Server performance - web or outlook?
Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 12:23 am
by eyalm
We are currently evaluating Scalix, and we couldnt find any docs about performance w/500+ users.
How much different is for the server to handle about 200+ simult. web users, or to handle 100 web + 100 outlook.
I'm not sure if its better for us to buy licenses for outlook, or more hardware.
Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2006 5:56 am
by florian
Hi "eyalm",
it's really hard to give you a precise answer on this one without further data on your environment; believe it would make sense for you to contact Scalix Sales and discuss further with one of our consultants or engineers - if you're on the European/EMEA side of things, your request will probably end up on my desk. Email addresses to use would be sales@, sales.emea@ - or florian@, with our domain in all cases. (again, avoiding the 'bots).
Some general remarks, though...
- obviously, server load for a web user is higher than for a Outlook user because of the additional processing required on the application server layer that would be handled by the client machine in the outlook case; the actual numbers vary quite a bit depending on the situtation, but generally it's probably around a 1:5 ratio.
- The system is pretty scaleable overall, though, so for your user numbers I don't think this will be a large issue; a single-CPU box with around 1-2 GB of RAM allows you to run up to around 500 Outlook users with good performance, a dual with 4-8 GB of RAM gets you up to 5000
- depending on the number of messages processed, the storage subsystem will have quite a performance impact. For larger scenarios, we recommend hardware RAID; our enterprise customers connect the Scalix server to a corporate SAN in many cases.
In the 200-500 user range, it is easily possibly to build a server that allows your for free choice between Outlook and SWA usage. Again, I'd think it is best if you talk to us directly for a full analysis of your situation.
Hope this helps,
Florian.