Max No of Users per Service Tier

jwilder

We have 65 users and are wondering what type of configuration we will need for RTC. About how many users can run per service? Should there be only one service per server?

bbrown

I've had a number of discussions with the Partner Technical Advisory Group (or whatever they are called now) on this subject. Here's a few points that they made:

1. There has been little or no large system load testing. So any "users per" numbers are a WAG. At least as of a few months ago. They are recommending 25 to 40 users per service depending on what they are doing. I've also heard numbers as high as 100 per service.

2. The service is 32 bit but can run on either 32 or 64 bit systems.

3. If running on a 32 bit system, then it's 1 service per system.

4. A 64 bit system can support multiple services. Allow 3 GB of memory for each service plus O/S and other requirements.

5. Service tier should not be run on the SQL box, and best to dedicate the system.

6. Their recommendation for running multiple services is to use virtualization. Run each in its own dedicated VM and group them on one or more host machine.

7. We also discuss some fault-tolerant and load balancing scenarios. The response was basically that they thought some things might work but since there has been no official testing they can't say or support.

pdj

bbrown wrote:

4. A 64 bit system can support multiple services.

But please remember that Windows x64 doesn't support different users printing from x86 apps, like the classic good old NAS or even the new NAV Web Service Server. Check KB972616 (W2008) or KB967663 (W2003) for more information...

bbrown wrote:

5. Service tier should not be run on the SQL box, and best to dedicate the system.

My WAG (nice acronym 8)) would be that it is ok for less than 20 users... Agree?

bbrown

pdj wrote:

bbrown wrote:

4. A 64 bit system can support multiple services.

But please remember that Windows x64 doesn't support different users printing from x86 apps, like the classic good old NAS or even the new NAV Web Service Server. Check KB972616 (W2008) or KB967663 (W2003) for more information...

Quite familiar with that issue. I've run into it with 2 NAS sessions on the same machine that needed to print. But the service tier does not manage printing. That is still a client side operation.

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pdj wrote:

bbrown wrote:

5. Service tier should not be run on the SQL box, and best to dedicate the system.

My WAG (nice acronym 8)) would be that it is ok for less than 20 users... Agree?

I've been generally using 25 per when doing systems recommendations for cleints. Allows for some growth. On larger systems I like to split them between more than 1 host system to provide some level of fault-tolerance.

pdj

bbrown wrote:

But the service tier does not manage printing. That is still a client side operation.

Unless you have a mobile device or something else using a NAV Web Service that should print something.

bbrown

pdj wrote:

bbrown wrote:

But the service tier does not manage printing. That is still a client side operation.

Unless you have a mobile device or something else using a NAV Web Service that should print something.

AFAIK the service does not do any printing. Printing remains a cleint-side process. Even with a Web Service it is just passing data back to the cleint.