Capacity Planning for NightWatchman Management Center

Capacity Planning for NightWatchman Management Center


www.1e.com

Server sizing guide for NightWatchman Management Center

http://www.1e.com/


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Version 6.0 document revision 2

© 1E Ltd 2011

All rights reserved. No part of this document or of the software (“the software”) to which it

relates shall be reproduced, adapted, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means,

electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without permission from 1E Ltd.

It is the responsibility of the user to use the software in accordance with this document and 1E

Ltd shall not be responsible if the user fails to do so. Although every precaution has been taken

in the preparation of this document, 1E Ltd and the authors assume no responsibility for errors

or omissions, nor shall they be liable for damages resulting from any information in it.

Trade marks

1E is a trade mark of 1E Ltd registered in the UK, with registration applied for in the US and EU.

The 1E device is a trade mark of 1E Ltd with registration applied for in the UK, US, EU and

Australia. AGILITY FRAMEWORK is a trade mark of 1E. NIGHTWATCHMAN is a trade mark of 1E

Ltd registered in the US, with registration applied for in the EU and Australia. 1E WAKEUP is a

trade mark of 1E Ltd. MICROSOFT, WINDOWS VISTA, WINDOWS XP, WINDOWS 2000 are all

trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries.

Section 1 Introduction


1

Contents

Section 1 Introduction 2

1.1 Who is this guide for? ......................................................................................... 2

1.2 Conventions used in this guide ............................................................................. 2

Cross References ................................................................................................ 2

Notes ............................................................................................................... 2

Code fragments ................................................................................................. 2

Command lines .................................................................................................. 2

Section 2 NightWatchman Management Center Architecture 3

2.1 Operating System Requirements ........................................................................... 3

Memory Considerations for Server Platforms .......................................................... 4

2.2 SQL Server requirements .................................................................................... 4

SQL Agent ......................................................................................................... 4

Database Storage Requirements ........................................................................... 4

SQL Server Memory Allocation ............................................................................. 4

2.3 Other Requirements............................................................................................ 5

Report Web Site Requirements ............................................................................. 5

Web Service Requirements .................................................................................. 5

NightWatchman Console Service ........................................................................... 5

NightWatchman Console ...................................................................................... 5

Section 3 Strategies for Managing WakeUp 6

3.1 WakeUp for Configuration Manager ....................................................................... 6

3.2 WakeUp for NightWatchman Management Center .................................................... 6

Section 4 Server Specifications 7

4.1 Small environment up to 5,000 clients ................................................................... 7

4.2 Medium environment 5,001-25,000 clients ............................................................. 7

4.3 Large environment 25,001 – 100,000 clients .......................................................... 8

SQL Server ........................................................................................................ 8

NightWatchman Management Center Server ........................................................... 8

4.4 Very large environments 100,000+ clients ............................................................. 8

SQL Server ........................................................................................................ 8

NightWatchman Management Center Server ........................................................... 9

Section 5 SAN Storage and Virtualization 10

5.1 SAN Storage .................................................................................................... 10

5.2 Virtualization ................................................................................................... 10

Section 6 Further Information 11

6.1 SQL Server Best Practice ................................................................................... 11

6.2 SQL Server Database Management ..................................................................... 11

6.3 SQL Server Virtualization ................................................................................... 11

Appendix A Glossary 12

A.1 General terms .................................................................................................. 12

Section 1 Introduction


2

Section 1 Introduction NightWatchman Management Center forms the back-end infrastructure used by NightWatchman

and 1E WakeUp to manage and report power usage data and behaviour, cost savings, successful

and unsuccessful scheduled power events as well as managing power configuration policies and

computer health.

The architecture of the NightWatchman Management Center comprises a Microsoft SQL Server

database, a web service for processing incoming data from clients and responding to policy

requests from clients, a web site for viewing reports and a console for configuring and managing

the NightWatchman solution. The WakeUp server manages Wake-on-LAN and Computer Health

and is either integrated into a Microsoft Configuration Manager hierarchy or the NightWatchman

Management Center.

This guide is intended to provide architects and administrators with the recommended

specification and configuration of servers required to successfully manage environments of

different sizes.

The information provided in this guide is relevant to version 5.6 and 6.0 of the NightWatchman

Management Center.

