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How many users can one server handle ???

Tags:
  • handle
  • users
  • many
  • Cloud Computing
  • Servers
  • how
  • can
  • Windows Server 2008
  • one
  • Business Computing
Last response: in Business Computing
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July 2, 2014 3:52:58 PM

Hi , I'm going to create a system for my company , cloud system if you may , i don't know the name , it's going to consist of a number of servers depends on how many users can one server handle, with windows server 2008 installed, they will be hosting an accounting software with a sql server database , and Kvm switch unit for each employee , there will be 200 employees , working on the same server ,using this software, through the kvm switches units , my question is , how many users can one server handle , keeping in mind they will all log in at the same time , and if you can recommend servers with a certain amount of users per server , i have looked at some servers , hp and ibm and dell , but i don't know how many users can any server handle , regarding speed and not freezing in the process... Thank you so much for taking the time in reading this ...

More about : users server handle

July 2, 2014 4:10:08 PM

Quote:
how many users can one server handle


For a recent Windows sever install, no real limit. Of course, you have to have the appropriate number of CALs, and sufficient hardware.

But some of your other comments are troubling. A KVM for each user? That is NOT the way to do it.
At the very least, each user needs a thin client.

200 employees all connecting through KVMs is the wrong way to do this, for multiple reasons.
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July 2, 2014 4:47:05 PM

they all going to run a copy of the accounting software? how much budget?
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July 2, 2014 4:49:20 PM

USAFRet said:
Quote:
how many users can one server handle


For a recent Windows sever install, no real limit. Of course, you have to have the appropriate number of CALs, and sufficient hardware.

But some of your other comments are troubling. A KVM for each user? That is NOT the way to do it.
At the very least, each user needs a thin client.

200 employees all connecting through KVMs is the wrong way to do this, for multiple reasons.

Thank you so much for your answer , but what i'm talking about is not how many user to windows server , i mean the machine how many user can the server machine handle, for example (HP ProLiant DL380p Gen8) or
(IBM Server X3500 M4 Tower ) like how many user can i connect to the server before it start to halt and freeze , and if you can suggest a server and how many users that can handle i would really appreciate it ..
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July 2, 2014 4:50:51 PM

rgd1101 said:
they all going to run a copy of the accounting software? how much budget?


yes all will work on the same software , and the same sql server database , and i don't have a budget in mind , but what is appropriate , so that the software would run fast with no freezing or interruption ...
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July 2, 2014 4:53:14 PM

If you're talking physical connections, one, and only one user. You need to set up a network.
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July 2, 2014 4:55:47 PM

ex_bubblehead said:
If you're talking physical connections, one, and only one user. You need to set up a network.

there is a network , i'm talking about server specification wise , what server should i get , and how many users should i assign for it , specification wise ...
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July 2, 2014 4:56:38 PM

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and i don't have a budget in mind

This project to destined to fail.
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July 2, 2014 5:00:18 PM

USAFRet said:
Quote:
and i don't have a budget in mind

This project to destined to fail.

Well thank you for your input on that , even though i didn't ask you if it's going to succeed or fail , its a different question , you think , you can help on that question , the original question? again thank you so much for your time ...
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July 2, 2014 5:02:52 PM

etools said:
USAFRet said:
Quote:
and i don't have a budget in mind

This project to destined to fail.

Well thank you for your input on that , even though i didn't ask you if it's going to succeed or fail , its a different question , you think , you can help on that question ? again thank you so much for your time ...


What you have proposed.. 200 users, all connected to a single server box via KVM...will not work for many, many reasons.
You cannot do that.

Nor should you.
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July 2, 2014 5:04:59 PM

USAFRet said:
etools said:
USAFRet said:
Quote:
and i don't have a budget in mind

This project to destined to fail.

Well thank you for your input on that , even though i didn't ask you if it's going to succeed or fail , its a different question , you think , you can help on that question ? again thank you so much for your time ...


What you have proposed.. 200 users, all connected to a single server box via KVM...will not work for many, many reasons.
You cannot do that.

Nor should you.

it can be multiple servers that's why i'm asking here..
but can you tell me Like what "the reasons" , can you please tell me ..? , and if not , how would you suggest i do it ?
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July 2, 2014 5:18:49 PM

To start, this needs to be a network. Not local users on 1 or more servers.

Myself and many others in here could recommend a whole host of software/hardware combinations. But not to be rude....if you're asking at this level, the answers may beyond your expertise.
You can gain the expertise, but probably not in building an enterprise level network database and hoping it does not bankrupt the company.

You cannot do this via a crapload of KVMs.
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July 2, 2014 5:24:07 PM

USAFRet said:
To start, this needs to be a network. Not local users on 1 or more servers.

Myself and many others in here could recommend a whole host of software/hardware combinations. But not to be rude....if you're asking at this level, the answers may beyond your expertise.
You can gain the expertise, but probably not in building an enterprise level network database and hoping it does not bankrupt the company.

You cannot do this via a crapload of KVMs.

