Introduction 5
In This Guide 5
Choosing and Tuning Server Hardware 6
Choosing Server Hardware: Performance Considerations 6
Choosing Server Hardware: Power Considerations 9
Power and Performance Tuning 10
Calculating Server Energy Efficiency 10
Measuring System Energy Consumption 11
Diagnosing Energy Efficiency Issues 12
Using Power Plans in Windows Server 12
Tuning Processor Power Management Parameters 13
Interrupt Affinity 15
Performance Tuning for the Networking Subsystem 16
Choosing a Network Adapter 18
Offload Capabilities 18
Receive-Side Scaling (RSS) 18
Message-Signaled Interrupts (MSI/MSI-X) 19
Network Adapter Resources 19
Interrupt Moderation 19
Suggested Network Adapter Features for Server Roles 20
Tuning the Network Adapter 20
Enabling Offload Features 20
Increasing Network Adapter Resources 21
Enabling Interrupt Moderation 21
Enabling RSS for Web Scenarios 21
Binding Each Adapter to a CPU 21
TCP Receive Window Auto-Tuning 22
TCP Parameters 22
Network-Related Performance Counters 23
Performance Tuning for the Storage Subsystem 24
Choosing Storage 25
Estimating the Amount of Data to Be Stored 26
Choosing a Storage Array 27
Hardware RAID Levels 27
Choosing the RAID Level 31
Selecting a Stripe Unit Size 36
Determining the Volume Layout 37
Storage-Related Parameters 37
I/O Priorities 38
Storage-Related Performance Counters 38
Logical Disk and Physical Disk 38
Processor Information 40
Power Protection and Advanced Performance Option 40
Block Alignment (DISKPART) 41
Solid-State and Hybrid Drives 42
Response Times 42
Queue Lengths 43
Performance Tuning for Web Servers 44
Selecting the Proper Hardware for Performance 44
Operating System Practices 45
Tuning IIS 7.5 45
Kernel-Mode Tunings 46
Cache Management Settings 46
Request and Connection Management Settings 47
User-Mode Settings 48
User-Mode Cache Behavior Settings 48
Compression Behavior Settings 49
Tuning the Default Document List 50
Central Binary Logging 50
Application and Site Tunings 51
Managing IIS 7.5 Modules 52
Classic ASP Settings 52
ASP.NET Concurrency Setting 54
Worker Process and Recycling Options 54
Secure Sockets Layer Tuning Parameters 55
ISAPI 55
Managed Code Tuning Guidelines 55
Other Issues that Affect IIS Performance 56
NTFS File System Setting 56
Networking Subsystem Performance Settings for IIS 56
Performance Tuning for File Servers 56
Selecting the Proper Hardware for Performance 56
Server Message Block Model 57
SMB Model Overview 57
SMB Configuration Considerations 57
Tuning Parameters for SMB File Servers 58
SMB Server Tuning Example 60
Services for NFS Model 61
Services for NFS Model Overview 61
Tuning Parameters for NFS Server 61
General Tuning Parameters for Client Computers 64
File Client Tuning Example 66
Performance Tuning for Active Directory Servers 67
Considerations for Read-Heavy Scenarios 68
Considerations for Write-Heavy Scenarios 68
Using Indexing to Improve Query Performance 69
Optimizing Trust Paths 69
Active Directory Performance Counters 69
Performance Tuning for Remote Desktop Session Host (formerly Terminal Server) 70
Selecting the Proper Hardware for Performance 70
CPU Configuration 71
Processor Architecture 71
Memory Configuration 71
Disk 72
Network 72
Tuning Applications for Remote Desktop Session Host 73
Remote Desktop Session Host Tuning Parameters 74
Pagefile 74
Antivirus and Antispyware 74
Task Scheduler 74
Desktop Notification Icons 74
Client Experience Settings 76
Desktop Size 78
Windows System Resource Manager 78
Performance Tuning for Remote Desktop Gateway 78
Monitoring and Data Collection 79
Performance Tuning for Virtualization Servers 79
Terminology 80
Hyper-V Architecture 81
Server Configuration 82
Hardware Selection 82
Server Core Installation Option 83
Dedicated Server Role 84
Guest Operating Systems 84
CPU Statistics 84
Processor Performance 85
VM Integration Services 85
Enlightened Guests 85
Virtual Processors 85
Background Activity 86
Weights and Reserves 86
Tuning NUMA Node Preference 87
Memory Performance 87
Enlightened Guests 87
Correct Memory Sizing for Child Partitions 87
Correct Memory Sizing for Root Partition 88
Storage I/O Performance 88
Synthetic SCSI Controller 88
Virtual Hard Disk Types 89
Passthrough Disks 90
Disabling File Last Access Time Check 90
Physical Disk Topology 90
I/O Balancer Controls 90
Network I/O Performance 91
Synthetic Network Adapter 91
Install Multiple Synthetic Network Adapters on Multiprocessor VMs 92
Offload Hardware 92
Network Switch Topology 92
Interrupt Affinity 92
VLAN Performance 92
VMQ 93
VM Chimney 93
Live Migration 93
Performance Tuning for File Server Workload (NetBench) 94
Registry Tuning Parameters for Servers 94
Registry Tuning Parameters for Client Computers 94
Performance Tuning for File Server Workload (SPECsfs2008) 95
Registry-Tuning Parameters for NFS Server 95
Performance Tuning for Network Workload (NTttcp) 96
Tuning for NTttcp 96
Network Adapter 97
TCP/IP Window Size 97
Receive-Side Scaling (RSS) 97
Tuning for IxChariot 97
Performance Tuning for Remote Desktop Services Knowledge Worker Workload 98
Recommended Tunings on the Server 99
Monitoring and Data Collection 101
Performance Tuning for SAP Sales and Distribution Two-Tier Workload 101
Operating System Tunings on the Server 102
Tunings on the Database Server 103
Tunings on the SAP Application Server 104
Monitoring and Data Collection 105
Performance Tuning for TPC-E Workload 106
Server Under Test (SUT) Tunings 106
SQL Server Tunings for TPC-E Workload 107
Disk Storage Tunings 109
TPC-E Database Size and Layout 109
Client Systems Tunings 110
Monitoring and Data Collection 110
Resources 112