1.1 Who is this guide for? This Server sizing and operational guide for managing NightWatchman Management Center is

aimed at architects and administrators who intend to implement and manage NightWatchman

Management Center.

1.2 Conventions used in this guide This section shows how to interpret the different styles used in this document to denote various

types of information.

Cross References

Cross references are shown in italics. Cross references may be to diagrams or tables in the

current document or to other documents. For example, the following paragraph references

another document in the <product> set:

Notes

Notes are shown in white on an orange background. For example, the following note provides

some useful information:

NOTE: always pay attention to notes.

Code fragments

This manual uses courier plus a shaded background to denote code fragments. For example, the

following shows part of the standard header included in NightWatchman VB script files:

hwnd = 0 '** window handle **

hwndHelper = 0

debugx = 0

Set objArgs = WScript.Arguments

Command lines

This manual uses courier plus a shaded background to denote command line entries – text to be

entered is highlighted in bold. For example, the following shows the command to be executed to

display the <product> help text:

C:> <ProductCommand> -?

Section 2 NightWatchman Management Center Architecture


3

Section 2 NightWatchman Management Center Architecture NightWatchman Management Center is designed to provide a single, central point to which all

NightWatchman and 1E WakeUp clients in the organization report and from which all clients may

receive power configuration policy. The NightWatchman Management Center may also be

responsible for generating Wake-on-LAN instructions for clients that need to be woken up due to

a scheduled Alarm Clock or Maintenance Window or an on-demand wake-up request by an

administrator using the NightWatchman Management Center Console.

The load on the NightWatchman Management Center is therefore dependent on the number of

clients being managed throughout the environment, as well as the product features that are

being used.

The diagram below shows all components of the NightWatchman Management Center

architecture.

For smaller environments all the server components can be installed on a single server. For

larger environments it is recommended that the database is hosted on a separate server from

the Web and Console components (the Report Website, the Web Service, the Console Service

and the Import Wizard). For very large environments, multiple instances of the Web Service can

be implemented to provide additional scale. The recommendations for server allocation and

specification are provided later in this guide.

2.1 Operating System Requirements Each of the NightWatchman Management Center components can be installed on the following

64-bit Windows Server platforms. 1E recommends the use of Windows Server 2008 R2 for new

implementations of NightWatchman.

Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard or Enterprise Edition

Windows Server 2008 Standard or Enterprise Edition

Windows Server 2003 Standard or Enterprise Edition with SP2

NightWatchman Management Center can also be installed on the following 32-bit Windows

Server platforms

Windows Server 2008 Standard or Enterprise Edition

Windows Server 2003 Standard or Enterprise Edition with SP2



4

Memory Considerations for Server Platforms

Standard x86 Editions of Windows Server 2003 and 2008 only support up to 4GB RAM. 32-bit

addressing allows any process a maximum of 4GB virtual memory. However this address space

is split between kernel-mode and user-mode processes, so by default on a Windows Server

Standard Edition x86 system with 4GB installed, 2GB will be allocated to shared kernel-mode

processes with the remaining 2GB available for user-mode processes.

The Enterprise x86 Editions can make use of 4 Gigabyte Tuning (4GT) to increase the proportion

of 4GB that is available to user-mode processes at the expense of memory available to kernel

mode processes. Enterprise x86 Editions also provide Physical Address Extensions (PAE) to

make more memory available to applications that can work directly with the extended memory

using the Application Windowing Extensions (AWE) API. The Enterprise Editions of SQL Server

2005 and 2008 both support AWE to allow >4GB to be used by the database.

Although these options are available, 1E strongly recommend the use of a 64-bit server platform

to host the NightWatchman Management Center.

It should also be noted that due to the architecture, 64-bit operating systems require more

memory to store the same data, and generally the operating system itself can be expected to

require twice as much as its 32-bit counterpart. 1E therefore do not recommend equipping a 64-

bit server with less than 8GB RAM.

2.2 SQL Server requirements The NightWatchman Management Center database can be hosted on the following SQL Server

versions

SQL Server 2008 R2 (x64/x86) Standard, Enterprise or Datacenter Edition

SQL Server 2008 (x64/x86) Standard, Enterprise or Datacenter Edition

SQL Server 2005 (x64/x86) Standard, Enterprise or Datacenter Edition SP2

Note that NightWatchman Management Console cannot use SQL Server Express.

