Plan Office Project Server 2007 configuration

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Topic Last Modified: 2016-11-14

In this article:

• Select a Project Server configuration

• Scenario 1: Internal Hosting

• Scenario 2: External Hosting

• Scenario 3: Portfolio Management Deployment

• Scenario 4: Professional Services/Timesheet Deployment

• Scenario 5: Program Deployment

• Plan for growth

• Worksheets

Select a Project Server configuration

After you have evaluated your current environment, identified relevant environmental factors, and determined how these elements can affect the architecture of your Microsoft Office Enterprise Project Management (EPM) Solution, you can identify the configuration scenario that best meets the needs of your organization. Selecting a Project Server configuration involves:

• Identifying the configuration scenario that best reflects your organization.   Select the configuration scenario that most closely represents the size of your organization, the Project Server features that you plan to use, the number and type of projects that you manage, and the number and types of users in your organization.

• Selecting a configuration option (standard or alternate) that best meets your needs, if applicable.   The configuration option that you choose is based on your specific infrastructure and environmental factors, your availability needs, and your project management requirements.

• If necessary, modifying the configuration to meet the specific needs of your organization.   For example, you might need to modify your configuration if you are:

  • Providing access to Project Web Access over the Internet or an extranet.

  • Operating in an environment that does not have an Active Directory directory service domain.

  • Supporting a hosted configuration that provides multiple Project Server sites on a consolidated set of hardware.

  • Supporting more than 12,000 users.

  • Sizing the hardware for your deployment.

This article describes five basic configuration scenarios that might be used in organizations or departments within large organizations that can serve as a starting point for your configuration planning. Each configuration scenario includes a description, information about users and projects, and standard and alternate configuration examples.

These configuration scenarios are not designed to reflect the needs of all organizations that deploy a Microsoft EPM Solution, but rather are representative examples of types of organizations that require a solution for enterprise project management.

Scenario 1: Internal Hosting

Scenario 1 deploys multiple instances of Project Server on shared hardware for departments or groups within an organization. In this case, all Project Server instances provide users with a unique top-level site collection, but are provisioned to a common Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 application pool. Individual instances are logically separate and access data stored in the database through a shared Project Server Interface. Databases for each instance can be deployed to dedicated computers running SQL Server.

Sample "Internal Hosting" Server Topology

Project Server is installed and configured one time. New instances are created by using a provisioning process. Instances are provisioned to the same Web application pool and to the same Shared Services Provider. Instances share a common set of services, such as the Project Server Interface on the application tier. Instances use a common Windows SharePoint Services configuration database. Instances use a common Windows SharePoint Services content database. Instances have separate project databases.

Scenario 2: External Hosting

Scenario 2 isolates multiple instances of Project Server on shared hardware. Like scenario 1, Project Server instances provide users with unique top-level site collections. However, in scenario 2, each instance is provisioned to a separate Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 application pool; access to data stored in the database is provided through the Shared Services Provider Web application. This scenario provides additional data security by isolating data and data access.

Sample "External Hosting" Server Topology

New instances are created by using a provisioning process. New instances are provisioned to separate application pools. Instances use separate Windows SharePoint Services content databases. Instances use a dedicated set of services, such as the Project Server Interface, on the application tier. Instances use a common Windows SharePoint Services configuration database. Instances have separate Project Server databases.

Weighing the benefits of "Internal Hosting" versus "External Hosting"

The key benefit to the "External Hosting" scenario is process account isolation. This is because there are two Shared Services Providers using unique accounts, and access to the Project Server database is isolated to their respective users. Further, since Web applications can only have one Shared Services Provider, Web application security is isolated as well. The drawback to the "External Hosting" scenario is that performance is affected by each Shared Services Provider. Also, the additional application pools and databases mean that additional disk space is needed. Sharing these resources, as in the case of "Internal Hosting," means the that overhead for utilization of the IIS application pool process across multiple Microsoft Office Project Web Access instances is maximized.

Scenario 3: Portfolio Management Deployment

The Microsoft Office Project Server 2007 Portfolio Management Deployment scenario can apply to any medium-to-large organization that wants to use Project Server to manage project portfolios. These organizations are typically characterized by the following:

• A large number of projects that have many assignments

• A high percentage of project managers

• High usage of Microsoft Office Project Professional 2007

• A single Shared Services Provider Web application

Organizations that fall into this scenario typically use the breadth of Project Server features, including: timesheets, document library/issues/risks, enterprise global templates, and the enterprise resource pool.

The organization to which this scenario can apply can be as small as a medium-size organization (or a department in a larger organization) whose users all share the same physical location on the same LAN, or it can be a large organization whose users exist in a number of different physical locations.

