system specification recommendations -...

SYSTEM SPECIFICATION RECOMMENDATIONS

June 2017 v.2.0

APS Solutions

A guide for choosing topology and sizing for installation of APS products

System Specification Recommendations | APS

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Author

Created and Published by Reckon Limited Level 12, 65 Berry Street North Sydney NSW 2060 Australia ACN 003 348 730 All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2015 Reckon Limited

Copyright & Trademarks No part of these materials may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, without written permission of Reckon Limited.

Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and completeness of this manual. However, neither Reckon Limited, its subsidiaries, employees and agents, are liable for any errors or omissions. This document should not be relied on as a detailed specification of the system. In addition, Reckon Limited reserves the right to issue revisions, enhancements and improvements to Reckon APS software or any other Reckon software at any time without notice. Every effort will be made to ensure that the manual is updated concurrently and that the user is not inconvenienced as a result of any change.

Reckon, Reckon logos, R logos, Reckon APS, Advance and Accountable Technology are trademarks of Reckon Limited.


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Contents

Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 4

Considerations ....................................................................................................................... 4

Virtualisation ........................................................................................................................... 4

Other Systems ........................................................................................................................ 4

Up to 40 User Site ................................................................................................................... 5

System Diagrams .................................................................................................................. 6

40 to 100 User Site ................................................................................................................. 8

System Diagrams .................................................................................................................. 9

100 to 200 User Site ............................................................................................................. 11

System Diagrams ................................................................................................................ 12

200+ User Site ....................................................................................................................... 14

Appendix One (Software Acronyms) .................................................................................. 15


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Introduction

This document provides recommendations for systems running APS databases, services and applications ONLY. These specifications are recommended MINIMUMs. All round performance gains will be achieved with higher spec’d servers.

Performance should be monitored on a regular basis and server specifications modified as required by the practice.

Considerations

There are a number of APS applications to potentially consider, all of which could need additional resource. These resource changes will mainly relate to the SQL and Application servers where applicable.

Virtualisation

Additional allowance for performance overheads due to the virtualisation layer should be built in across the different servers utilised.

Other Systems

The recommendations in this document cover requirements for running the Reckon APS suite of products on dedicated hardware. If other systems and / or databases share the environments with the APS software, then allowances need to be made for the resource requirements of those systems over and above the recommendations in this document.

Where the resource requirements of other systems are high, it may not simply be sufficient to add more memory. Especially in the case where you may be planning to install the APS database on a SQL Server which already hosts one or more other high-use databases, the processor or I/O may become the limiting factor in achieving suitable performance.

Generally, we recommend that above 100 users the APS and VC databases are housed on a dedicated SQL Server.


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Up to 40 User Site

PM, PIQ and other databases and services such as BPA and VC can run from a single SQL server but there may be a performance impact once database sizes increase. Depending on what else is present on the single SQL server, a separate PIQ server may be required. (See the 40 to 100 user site section of this document)

Depending on the environment and IT protocols, the VC, BPA and other service layers may be installed on a separate application server. If this is the case, there is still additional resource required on the SQL server to run the database component of these solutions.

SQL Server Specification

Processors 4 cores (minimum)

Disk Space 50GB allowed for the Database, additional disk space is required for backups. This will vary depending on the backup strategy that is implemented.

Raid Type There are no specific RAID requirements; however as this is a database system high IO (Input/Output) throughput is required.

RDS/Citrix Server Specification


Max Users / Instance 15

Server Memory Recommendations (RAM)

RDS / WS Per User

SQL Server Application Server (Optional)

Server / WS Base Specification

8GB (server base spec)

8GB 8GB

PM 1GB 4GB

AUS Tax 1GB 2GB

NZ Tax 0.5GB

WM 0.25GB

XPA 0.5GB

PIQ 4GB

BPA 1GB (DB)

1GB (Services)

1GB (Services)

PDF Docs 0.25GB

VC 1GB 2GB (DB)

2GB (Services)

2GB (Services)

SD 2GB (In total)


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System Diagrams

Up to 40 users - Option 1: All server applications and databases on a single SQL Server.

This is the minimum setup configuration required.


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Up to 40 users - Option 2: Server applications on a dedicated Application Server.

Not all server applications need to be moved to a dedicated application server. Any combination of Option 1 and Option 2 are possible.


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40 to 100 User Site

For this size of site we recommend PM and PIQ be run off separate SQL servers. Depending on the environment and IT protocols, the VC, BPA and other service layers may be installed on a separate application server. If this is the case, there is still additional resource required on the SQL server to run the database component of these solutions.




Raid Type There are no specific RAID requirements; however as this is a database system high IO (Input/Output) throughput is required. SSD recommended.





RDS/WS Per user

Primary SQL Server

Secondary SQL Server

Application Server (Optional)

Server / WS Base Spec

8GB (server base spec)

12GB 8GB 8GB

PM 1GB 6GB

AUS Tax 1GB 2GB

NZ Tax 0.5GB

WM 0.25GB

XPA 0.5GB

PIQ 4GB

BPA 1GB (DB)

1GB (Services)

1GB (Services)

PDF Docs 0.25GB

VC 1GB 3GB (DB)

2GB (Services)

2GB (Services)

SD 2GB (In total)


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System Diagrams

40 to 100 Users - Option 1: Separate SQL Servers for PM and PIQ. System Applications installed on SQL Servers.


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40 to 100 Users - Option 2: Separate SQL Servers for PM and PIQ and separate Application Server


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100 to 200 User Site

For this size of site we recommend PM and PIQ be run off separate SQL servers. Depending on the environment and IT protocols, the VC, BPA and other service layers may be installed on a separate application server. For larger sites this is recommended. If this is the case, there is still additional resource required on the SQL server to run the database component of these solutions.




Raid Type There are no specific RAID requirements; however as this is a database system high IO (Input/Output) throughput is required. SSD recommended.





RDS/WS Per user

Primary SQL Server

Secondary SQL Server

Application Server

(recommended)

Server / WS Base

8GB (server base

spec)

16GB 16GB 8GB

PM 1GB 8GB

AUS Tax 1GB 4GB

NZ Tax 0.5GB

WM 0.25GB

XPA 0.5GB

PIQ 8GB

BPA 2GB (DB)

1GB (Services)

1GB (Services)

PDF Docs 0.25GB

VC 1GB 4GB (DB)

2GB (Services)

2GB (Services)

SD 2GB (In total)


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System Diagrams

100 to 200 Users - Option 1: Separate SQL Servers for PM and PIQ, but Server Applications installed on their respective SQL Servers. This option is possible, but not Reckon’s preferred option for this size.


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100 to 200 Users - Option 2: Separate SQL Servers for PM and PIQ and separate Application Server for Server Applications. This is Reckon’s recommended configuration for this size.


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200+ User Site

If your firm falls into this size bracket, then please contact Reckon to assist with planning your environment topology.

The below diagram demonstrates the most separated fashion in which our application suite can be deployed which will achieve the highest level of scalability. Any combination ranging from Option 2 for the 100-200 User range illustrated above to full separation below may be suitable for your firm.


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Appendix One (Software Acronyms)

PM – Practice Management

AUS Tax – Australian Tax Management

NZ Tax – New Zealand Tax Management

WM – Work Paper Management

XPA – Xcede Professional Accounting

PIQ – Practice IQ

BPA – Business Process Automation

VC – Virtual Cabinet

SD – Sync Direct

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