Exceed onDemand A Technical Whitepaper

Server Requirements
Exceed onDemand Resource Usage
> Exceed onDemand 5 — A Technical Whitepaper
“What kind of server do I need for Exceed onDemand Server?” This is a valid and logical question to
ask when considering adopting Exceed onDemand--it is also a very difficult question to answer. It is
akin to asking what machine is needed to run Windows XP. The answer to both questions is that it
depends largely on how and for what the product will be used.
If the machine only needs to run Exceed onDemand in passive mode and launch simple X
applications, then most decent machines in the market will do. But this is rarely how Exceed
onDemand is used. After all, Exceed onDemand is a PC X Server and a graphical emulator.
The access of the host resources can be broken down into three stages:
Stage 1 — A fixed amount of resources are used to launch Exceed onDemand.
Stage 2 — As an emulator, Exceed onDemand incurs additional resources for every X application
it handles.
Stage 3 — If the X application is running on the same host as the Server, then the application itself
will consume resources.
So, to rephrase the original question:
a) What kind of X applications will my users access?
b) Will the X applications and Exceed onDemand Server run on the same machine?
c) How many users will access each X application?
d) What is the usage pattern likely to be? Is there a peak hour when everyone will log on to the Server
at the same time, or will the usage be evenly spread out throughout the day?
So knowing the size of the deployment and its intended usage is essential. A site deploying Exceed
onDemand to 100 users, each running a copy of xterm, will have different server requirements
than another site that deploys Exceed onDemand to 100 users with each running an instance of
a complicated 3D imaging software product.
However, this document will try to provide some basic guidelines and examples of system resource
usage and bandwidth consumption when Exceed onDemand runs some common X applications.
Users can use this information as a reference when deciding the size and capacity of a server
intended to house Exceed onDemand Server, but they are strongly advised to collect data that
is unique to their environment.
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