hardware sizing guide for microsoft dynamics nav 2009

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009

Hardware Sizing Guide

White Paper

Date: May, 2008

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Microsoft Dynamics is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions that enables you and your

people to make business decisions with greater confidence. Microsoft Dynamics works like and with familiar

Microsoft software, automating and streamlining financial, customer relationship and supply chain processes in a

way that helps you drive business success.

U.S. and Canada Toll Free 1-888-477-7989

Worldwide +1-701-281-6500

www.microsoft.com/dynamics

http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics

http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics

Contents

Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 4

Background – How Performance is Tested .................................................................... 4

Application Tests .............................................................................................................................................................................. 4

Client tests........................................................................................................................................................................................... 4

Hardware Configurations ................................................................................................. 4

Multiuser Tests (Application Scenarios) ................................................................................................................................... 4

Setup 1 – Three-tiers with no shared hardware ................................................................................................................... 5

Database Server ........................................................................................................................................................................... 5

Middle Tier Servers ..................................................................................................................................................................... 6

Setup 2 – Three-tiers with shared hardware .......................................................................................................................... 6

Database Tier and Middle Tier ............................................................................................................................................... 6

Client Single User Tests .................................................................................................................................................................. 7

Client Machine .............................................................................................................................................................................. 7

Middle Tier Server ....................................................................................................................................................................... 7

Network Latency & Bandwidth Requirements ............................................................... 7

Description of Test and Method ................................................................................................................................................ 7

Warm Client Startup ....................................................................................................................................................................... 8

The minimum supported bandwidth and latency .......................................................................................................... 8

The minimum supported bandwidth with no impact on performance ................................................................. 8

Warm Create and Post New Sales Order ................................................................................................................................ 9

The minimum supported bandwidth and latency .......................................................................................................... 9

The minimum supported bandwidth with no impact on performance ................................................................. 9

Summary ........................................................................................................................... 10

Appendix A – Application Scenarios ............................................................................. 11

Appendix B – Client Scenarios ....................................................................................... 13

Introduction

This document shows how performance is tested in Microsoft Dynamics NAV and to give guidance to the

hardware that is used, how it is configured, and the different configurations that are used in the performance

lab. This document is subject to change as RTM approaches.

Background – How Performance is Tested

In Microsoft Dynamics NAV, measurements are used to track performance on different platforms and

hardware configurations. This is the foundation for what is included in this document.

Performance is measured in two main groups – application performance and client performance.

Application Tests

An application test measures the performance of common application operations in a multiuser environment.

This is done by using the NAV Application Benchmark Toolkit (NABT) that will be made available for

download on PartnerSource at a later time. There are 26 different test scenarios that are executed randomly

from 50 concurrent users. These scenarios run for 4 hours and measure the performance for 3 hours, starting

30 minutes into the execution and ending 30 minutes before the end of the execution. For details about the

scenarios, see Appendix A.

Client tests

A client test measures the performance of the client when it is isolated from the application. There are 26

different test scenarios for the user interface (UI) of the RoleTailored client. All of these tests, unlike the

application scenarios, run in a single user environment to enable the performance of the UI and the client to

be tested in isolation from the application. Each test is executed once for cold scenarios and twice for warm

scenarios, where only the second test will be measured. For details about the scenarios, see Appendix B.

The next section shows the different hardware configurations which are tested on. For all of these

configurations, performance is defined as acceptable for the combination of hardware and the number of

users connected to the system. The client tests all abide to general goals for responsiveness of UI.

Hardware Configurations

Multiuser Tests (Application Scenarios)

For application scenarios, two different hardware setups are tested. The first setup is a three-tier setup where

each tier resides on its own hardware. Two identical middle-tiers run with an equal amount of users

connecting to the same database-tier. In this configuration, each middle-tier has 50 concurrent users.

Database tier

Client

Middle-tier

Client

Client

Client

Client

Middle-tier

Client

Client

Client

The second setup is a three-tier setup, where the middle-tier and database-tier resides on a single piece of

hardware. In this setup, the server has 50 concurrent users.

Client

Database-tier

Middle-tier

Client

Client

Client

The following section outlines the hardware for the two setups.

Setup 1 – Three-tiers with no shared hardware

Database Server

Siemens Rack Server RX300

Hardware

Dual CPU Xeon 2,8 GHz, 400 MHz FSB

2 GB ECC DDR RAM, 512 KB L2 Cache

2 x 36 GB HotPlug Ultra320 SCSI Disk

o System drive – RAID 0 – 2 disks

External Rack Storage – 14 x 18 GB HotPlug Ultra320 SCSI Disk o DB log drive – RAID 10 – 6 disks o DB data drive - RAID 10 – 8 disks

Software

Installed with Microsoft Windows 2003 Server Enterprise SP1 + various Server tools

Microsoft SQL Server 2005 installed on system drive

eTrust Antivirus 6

Fully security patched

Acrobat Adobe Reader

WinZip 8.1

Middle Tier Servers

FujitsuSiemens Esprimo E5915

Hardware

Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.83 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB

