Servers come in different sizes and types depending on the hardware.
Anything from 1 CPU to a Quad or 8 way that has 4 or 8times the machine capacity to handle the work.
Processing speeds and job handling are dependant upon the servers capacity to handle the numerous workloads involved in dealing with the underlying operating system and the various application requests issued to it.
Memory also plays a large role in the tasks involved.
Architects need to know the type of software you intend running ie is it memory intensive due to underlying complex code, traffic intensive with many requests for simple quick code requests, long running applications or just straight forward ‘accept and respond’, without too much activity etc
Most vendors demand a specific machine capacity for using their software so as to avoid a very slow or unreasonable response to the end user.
(so you can’t blame them for inefficent/bad code).
If one server will not be sufficient or is under optimised - more can be hooked up into a cluster to share the workload across multiple machines - loadbalancing.
2/3/4.Performance is a measurable indicator - often related to reponse times and how an increase in users affects the overall performance ie 1 person could get a quick response, but if a 100 ppl log on - it degrades exponentially as the application requests queue up for resources - no machine can handlel all requets at the same time so they wait in turn.
Benchmarks are a measurable indicator of expected responses versus number of users - what response with 5 users, then 50 then 100 etc normally worked around a guestimate as to required times, expected daily activity and the peak loads typically at monthend, when everyone wants to use the system.
Performance benchmarks try to provide a realistic test scenario before you go live in production, to see if your system will handle these different scenarios.
Benchmarks also let you plan for expansion - if a server can handle 50 users with BO etc and you know that another 50 users will be wanting to eventually also use the system, then you know to buy another server before that happens.
Overall performance is the key - and that encompasses everything from the moment someone presses enter until he receives the data for his request. So even if the server is fast, the network or database could be so slow that it impacts the whole experience.
5.WinRunner measures the size and times of each task and it’s data content as it follows the application request - from the initial user request, to the server, then to the database, back to the server and finally back to the users PC.
The size of the data being transmitted is important as well as the times taken.
This tool also allows you to simulate many ‘virtual’ users without actually having 50 ppl log on through the use of scripts.
Ppl also compress network data messages/info into packets to help minimise the size of the content so that it streams faster acorss the cables.
i.e. some reports are huge and each data transmission is divied up into specific ‘packets’ for transmission - so if you compress/zip the data, it does less work in creating these html packets.
It is not clear to me that you are talking specifically about Webi servers or just servers “in general” instead. I’ll move the topic to the General Discussion area, and see what happens.
If you’re looking for Webi (or other Business Objects tools) tuning, this is the right place. If you’re looking for general server sizing / benchmarking ideas, there are probably other sources on the Internet that are better. 8)
Thus my generic reply
One thing I forgot to mention - there is a distinct difference between an application server and a web server - one processes complex tasks and the other primarily serves up web content for IE viewing.
You are posting your question multiple times in multiple forums. We call this cross-posting, and if you read the link, you’ll see that it violates our rules. Please stop it.
seenu_helwar, please pursue your question in this topic that is in the General Discussion forum. I have posted an edit in a pre-existing post where you asked this sort of question (again), and I am deleting or locking your three additional duplicate posts.
If you post more duplicates, I or another moderator may delete it, even if it has a reply. Restrain yourself to keeping the discussion in a single thread!
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