Sizing your Installation

Before beginning your installation, it is important to determine how many servers are required to manage the expected load in your environment. This section provides guidelines to help you determine this and also includes the recommended hardware specifications of the servers.

Your Environment

First, you must select an appropriate size category based on your environment. The size category helps you to quickly determine when a single server is sufficient or when Pharos services must be split across multiple servers. You must select the largest category that applies to your environment, e.g. if you have 50 printers (size category – Medium) and 70,000 students (size category – Large), you must base your planning on the “Large” size category.

Once you have determined the size category of your environment, you can establish the base number of servers required. Use the following table as a general guideline to determine your environment’s size category and the number of base servers needed.

Size Category	Environment	Number of Servers
Small	A small environment is defined as having all of the following characteristics: 20 or fewer output devices (i.e. printers and MFPs) Fewer than 10,000 full-time equivalent students Fewer than 300 SignUp Client computers	A single server can be used for all Pharos services
Medium	A medium-sized environment is defined as having one or more of the following characteristics: 50 – 100 output devices (i.e. printers and MFPs) 10,000 – 50,000 full-time equivalent students 300 – 500 SignUp Client computers	1 server for SQL Server, Pharos Database, and Pharos Principal Services 1 server for all other services (including Print Services and SignUp Services)
Large	A large environment is defined as having one or more of the following characteristics: 100+ output devices (i.e. printers and MFPs) 50,000 + full time equivalent students 500 – 2,500 SignUp Client computers	1 server for SQL Server, the Pharos Database, and Pharos Principal Services 1 or more servers – for all other services refer to the “Number of Uniprint Print Servers” and “Number of SignUp Servers” sections below.

Number of Servers

The following section provides information in determining the number of Uniprint Print Servers and SignUp Servers needed.

Number of Uniprint Print Servers

The number of Uniprint Print Servers required depends on the size of your deployment and the application(s) that you are running. For example, the Secure Release Here™ application places a greater load on your print server than SignUp. The main factor to consider when sizing organizations running Secure Release application is the printing volume across the site.

In addition, the performance of your print server will be affected by the following factors:

• The number of print server clients connecting to the server (e.g. Pharos Remote, Pharos Stations, Popups, etc.)
• The types of print jobs sent to the print server (e.g. graphics, text)
• The size of the print jobs, which will depend on whether they are PCL or Postscript, graphics or text
• The number and type of Devices and Release Stations served by the print server
• The types of print drivers each printer use

A single dedicated Uniprint Print Server supports a maximum sustained rate of 10,000 jobs/hour. This figure is based on the following assumptions:

• The average print job submitted to the print server contains 1 page with limited graphics, is not complex (i.e. the graphic images are not complex), and uses PostScript.
• An average of 1 print job per user per hour.

The number of print servers is determined based on the number of users, their typical print activity in an hour, and the maximum number of jobs that a print server can hold.

Therefore, for a site that expects to process 50,000 print jobs/hour, for example, at least five (5) Uniprint Print Servers are required.

If a single Uniprint Print Server is processing more than 10,000 jobs per hour, you may find that there is a significant decrease in its performance. This can be due to a number of factors that affect the capacity of the print server, including, but not limited to:

• High Sustained Rate of Print Job Submission: When print jobs are submitted consistently above the rate of 10,000 jobs per hour, the processing demand on the server increases dramatically. This may also apply if the server consistently experiences high peak job submission rates for extended periods of time.
• Complex Print jobs: Complex print jobs such as those containing graphics place extra load on the print server.
• Number of Release Stations: In a Secure Release printing environment, Release Stations are used to view jobs sitting in Print Groups, and to release these print jobs to the printers. The Release Station interacts with the Print Server requesting information such as the list of print jobs, the cost and details of a selected print job, information about the user, and so on. Each request places a load on the Print Server. A single print server can support approximately 200 terminals (i.e. MFPs, Omegas).
• Type of Release Stations: Certain types of Release Stations are controlled by services on the server itself. Due to this, these devices can place a significant extra load on the server.

Number of SignUp Servers

The number of required SignUp Servers is typically based on the number of SignUp Clients. A single, dedicated SignUp Server can support a maximum of 500 SignUp Clients.

Database Sizing

The Pharos Database is used to store configuration, user, costing, and activity data. To determine the minimum storage space required for the Pharos Database, first determine the following:

• The number of users accounts that will be stored in the Pharos Database
• The average number of transactions you expect per day multiplied by the number of months that you will keep these transactions for reporting purposes
• The number of cost centers (for Third Party Charging) that will be stored in the Pharos Database (if any exists)

Then use the following formula to determine the required database storage space:

Storage Required (KB) = 2KB per user account + 0.5 KB per transaction + 1KB per Cost Center + 102,400 KB system overhead (configuration data, alerts, etc.) + Log Size

Take into consideration the following factors:

• The amount of space for indexes – a factor of 2
• Logsize/Datasize – i.e. how much SQL Server log is required for a given amount of data? By saying 1/3, we are saying that whatever the size of the data, allocate another 1/3 of that size for the log space.