The performance considerations described in this topic are based on the testing scenarios of a central site supporting the hierarchy maximum of 200,000 clients. The clients are divided equally between 2 child primary sites, with the maximum supported number of 100,000 assigned clients at each, with the features and configurations previously defined.
There is no exact definition of small, medium, or large site hierarchies to be used when planning for performance considerations. Each individual environment and feature implementation must be considered when determining your performance planning requirements. For example, a site with 10,000 clients could be considered a medium-sized site but might produce a larger client data processing load than a site or site database server with more assigned clients but less aggressive feature implementation or client agent scheduling.
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| The performance considerations outlined in this topic are general considerations only. When planning for performance considerations during Configuration Manager site design, individual environments and performance expectations should be considered using these baseline testing results. |
Co-Locating SQL Server Site Database with the Primary Site Server Computer
Installing the site database on the computer on which the primary site is installed generally results in good site performance if adequate hardware is used.
However, because Configuration Manager is more database processing intensive than previous versions of SMS, if there is a high speed connection between the site server computer and a remote SQL Server computer used to host the site database, site performance might be better than co-locating the site database on a local SQL Server instance to the site server computer.
Using a remote SQL Server to host the site database, with a fast network connection to the site server, allows two computers to more effectively process site information by working in parallel. For data processing intensive sites, this configuration results in less resource contention than using a single computer to host both the site and site database server installations.
Site Settings and Client Agent Configuration Considerations
When configuring site settings, the impact on site performance should be considered. For example, enabling Active Directory system or user discovery at multiple sites in the hierarchy can create a decrease in the performance of discovery data record (DDR) processing for discovered resources. If Active Directory discovery methods are run on multiple sites, it is possible that machines might be discovered multiple times. As each site discovers a resource, the resulting DDR is processed and sent to sites higher in the hierarchy. The processing impact of DDR records at higher sites is increased because each site must determine which discovery record for a resource discovered at multiple sites is the most recent.
The client agents enabled during Custom Setup were used in testing using their default schedules. If the default client agents enabled, or their schedules, are modified from their default settings, the performance impact should be considered during planning site designs.
Enabled Configuration Manager client agent schedules can greatly increase the amount of data the site server must process. Verifying that the agent schedules are as infrequent as possible, while still meeting your business and technical needs, will increase the data processing capabilities of the Configuration Manager site server and site database server.
In particular, planning for client features that generate state messages should be considered to avoid state message processing backlogs. For more information about troubleshooting state message backlogs, see Troubleshooting State Message Backlogs.
Virtualization Considerations
While it is supported to host Configuration Manager site systems as virtual computers using Virtual Server 2005 R2, the performance impact of using virtual computers instead of physical computers should be considered during performance planning.
The use of virtual computer site systems for Configuration Manager sites that must process a large amount of data is not recommended. The amount of client data processing that virtual site systems will process should be considered when deciding whether to use virtual or physical site system computers.