Sample Departmental Server Topology

To support usage and service-level requirements as a medium-size organization, the baseline server topology might consist of the following: One server running the front-end Web and Application server components. One database server running SQL Server 2000 or SQL Server 2005 to accommodate the required databases. This topology is optimal when there are less than 20 project managers and from 100 to 500 active projects at one time.

Sample Corporate Server Topology for scenario 3

As your system grows to where it has 50 or more project managers and more than 1,000 active projects, it can implement a Corporate Server topology. In this topology, the Project Server front-end Web server is deployed in a load-balanced cluster to provide higher availability. This configuration helps ensure availability in the event of hardware failure, and it provides the additional benefit of increased performance by accommodating a larger number of concurrent TCP connections caused by timesheet users. Moreover, to better accommodate calls to the Project Server Interface (PSI) caused by the increased number of large projects, the application tier is placed on its own server. As the organization scales to a larger size, a new data center will need to communicate by using WAN links and will need firewalls to ensure security.

Sample Enterprise Server Topology for scenario 3

As your EPM Solution scales in size to a large organization and needs to support a greater number of active projects (3,000 or more), it should scale to a server topology that provides redundancy at each tier for greater availability. An additional front-end Web server provides a better experience for a large number of Office Project Web Access users.

Scenario 4: Professional Services/Timesheet Deployment

The Office Project Server 2007 Professional Services/Timesheet Deployment scenario can apply to a large organization that wants to use Project Server mainly to capture and report time. Employees and contractors' services will use Project Server timesheet functionality to submit hours worked on tasks during specific time periods.

This scenario is characterized by the following:

• Minimal Office Project Professional 2007 usage

• Predominantly time and material billing

• A large number of projects (600 to 2,500) with relatively few tasks

• A predictable peak period of usage that corresponds to scheduled timesheet entry in Office Project Web Access

• A single instance of Office Project Web Access

Organizations that fall into this scenario typically use a limited set of Project Server features to track time and costs by using timesheets to capture information. Scalability issues ensue because intensive system resource utilization results from many timesheets being submitted within a short period of time.

Sample Corporate Server Topology for scenario 4

For a large organization of 12,000 employees, use this corporate server topology. In this topology, the Project Server front-end Web server is deployed in a load-balanced cluster to accommodate higher availability. This configuration helps ensure availability in the event of hardware failure and provides the additional benefit of increased performance by accommodating a larger number of concurrent TCP connections caused by timesheet users. Moreover, in order to better accommodate calls to the Project Server Interface (PSI) caused by the increased number of large projects, the application tier is placed on its own server. A load-balanced cluster is also applied to the database tier.

Sample Enterprise Server Topology for scenario 4

If your organization grows to a size of 20,000 employees, the increase in timesheet users and viewer categories will require the company to scale to this enterprise server topology. This topology increases redundancy in the front-end Web and application tiers. Additional users increase the amplitude of the Friday evening spike in timesheet use.

Scenario 5: Program Deployment

The Office Project Server 2007 Program Deployment scenario applies to a large organization whose area of focus is top-down planning driven through the Project Management Office (PMO). This scenario is more commonly seen in the product development and manufacturing markets. It is characterized by:

• A small number of large projects that are often related

• Focus on the PMO

• Extensive Office Project Professional 2007 usage

• Proposal and Activity Plan usage

Sample Corporate Server Topology for Scenario 5

To support usage and service-level requirements, the baseline server topology could consist of the following:

• Two Office Project Web Access front-end Web servers configured in a load-balanced cluster

• One application server running the Project Server Interface (PSI). The application server is deployed to a one-node load-balanced configuration to simplify the process of adding another application server in the future.

• Separate clusters of computers running Microsoft SQL Server to accommodate the required databases

• A firewall to isolate the data tier

Plan for growth

Whatever server configuration you choose, it is best to plan how you will respond to growing demands on your EPM Solution. You have two options for expanding your system: scaling up and scaling out.

Scale up

• Increase size of the database server by adding more/faster processors and RAM or by using 64-bit hardware.

• Increase speed of network between servers

• Maximize throughput on database servers

• Add network interface cards to isolate traffic

• Add network segment or reduce nodes on SQL segment

• Use network interface card teaming on the server with Microsoft SQL Server for performance and redundancy

Scale out

• Add application servers to handle increased Office Project Professional 2007 usage. This also adds redundancy.

• Add front-end Web servers as additional instances of Office Project Server 2007 are added.

• Cluster database servers to add performance and reliability.

Worksheets

Plan for internal hosting (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=73275)

Plan for external hosting (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=73277)

Portfolio management (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=73279)

Timesheet scenario (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=73280)

Program deployment (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=73281)

Download this book

This topic is included in the following downloadable book for easier reading and printing:

• Planning and architecture for Office Project Server 2007

See the full list of available books at Downloadable content for Project Server 2007.