Minimum Hardware Requirements

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I have a Win2k Print server with about 450 print queues on it, all HP 4000 and up. We are experiencing some performance problems so I have been looking at the load on the server and I am trying to figure out if upping the hardware will help. This is what I am seeing please let me know what you think I should be using for hardware

Over a normal 5 hour time period the server is printing about 6000 jobs consisting of about 12000 pages, an average job size is about 1.5MB but can go as high as 20MB. I would like to have enough headroom to handle a 40-50% increase in volume

Please help Microsoft has NO guidelines to help size print servers – BAD BILL – it only one of the core operations in EVERY company
 
If you are blocked on processor usage you might get an improvement in
performance by turning off "Enable advanced printing features" for each
printer. This will force the workstations to rip the jobs taking the load
away from the server. A potential downside is the print files may become
larger although it shouldn't be too bad for the PCL6 driver from HP.

--
Tony Edgecombe
www.frogmorecs.com/ng
Software for printing


Wojer said:
I have a Win2k Print server with about 450 print queues on it, all HP 4000
Click to expand...
and up. We are experiencing some performance problems so I have been looking
at the load on the server and I am trying to figure out if upping the
hardware will help. This is what I am seeing please let me know what you
think I should be using for hardware.
Over a normal 5 hour time period the server is printing about 6000 jobs
Click to expand...
consisting of about 12000 pages, an average job size is about 1.5MB but can
go as high as 20MB. I would like to have enough headroom to handle a 40-50%
increase in volume.
Please help Microsoft has NO guidelines to help size print servers - BAD
Click to expand...
BILL - it only one of the core operations in EVERY company.
 
A big resource hit on the print server is the number and type of clients
connecting to the server. If all the clients are Win2k or XP the connection
protocol type is RPC. Win9x clients connect over SMB. SMB overhead is less
since this is like coping a file to a share.

As Tony stated, forcing the clients to render the data, rather than adding
this to the server load, will allow greater scalability.


There is a white paper on this but it does not state that with x Win2k
clients and y Win9x clients sending 75% EMF and 25% RAW formatted jobs one
needs this much ram and this much processing power.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/technologies/fileandprint/print/scalability.asp

The hardware required depends on these factors

· Number of clients

· Clients' operating system version

· Number, size, and frequency of jobs

· Type of jobs

· Number of printers

· Type of drivers

· Type of printers

Also review the other white papers at this site for additional print
information
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/technologies/fileandprint/print
--
Alan Morris
Windows Printing Team
Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbhowto

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
 
Thanks for the things to try.... Here is some more info

· Number of clients = 250

· Clients' operating system version = Citrix\Windows 2000 Terminal server

· Number, size, and frequency of jobs = 1000~1500 jobs an hour, Size = 1.5MB~20MB

· Type of jobs = .DOC, .EXL, .TIF

· Number of printers = 400

· Type of drivers = HP PCL 5e

· Type of printers = HP 4000 sires
 
--------------------
From: "=?Utf-8?B?V29qZXI=?=" <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Minimum Hardware Requirements
Date: Fri, 23 Apr 2004 20:21:03 -0700


Thanks for the things to try.... Here is some more info

· Number of clients = 250

· Clients' operating system version = Citrix\Windows 2000 Terminal
server

· Number, size, and frequency of jobs = 1000~1500 jobs an hour,
Size = 1.5MB~20MB

· Type of jobs = .DOC, .EXL, .TIF

· Number of printers = 400

· Type of drivers = HP PCL 5e

· Type of printers = HP 4000 sires
----------------------

In spite of all the numbers you provided, the best way to determine your
hardware needs for your particular environment is to run an extensive
Performance Monitor log on your system.

- CPU usage is a concern, so all counters from the "Processor" performance
object should be logged.
- Memory usage is also a concern, so all counters from the "Memory"
performance object should also be logged.
- The same should be done for "Physical Disk" (to see if there is a
bottleneck here, in terms of actually spooler folder use).
- Also if you grab All Counters and All Instances from the "Process"
performance object, then you will be able to see how the Spoolsv process is
using the system (as well as other processes that are making use of system
resources)

With the above information in a counter log (I would suggest a 5 minute
interval, running for a good week) you will have a good idea about whether
or not it really IS a hardware threshold you are reaching. Also, you can
extrapolate the numbers to build a system that will give you a good amount
of projected overhead.

Hope this helps!
Cheeers,

--
~~ JASON HALL ~~
~ Performance Support Specialist,
~ Microsoft Enterprise Platforms Support
~ This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.
~ Use of included script samples are subject to the terms specified at
http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyright.htm
~ Note: For the benefit of the community-at-large, all responses to this
message are best directed to the newsgroup/thread from which they
originated.
 
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