Information:
These are the things that you need to do on every Windows 2003 installation to achieve a higher level of performance and prevent common performance issues. The settings may change depending on the specific purpose of the server, but in general each of these settings should be evaluated for its potential performance advantage to the application being installed. However, this also means you need to fully understand the application and its use of the system resources (memory, disk, network, etc) before you attempt to configure some of these settings. Incorrectly setting these parameters can have an adverse affect on your application’s performance.
These Best Practices are only recommended on servers that have 4GB or more of RAM. If you do not have that much RAM in your file server you should add memory before attempting these changes.
Basic Types Servers
Application Server
File Server
Windows 2003 Services
Basic Performance Tuning Items
The items listed below are the very basic things you need to do on every file server. Forgetting to properly configure these basic items can affect your overall system performance.
1) Use multiple 15K drives
a. The number and size of the drives can greatly affect your performance.
b. Many smaller drivers are better than a few larger drives.
2) Configure the appropriate RAID configuration for your application.
a. In general most applications will perform well using RAID 5 or RAID 6 (dual parity) configuration. If more performance is required, consider adding more drives to your RAID 5/6 disk groups or use RAID 0+1.
b. Break up the I/O to different drives for different purposes.
i. Example: For a SQL Server it is beneficial to have 3 separate RAID sets (separate drives and communication channels). One for Data, one for Logs, and One for Backups. This type of configuration prevents one type of I/O from affecting the other.
c. Remember all this data needs to be backed up as well. Multiple Logical drives are easier to manage in the long run than one big drive.
3) Limit your total disk space to 2TB per server.
a. 2TB per server is a good rule of thumb for how much data a single server can support and still perform well under load.
b. Don’t forget you need to back this data up as well. Server with more than 2TB may take more time than your backup window allows.
4) Purchase as much Cache on the RAID controller as you can, or use a Fiber Channel SAN.
a. Fast disk access is all about caching of Writes and other commonly Read information. The more the controller can cache the better the server performance will be.
5) Configure File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks
a. Select the appropriate setting for your application.
b. Maximize data throughput for network applications for any type of Application Server or Windows 2003 Service (Exchange, IIS, SQL, Backup Server, DNS, Domain Controller, etc)
c. Maximize data throughput for file sharing is appropriate is only for File Servers
d. Use Minimize memory used, or Balanced only if directed by a vendor.
6) Configure Advance Computer Performance Settings
a. Regardless of the server type (Application, File Server, Win2003 Service), you should always configure Windows 2003 with the following settings.
b. Select Background services
c. Select System cache
d. The Programs setting is only used if the server is being used as a Workstation. This setting may also be appropriate for Terminal Servers.
7) DO NOT install Windows 2003 Services on any Application or File Server.
a. Examples of Services NOT run on an Application or File Server (i.e. Remove them if installed).
i. Domain Controller
ii. DHCP, DNS or WINS Services
iii. Internet Authentication Service (IAS)
iv. Routing and Remote Access Service
v. IIS Server or Windows Sharepoint Services
vi. Terminal Server for Applications
vii. Print Server
b. Combining Windows 2003 Services with an Application or File Server can affect the performance of the entire system. Dedicated servers for Applications, File Sharing, and Windows 2003 Services are the best way to manage performance.
8) DO NOT combine Application Servers and File Servers together.
a. This is just bad practice, not to mention poor administration. Use dedicated File and Application Servers only.
b. Also, as we have shown above Application Servers and File Servers have opposite memory configurations. If you attempt to maximize performance for the Application Server your File Server will suffer, and vice versa.
9) Properly configure the Page File settings
a. Ensure the sum of all page files is equal to the amount of memory in your server.
b. Do not let the system manager your page file.
c. Ensure the Initial Size and Maximum Size have the same settings.
10) Configure Adapter and Protocol Binding Order
a. Ensure Enabled adapters and bound before (higher in the list) Disabled adapters
b. Ensure TCP/IP is the first protocol bound to each service
c. Configure the Provider Order as needed
i. In general the Microsoft Windows Network provider should always be bound first in the list.