Chapter12.Modeling and Capacity Planning

Chapter 12. Modeling and Capacity Planning

We always try to anticipate the bad things that could happen to our online activities: What if there is a network or server crash? What if our customer traffic really doubles this quarter? What if we don't deploy new servers and routers for another six months?

The long-term functions discussed in this chapter and Chapter 11, "Load Testing," ensure that there are adequate resources and that we better understand how to structure operational options. (The long-term time scale is days or weeks versus the minutes and seconds involved in real-time management processes.)

The long-term function of load testing is discussed in Chapter 11; this current chapter discusses the long-term functions of simulation modeling and capacity planning. The text starts by discussing the advantages and complexity of simulation modeling. It then discusses some models and finishes with a section on capacity planning.