SQL Agent

The NightWatchman Management Center uses SQL Agent jobs to periodically process data into

summary reporting tables from which the reports are run. The SQL Agent therefore needs to be

started.

Database Storage Requirements

As a general guideline, assuming all features are being used with their default configuration, the

database storage required will be approximately 1MB per client.

The NightWatchman Management Center database Transaction Log should be configured at an

initial size of 40% of the database size.

SQL performance is as dependent on adequate I/O throughput to the disk system as it is on

processor and memory, if not more so. Microsoft have published an article Storage Top 10 Best

Practices (see section 6.1 SQL Server Best Practice) that provides the essential guidelines for

planning disk configuration for SQL.

SQL Server Memory Allocation

For environments up to 25,000 clients the SQL database can be hosted on the same server as

the other NightWatchman Management Center components (see Section 4 Server Specifications

for specific hardware requirements).

In this scenario it is important to limit the amount of RAM that SQL is able to use, to ensure

there is always sufficient for the OS and IIS to function effectively. Based on the server

specifications provided in this document, when SQL and IIS are installed on the same server,

SQL should be limited to 50% of the total system memory.



5

2.3 Other Requirements

Report Web Site Requirements

The Report Web Site presents all the NightWatchman Management Center reports through a

web browser. It requires IIS, which is an integral component of each of the supported Windows

Server operating systems.

.NET Framework 2.0 SP1 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 are required by the Report Web Site

Web Service Requirements

The Web Service manages communication between the 1E Agents and the database. It requires

IIS, .NET Framework 2.0 SP1 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

NightWatchman Console Service

The Console Service manages communication between the Console and the database. It must

be hosted on a server that meets the Operating System Requirements in section 2.1, and also

requires .NET Framework 3.5 SP1

NightWatchman Console

The Console can be installed on up to 10 devices and is supported on Windows 7 (Professional,

Enterprise and Ultimate Editions), Windows Vista SP1 (Business, Enterprise and Ultimate

Editions and Windows XP SP3 in addition to the server operating systems listed in section 2.1.

Section 3 Strategies for Managing WakeUp


6

Section 3 Strategies for Managing WakeUp

3.1 WakeUp for Configuration Manager The 1E WakeUp solution has been designed to integrate with Microsoft Systems Management

Server (SMS) 2003 and System Center Configuration Manager (ConfigMgr) 2007, enabling

clients to be woken up when programs, software updates or OS deployment task sequences

have been advertised to them with a scheduled run time.

To get the benefit of this integration the 1E WakeUp Server needs to be installed on each

Primary site (specifically, the server hosting the SMS Provider) in the Configuration Manager site

hierarchy. This approach scales out the WakeUp Server load, as each WakeUp server only

manages agents in subnets within the boundaries of its host Primary Site.

3.2 WakeUp for NightWatchman Management Center Environments that do not have SMS or ConfigMgr use the NightWatchman Management Center

to manage the WakeUp functionality. In this scenario the WakeUp Server is installed on a single

server (typically the NightWatchman Management Server) which is registered as the Master

WakeUp Provider with the NightWatchman Management Center and this manages all agents

throughout the environment.

Where an environment comprises some clients that are managed by ConfigMgr and some that

are not, the decision must be made whether to implement WakeUp for ConfigMgr, at the cost of

no WakeUp functionality for non-ConfigMgr clients, or implement WakeUp for NightWatchman

Management Center at the cost of integration with ConfigMgr clients.

Section 4 Server Specifications


7

Section 4 Server Specifications This section provides the server specifications that are required to support different size

organizations.

Note that server specifications are based on common current standards for new equipment.

146GB is typically the smallest capacity for an individual disk from most vendors.

Processors are specified as the number of cores. 1.8GHz is typically the slowest

processor on currently available multi-core processors

8GB is recommended for any server running a 64bit Operating System

4.1 Small environment up to 5,000 clients A small environment of up to 5,000 clients can be managed with a single server hosting all of

the NightWatchman Management Center components including the database and the WakeUp

Server.

