Greetings,
I'm seeking information on exactly how to "size" a server or cluster of
servers to support a web application to handle 400-500 concurrent users
with approximately 2000 accounts. This application will serve as a
front to teachers gradebooks, accepting input for grades, attendance,
discipline and more.
The 'recommendation' we've received is 6 HP DL360
G4(http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/11937_div/11937_div.html)
servers with 2 3.4ghz Xeon processors, 4gb ram to act as web servers,
in addition to a 7th and 8th server to serve as domain controllers
(Integrated windows authentication), along with something along the
lines of an HP DL 580
(http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/proliantdl580/specifications-g4.html)
with some obscene specification (they said 'big') for the MS SQL server
installation
I'm trying to get an idea whether or not this seems excessive. I've
read in other places (such as this article about myspace
http://www.baselinemag.com/article2/0,1540,2082924,00.asp) that make me
doubt we need so much horse power for a site this size.
2000 users, to me, seems "small". Extremely small. I know it is
pretty vague, but perhaps some logic can be shed on this to at least
make an educated guess? (At the very least an argument so that we can
start small then scale quickly if needed instead of shooting for Alpha
Centauri when we really 'need' to get to the moon)
FYI The application in question is Sungard Pentamation Teacher Access
Center.