Planning Your Proxy Server Implementation Essay -- Internet Software C

Planning Your Proxy Server Implementation A key factor in determining the success of any installation is planning. Planning involves several phases-from understanding your current capabilities, to determining your current needs, anticipating your future needs, and, ultimately, finding a viable solution. We have all been in situations where the immediate need surpassed the need for planning and the installation was rushed. More often than not, the installation had to be repeated to correct problems. Microsoft stresses successful planning techniques, both to ease the initial installation and as a preventative troubleshooting task. The Site Analysis Process A key consideration of planning future network capacity is determining what services, users, and data will be present on the network. Take the time to complete a thorough site analysis. A bit of formal analysis now will ease the process of upgrading and configuring the system later. Don't succumb to the "easy way out." Planning can be a long and arduous task that is overlooked far too often, but one that pays off ultimately. Network Capacity Analysis The capacity of a network is that network's ability to support the amount of data transmitted over it. A network that can support the activity of your organization today may not be able to support the increased activity level when Internet access is offered via Proxy Server. You need to carefully consider the performance ramifications of adding new information services to an already overtaxed network. Although Proxy Server's ability to cache resources saves on performance over the Internet communication link, it does not decrease the amount of data ultimately transferred to the client. Even if 100 percent of requested data is stored in the proxy server's cache, it will still be sent across your local network to the client computer, increasing network traffic significantly. The first step in network capacity analysis is to define a baseline profile of the performance levels of your current network by using Performance Monitor and Network Monitor. This involves sampling various aspects of your network over several days. Examine these readings to decipher what is normal and abnormal about how your network performs. This includes pinpointing which areas of your network experience the heaviest load, which users or applications cause the most traffic, ... ...oft recommends that the computer hosting Proxy Server meet the following minimum requirements: à ¤ Intel Pentium 133 or faster à ¤ 2GB of storage space for caching à ¤ 32MB of RAM, or more Moderate-Volume Network A moderate-volume network is typically a network in a mid-size company with under 1,000 computers. Moderate volume networks can obtain adequate Internet access using two or more proxy servers arranged in an array or chain connected to multiple ISDN lines or a fractional T1. Microsoft recommends that the computer hosting Proxy Server meet the following minimum requirements: à ¤ Intel Pentium 166 or faster à ¤ 2 to 4GB of storage space for caching à ¤ 64MB of RAM, or more High-Volume A high-volume network is typically a network in an enterprise corporation with thousands of computers. High volume networks can obtain adequate Internet access using multiple proxy servers in a combined array and chain combination connected to a T1 line or greater. Microsoft recommends that the computer hosting Proxy Server meet the following minimum requirements: à ¤ Intel Pentium 200, Pentium Pro 166 or faster à ¤ 8 to 16GB of storage space for caching à ¤ 128 to 256MB of RAM, or more Planning Your Proxy Server Implementation Essay -- Internet Software C Planning Your Proxy Server Implementation A key factor in determining the success of any installation is planning. Planning involves several phases-from understanding your current capabilities, to determining your current needs, anticipating your future needs, and, ultimately, finding a viable solution. We have all been in situations where the immediate need surpassed the need for planning and the installation was rushed. More often than not, the installation had to be repeated to correct problems. Microsoft stresses successful planning techniques, both to ease the initial installation and as a preventative troubleshooting task. The Site Analysis Process A key consideration of planning future network capacity is determining what services, users, and data will be present on the network. Take the time to complete a thorough site analysis. A bit of formal analysis now will ease the process of upgrading and configuring the system later. Don't succumb to the "easy way out." Planning can be a long and arduous task that is overlooked far too often, but one that pays off ultimately. Network Capacity Analysis The capacity of a network is that network's ability to support the amount of data transmitted over it. A network that can support the activity of your organization today may not be able to support the increased activity level when Internet access is offered via Proxy Server. You need to carefully consider the performance ramifications of adding new information services to an already overtaxed network. Although Proxy Server's ability to cache resources saves on performance over the Internet communication link, it does not decrease the amount of data ultimately transferred to the client. Even if 100 percent of requested data is stored in the proxy server's cache, it will still be sent across your local network to the client computer, increasing network traffic significantly. The first step in network capacity analysis is to define a baseline profile of the performance levels of your current network by using Performance Monitor and Network Monitor. This involves sampling various aspects of your network over several days. Examine these readings to decipher what is normal and abnormal about how your network performs. This includes pinpointing which areas of your network experience the heaviest load, which users or applications cause the most traffic, ... ...oft recommends that the computer hosting Proxy Server meet the following minimum requirements: à ¤ Intel Pentium 133 or faster à ¤ 2GB of storage space for caching à ¤ 32MB of RAM, or more Moderate-Volume Network A moderate-volume network is typically a network in a mid-size company with under 1,000 computers. Moderate volume networks can obtain adequate Internet access using two or more proxy servers arranged in an array or chain connected to multiple ISDN lines or a fractional T1. Microsoft recommends that the computer hosting Proxy Server meet the following minimum requirements: à ¤ Intel Pentium 166 or faster à ¤ 2 to 4GB of storage space for caching à ¤ 64MB of RAM, or more High-Volume A high-volume network is typically a network in an enterprise corporation with thousands of computers. High volume networks can obtain adequate Internet access using multiple proxy servers in a combined array and chain combination connected to a T1 line or greater. Microsoft recommends that the computer hosting Proxy Server meet the following minimum requirements: à ¤ Intel Pentium 200, Pentium Pro 166 or faster à ¤ 8 to 16GB of storage space for caching à ¤ 128 to 256MB of RAM, or more