The following table defines the hardware specification for the NightWatchman Management

Center Server co-hosting the database.

Component Configuration

Processor cores 2 x 1.8GHz

Memory 8GB (64bit) or 4GB (32bit)

Disk

Configuration

Array Disks Available

Space Purpose

RAID-1 2 x 146GB

7,200RPM 146GB

OS, Program Files

Web root

RAID-1 2 x 146GB

7,200RPM 146GB

NWMMC (database and Log)

TempDB (database and Log)

Backup

4.2 Medium environment 5,001-25,000 clients Beyond 5,000 clients it is still appropriate to host all the NightWatchman Management Center

components on one server up to about 25,000 clients. However, this requires greater separation

of the database and web components.

64bit hardware and OS should be used for this server.

The following defines the hardware specifications for the NightWatchman Management Center

server co-hosting the database.


Processor cores 4 x 2GHz

Memory 8-16GB (64bit)

Disk

Configuration


Space Purpose

RAID-1 2 x 146GB

10,000RPM 146GB

OS, Program Files

Web root

RAID-1 2 x 146GB

10,000RPM 146GB NWMMC (database)

RAID-1 2 x 146GB

10,000RPM 146GB NWMMC (Log)

RAID-1 2 x 146GB 146GB TempDB

Backup

Better performance can be achieved in the larger of these environments by placing the

Transaction Log on a RAID10 array. The bulk of write operations in the NightWatchman



8

database are made to the Transaction Log. The most important characteristic of this

configuration is that the NWMMC database and transaction log reside on separate spindle sets.

4.3 Large environment 25,001 – 100,000 clients Above 25,000 clients 1E recommends splitting the SQL Server and Web components across two

servers. A 64bit platform should be used for both.

SQL Server

The following table defines the specification for the SQL Server.



Memory 16GB (64bit)

Disk

Configuration


Space Purpose

RAID-1 2 x 146GB

10,000RPM 146GB OS, Program Files

RAID-10 4 x 146GB


RAID-10 4 x 146GB



Backup

Note that the disk capacity required for the database will vary from 25 to 100GB depending on

the number of clients. RAID10 is recommended to provide optimal write and read access. The

bulk of write operations in the NightWatchman database are made to the Transaction Log.

NightWatchman Management Center Server

The following table defines the specification for the NightWatchman Management Center server



Memory 8GB (64bit)

Disk

Configuration


Space Purpose

RAID-1 2 x 146GB


RAID-1 2 x 146GB

7,200RPM 146GB Web root

4.4 Very large environments 100,000+ clients NightWatchman Management Center has been tested up to 300,000 clients. To achieve this

level of scalability it is essential that the SQL Server is adequately equipped with a disk system

optimized for separation and throughput of disk I/O for the database and log files for both the

NightWatchman Management Center database and TempDB.

SQL Server

The database should be hosted on a dedicated 64bit server. The database storage can be hosted

on a SAN, however the same SQL Server best practice for disk configuration should be adhered

to (see section 6.1 SQL Server Best Practice for further reading on this topic).



9



Memory 32GB (64bit)

Disk

Configuration


Space Purpose

RAID-1 2 x 146GB


RAID-10 6 x 146GB


RAID-10 4 x 146GB



RAID-5 4 x 146GB 438GB Backup

NightWatchman Management Center Server

The NightWatchman Management Center Web Service, Report Website, Console Service and

WakeUp Server can be hosted on a single server equipped as follows.



Memory 8GB (64bit)

Disk

Configuration


Space Purpose

RAID-1 2 x 146GB


RAID-1 2 x 146GB

7,200RPM 146GB Web root

NightWatchman Management Center has been designed to provide additional scale through

implementation of multiple Web Services. Currently we have production implementations

managing over 250,000 clients with a single web service, but around this volume of clients it

would be beneficial to provision two or more load-balanced Web Services.

Section 5 SAN Storage and Virtualization


10

Section 5 SAN Storage and Virtualization 1E’s goal is to reduce the cost of implementing and operating IT. Due to the large storage

requirements for larger NightWatchman environments many customers consider an existing

Storage Area Network (SAN) solution as a cost-effective alternative to local disks.

