Sizing and Configuration 3-1
3
Sizing and Configuration
This chapter provides guidelines for sizing and configuration which can help you
meet performance goals. It also discusses performance factors, such as memory
consumption, I/O issues, and network and software constraints.
Contents
■Sizing your Hardware and Resources
■Understanding Concurrent Users and User Population
■Determining CPU Requirements
■Determining Memory Requirements

Sizing your Hardware and Resources

In addition to the minimum installation recommendations, your hardware
resources need to be adequate for the requirements of your specific applications. To
avoid hardware-related performance bottlenecks, each hardware component should
operate at no more than 80% of capacity. See "Using the sar Utility (AIX, HP-UX,
Intel Solaris)" on page 2-2 for information on measuring CPU utilization.
Processor and memory resources in particular should be allocated generously, for
the maximum user load expected.

Understanding Concurrent Users and User Population

The amount of hardware resources required varies based on the application. A
common mistake is to use resource estimates that do not incorporate user think time
and network latencies. In sizing applications, you must have some idea of the