4 GB DDR2-533 RAM, 2 MB L2 Cache

2 x 160GB SATAII 7.2k RPM HDD

NVIDIA GeForce 7200LE, 256MB

Software


Visual Studio 2005



Setup 2 – Three-tiers with shared hardware

Database Tier and Middle Tier

HP Proliant DL380 G5

Hardware

Intel® Xeon® E5335 Quad Core Processor 2 GHz

8 MB (2 x 4 MB) Level 2 cache

8 GB RAM

HP Smart Array P400/256MB Controller (RAID 0/1/1+0/5)

o System drive – RAID 1+0 o Temp Drive - RAID 0

External Rack Storage P800

o DB log drive – RAID 1+0 o DB data drive - RAID 1+0

Software

Installed with Microsoft Windows 2003 Server Enterprise SP2 R2 + various Server tools

Microsoft SQL Server 2005


Disk layout

2 x 146 GB Raid 1 for OS = 146 GB. 4 x 146 GB Raid 10 for = 292 GB for DB Data and DB log. The OS is on a different channel, and data

and log share the same channel.

Client Single User Tests

Client Machine


Hardware




NVIDIA GeForce 7200LE, 256 MB

Software


Visual Studio 2005



Middle Tier Server


Hardware




NVIDIA GeForce 7200LE, 256MB

Software

Installed with Windows 2003 Server Enterprise SP2 + various Server tools

Visual Studio 2005



Network Latency & Bandwidth Requirements

Description of Test and Method

The tests run on a 2-tier setup, where machine A runs the client tests and machine B runs Microsoft Dynamics

NAV service tier and the database, thus representing the server. These are single user performance tests,

During each test, a network throttling tool is used on the client machine, which emulates limited bandwidth

and latency on the connection to the server.

The different settings on the network throttling simulate high speed ISDN and different connections speeds

for an ordinary ADSL connection. During each test, there is no emulation of lost packages and network errors

that might occur in a real life Internet connection.

The latencies represent the different distances between the client and the server.

- 0 ms is considered a setup where both machines are located on the same site, such as on a campus

- 10 ms represents a short distance link within Denmark (CPH-ARHUS 9 ms)

- 30 ms represents a group 1 country in Europe (Germany, Switzerland, France)

- 60 ms represents countries such as Turkey, Greece, etc.

- 90ms represents a connection between Denmark and the USA

Warm Client Startup

The minimum supported bandwidth and latency

The client works with a 128/128 kilobit connection for zero (0) latency, although startup takes approximately

40 seconds, which would probably be interpreted as a crash by a user. Starting with 512/128 kilobits, the

startup time is reduced to a much more acceptable 12 seconds compared to 6.6 seconds on a 100 megabit

connection.

By increasing the latency, the startup time increases linearly. With a 128/128 kilobit connection and a latency

of 60 milliseconds, the client needs approximately 44 seconds for startup, approaching the 12 second limit

with a bandwidth of 2048/128 kilobits.

The minimum supported bandwidth with no impact on performance

Another aspect is to determine the bandwidth needed with no latency to get performance which is less than

5% different from a normal test run without any throttling. The following graph shows a warm client start up

with a 20 megabit downlink and 10 megabit uplink connection. The time is 6720 milliseconds compared to

6618 milliseconds with a 100 megabit connection, which is a difference of 1.5%. Keeping the uplink at 10

megabits and increasing the downlink does not have a big impact on the performance for this scenario.

Warm Client Startup (0 latency variable bandwidth)

Warm Create and Post New Sales Order

The minimum supported bandwidth and latency

The minimum bandwidth that is required for a 0 latency environment is 128-128 kilobits. This is questionable

if a time of over 35 seconds is considered usable. With a bandwidth of 2048/2048 kilobits the limit of 5

seconds is reached, which is acceptable, compared to 3.2 seconds in an unthrottled environment.

The minimum supported bandwidth with no impact on performance

For the analog to the client startup, the bandwidth offering is less than 5% different than a broadband

connection. The following graph shows that with a 20 megabit downlink and a 10 megabit uplink connection,

the difference is less than 5%. The upload bandwidth is crucial for this scenario, and therefore a setup with

more downlink bandwidth and less uplink bandwidth achieves results which are poorer than those posted

before.

Warm Create Sales Order (0 latency variable bandwidth)

Summary

As described above, there are test two different configurations for multiuser tests. One is a three machine

setup where each tier resides on a separate machine. With regard to scalability, this configuration will scale

farther as there are no shared resources.

With regard to the testing of client performance, a standard desktop machine is used to perform this test. The

middle tier is only loaded with the connection from the client that is measured. This enables the client to be

measured by itself and not measured with the rest of the stack.

