Requirements

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Windows Terminal Services can be installed on any machine that supports Windows 2000 Server. It requires approximately 14 MB of additional hard disk space to host the client installation files, but otherwise no additional space for the operating system. However, the real requirements are substantially higher for a machine that will be used with Windows Terminal Services in application server mode. Since each user will be executing his or her programs on the server itself, you need to determine exactly how your users work and what their real requirements are. Each installation will be different, but we can provide some guidelines to help you size your server appropriately.

RAM

Each session on the Windows Terminal Services server will use a minimum of approximately 20 MB of RAM for that session just to log on. Add to this any RAM required to run the programs that each session launches. A typical user running Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Excel while connecting to the Internet will use approximately 40 MB of RAM, or approximately 20 MB beyond what the session itself requires. However, a power user can easily use twice that amount, while developers or other extreme users can go even farther.

CPU

Predicting exactly how much CPU power will be required per user is difficult, since each user has a different mix of applications. But a Pentium II processor running at 400 MHz should be able to support between 15 and 30 users depending on the type of user and assuming sufficient RAM is available to prevent excessive swapping.

Network Utilization

Typical network utilization depends on the type of client and the level of graphics being transmitted (an 800-by-600 connection takes a lot less bandwidth to support than a 1280-by-1024 connection), but the average bandwidth per user should work out to somewhere between 2 and 6 Kbps.

Capacity Planning

The figures just mentioned should give you some starting points to plan your Terminal Services implementation, but the ultimate capacity your implementation will require depends on your situation and scenario. Use these figures only as a starting point for your own planning. You should create a test environment that mimics your ultimate implementation on a smaller scale with real users and real applications to gather your own data. Some of the factors that play a major role in the requirements of your terminal services implementation are as follows:

  • Which applications do your users run? Do they use a single dedicated application or a wide variety of essentially standard applications?
  • Are your users primarily performing a single, routine task, or are they knowledge workers using the computer as their primary tool?
  • Are your users all connected via a LAN, or are they a mix of WAN, LAN, and mobile users?


Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Administrator's Companion, Vol. 1
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Administrators Companion (IT-Administrators Companion)
ISBN: 1572318198
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2000
Pages: 366

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