuration avoids interference with network ES7000/600 Terminal Server can scale up to meet the traffic not associated with the test environment. needs of large-scale customers. The benchmark test environment simulated a user workload Workstations Domain Exchange & that produces a heavy demand on a server’s resources. For Emulating Users ES7000/600 Controller IIS example, one where users access several applications simultaneously, enter data at a moderate speed, and perform complex operations. It is a recognized industry best practice that a customer’s anticipated workload be LAN simulated in a customized test environment prior to Figure 1. Test Configuration installation. This gives a system planner a closer understanding of the necessary server requirements needed to handle the expected workload. To provide a better understanding of these simulation results, this white paper will first describe the benchmark environment and the methodology. Then it will provide a short discussion about the benchmark’s results. It will also describe the impact of those results on a system’s resources—processors, memory, disk, and network. Then to conclude, we’ll review some useful tips that could help you optimize your Terminal Server environment. 6 Hardware The main hardware component is the Unisys ES7000/600 Real-Time Enterprise Server. Detailed product information is available on the Unisys Web site. The Unisys ES7000/600 was configured with four or eight processors along with one or two memory units depending on the specific test. Refer to Table 2 for a summary of the system components. Msmn_g =igjih_hnKo[hncns >_m]lcjncih =^S`ObW\U AgabS[ ;WQ`]a]Tb EW\R]ea AS`dS` ! 2ObOQS\bS`. f$" 3RWbW]\ $"PWb 7\bSZð FS]\ñ ;> >`]QSaa]`a " ]` & !! 56h &;0 :! 1OQVS =\S ! 50 [S[]`g c\Wb T]` "1>C Q]\TWUc`ObW]\ ]` ;S[]`g Be] ! 50 W\bS`ZSOdSR c\Wba T]` &1>C Q]\TWUc`ObW]\ [S[]`g c\Wba CaSR bVS [Of[S[ P]]bW\W aeWbQV T]` a][S bSaba b] S\OPZS EW\R]ea b] caS ]\Zg O ^]`bW]\ ]T bVS ^VgaWQOZ [S[]`g 3;11:/@WW=< 1F ! 2WaY AcPagabS[ " RWaYa( %! 50 ^S` RWaY #Y @>; " :C<a @/72 =/ =\S W\bS`\OZ RWaY T]` bVS ]^S`ObW\U agabS[ W\bS`\OZ =\S ab`W^S ]T $ RWaYa T]` BA caS` ^`]TWZSa :]UWQOZ 2WaY D]Zc[Sa0 " SfbS`\OZ =\S ab`W^S ]T & RWaYa T]` ;WQ`]a]Tb =TTWQS Be] ab`W^Sa SOQV eWbV & RWaYa T]` ^OUS TWZSa 3[cZSf :WUVb>cZaS :> 60/ T]` 3fbS`\OZ 2WaY Ab]`^]`b ;W\W^]`b R`WdS` dS`aW]\ %" <Sbe]`Y 7\bS`TOQS 1O`R 7\bSZð >@= AS`dS` ;B 2cOZ >]`b N[\f_ ,( Ohcmsm ?M1***)0** There were three other major hardware components in the test environment: • Domain Controller and Test Controller system: This is the Domain Name Server for the domain and it runs the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) service and Active Directory.