PATHWORKS Client-Server Capacity Planning

This document outlines a methodology for performing capacity planning on PATHWORKS network operating system file servers. It details how to use analytical queuing models to predict server performance in client-server environments, emphasizing the challenges of modeling when user activity is partially unknown. The paper covers data collection requirements using DECperformance Solution software, the definition of workload classes, and techniques for manipulating models to explore hardware upgrades, workload distribution, and user community scaling. It concludes with findings from performance analysis case studies, illustrating the impact of workload variations on server responsiveness.