Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Consulting Solutions
Overview
One of the major decisions with a Citrix Presentation Server 4.5 design is deciding on the number of zones required. As
additional versions of Presentation Server are released the details behind zone communication are also changed. As
zone communication continues to improve, the basis for deciding on the number of zones also changes.
This article will discuss the design considerations for zones when building a Presentation Server 4.5 environment.
Zone Communication1
In order to understand the impact zone creation has on an architecture, one must first understand the four main types of
communication occurring within and between zones.
Full Update: Member Server Data Collector
Full Update: Data Collector Data Collector
Session Update: Member Server Data Collector
Session Update: Data Collector Data Collector
1
All calculations assume zones do NOT share load information
2
Real-World Example
Consider the following real-world example when designing zones to determine how varied numbers of zones would incur
different amounts of network traffic. The example specifics are as follows:
Number of servers: 100
3
Design Considerations
Based on the real-world scenario, it is clear that as the number of zones increase, the amount of traffic generated
increases significantly. This occurs because each data collector communicates with every other zone data collector.
Each time a connection event occurs on a member server, the data collector is updated. Because the data collectors
information changed, it must contact every other data collector. This process occurs to all other zones, meaning, adding
zones will have a negative impact on network traffic.
Also, each additional zone has a negative impact on data collector scalability. As the number of zones increase, so too
does the amount of data each data collector must consume. If there are two zones, with one zone having 90 servers and
another having 10 servers, the smaller zone data collector must still be just as powerful as the data collector in the larger
zone because when a session event occurs in the larger zone, it is propagated to the other zone.
As a general recommendation, it is advisable to dedicate zone data collectors when enough activity in the zone warrants
the creation. The processor utilization and Application Resolution time should be monitored as the farm grows. As the
processor increases, it would be warranted to dedicate the data collector. Also, as the Application Resolution time
increases, the server should be dedicated so it can use all of its processes to manage resolutions, which is the time it
takes between a user requesting an application and the data collector responding with the preferred server.
Conclusion
When designing a Citrix Presentation Server 4.5 environment, the pros (Zone Preference and Failover) and cons (network
traffic impact) must be weighed. Only when taking these items into account will an architect be able to select the best
design for the organization, which could be the creation of a new zone, the collapsing of zones, or the creation of a new
farm.
5
Notice
The information in this publication is subject to change without notice.
THIS PUBLICATION IS PROVIDED AS IS WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-
INFRINGEMENT. CITRIX SYSTEMS, INC. (CITRIX), SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR TECHNICAL OR EDITORIAL
ERRORS OR OMISSIONS CONTAINED HEREIN, NOR FOR DIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR ANY
OTHER DAMAGES RESULTING FROM THE FURNISHING, PERFORMANCE, OR USE OF THIS PUBLICATION,
EVEN IF CITRIX HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES IN ADVANCE.
This publication contains information protected by copyright. Except for internal distribution, no part of this publication
may be photocopied or reproduced in any form without prior written consent from Citrix.
The exclusive warranty for Citrix products, if any, is stated in the product documentation accompanying such products.
Citrix does not warrant products other than its own.
Product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Copyright 2007 Citrix Systems, Inc., 851 West Cypress Creek Road, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 33309-2009
U.S.A. All rights reserved.
Version History
Author Version Change Log Date
Daniel Feller Version 1.0 Content created January 22, 2006
Daniel Feller Version 1.1 Updated to include new calculations April 24, 2006
Daniel Feller Version 1.2 Validated for Version 4.5. Formulas, calculations and tables were September 24, 2007
all updated.
851 West Cypress Creek Road Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309 954-267-3000 http://www.citrix.com
Copyright 2007 Citrix Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Citrix, the Citrix logo, Citrix ICA, Citrix MetaFrame, and other Citrix product names are
trademarks of Citrix Systems, Inc. All other product names, company names, marks, logos, and symbols are trademarks of their respective owners.