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Sizing a Windows 2000 Server for Terminal Services 1

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evolveit

IS-IT--Management
Mar 22, 2002
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AU
Hi All,
Just wondering what hardware specification I would require as my terminal server to run an accounting package for 25 users (98 & 2000 clients).

Thanks

Nick
 
Depends on the accounting package, and what else your users will be running - Word, Outlook, IE, Excel, etc.

There is no "One size fits all", but you shouldn't go too far wrong with a Dual processor machine with 2Gb RAM. That is the normal spec for a Terminal Server aimed at 50 users.

Halving the spec doesn't mean that your accounting app will work perfectly, however...

Hope this helps CitrixEngineer@yahoo.co.uk
 
Thanks for that. They will be running office applications. Would you run more than one server - say a terminal server and an application server / domain server?
 
No change to what I said above really;

If I was doing this implementation blind (I know nothing about your accounting package or the rest of your environment), I would;

Set up a single processor server as DC, and setup DNS on it.

If the accountacy app has two distinct portions; ie Client and Server, I would prefer to run the Server portion on a 3rd server, and just run the client on the Terminal Server.

The 3rd server I would make a user file repository, and somewhere to store Home Directories and data redirected from profiles. Data stored in profiles causes them to bloat, and dramatically increase user login time and enhance their perception that the system is slow.

The DC doesn't have to be anything meaty, nor does the File server - it just needs a nice, big disk, and preferably hardware RAID for redundancy.

I would *guess* that a single Terminal Server of the spec I listed would comfortably support 25 users - probably more.

However, I would pilot the implementation in two stages;

1. To 5 users for 2 weeks. Get a feel for the type of comments they have about the system and the kinds of issues they face - especially printing. Monitor using perfmon to get a baseline from which you can predict the kinds of things you might encounter with the full user quota on board. This is a good time to tweak profiles and set Group Policies.

2. Roll out to everyone else. Expect the first few weeks to be quite hectic as the dust settles and users get used to a slightly different way of working - an RDP client is not a PC. This is quite a difficult concept to get across to some users, who will try to customise it, install software over the web or from e-mails and so on.

CitrixEngineer@yahoo.co.uk
 
Great Stuff CitrixEngineer. You have been a huge help.
 
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