Well thank you , but the network is already in place , the software is up and running for years on the network via server and clients , each user have already a client computer , and the crap load of kvm's are installed and working in a friend's of mine company , and i didn't ask you to suggest a whole host of software , just asked about a server specification , and how many users it can handle , and me and my very little expertise can handle the rest but thank you for your concern .
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July 2, 2014 6:02:12 PM

You probably need to set up a Citrix-based environment with netscalers to apportion the load among members of a server farm. I can assure you your friend is not using simple KVM devices, which connect one set of peripherals at a time to a system.
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July 2, 2014 6:24:00 PM

Onus said:
You probably need to set up a Citrix-based environment with netscalers to apportion the load among members of a server farm. I can assure you your friend is not using simple KVM devices, which connect one set of peripherals at a time to a system.


Well thank you very much for your reply , and yes he's using Citrix based environment , and it is my intention to install it on the server so it would be just the one application running and only that application that the user can access, i really appreciate all your help really , but let's replace the kvm with thin clients , zero thin clients from hp , and all are loggin in the same server , which has the application along with the database installed on , let's say i wanna divide my 200 users on multiple servers so the work load won't be a lot for one server, what server should i get , within the 10000$ range , and how many users you think i should assign per server..
Again thank you all for all your help
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July 3, 2014 3:12:33 AM

For the number and type of servers, you'll need to contact someone with specific experience with your database application. One advantage of using a Netscaler though is you can add capacity by adding servers to the server farm. So, if two servers isn't cutting it, you can add two more, or three more, etc.
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July 3, 2014 4:34:11 AM

Hi,

do you already have server in place or you are planning on purchasing one?
your question was if the server can handle all the user access and workload.
Well, it depends how server is strong. if you buy server with one CPU and 2GB of RAM, of course it won't be enough.
But if you put at least 2x 4-core CPU with 32GB of RAM, you can have a nice and strong server.
On this one, you can install Windows Server 2008 R2 and turn it to be Hyper-V, and then install virtual machines and then build server with your applications. Or you can choose VMware, it is up to you.
I would prefer VMware, but Microsoft is putting a lot of effort in virtualization, and soon it will be very very close to Vmware.

But, I would suggest you investigate a bit. Ask your friend how strong their server are, what do they require, how often people are connecting to the server, when they backup the database, what disks are they using for data, etc etc.
If you setup your environment correctly, you won't have even a single issue.
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July 3, 2014 7:26:48 AM

what is the accounting software system requirement? how much resource does it usually use cpu/ram? did you contact them for support?
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July 4, 2014 7:34:53 PM

Setting up client-server type software is not uncommon, in fact it's the most effective way of scaling out applications for workgroups to work on. However, as your number of client connections increase, the complexity increases, and of course every single workload and environment is different. When you are talking about this number of users accessing a database driven server, you need to compartmentalize this instead of looking at the whole project first.

So, lets take a look at the database first. Everything in the accounting software runs off of an SQL database you said, correct? Does the software vendor have support for only certain versions of Windows Server or something else to run the SQL database? And of course, what is their requirements for hardware resources for this many client connections? It's going to be almost impossible for anyone here to know what kind of workload you need on your database server end for this kind of thing without thoroughly knowing the software you are using as well, so contact the software vendor and get their input. After all, they built the software, they should have the tech support to be able to make these kinds of recommendations.

You are going to need multiple servers to accomplish all of this, for one we have just discussed the database server itself. You will need server (probably multiple servers) for actually running the software itself for clients to connect to. You can do this with VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) where each user has access to their own personal virtual machine for usage, but that's going to use up a lot of system resources for you probably. What you are more likely looking for is a session-based remote desktop, where there is one virtual machine each person remotes to, and are presented with an identical user session and access to the software. This reduces the amount of system resources needed somewhat, but you are still going to need multiple virtual machines to make it all work right. You need to have a connection broker, licensing servers, and the actual remote desktop session hosts for users to work off of. Again, you will have to talk with your software vendor about the necessary hardware to run individual connections here, we can't help you because every single workload and software is going to have different demands. A single HP DL360p G8 with dual six-core processors and 64 GB of RAM may be able to run 100 concurrent users accessing webpages and word documents, but it may only handle 50 concurrent users with the hardware requirements for your specific software, it's impossible for us to say that.

And then to consider failures. What happens if your remote desktop session host server goes down? Do you just let 200 employees sit and wait for a couple days while you migrate stuff around, replace servers, reinstall software, etc? Most likely not. So you have to figure in how you handle things like failed hardware, network failures, corrupt or improper configuration within the OS (both the host or with the virtual machines.) Probably for an environment like this you need to be looking into a fully fault-tolerant high availability cluster with a SAN for running your shared storage and multiple virtual machine host servers. In this way, if one of your servers goes down for some reason, whatever was running on there automatically shifts over to another running server so you can continue to operate. Clusters are VERY expensive and complex to set up. And to be quite honest even without the clustering $10k is not going to be enough to implement this sort of infrastructure. I'm setting up just two simple servers for a customer with only 30 employees and between the server hardware and licensing they've already invested over $10k.

I don't believe that anyone here is directly trying to be mean or put you down in any way about this project. It's just much more monumental than you may be thinking, and it isn't something that can be easily discussed and worked out in an online forum like this. The type of thing you are discussing here is what people build careers on, and make massive wages consulting on setting up and supporting because it is very complex and very big money to accomplish. Unfortunately with basic computer knowledge, if you try and set this up alone you will be investing thousands of dollars which simply won't work, and that's the harsh truth that was trying to be explained above I believe. It takes a skilled and knowledgeable IT expert to do this sort of thing.
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