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Test tools 

To facilitate the placement and management of simulated loads on an HP SBC server, HP used 

Terminal Services Scalability Planning Tools (TSScaling), a suite of tools developed by Microsoft to 

help organizations with Microsoft Windows® Server 2003 Terminal Server capacity planning.  
Table 1 describes these tools. 

Table 1

.  Components of TSScaling 

Component Description 

Automation tools 

Robosrv.exe 

Drives the server-side of the load simulation 

 

Robocli.exe 

Helps drive the client-side of the load simulation 

Test tools 

Qidle.exe 

Determines if any scripts have failed and require 
operator intervention 

 Tbscript.exe 

A script interpreter that helps drive the client-side load 
simulation 

Help files 

TBScript.doc 

Terminal Server bench scripting documentation 

 

TSScalingSetup.doc 

A scalability test environment set-up guide 

 

TSScalingTesting.doc 

A testing guide 

 
More information 

 

Roboserver (Robosrv.exe) and Roboclient (Robocli.exe): 

Terminal Server capacity planning

 

 

TSScaling: 

Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server Capacity and Scaling

 

User profiles 

To simulate typical workloads in this environment, HP used scripts based on the Heavy, Medium, and 

Light User profiles described in Table 2.

 

Table 2

. User profiles incorporated into the test scripts 

User class 

Activities 

Heavy User 

Heavy Users (also known as Structured Task Workers) tend to open multiple applications 
simultaneously and remain active for long periods. Heavy Users often leave applications open 
when not in use.  

Medium User 

Medium Users (also known as Knowledge Workers) are defined as users who gather, add value 
to, and communicate information in a decision-support process. Cost of downtime is variable but 
highly visible. These resources are driven by projects and ad-hoc needs towards flexible tasks. 
These workers make their own decisions on what to work on and how to accomplish the task. 
Sample tasks include: marketing, project management, sales, desktop publishing, decision 
support, data mining, financial analysis, executive and supervisory management, design, and 
authoring. 

Light User 

Light Users (also known as Data Entry Workers) input data into computer systems. Activities 
include transcription, typing, order entry, clerical work and manufacturing.  

7

 

Summary of Contents for ProLiant BL685c G5

Page 1: ...on 7 User profiles 7 Test scenarios 8 Performance and scalability metrics 8 Test topology 9 Configurations 10 HP SBC server summary 11 Performance test results 12 Perfmon values 13 Canary times 14 Test analysis summary 15 Appendix A HP BladeSystem 16 HP BladeSystem c7000 enclosure 16 Management 17 Options 17 HP BladeSystem c3000 enclosure 17 Performance 18 Management 18 Options 18 Appendix B Using...

Page 2: ...Appendix C SBC solution sizing 21 Online sizer tool 21 For more information 23 ...

Page 3: ...n Table 2 in a 64 bit HP Server Based Computing SBC environment Heavy Users Medium Users Light Users 301 444 544 Since the kernel memory constraints that limit scalability in a 32 bit HP SBC environment have been removed this performance characterization demonstrates that customers can expect to fully utilize the resources of this server in a 64 bit environment even when running their 32 bit appli...

Page 4: ... its performance per watt enhancements can improve IT responsiveness while maintaining data center costs Enhanced power efficiency Thanks to Enhanced AMD PowerNow technology and the introduction of AMD CoolCore technology Quad Core Opteron processors are very power efficient helping to reduce power needs and cooling costs in the data center For more on power management enhancements see AMD Dual Dy...

Page 5: ...ce The memory controller is able to run at a higher frequency helping to reduce memory latency and thus improving application performance Improved power management By operating independently from the memory controller the cores in a Quad Core Opteron processor can exploit the power savings offered by Enhanced PowerNow more often resulting in reduced power and cooling bills In addition the processo...

Page 6: ... henceforth referred to as the HP ProLiant BL685c G5 server blade in a 64 bit test harness Important As with any laboratory testing the performance metrics quoted in this paper are idealized In a production environment these metrics may be impacted by a variety of factors HP recommends proof of concept testing in a non production environment using the actual target application as a matter of best ...

Page 7: ...l Server Capacity and Scaling User profiles To simulate typical workloads in this environment HP used scripts based on the Heavy Medium and Light User profiles described in Table 2 Table 2 User profiles incorporated into the test scripts User class Activities Heavy User Heavy Users also known as Structured Task Workers tend to open multiple applications simultaneously and remain active for long pe...

Page 8: ...ead After these sessions finished HP added 15 more users then repeated the testing Further groups of 15 users were added until the maximum number of users was reached For Medium and Light User types HP utilized groups of ten users Performance and scalability metrics While the scripts were running HP monitored a range of Windows Performance Monitor Perfmon counters to help characterize server perfo...

