With a small number of users, virtualized TS is a slam dunk. With that many, I wouldn't virtualize it unless you're running ESX. In fact, there's a good chance you'll want multiple terminal servers with fault tolerant load balancing, and nobody beats Citrix for that.
On the other hand, from what I've seem, the biggest overhead with virtualization is the disk overhead. And TS doesn't tend to hit local disks hard. So you might get lucky. The idea of cloned VMs with ESX automatic failover between multiple servers... Hmmm... I don't know how you're going to simulate users in a lab, FWIW. The load depends so much on work habits and app characteristics. Some hardware tuning tips, also FWIW. Use lots of CPU cores, lots of RAM, not a lot of disk, use SCSI disks for low overhead, fast smart NICs, don't use them for anything but TS (no local SQL, etc), no user-visible shares. From: Joseph L. Casale [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: February-19-08 5:51 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Virtualize Terminal Server or not? Not much help but I would suggest you try it out in a lab if you can. Hard to say not knowing how good your hardware is and what apps your running. I would be a little leery though as that is a lot of users to potentially visibly effect the user experience of. How good is your virtual environment? Given all the benefits of virtualizing, if it can handle I would surely opt for it! jlc From: Phil Guevara [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 5:34 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Virtualize Terminal Server or not? Anyone know if it makes sense to virtualize a core terminal server that will have about 50 concurrent users connecting to it? Or is it better to get a new server that will be dedicated for this purpose? Best Regards, Phil ~ Upgrade to Next Generation Antispam/Antivirus with Ninja! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbelt-software.com/SunbeltMessagingNinja.cfm> ~
