Charter

Atoll 3.4 Dimensioning

Recommendations for
virtual environment

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Contents
1. Introduction......................................................................................................................... 3

2. General Architecture Recommendations ............................................................................ 4

2.1 Thin-Client Multi-User configuration....................................................................................................... 4

2.2 General Dimensioning recommendations ............................................................................................... 4

2.3 Notes ....................................................................................................................................................... 6

2.3.1 Hyperthreading ............................................................................................................................................6

2.3.2 CPU Overcommitment in Virtual Environments ...........................................................................................6

3. Hardware platform example for Charter ............................................................................ 7

3.1 All-in-one server configuration ................................................................................................................ 7

3.2 Multi-server configuration ...................................................................................................................... 7

1. Introduction

The purpose of this document is to provide recommended architecture configurations for Charter, for
Atoll 64-bit.
2. General Architecture Recommendations

2.1 Thin-Client Multi-User configuration

Atoll is installed on one or several servers (physical or virtual). Calculation tasks are performed on the server(s)
while display and user interactions happen on the client side, using either Remote Desktop or a Citrix client.

In this configuration, all resources are mutualized: common data is shared on a file server and a database is used
to store network data. Thin-client requires that the user is connected to the network to work with Atoll.

2.2 General Dimensioning recommendations

The general dimensioning recommendations for a multi-user thin-client configuration are described
below:
• Thin-client Application server configuration

o CPU: Xeon E5 / E7 - Gold / Platinum family

▪ 4+ physical cores or vCPUs per user

▪ 3.0 GHz base frequency, or higher

o RAM: 16+ GB per user (minimum 32 GB per server)

o NIC: Gigabit Ethernet or better

o Storage: 256+ GB (SSD highly recommended)

o OS: Windows Server 2012 R2 / 2016 / 2019

o Remote Access: Microsoft Remote Desktop or Citrix XenApp 7.5 to 7.15 LTSR

o Virtualization Environment: VMWare ESXi 5.x, 6.x / Hyper-V / KVM on RHEL

• Database server configuration

o OS for Oracle: Windows / UNIX / Linux / Solaris

o OS for SQL Server: Windows / Linux (SQL Server 2017)

o RDBMS:

▪ SQL Server 2008, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2017

▪ Oracle 11g (11.2.0.4 or later), 12c (all versions), 18c (all versions)

o CPU: Xeon E3/E5 family, or equivalent

▪ 4 cores or vCPUs

o RAM: 16+ GB

o NIC: Gigabit Ethernet or better

o Local Storage: 2x 256 GB (RAID 1)

• License Server configuration (Physical or Software License)

o CPU: Intel i5 / i7 / i9 / Xeon or equivalent

▪ 1+ physical core or vCPU

▪ 1.6+ GHz base frequency, or higher

o RAM: 2+ GB

o NIC: Gigabit Ethernet

o Storage: 46 GB (System)

o OS: Windows 8/8.1 Pro 64-bit, Windows 10 64-bit, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2016, Windows
Server 2019

• File server configuration

o File System: Windows-compatible file system (SMB 2.1 or later)

o Interface: 10GE / Gigabit Ethernet / Fiber / iSCSI

o Storage:

▪ User Data: 100+ GB / user

▪ Geographic Data (TBD)

▪ Shared Pathloss data (TBD)

2.3 Notes

2.3.1 Hyperthreading
Atoll is a multi-threaded calculation engine which can benefit from increased resources from
hyperthreading, by creating a calculation thread for each logical core on a server. The combined
processing power of a physical core + its HT core is estimated to be up to 125% compared with the
physical core only.

For dimensioning purposes, we do not take hyperthreading into consideration.

2.3.2 CPU Overcommitment in Virtual Environments

CPU overcommitment is a configuration in virtual environments, where more vCPUs (virtual cores) are
created than there are pCPUs (physical cores), to maximize the usage of CPU resources.

For dimensioning purposes, we recommend not exceeding a 3:1 vCPUs/pCPUs ratio.

3. Hardware platform example for Charter

3.1 All-in-one server configuration

Below is an example of hardware platform for Charter for the thin-client deployment for 12 concurrent
users, composed of an all-in-one server hosting the Atoll application, the file server, the license server
and the database server.

Atoll All-In-One Server

52+ physical cores/vCPUs (48+ for Atoll and 4 for

database)
CPU
Base Frequency of 3.0 GHz or better (Turbo-Boost not
taken into account)

RAM 208+ GB (192+ GB for Atoll and 16 for database)

Operating system Windows Server 2012 R2 / 2016 / 2019

Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet

- System + Database: 256 GB SSD

- Geographic data: TBD, provisional estimate: 200 GB
Storage SSD
- Pathloss data: TBD, provisional estimate: 1+ TB SSD
- User data (100+ GB SSD per user) = 1.2+ TB SSD
VMWare ESXi 5.x / 6.x
Hypervisor (optional) Hyper-V
KVM on RHEL

3.2 Multi-server configuration

Below is an example of hardware platform for Charter for the thin-client deployment for 12 concurrent
users, composed of one server hosting the Atoll application and the License server, one for the file
server and one for the database server.

Atoll Application Server

48+ physical cores/vCPUs

CPU
Base Frequency of 3.0 GHz or better (Turbo-Boost not
taken into account)

RAM 192+ GB

Operating system Windows Server 2012 R2 / 2016 / 2019

Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet

Storage System: 256 GB SSD

VMWare ESXi 5.x / 6.x

Hypervisor (optional) Hyper-V
KVM on RHEL

Atoll Database Server

CPU 4+ physical cores/vCPUs

RAM 16+ GB

Operating system Windows / UNIX / Linux / Solaris

Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet

Storage System + Database: 256 GB

VMWare ESXi 5.x / 6.x
Hypervisor (optional) Hyper-V
KVM on RHEL

Atoll File Server

File System Windows-compatible file system (SMB 2.1 or later)

10GE / Gigabit Ethernet / Fiber / iSCSI

Interface (10+Gb link recommended between the Atoll

Application server and File server when using a
dedicated file server)

- Geographic data: TBD, provisional estimate: 200

GB
Storage - Pathloss data: TBD, provisional estimate: 1+ TB

- User data (100+ GB SSD per user) = 1.2+ TB

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