Before establishing an Internet site running Windows NT Server and Internet Information Server, be sure to evaluate your bandwidth requirements. Identifying bandwidth requirements helps you choose the telecommunication line service and related computer hardware configuration that best fit your needs.
First, identify the following information about the service you want to provide at your Internet Information Server site:
Type of programs and content — for example, static or dynamic hypertext markup language (HTML) pages
Desired response time — for example, 30 seconds or less to load an HTML page
Expected number of simultaneously connected users
The bandwidth requirements of an intranet, or Internet, Web server that may support 1 to 10 simultaneously connected users are much smaller than the bandwidth requirements of a large business that handles thousands of simultaneously connected users.
The type of programs and content usually provided by your Internet Information Server also affect bandwidth requirements. For example, an Internet Information Server should accommodate more users when they are running programs that are small in data content and non-CPU-intensive, such as electronic mail (e-mail), Telnet, and File Transfer Protocol (FTP). Processes that are CPU-intensive include Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripts, database queries, downloading of HTML files, and video and audio programs.
Note
The number of simultaneously connected users should also be considered when selecting the computer on which to install Internet Information Server. For example, a Microsoft Web site that handles 3 million requests a day (an average of about 2,000 connections per minute) consists of two computers running Internet Information Server. Each computer has 66 megahertz Intel Pentium processors, 8 gigabytes of usable hard disk space, and 128 megabytes random access memory (RAM). One computer uses four Pentium processors; the other uses two.