Q:
ABSTRACT: PSF/AIX, PSF Direct sizing
SEARCH ARG: rta000089327
TOPIC THREAD: PRINT
AFP
PSF6000
..
Follow up question from item A0183 (RTA000089327). Customer has
requested sizing and config of RS/6000 and PSF/6000. They would like
to have a PSF Direct session between one PSF/MVS host and one PSF/6000.
This single PSF/6000 would redirect the converted PCL to up to 80
Novell print servers which would have up to 300 HP printers lan attached
Here are answers to sizing questions:
1. The jobs will be coming to PSF/6000 from MVS/PSF PSF Direct, so
the datastream will be IPDS.
2. Assume the jobs will be less than 20 pages each ( "typical LAN print
jobs").
3. Simple text has about 8000 bytes per page.
Do have some uncompressed image logos which are 2 sq in or less and some
overlays which may have shading.
4. Many Applications will be used to produce output like invoices,
financial reports, sysout, manufacturing reports, etc. 80% of the
output is batch and 20% is CICS. ( We will use Netspool for the CICS
stuff.)
The printers are HP Laserjets a mix of 3s and 4s.
They take PCL4 and PCL5.
They are attached with Jetdirect lan cards and owned by Novell print
servers located at 80 different locations. Initially they would attach
100 of these printers to PSF/6000, but eventually would want up to 300
printers.
No other applications would be running on the RS/6000.
Please tell us how much memory is required. This will be a new RS/6000
dedicated to a PSF/6000 print server.
Please recommend tuning parameters.
A:
I will check with the performance analysts and development to see
what we can tell you. We have never tested a networked configuration
of this magnitude, so whatever we can provide will be an estimate.
You didn't say how many of these printers might be active at once, so
we'll have to assume worst case, which would be 300 printers at 17 ipm,
or an aggregate rate of 5100 ipm. That's a lot of pages, and I'm not
sure a single RS/6000 of any size can run PSF/6000 and drive this number
of pages to PCL printers at rated speed.
Leaving open...
A:
I've talked with the performance analysts and the PSF Direct developer.
We all agree that PSF/6000 is just a small piece of the performance
puzzle for the proposed configuration. There are other components which
must also be analyzed for their performance impact, including PSF/MVS,
SNA Server/6000, AIX, and the network.
For example, the default number of conversations for SNA Server/6000;
you'll need one for each printer (300). What kind of load will that
impose on the RS/6000?
Since you're going to be driving PCL printers, the AIX qdaemon and
spooling system will be involved to route the jobs to the remote Novell
print servers. What impact does that have on the RS/6000 configuration?
If you assume worst case (all printers 17ipm, all 100% busy = 5100
impressions/minute or 85 impressions/second), you could place a huge
load on the network. And if you plan for worst case, you may overdesign
your solution ($$).
In other words, I don't think we can give you a recommendation in a
total vacuum. This extensive a configuration almost requires a network
design review involving many different groups, each knowledgeable about
the performance characteristics of their own product.
Other things to consider from just a PSF/6000 perspective:
1) Driving PCL printers is expensive in terms of resource (CPU, disk,
memory) and does not provide the performance or error recovery of
IPDS printers.
2) From an administrative point of view, for 300 printers and PSF
Direct, you would need to define:
- 300 FSS at the host
- 300 startup procs
- 300 applids
- all the VTAM definitions
- all the corresponding SNA Server/6000 profiles
- 300 PSF/6000 queues
- 300 AIX remote queues
This is a huge undertaking and one that will almost certainly not fit
on a single RISC System/6000, and might require as many as ten servers.
That in turn adds more complexity to the sizing, installation and
administration. (But on the other hand, I wouldn't want a single point
of failure, either¢)
So I can't give you a recommendation given all the various products and
unknowns. I would strongly recommend that you investigate a billable
systems review or network analysis that would pull in players from all
the different product areas.
I'm sorry I can't give you a straightforward answer, but I would be
doing both you and your customer a disservice.
S e a r c h - k e y w o r d s:
AIX PSF/6000 PSF PSF DIRECT PERFORMANCE SIZING PCL NOVELL
psf/aix psf/mvs mvs pcl4 pcl5 jetdirect
WWQA: ITEM: RTA000090012 ITEM: RTA000090012
Dated: 07/1999 Category: XPSF6000
This HTML file was generated 2000/11/30~13:34:04
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