Step by Step for Analyzing Simulation Results

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At this stage of the System Center Capacity Planner 2007 scenario, you perform the following tasks by using Capacity Planner Simulation Results and exported information:

  1. Make required model adjustments.
  2. Resolve over-utilized resources.
  3. Address high-latency transitions.
  4. Address under-utilized resources.
  5. Save and annotate results.
  6. Present a final analysis.

Model Adjustments

Assume that when you run the simulation, you receive adjustment messages. You must address all critical adjustment messages before you can continue running the simulation. The critical adjustment messages that you receive indicate that sites cannot connect to other sites and that some site components cannot connect to other sites. Other adjustment messages indicate that computers in the central site cannot connect to networks.

You can click the Help Link icon for each adjustment message to open Online Help, which displays information about the adjustment message and explains how to troubleshoot the problem. In this case, assume that Help suggests adding a network connection between the client location and a site that contains a server hosting a server role.

Help for the first critical adjustment message suggests adding a network connection between the service location and the target server. When you review information for your central site in the Capacity Planner Model Editor, you notice that the network connection between the central site and the branch or remote site is missing. In this case, you should add a site-to-site connection to connect the central site and the branch or remote site by using the Add a site to site connection task. After you update the capacity model, you are able to run a simulation successfully.

Resolve Over-Utilized Resources

During the process of reviewing simulation results, you identify resources that are over-utilized. You review the list of over-utilized resources and prioritize the order in which the problems will be addressed. The factors that influence the priority of a particular over-utilization issue might include the following:

  • How much the resource is over-utilized
  • Criticality of the transactions or roles on the over-utilized resource
  • Expense of adding additional resources

You update the capacity model in the Model Editor by adding or rearranging resources to eliminate over-utilization problems. Possible changes you might consider include the following:

  • Adding new resources to existing servers
  • Adding new servers and assigning components to them
  • Rearranging components to server mappings
  • Changing application settings
  • Changing usage profiles

You make appropriate changes to improve over-utilization problems in the Model Editor. You run another simulation and examine the results. If necessary, you look for any remaining utilization issues and then repeat the preceding actions.

Resolve High-Latency Transactions

During the process of reviewing simulation results, you review the list of transactions with unacceptably high latency and prioritize the order in which these problems will be addressed. Factors that influence the priority of a particular latency issue might include the following:

  • Importance or relevance of the transaction to your overall business
  • Whether the transaction directly affects users
  • Whether the transaction is an online transaction that blocks users or a batch transaction that is performed in the background

You update the capacity model in the Model Editor to add, replace, or rearrange resources to eliminate the latency problems. Possible changes you might consider include the following:

  • Increasing the bandwidth of network links to reduce transaction time
  • Increasing the resources available, such as LAN, servers, and other server resources
  • Redistributing application components to other servers
  • Changing application settings, such as caching distribution lists
  • Changing a usage profile, such as typical mailbox size

You make appropriate changes to improve the high-latency problems in the Model Editor. You run another simulation and examine the results. If necessary, you look for any remaining latency issues and repeat the preceding actions.

Address Under-Utilized Resources

During the process of reviewing simulation results, you might identify resources that are under-utilized. You want to eliminate excess resources deployed at a particular site without significantly impacting utilization or transaction latencies.

You prioritize possible resources for removal or for scaling back. In many deployments, not all under-utilized resources are necessarily ideal candidates for removal. You determine that you can remove a computer if the following items are not negatively affected:

  • Security
  • Availability
  • Ability to handle spike traffic peaks
  • Future growth

Other reasons for not removing resources include the following:

  • Software constraints
  • High risk of failure if a resource is changed—for example, stability

To optimize resource use at a site, you should make changes only if those changes can accomplish the following improvements:

  • Reduce server count and reassign application components to other servers.
  • Downsize a server by replacing it with a computer that requires fewer resources or remove resources from a server.
  • Reduce WAN capacity.
  • Remove any redundant WAN links.
  • Remove or downsize a storage area network (SAN).
  • Change application settings.

You make the changes you want and run another simulation to determine whether the changes reduce the resource under-utilization. You want to ensure that overall performance has not been affected beyond an acceptable level. If significant performance issues are encountered after you make the changes, you repeat the preceding actions to reuse resources that are needed to address the problem.

Save and Annotate Results

When a capacity model successfully supports the results you want to achieve for your deployment, you can save the information that is modeled in Capacity Planner for later use. You can save a capacity model after you complete the Model Wizard. Capacity models are saved with a .sam file name extension.

You can also to export the information that is modeled in Capacity Planner for use in Microsoft Excel after you run a simulation. You can use Microsoft Excel to add purchase cost information for any resources required. You can gather cost information from hardware and telecommunications vendors to add cost estimates for each of the following resources that you list in an Excel workbook:

  • Servers
  • WAN links
  • Internet links
  • SAN
  • Software licenses

Present a Final Analysis

You can build a portfolio of simulation results from various capacity models to present the best case to your management as purchase justification for hardware and software for the deployment. After you produce multiple capacity models and research the total estimated cost for each model, you can do the following to produce a final proposal:

  1. Review all your capacity models, and verify that each deployment model successfully meets your needs.
  2. Compare cost information from multiple Excel workbooks, and ensure that the cost information is accurate.
  3. Select a subset of the workbooks to include in the final proposal that will meet the needs of Woodgrove National Bank. Such needs include the following:
    • Minimization of hardware cost
    • Minimization of administrative resources required to run the system
    • Minimization of sites with deployed servers
    • Maximized availability
    • Improved security
    • Optimized utilization
  4. After you completely review all your information, you can recommend a final capacity model for approval by management.

See Also

Concepts

System Center Capacity Planner 2007 User's Guide