Additionally, the cost and limited availability of data center capacity is leading more IT teams to

consider virtualization before physical with each new application deployment. Virtualization

provides opportunities to consolidate under-utilized servers to obtain better efficiency from

hardware and flexibility in management that is not otherwise possible on physical systems.

However virtualization is not right for all applications and can result in higher costs if you get it

wrong and suffer poor performance or have to shift to physical at a later date.

This section provides guidance when considering SAN storage and virtualization with in a

NightWatchman environment

5.1 SAN Storage Whether the database is hosted on local disks or a SAN, SQL Server requires the same level of

separation across drives or spindles for databases and transaction logs in order to achieve the

expected performance.

The disk configuration and RAID specifications defined in Section 4 Server Specifications for the

different size environments should be used as the basis for planning allocation of disk groups

and LUNS on the SAN, however it would be more beneficial to allocate RAID 10 disk groups

throughout if available rather than RAID1.

Section 6.1 SQL Server Best Practice provides links to further reading on Microsoft best practice

for SQL storage.

5.2 Virtualization The 1E NightWatchman Management Center suits virtualization of the Web Service, Console

Service, Report Web Server and WakeUp Service. In these cases, the virtual machine(s) should

be allocated the same number of processor cores and memory as defined in Section 4 Server

Specifications.

Although Microsoft and VMWare both support the use of their virtualization platforms for SQL

Server, there are a lot of considerations that need to be taken into account when planning and

configuring the virtual environment that are too often overlooked resulting in poor performance.

In most cases this is a direct result of using virtual hard disks which are all hosted on the same

set of disks (spindles) either locally or on a SAN.

For this reason 1E do not recommend using a virtual SQL Server for NightWatchman. If this

option must be considered, Section 6.3 SQL Server Virtualization provides links to further

reading material to determine the requirements.

Section 6 Further Information


11

Section 6 Further Information This section provides links to detailed information on topics covered in this document.

6.1 SQL Server Best Practice Storage Top 10 Best Practices – Microsoft Technet article

SQL Server Best Practices Article – also known as the SQL Server Predeployment I/O

Best Practices paper, written by Mike Ruthruff

Deploying SQL Server 2005 with SAN #1

SQL Server 2005 Configuration Blog #2

Deploying SQL Server 2005 with SAN #3

6.2 SQL Server Database Management Introduction to Backup and Restore Strategies in SQL Server – provides an overview of

the Simple and Full Recovery Models, using Differential backups with additional links to

the following concepts

o Transaction Log Truncation

o Checkpoints and the Active Portion of the Log

1E recommends that the NightWatchman Management Center database is subject to regular

health checks and maintenance to ensure that performance is optimal. You can use the SQL

Server Maintenance Plan Wizard to automate this process. For more information, see

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189036.aspx

6.3 SQL Server Virtualization Running SQL Server 2008 in a Hyper-V Environment - Best Practices and Performance

Recommendations

Planning, Implementing and Supporting SQL Server Virtualization with Windows Server

2008 R2 Hyper-V and Live Migration

Why Would You Virtualize SQL Server?

Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Virtualize SQL Server

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/cc966534.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/cc966412.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlcat/archive/2005/10/11/479887.aspx







http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/9/4/d948f981-926e-40fa-a026-5bfcf076d9b9/SQL2008inHyperV2008.docx

http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/9/4/d948f981-926e-40fa-a026-5bfcf076d9b9/SQL2008inHyperV2008.docx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/ff898403.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/ff898403.aspx

http://www.brentozar.com/archive/2009/03/why-would-you-virtualize-sql-server/

http://www.brentozar.com/archive/2009/03/reasons-why-you-shouldnt-virtualize-sql-server/

Appendix A Glossary


12

Appendix A Glossary

A.1 General terms

Term Description

ACPI Advanced Configuration and Power Interface. The successor to APM, ACPI

allows the best control over a PC’s power settings.

APM Advanced Power Management. An older standard for controlling a PC’s

power settings, APM can be problematic in terms of shutdown and power-

off of PC’s.

MSI Microsoft Installer utility. This Microsoft utility is the basis for installing

most current MS applications and a few third party

applications. MSI includes many install enhancements such as registry

and file tracking

SMS Systems Management Server. A system from Microsoft for managing

Microsoft networks.

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