{"id":8747,"date":"2007-01-23T21:03:00","date_gmt":"1999-11-29T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=8747"},"modified":"2007-01-23T21:03:00","modified_gmt":"1999-11-29T20:00:00","slug":"how-to-improve-windows-server-based-computing-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=8747","title":{"rendered":"How To Improve Windows Server Based Computing Performance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Whether you use Terminal Services, Citrix, 2X, ProPalms or something else, the core of performance optimisation is based in Windows.\u00a0 There&#8217;s a Microsoft <a href=\"http:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/?kbid=555741&amp;;SD=tech\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">KB article<\/a> that details some basic steps that will help you get the most out of your servers.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>It starts with getting the hardware right.\u00a0 If you&#8217;re buying now you&#8217;ll get 64 bit processors.\u00a0 That&#8217;s a good start:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Dual CPU&#8217;s with Dual Core or Quad Core support.  <\/li>\n<li>Memory &#8211; 2-4 GB RAM.  <\/li>\n<li>Optional: DVD + Floppy.  <\/li>\n<li>Raid Adapter with at least 128 RAM, that support Raid 1 with Hot Spare disk.  <\/li>\n<li>Backup Battery for Raid Adapter.  <\/li>\n<li>Three disks of at least 74 GB Ultra SCSI 3 15000 RPM or 74 GB SAS 15000 RPM (Raid 1 + Hotspare).  <\/li>\n<li>Dual Power Supply.  <\/li>\n<li>Remote Management Adapter.  <\/li>\n<li>Dual Network Adapter 1-10 GB (Server Adapter) with an option for &quot;Teaming&quot; (Fiber Channel Network Adapters recommended).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A quick note here.\u00a0 Memory is a very interesting subject and it&#8217;s usually the bottleneck on deciding how many users you can load onto a Terminal Server.\u00a0 Note that 32 bit applications are very memory inefficient on 64 bit operating systems.\u00a0 64 bit operating systems are capable of addressing\u00a0serving much more RAM.\u00a0 Have a read of Bernhard Tritsch&#8217;s (Terminal Services author and MVP) &quot;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.wtstek.com\/item2\/Article20041125.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Big Iron Test<\/a>&quot;.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>Next up is is operating system.\u00a0 Obviously you go with Windows 2003 now.\u00a0 Windows Longhorn will offer some serious upgrades which may accelerate it&#8217;s deployment.\u00a0 Do you go 32 bit or 64 bit. Having a 64bit CPU give you the option of either.\u00a0 As always, do some testing:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Are\u00a0the applications that will be used on the Terminal Server supported when\u00a0running under x64 runtime or WOW32 under x64 runtime?\u00a0 Remember that 16 bit applications will not run on a 64 bit OS.  <\/li>\n<li>Did tests show any improvement or degradation in the server performance when you ran them on a 64 bit OS?  <\/li>\n<li>Does the current server hardware support 32-Bit runtime and\/or x64 runtime?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You&#8217;ll also want to make sure that you run the latest service pack, currently SP1 for Windows 2003.\u00a0 Some optimisations include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Use a dedicated server for Terminal Server tasks.\u00a0 Don&#8217;t think &quot;I&#8217;ve got a server with loads of RAM and CPU &#8211; why not install SQL on it&quot;.\u00a0 That will kill the server.\u00a0 You bought that hardware to replace PC&#8217;s, not other servers.  <\/li>\n<li>Verify that third party products are supported under Terminal Server environment.\u00a0 Watch out for dodgy applications &#8211; they sometimes require &quot;application silos&quot; where servers are dedicated to particular applications.  <\/li>\n<li>Consider using &quot;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/downloads\/details.aspx?FamilyID=1B286E6D-8912-4E18-B570-42470E2F3582&amp;displaylang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">User Profile Hive Cleanup Service<\/a>&quot;.  <\/li>\n<li>look at using a large page file.\u00a0 You will want to know how to <a href=\"http:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/?id=237740\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">overcome the 4,095 MB paging file size limit<\/a> in Windows.  <\/li>\n<li>You should also look into how to <a href=\"http:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/kb\/889654\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">determine the appropriate page file size for 64-bit versions of Windows<\/a> Server 2003.  <\/li>\n<li>Optimsise graphics performance (Control Panel -&gt; &quot;System&quot; -&gt; &quot;Advanced&quot;) and change &quot;Visual Effects&quot; and &quot;Adjust for best performance of:&quot; and &quot;Memory usage&quot;.  <\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/kb\/833721\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Optimise memory management<\/a> by editing &quot;boot.ini&quot; file.  <\/li>\n<li>Use the latest Client &#8230; RDP, Citrix, termanal OS, etc.  <\/li>\n<li>Consider implementing QoS (Quality of Services) or Class of Service to boost RDP sessions over the network.  <\/li>\n<li>Use low resolution for RDP display and consider disabling RDP features such as Auto Network drive mapping, Audio etc.  <\/li>\n<li>Use as few GPO&#8217;s (Group Policy Object) as possible.\u00a0 Check out loop back processing &#8230; very useful if you have users who have both full and thin client requirements and need differing policies depending where they have logged in.  <\/li>\n<li>Do not use batch technology scripts.\u00a0 Powershell, VBS, WMI, Windows Power Tools offer more options and better performance.  <\/li>\n<li>Use printers drivers signed by Microsoft.  <\/li>\n<li>If at all possible, only redirect the primary printer on full clients.\u00a0 Try to configure printer mapping so that it logons do not wait for them.  <\/li>\n<li>Look at pritner optimisation technology such as Riverbed, ThinPrint, etc, when printers are across a WAN from the Terminal Servers.\u00a0 Some Citrix alternative technologies include optimisation solutions.  <\/li>\n<li>If you enable NLB (Network Load Balancing), check that the current network equipment can handle NLB traffic.  <\/li>\n<li>Do not use remote &quot;Roaming Profiles&quot; for Terminal Server access.\u00a0 In fact, it might be worth not using roaming profiles at all.\u00a0 Check out a free alternative called <a href=\"http:\/\/www.loginconsultants.com\/index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=86&amp;Itemid=109\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Flex Profiles<\/a>.  <\/li>\n<li>Disable unnecessary services\/options in the user GUI (Graphical User Interface) such as Wallpaper, Active Desktop, Screen Saver, etc.  <\/li>\n<li>Use a Terminal License Server that is local to the Terminal Servers.\u00a0 MS PSS call #1: make sure you configure the right type of CAL in the TS configuration on the Terminal Services and that it matches the CAL&#8217;s on the Terminal License Server.  <\/li>\n<li>There&#8217;s a recommendation to consider disabling the use of web browsers.\u00a0 That&#8217;s not all that realistic.\u00a0 What you can do is use a proxy filter to prevent unwanted bandwith eaters.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Test, test, test.\u00a0 Even when you go into production, you should retain a test environment.\u00a0 You may even need a development environment if you have internally developed applications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whether you use Terminal Services, Citrix, 2X, ProPalms or something else, the core of performance optimisation is based in Windows.\u00a0 There&#8217;s a Microsoft KB article that details some basic steps that will help you get the most out of your servers.\u00a0 It starts with getting the hardware right.\u00a0 If you&#8217;re buying now you&#8217;ll get 64 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/?p=8747\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;How To Improve Windows Server Based Computing Performance&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8747\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aidanfinn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}