Netscape Calendar Server 4.0: Administrator's G uide

Deployment and Installation

This chapter outlines the deployment and installation of Calendar Server. Prior planning is an integral part of a successful implementation of Calendar Server in your organization. It is highly recommended that you read this chapter before installing the server to ensure an installation that is customized to the needs of your particular situation.

The following sections cover the information that you need to get your Calendar Server up and running:

 

Deployment

To plan the optimal Calendar Server configuration for your organization, you must first evaluate who your users are, how they should be organized, and how the product will be installed and managed.

 

Number of users

The first step in planning a successful deployment or "roll-out" of Calendar Server is to determine the number of potential Calendar users in your organization. If growth in the organization is anticipated, factor this into your calculations. The final tally forms the basis for the value you supply for configured users in later calculations.

The categories of users are:

Configured users: those with user accounts on a Calendar Server node which they access using a Calendar client.

Logged-on users: users who are connected to a node, but are not actively making queries of the database (node). This figure is derived from the number of configured users, and is generally estimated to be anywhere from 33-50% of this number. Try to forecast how your users will use the calendaring application. For example, if everyone starts work at the same time, you might anticipate a period of peak usage in the morning where up to 75% of all users will be logged-on at once. Also, a number of users may choose to stay logged-on all day, keeping the calendaring application in the background to permit quick and frequent access.

Active users: logged-on users who are making an access request to the database. To estimate the number of active users at any point in time, take 10-25% of the the total number of configured users. As with logged-on users, base this number on your highest estimate of peak usage.

Acme Co. example
To illustrate the planning process for your Calendar Server implementation, we will use a fictitious company called Acme Corporation. The Calendar administrator at this company has chosen to make her estimates of logged-on and active users high to ensure that she has adequate resources and that the users can expect uniformly good performance.

Table 1.1 Acme Corporation: User Base

User category

Estimates

Configured users

12,000

Logged-on users

6,000 (50% of configured users)

Active users

3,000 (25% of configured users)

 

Logical divisions of users

Once you have enumerated your user base, the next step is to group these users according to location and function. Here it is important to identify not only geographic divisions, but also functional or other administrative divisions within your organization. Both geographic and administrative divisions are used in the next step, where the users are grouped to create nodes.

Acme Co. example
Thus, in our Acme Co. example, the total user population of 12,000 is distributed in the following manner:

Table 1.2 Acme Corporation: Geographic and Administrative User Divisions

Location

Number of Users

Divisions

Los Angeles

8,000

5,000 Engineering / 3,000 Administration

New York

1,000

600 Marketing / 400 Administration

Chicago

500

500 Marketing

Seattle

2,000

1,500 Engineering / 500 Marketing

Vancouver

500

500 Marketing

 

Grouping users to create nodes

With the logical divisions among your user base clearly delineated, you are now ready to group your users into nodes. Before making these decisions, however, a number of factors must be considered:

A node is a Calendar database containing all user and resource information and calendars

Acme Co. example
Our Calendar Server administrator has attempted to integrate all of the above variables with her user base calculations to arrive at the following configuration. In achieving this balance, she has considered a number of factors specific to her situation:

Note
See Appendix B, "Sizing Guidelines" for information concerning memory and disk requirements for your installation.

 

Product administration

As a final task in this deployment exercise, determine who will be responsible for the different tasks which are part of setting up and maintaining a Calendar calendaring system. The major tasks are:

 

Pre-installation checklist

To enable a quick deployment and minimize later tuning, a number of configuration issues should be considered in advance of your installation. Calendar Server behavior is controlled by parameters set in the /users/unison/misc/unison.ini file. For more information on setting and modifying parameters, see Chapter 7, "Server Configuration."

 

Configuration of search parameters

To allow for thorough and efficient searches using the Calendar Server with Netscape Directory Server, the following parameters in both servers must be tuned for each installation. The dependencies between the parameters should be understood in order to configure the search behavior appropriate for your organization.

 

Calendar Server search parameters

 

Maximum size of returned set for a search

 

Minimum length of search string

 

Netscape Directory Server search parameters

 

Size limit

 

Look through limit

 

Time limit

 

Tuning for speed vs flexibility

Two different approaches or options are summarized below:

Netscape Server

Configuration file

Parameter

Default Value

Option 1

Option 2

Calendar Server

unison.ini

maxsearchresult

100

>= configured users

dependent on value set for mincharsearch and total number of configured Calendar users

"

"

mincharsearch

0

0

>1

Directory Server

slapd.conf

sizelimit

500

>= maxsearchresult or "-1" (no limit)

>= maxsearchresult or "-1" (no limit)

"

"

lookthroughlimit

5000

>= number of Dir Svr entries

>= number of Dir Svr entries

"

"

timelimit

3600

value should be high enough to prevent time-out

value should be high enough to prevent time-out

 

Option 1

 

Option 2

 

Installation

For full installation instructions, please see the Readme file supplied on the distribution media.