[Filip_PwC]

Hi all,

I currently am running a BES 4.1.4 on MR2 on a Domino 7.0.2 server.
Currently, I have 150 active users.
Within the coming months I may have to add up to 250 extra people within the company.
I was wondering how I could calcualte what my server can handle.
I've searched this forum as well as the blackberry site and found no real method of calculating this.
Somewhere I read that the limitation is 120mails / minute, somewhere else someone was making an elaborate calculation which I didn't quite get

So I'm asking my question here in the hopes of getting a clear answer.
I noticed already that when my server is running that it is not a problem at the moment, but when it has to be restarted (after maintenance or something) I find that lately (as users are being added) it is already taking more and more time for it to completely reinitialize again.

My hardware specs atm are: 1 CPU of 3.0Ghz, 1GB ram and SAN connected disks. My BB server is on VMWare so expanding resource wouldn't be a real issue if the calculation takes only hardware requirements into considerations.

What setup are you running (specs per #users)?
Do you have any best practices in place on this?

Thanks in advance for your shared wisdom

Greetz,

Filip

[noname]

Filip, you definitely want to increase your 1GB RAM to a 4GB one. Domino server is a Windows 32-bit application and BES is an add-in task i.e. it runs on top of the Domino server.

In the 32-bit Windows world, each application has its own “virtual” 4GB memory space. (This means that each application functions as if it has a flat 4GB of memory, and the system's memory manager keeps track of memory mapping, which applications are using which memory, page file management, and so on.)

This 4GB space is evenly divided into two parts, with 2GB dedicated for kernel usage, and 2GB left for application usage. Each application gets its own 2GB, but all applications have to share the same 2GB kernel space.

Now NBES.EXE can sometimes be large due to your heavy users i.e. lots of BES transaction. Imagine 1GB shared between Domino's NSERVER.EXE and NBES.EXE.

Source: The 4GB Windows Memory Limit: What does it really mean? - From BrianMadden.com

My 5 cent worth comment...

[hdawg]

Look at using the /3GB boot switch if you're running an applicable OS. It'll allocate more RAM to the applications and limit reserved kernel memory.

You might also want to check out the BES 4.1 Lotus Domino Capactiy Calculator as a reference.

Exchange BES seems to do better with less RAM, specifically because there isn't a full blown mail server on the BES.

[Aroc]

I concur with noname that you need more memory. I had problems with only 17 users with 1GB of memory on Domino 6.5.6FP1 and BES 4.1.4. Upping that to 2GB fixed a lot of performance problems. I am also running mine on VMWare. It's running on a 3.2Ghz system with local storage.

[hayabusa]

I have a Dell 1950
1500 users was our break point for a new server
Dell 1950
Local Raid Disk
4 gig Ram
1 cpu 2.8 ghz
gig-a-bit network
Seperate 2005 sql server

We used Reasearch In Motions Server calculator on there website to come up with our server capacity break point.

[Filip_PwC]

First of all, thx for your replys

If I use the capacity planner, then I get the following result:



This would mean that if on my existing server, I add up to 500 users that I'll have only 18% average CPU use and about 1100Mb memory use?

[hdawg]

Originally Posted by Filip_PwC

First of all, thx for your replys

If I use the capacity planner, then I get the following result:

http://users.telenet.be/bocca/BB/capacity.JPG

This would mean that if on my existing server, I add up to 500 users that I'll have only 18% average CPU use and about 1100Mb memory use?

Correct ... I don't know if RIM includes what Domino uses for RAM in that calculation; which is why you'll see almost everyone indicating to have at least 2GB of RAM if not more.

[Ugg]

On VMWare, I'm not sure how helpful that capacity calculator is going to be. Also, I seem to remember someone saying that the BES has more threads running if it's communicating with more logical Domino servers - maybe that should be a factor in memory usage too? That's in addition to things like "how much use people make of attachments" etc.

How much memory is in use on your server at the moment, and how much of it is used by things like nbes.exe?

In answer to your original question, I've seen a low-specced Domino BES server need > 700Mb of memory across all applications with nothing else running with only one connected user (that's 4.1.4 with the memory leak fix MR in place).