Sizing of a web server running web services

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savvas - 06 Feb 2008 08:36 GMT

Do you know if microsoft has any tools or guidelines to calculate the
hardware requirements for a server with windows server 2003 that will have a
couple of .Net webservices and a couple of aspx pages.

The webservices will be called in the range of 8000 calls per minute. The
aspx pages will be rarely accessed (maybe 1-2 times per week).
The webservices do very little processing in .Net and they execute a couple
of calls to an external database. Total duration 500-600ms.
The aspx are a bit more complicated but even on my laptop they return in
less than 2s.

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Michael Nemtsev [MVP] - 06 Feb 2008 09:10 GMT

Hello savvas,

I didnt see windows requirements calculator, and thins u need to evaluate
number of params for this.
Actually it's good idea to create such a tool :)

I think that the bandwidth calculation is the area where u need concetrate.
So, you should know

1) how many people time will access your WS at one time
2) data transfer rate
3) response rate

---
WBR,
Michael Nemtsev [.NET/C# MVP] :: blog: http://spaces.live.com/laflour

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we
miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it" (c) Michelangelo

s> Do you know if microsoft has any tools or guidelines to calculate the
s> hardware requirements for a server with windows server 2003 that will
s> have a couple of .Net webservices and a couple of aspx pages.
s>
s> The webservices will be called in the range of 8000 calls per minute.
s> The
s> aspx pages will be rarely accessed (maybe 1-2 times per week).
s> The webservices do very little processing in .Net and they execute a
s> couple
s> of calls to an external database. Total duration 500-600ms.
s> The aspx are a bit more complicated but even on my laptop they return
s> in
s> less than 2s.

Reply to this Message

savvas - 06 Feb 2008 12:41 GMT

Michael,

Pleaes find my response below.

Regards,
Savvas.

> Hello savvas,
>
> I didnt see windows requirements calculator, and thins u need to evaluate
> number of params for this.

What is a windows requirements calculator? Can you give examples?

> Actually it's good idea to create such a tool :)
>
> I think that the bandwidth calculation is the area where u need concetrate.

for now network bandwidth is not an issue because we will have very quick
connection

> So, you should know
>
> 1) how many people time will access your WS at one time

The reuquests do not have a linear relation with people but we expect to
have 8000 requests per minute.

> 2) data transfer rate

SOAP requests. Size of each SOAP message should be less than 1kb

> 3) response rate

less than 700ms. Most of the time 500-600ms is spent calling stored
procedures through an ODBC.
Basically we are trying to propose the hardware specifications (e.g. dual
core, 4GB RAM, 100GB HDD 7200 etc) and OS specifications (e.g. windows 2003
standard edition) that are able to handle such a load of Webservices calls.

> ---
> WBR,
[quoted text clipped - 16 lines]
> s> in
> s> less than 2s.

Reply to this Message

Michael Nemtsev [MVP] - 07 Feb 2008 09:54 GMT

Hello savvas,

>> I didnt see windows requirements calculator, and thins u need to
>> evaluate number of params for this.

s> What is a windows requirements calculator? Can you give examples?

I meant the hardware requirements calc u a looking for :)

s> for now network bandwidth is not an issue because we will have very
s> quick connection

>> 1) how many people time will access your WS at one time

s> The reuquests do not have a linear relation with people but we expect
s> to have 8000 requests per minute.
s>

>> 2) data transfer rate

s> SOAP requests. Size of each SOAP message should be less than 1kb

so, 4-8MB per minute

>> 3) response rate

s> less than 700ms. Most of the time 500-600ms is spent calling stored
s> procedures through an ODBC.
s> Basically we are trying to propose the hardware specifications (e.g.
s> dual
s> core, 4GB RAM, 100GB HDD 7200 etc) and OS specifications (e.g.
s> windows 2003
s> standard edition) that are able to handle such a load of Webservices
s> calls.

ok, but what are the payload of this web services? what are they gonna do?
extract data from DB or what?
I suppose before gonna to production u need the environment where to develop
your services. My point is that u need to have any environment to start performance
measuring, and after than decide what do u need in production

---
WBR,
Michael Nemtsev [.NET/C# MVP] :: blog: http://spaces.live.com/laflour

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we
miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it" (c) Michelangelo

Reply to this Message

bruce barker - 06 Feb 2008 16:21 GMT

there are two many variables for a general answer. you need to determine the
bottlenecks in your app (memory, network, cpu, etc). then test for scale. at
quick look at your numers (if accurate),

8000 trans/minute = 2.2/sec
database trans time = .5 second

the first test is database scaling. will it do 2.2 trans/sec? what will it
take to do it. what locking issues.

8000 trans/sec is pretty loose number, you should do some poisson queue
analysis to get better number and queue wait times.

-- bruce (sqlwork.com)

> Do you know if microsoft has any tools or guidelines to calculate the
> hardware requirements for a server with windows server 2003 that will have a
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> The aspx are a bit more complicated but even on my laptop they return in
> less than 2s.

Reply to this Message

Sizing of a web server running web services

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