Overview

Introduction

Microsoft® BackOffice is a collection five tightly integrated technology components:

Microsoft Windows NT™ Server network operating system version 3.5

Microsoft SQL Server™ client-server database management system 4.21a

Microsoft SNA Server connectivity for IBM enterprise networks version 2.1

Microsoft Systems Management Server centralized management for distributed systems version 1.0

Microsoft Mail Server electronic mail system

These technology components collectively form the building blocks of an enterprise solution architecture. Hence, as constituents of an architecture, the optimal coexistence of each technology component is crucial. Accordingly, this paper addresses the optimization and tuning of the Microsoft BackOffice architecture.

The manner in which this paper approaches the optimal coexistence of the Microsoft BackOffice services and operating environment will be through the examination of performance profiles associated with each component. In turn, the complementary and antagonistic performance characteristics of the services will be identified. Thus, having gained knowledge of the performance characteristics, appropriate application of this information within the context of standard Microsoft Windows NT™ performance tuning will yield an optimal Microsoft BackOffice architecture.

In essence, the optimization and tuning of Microsoft BackOffice is an exercise in application tuning. Therefore, since Windows NT Server is a self-optimizing operating environment, we need only be concerned with the Microsoft BackOffice services and the respective hardware platform on which these services reside in many possible combinations. Consequently, the following Microsoft BackOffice solution architecture phases are discussed in detail with respect to performance considerations and practices.

Windows NT Server Performance Profile

Microsoft SQL Server Performance Profile

Systems Management Server Performance Profile

SNA Server Performance Profile

Mail Server Performance Profile

Hardware Planning for Performance

Microsoft BackOffice Tuning

However, this paper does not discuss in detail the optimization and tuning of these individual Microsoft BackOffice technology components. For such information, please refer to the referenced Tech Ed 95 papers and associated documentation in Appendix A of this document.

Before proceeding further it is suggested that you become familiar with the Windows NT Performance Monitor and its use for gathering performance-related data. Moreover, since it is unfeasible to cover all performance-oriented concepts and techniques in detail within the scope of this paper, the information presented will address topics that have the greatest or most strategic impact on Microsoft BackOffice performance. Furthermore, it is expected that this information will be used to conduct performance experiments that will lead to the best performance within your own Microsoft BackOffice environment. The information presented in this paper should be viewed as a set of guidelines, since every Microsoft BackOffice environment is different. Finally, the order of topic presentation will correspond to the order in which such subjects should be considered during the design and implementation of the Microsoft BackOffice architecture solution process.