Appendix A – Application Scenarios

Scenario Description

100 Create GL Transaction

Application Benchmark Tool code unit 99600 Profile-Create GL

Transaction

101 Post GL Transactions (ALL)

Application Benchmark Tool code unit 99601 Profile-Post GL

Transaction

150 Chart of account simulation

Application benchmark tool code unit 99602 Profile-ChartofAcc.

simulation

200 Create Sales Quote and Make Order

Application Benchmark Tool code unit 99604 Profile-Create SQ,

SO, SI, SC

201 Create Sales Order (% Post) Application benchmark tool code unit 99604 Profile-Create SQ,

SO, SI, SC

202 Create and Post Sales Order (Ship &

Invoice)

Application Benchmark tool code unit 99604 Profile-Create SQ,

SO, SI, SC

203 Create Sales Invoice (% Post)


SO, SI, SC

204 Create and Post Sales Invoice


SO, SI, SC

206 Post Shipment from Sales Order


SO, SI, SC

207 Post Invoice from Sales Order


SO, SI, SC

210 Create Customer Receipt


Transaction

211 Post Customer Receipt (All)


Transaction

250 Customer Lookup - simulation

Application Benchmark Tool code unit 99607 Profile-Customer

Lookup Sim.

251 Sales Documents Lookup - simulation

Application Benchmark Tool code unit 99616 Profile-Sales Doc.

Lookup Sim.

300 Create Purchase Quote and Make

Order

Application Benchmark Tool code unit 99609 Profile-Create PQ,

PS, PI, PC

301 Create Purchase Order (% Post)


PS, PI, PC

302 Create and Post Purchase Order

(Receive & Invoice)


PS, PI, PC

303 Create Purchase Invoice (% Post)


PS, PI, PC

304 Create and Post Purchase Invoice


PS, PI, PC

306 Post Receipt from Purchase Order


PS, PI, PC

307 Post Purchase Invoice


PS, PI, PC

310 Create Vendor Payment


Transaction

311 Post Vendor Payment (All)


Transaction

350 Vendor Lookup - simulation

Application Benchmark Tool code unit 99612 Profile-Vendor

Lookup Sim.

351 Purchase Document Lookup -

simulation

Application Benchmark Tool code unit 99617 Profile-Purchase

Doc. Lookup

450 Item Lookup - simulation

Application Benchmark Tool code unit 99614 Profile-Item

Lookup Simulation

Appendix B – Client Scenarios

Scenario Description

Cold client startup The time that it takes to launch Microsoft Dynamics NAV

client. Cold client means NST is running but has not had any

client connections (client start is the first connection to a

specific NST–this tests not only the client startup but also the

NST loading time).

Warm client startup

Measures the time that it takes to start up the Microsoft

Dynamics NAV client until the client becomes responsive.

Open Sales Order List Place - cold Opens Sales Order List Place from a stack on the home page.

Open Sales Order List Place - warm Opens Sales Order List Place from a stack on the home page.

Step to next line on sales order list place

Uses the down arrow on the sales order list place line and

verifies if the focus on the list is moved to the next row.

Refresh InfoPart after moving to new sales

order line

Open the Sales Order list place and select a line. Select a new

line in the list place and measure the amount of time it takes to

refresh the related fact box.

Open existing sales order - cold Opens an existing sales order (unposted) as a task page from

sales order list place by clicking any line from the sales order

list.

Open existing sales order - warm Opens an existing sales order (unposted) as a task page from

sales order list place by clicking any line from the sales order

list.

Enter a new sales order line

Click on a new line in the Sales order to put focus on the line

type field.

Set sales order line type

Sets line type to item and then moves the focus.

Measure the time that it takes to move the focus to the next

field.

Add item Adds item 1000 and then moves the focus. Item line

information is automatically entered for the line.

Create new Sales order - cold

Creates a new Sales order (click from promoted actions), which

makes a new task page.

Create new Sales order - warm

Create a new Sales order (click from promoted actions) which

makes a new task page.

Automatically generate sales order number Moves from Sales order to a Customer field.

Measures the time that it takes to generate the sales order

number.

Show customer drop-down list

Move from Sales Order No to Customer field.

Measure the time it takes to open the customer number

dropdown.

Select customer Click to Select Customer 10000, which closes the drop-down

list and transfers the number to the customer ID field.

Add customer information to sales order

after selection

A customer has been selected as described in S04.09.

Measures the time that it takes to press the TAB key in the

customer ID field and fill the sales order with customer data.

Show customer details

The same click from S4.9 shows the data in the customer details

InfoPart.

Show item line info

Adds item 1000 and after moving to next field, shows

remaining item line information.

Show item details

After moving from S4.11, shows the data in the item details

InfoPart.

Change focus and show item details The user verifies that she has chosen the correct items by

reselecting first Item Line information and viewing the item

details InfoPart data for that line.

Measures the time that it takes to render an InfoPart.

200 milliseconds for changing focus (this should be split into

two scenarios).

Post and ship Posts and ships by pressing F11.

Sales order validation

On a new sales order, sets the shipment code to ‘aaa’. Leaves

the field and error message which displays that the code is

invalid.