IIS 7.0 and Your Hardware

Before you deploy IIS 7.0, you should carefully plan the server architecture. As part of your planning, you need to look closely at pre-installation requirements and the hardware you will use. IIS 7.0 is no longer the simple solution for hosting Web sites that it once was. It now provides the core infrastructure for hosting Web servers, Web applications, and Windows SharePoint Services.

Guidelines for choosing hardware for Internet servers are much different from those for choosing other types of servers. A Web hosting provider might host multiple sites on the same computer and might also have service level agreements that determine the level of availability and performance required. On the other hand, a busy e-commerce site might have a dedicated Web server or even multiple load-balanced servers. Given that Internet servers are used in a wide variety of circumstances and might be either shared or dedicated, here are some guidelines for choosing server hardware:

Memory The amount of random access memory (RAM) that's required depends on many factors, including the requirements of other services, the size of frequently accessed content files, and the RAM requirements of the Web applications. In most installations, I recommend that you use at least 1 gigabyte (GB) of RAM. High-volume servers should have a minimum of 2 to 4 GB of RAM. More RAM will allow more files to be cached, reducing disk requests. For all IIS installations, the operating system paging file size should at least equal the amount of RAM on the server.

Note

Don't forget that as you add physical memory, virtual paging to disk grows as well. With this in mind, you might want to ensure that the Pagefile.sys file is on the appropriate disk drive, one that has adequate space for the page file to grow, along with providing optimal input/output (I/O) performance.

• CPU The CPU processes the instructions received by the computer. The clock speed of the CPU and the size of the data bus determine how quickly information moves among the CPU, RAM, and system buses. Static content, such as HTML and images, place very little burden on the processor, and standard recommended configurations should suffice. Faster clock speeds and multiple processors increase the performance scalability of a Web server, particularly for sites that rely on dynamic content. 32-bit versions of Windows run on Intel x86 or compatible hardware. 64-bit versions of Windows run on the x64 family of processors from AMD and Intel, including AMD64 and Intel Extended Memory 64 Technology (Intel EM64T). IIS provides solid benchmark performance on Intel Xeon, AMD Opteron, and AMD Athlon processors. Any of these CPUs provide good starting points for the typical IIS server. You can achieve significant performance improvements with a large processor cache. Look closely at the L1, L2, and L3 cache options available—a larger cache can yield much better performance overall.
  

• SMP IIS supports symmetric multiprocessors (SMPs) and can use additional processors to improve performance. If the system is running only IIS and doesn't handle dynamic content or encryption, a single processor might suffice. You should always use multiple processors if IIS is running alongside other services, such as Microsoft SQL Server or Microsoft Exchange Server.

• Disk drives The amount of data storage capacity you need depends entirely on the size of content files and the number of sites supported. You need enough disk space to store all your data plus workspace, system files, and virtual memory. I/O throughput is just as important as drive capacity. However, disk I/O is rarely a bottleneck for Web sites on the public Internet—generally, bandwidth limits throughput. High-bandwidth sites should consider hardware-based redundant array of independent disks (RAID) solutions using copper or fiber channel–based small computer system interface (SCSI) devices.

• Data protection Unless you can tolerate hours of downtime, you should add protection against unexpected drive failures by using RAID. Hardware RAID implementations are always preferred over software RAID implementations. RAID 0 (disk striping without parity) offers optimal read/write performance, but if a drive fails, IIS won't be able to continue operation until the drive is replaced and its contents are restored from backup. Because of this, RAID 0 isn't the recommended choice. RAID 1 (disk mirroring) creates duplicate copies of data on separate physical drives, allowing the server to remain operational when a drive fails, and even while the RAID controller rebuilds a replacement drive in a failed mirror. RAID 5 (disk striping with parity) offers good protection against single-drive failure but has poor write performance. Keep in mind that if you've configured redundant load-balanced servers, you might not need RAID. With load balancing, the additional servers might offer the necessary fault tolerance.
  

• UPS Sudden power loss and power spikes can seriously damage hardware. To prevent this, get an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). A properly configured UPS system allows the operating system to automatically shut down the server gracefully in the event of a power outage, and it's also important in maintaining system integrity when the server uses write-back caching controllers that do not have on-board battery backups. Professional hosting providers often offer UPS systems that can maintain power indefinitely during extended power outages.

If you follow these hardware guidelines, you'll be well on your way to success with IIS.