Assessing Network and Storage Requirements
Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2
The availability of network bandwidth can affect how Group Policy settings are applied. It is also important to have sufficient network bandwidth available between servers and workstations when you deploy Roaming User Profiles, Offline Files, and Folder Redirection. Collecting information about your network infrastructure and network traffic patterns helps you plan your deployment of IntelliMirror technologies.
To plan for disk space allocation, you need to determine the disk storage that the users and computers in your organization require.
Evaluate Your Network Infrastructure
Evaluate how your network infrastructure meets your user-demand for bandwidth. If some of your users connect to your network over slow or intermittent communication links, the placement of your distribution points and other servers assumes even greater importance in your planning. Determine if any areas of your network are problematic. Where remote users are highly managed, you might justify the cost of upgrading the communication link. By default, when Windows Server 2003 detects a slow link, it does not apply all Group Policy objects to the remote user or computer. For example, security settings and administrative templates are applied, but software installation and scripts are not. The reliability and speed of your local- and wide-area communication links influence your placement of servers and the management functionality you are able to offer to users.
Offline Files, Folder Redirection, and Roaming User Profiles all transfer data files across your network. Software installation sends applications. By testing and piloting, you can best determine the amount of data that passes over your network as a result of implementing these technologies.
The central networking questions you need to answer when deploying IntelliMirror include:
What changes do you need to make in the physical, logical, and site topology of your network to support these technologies?
Does your network have the correct protocols to support these technologies?
Is your network bandwidth within and between sites sufficient to support IntelliMirror features?
You also need to collect the following data:
The number of clients at each location served. Correlate the placement of servers, routers, and domain controllers to the clients serviced by each device. Remember to include mobile clients.
Configuration information about network devices such as modems, routers, and hubs. Note whether your routers are configured to pass on broadcast packets. This information is useful when deciding where to place software distribution points.
Evaluate Your Network Traffic Patterns
Because IntelliMirror operations involve sending information across your network, knowing the pattern and load of network traffic is essential for planning. Collect the following data about your network traffic patterns:
Bandwidth demands such as peak utilization and percentage utilization.
Usage patterns. Establish whether all users log on and off at the same time, or whether user logon time is spread more evenly.
You can estimate the network load generated by software installation by noting:
Whether installation of the software is mandatory (assigned) or optional (published), and whether the assignment is to a user or to a computer.
The size of the software package that is installed.
The placement of the software distribution point in relation to the targeted users.
If you assign software to a computer, the software installation takes place when the computer is restarted. When you perform large deployments to groups of computers, the workload on your network increases substantially when the users start their computers. Consider performing such deployments so that you minimize disruptions to users.
Assigning software to be available on-demand to a user places a shortcut to the software on the user’s Start menu, but the software is not actually installed until the user starts the application. You can also use the Install this application at logon option to install software the next time the user starts the computer, or after the user logs off and then back on. To some degree the load is spread out as users install the software whenever they require it. However, in the case of large-scale deployments to many users, a significant number of users might install the assigned software within the same time period. You can spread out demand on bandwidth over time by publishing software to users so that each user decides when or if to install the package.
You also need to consider the impact of Roaming User Profiles and Folder Redirection on the network loads. If possible, try to minimize the bandwidth impact of synchronizing user data and profiles to network file servers by placing the servers so that data traveling back and forth is localized to the network segment instead of traveling over your entire network or across slow links.
Evaluate Storage Requirements
When implementing IntelliMirror technologies, you need to allocate server storage space to hold user data and settings. Allocating server storage space for user data and user settings is complicated by the variety of files (both in number and size) that each user stores on a network server. You need to determine the following:
Type of user you are supporting
Typical desktop environment in your organization
IntelliMirror technologies you are deploying
Recording this information helps you estimate how much server storage space you need to allocate for user data and profiles.
Although you can use Disk Quotas to limit the amount of server disk space available to each user, you can also choose to set a limit but not enforce it. In that case, Windows Server 2003 logs a system event whenever a user uses more than the specified amount of disk space. You can then examine the logs to estimate the amount of disk space that you need for storing user data and settings.
To calculate your server capacity needs when you use Folder Redirection, begin by listing the folders you need to redirect to the network. For example, you can redirect any of the following folders for each user: My Documents folder, Desktop, Application Data folder, and the Start menu. Then determine how much local disk space your users’ data consumes in the specified folders. You can gather this information by writing scripts (VBScript, WMI queries, or Perl, for example). Or you can use other inventory tools to gather file size data, filtering for the specified directories and known data files extensions such as .doc and .xls. Use this information to estimate the server storage space needed for Folder Redirection.
If possible, minimize the impact on bandwidth of synchronizing user data and profiles to network file servers. To do this, place the servers so that the data traveling back and forth is localized to the network segment, instead of traveling over your entire network or across slow links. Track and control the total number of users saving data files to each server, and track how much data is being stored.
You can control the disk space used to store user data and settings by imposing disk quotas or controlling the size of a user’s profile. You can monitor and enforce the size of a user’s profile by setting profile quotas. If a user’s profile is larger than the size you specify, the user is prevented from logging off until the user reduces the amount of disk space used by that profile. Testing and piloting IntelliMirror features on a sample group of users can provide valuable information about the average and median profile size of your users.
If you use Roaming User Profiles while redirecting the My Documents folder of your roaming users, you might not want to impose profile quotas. The reason is that files such as custom dictionaries (size outside user’s control) are written to the user profile. Imposing profile quotas can frustrate users who cannot control the size or number of files in their profile.
Evaluating Service Level Agreements
Many IT organizations find that the best way to maintain service level agreements with various departments within an organization is to structure services by levels. For example, an organization might define service level agreements (SLAs) that specify the maximum amount of time allowed for the logon screen in Windows 2000 to appear (when the workstation is turned on) or for the user to have access to the desktop after successfully logging on.
You might categorize your services by basic and custom services. Basic services are a predetermined set of services you agree to provide to a business unit for a specified cost. You can have several levels of basic services, each with its own assigned cost. Basic services might include standard hardware and software configurations for desktop computers.
Custom services are additional specialized services that a business unit might request. When a business unit requests custom services, you have a specified charge-back rate for them. Custom services might include special software configurations created for a user with unique needs.