Server location and network infrastructure To define our server infrastructure, we first needed to understand the way client computers would access the servers. The geographical location and the mobility of users would have a deep impact on any data centralization project because both location and mobility would have an effect on the characteristics of the network link between the clients and the server. The relevant characteristics of networking are the link latency, throughput, and the availability of the network. SMB 2.0, introduced in Windows Vista, dramatically increased the performance of file access over slow networks (high latency/low bandwidth). Nevertheless, the better the performance characteristics of the underlying network, the better the end user’s experience will be when accessing files directly from the server. Table 2 represents our user base classification for user location and mobility. Facility Classification User category Description Average network latency (RTT) between user location and data facility Local user Users located at the same location as the main < 3 milliseconds (ms) office/data center. This implies a LAN connection between the client computers and the datacenter. Near branch office users Users located in branch offices on the same 80 to 100 ms continent as the main office/data center location. This implies a relatively fast (depending on the infrastructure) WAN connection between the client computers and the datacenter. Far branch office users Users located in branch offices on a different 250 to 300 ms continent from the main office/data center location. This implies a relatively slow WAN connection between the client computers and the datacenter. Users using laptop computers, having sporadic Variable Mobile users access to the network, and connecting to the corporate network by using Remote Access or Direct Access (new in Windows 7). This implies a transient WAN connection between the client computers and the datacenter with latency and speed varying depending on where the user connects from. Table - Facility classification on our testing, the initial logon performance for all the client operating systems that we planned to support was acceptable for local users and near branch users with a file server located in our main datacenter. The use of the Offline Files technology allowed us to meet our business requirements for performance for the near branch user experience. For mobile users, we also looked at Offline Files to allow us to meet our data access performance and availability needs because the characteristics of the underlying network can vary widely.
Server location and network infrastructure To define our server infrastructure, we first needed to understand the way client computers would access the servers. The geographical location and the mobility of users would have a deep impact on any data centralization project because both location and mobility would have an effect on the characteristics of the network link between the clients and the server. The relevant characteristics of networking are the link latency, throughput, and the availability of the network. SMB 2.0, introduced in Windows Vista, dramatically increased the performance of file access over slow networks (high latency/low bandwidth). Nevertheless, the better the performance characteristics of the underlying network, the better the end user’s experience will be when accessing files directly from the server. Table 2 represents our user base classification for user location and mobility. Facility Classification User category Description Average network latency (RTT) between user location and data facility Local user Users located at the same location as the main office/data center. This implies a LAN connection between the client computers and the datacenter. < 3 milliseconds (ms) Near branch office users Users located in branch offices on the same continent as the main office/data center location. This implies a relatively fast (depending on the infrastructure) WAN connection between the client computers and the datacenter. 80 to 100 ms Far branch office users Users located in branch offices on a different continent from the main office/data center location. This implies a relatively slow WAN connection between the client computers and the datacenter. 250 to 300 ms Mobile users Users using laptop computers, having sporadic access to the network, and connecting to the corporate network by using Remote Access or Direct Access (new in Windows 7). This implies a transient WAN connection between the client computers and the datacenter with latency and speed varying depending on where the user connects from. Variable Table - Facility classification on our testing, the initial logon performance for all the client operating systems that we planned to support was acceptable for local users and near branch users with a file server located in our main datacenter. The use of the Offline Files technology allowed us to meet our business requirements for performance for the near branch user experience. For mobile users, we also looked at Offline Files to allow us to meet our data access performance and availability needs because the characteristics of the underlying network can vary widely.
Implementing%20an%20End-User%20Data%20Centralization%20Solution.docx