Page 9: ...y increase markedly over a baseline measurement Test topology Figure 2 illustrates the HP SBC test environment Figure 2 The tested environment Note Test environments such as that shown in Figure 2 are available to customers at HP Solution Centers to help solve a wide variety of business problems 9 ...

Page 10: ...erminal Services enabled Office 2003 2P HP ProLiant DL360 G5 server with Dual Core Intel Xeon processor 3 2 GHz 2 x 2 MB L2 cache 2 GB RAM Four 72 GB 15 000 rpm SAS hard drives Integrated Smart Array P400i controller with RAID 5 NC373i Multifunction Gigabit Server Adapter Exchange Server Internet Information Services Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Microsoft I...

Page 11: ...iption Operating system OS Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition Version 5 2 3790 Service Pack 2 Build 3790 Other OS description R2 System name BL685G5 System model ProLiant BL685c G5 System type x64 based PC Processor each of 16 cores AMD64 Family 16 Model 2 Stepping 3 AuthenticAMD 2311 MHz BIOS version date HP A08 2 26 2008 SMBIOS version 2 4 Windows directory C WINDOWS System dir...

Page 12: ...rize the performance and scalability of the HP ProLiant BL685c G5 server blade Perfmon values Shows select Perfmon counter values for the Heavy User scenario Canary times Shows Heavy User response times for a sample canary script Note As with any laboratory benchmark the performance metrics quoted in this performance brief are idealized In a production environment these metrics may be impacted by ...

Page 13: ...User profiles Figure 3 shows the test results for Heavy Users Figure 3 Processor Time values for Heavy Users showing that 301 Heavy Users were supported when processor utilization reached 80 Figure 3 shows the optimal number of Heavy Users supported by the HP ProLiant BL685c G5 server blade to be 301 13 ...

Page 14: ...es began to increase markedly and consistently over a baseline level indicating that user response times had become unacceptable Figure 4 Canary time values show that response times began to become unacceptable when 340 Heavy Users were active Figure 4 indicates that the HP ProLiant BL685c G5 server blade could support 340 Heavy Users before response times started to increase markedly validating t...

Page 15: ...ure 5 Optimal numbers of users supported in the 64 bit test harness For Heavy and Medium Users HP characterized the scalability of the HP ProLiant BL685c G5 server blade through the numbers of users supported when CPU utilization reached 80 For Light Users response times became unacceptable before CPU utilization reached 80 15 ...

Page 16: ...eSystem c7000 enclosure has been designed to tackle the toughest problems facing today s IT infrastructures cost time energy and change The c7000 enclosure consolidates the essential elements of a data center power cooling management connectivity redundancy and security into a modular self tuning unit with built in intelligence In addition this enclosure provides flexibility scalability and suppor...

Page 17: ...m of 10 fans Redundant HP Onboard Administrator module support ensures that enclosure management is always available Additional power supplies up to a maximum of six can be added to the enclosure to meet changing needs HP BladeSystem c3000 enclosure The HP BladeSystem c3000 enclosure brings additional capabilities to HP BladeSystem This enclosure is ideal for remote sites needing two to eight serv...

Page 18: ...nsight Display allows easy setup and configuration from the front of the rack HP Insight Control Environment for HP BladeSystem automates deployment provisioning server and performance management and patch and vulnerability management providing a single easy to use solution for heterogeneous environments Options HP Active Cool fan technology provides superior airflow with enhanced power and acoust...

Page 19: ...mall size of this space can be particularly problematic in an HP SBC environment where a server may be responsible for hundreds of users and thousands of processes In this scenario kernel memory can become constrained making user response times unacceptably long and effectively limiting the ability of the server to scale up Historically HP SBC environments have been implemented using 1P or 2P serv...

Page 20: ...SBC environment refer to the HP white paper Scalability and performance of HP ProLiant servers on 64 bit Microsoft Windows Server 2003 in an HP SBC environment To learn about 64 bit computing in an HP SBC environment refer to the HP white paper Fundamentals of 64 bit computing in an HP SBC environment 20 ...

Page 21: ... rates correspond to fewer users Opening and closing applications rather than switching between them or moving quickly between tasks can place a heavier load on the server For accurate sizing system architects should closely match their user profiles with the Heavy Medium and Light User profiles specified by HP in Table 2 If the profiles do not match more are available using the online sizer tool ...

Page 22: ...ome screen Based on information provided by the customer the sizer can provide a quick consistent mechanism for identifying the best fit server for a particular HP SBC environment and generate a Bill of Materials BOM for that server 22 ...

Page 23: ... com site PS products feature asp f amilyID 19 productID 186 featureID 4110 Quad Core AMD Opteron processors http multicore amd com us en AMD Multi Core aspx To help us improve our documents please provide feedback at www hp com solutions feedback 2008 Hewlett Packard Development Company L P The information contained herein is subject to change without notice The only warranties for HP products an...

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