Installation guide
12 Implementing Windows Terminal Server and Citrix MetaFrame on IBM ^ xSeries Servers
VMware Workstation is used for development and demonstration purposes. The GSX Server
and ESX Server versions are used for consolidating and partitioning systems in
high-performance environments.
Increasing capacity in a Citrix MetaFrame farm is typically through a “scale out” methodology
by simply installing extra additional servers. For very large thin-client environments, this may
consist of hundreds of MetaFrame servers.
In these large environments, multiple MetaFrame servers can be consolidated to a single
xSeries 440 (x440) server running VMware ESX Server. A single x440 server can be
expanded to eight processors and 32 GB of RAM.
Figure 2-3 shows an x440 server running multiple MetaFrame Virtual Servers.
Figure 2-3 Virtual MetaFrame servers running on an x440 server
Testing in IBM’s performance laboratories has determined that an 8-way x440 server can
support approximately 307
heavy users. You can learn about heavy users in 3.2.4, “WTS
testing tools and scripts” on page 23. That section also provides a link to the IBM Web site
where you can download the x440 and VMware performance report.
In real-world environments, depending on application usage, the x440 supports 250 to 500
active MetaFrame users using multiple virtual machines. These enterprise environments
consist of large servers running one virtual MetaFrame server per processor.
By using VMware, you benefit from rapidly provisioning new servers. For example, a new
server can be commissioned by simply taking a copy of an existing virtual machine directory
and starting the new virtual machine. You must still prepare the Windows Server 2003 virtual
machine using sysprep just as you would do with a traditional server.
2.4 Larger MetaFrame servers of the future
The majority of today’s terminal server environments are dual processor servers or larger
servers running virtual machines. The memory limitations of 32-bit Windows applications
restrict the amount of memory that these applications can access without using Intel Physical
xSeries 440
MetaFrame Server #1
MetaFrame Server #2
}
Running on one
physical server