The iFolder 3.7 enterprise server supports a complex usage model where each user can own multiple iFolders and participate in iFolders owned by other users. Instead of a single user working from different workstations at different times, multiple users can be concurrently modifying files and synchronizing them. Whenever a user adds a new member to an iFolder, the workload on the server can increase almost as much as if you added another user to the system.
iFolder 3.7 provides you multi-server and multi-volume support to enhance the storage capability of it’s servers. Multi-Volume feature is exempt from the single iFolder per-volume restriction, so it enables you to move the data across multiple volume available on a single server. With the Web Admin console, you can add multiple mount points to a single server to increase the effective space available. The iFolder server also has the capability to configure the volume on which a particular iFolder needs to be created through the Web Admin console.
Multi-server support is another key feature in iFolder 3.7 that makes server workload management significantly easier for administrators. In the past, an iFolder domain was dedicated to a single server that limited the number of users and data transfer bandwidth. With multi-server support, iFolder 3.7 has the capability to add more than one server to a single iFolder domain, so enterprise provisioning is effectively managed and hosting enterprise data is scaled up.
You can even set user account quotas to control the maximum storage space consumed by a user’s iFolders on the server. The actual bandwidth usage for each iFolder depends on the following:
The number of members subscribed to the iFolder.
The number of computers actively sharing the iFolder.
How much data is stored in the iFolder.
The actual and average size of files in the iFolder.
The number of files in the iFolder.
How frequently files change in the file.
How much data actually changes.
How frequently files are synchronized.
The available bandwidth and throughput of network connections.
We recommend that you set up a pilot program to assess your operational needs and performance based on your equipment and collaboration environment, then design your system accordingly.
The following is a suggested baseline configuration for an iFolder 3.7 server with a workload similar to a typical iFolder 2.1x server. It is based on an example workload of about 12.5 GB of data throughput (up and down) each 24 hours, including all Ethernet traffic and protocol overhead. Your actual performance might differ.
Table 2-1 Suggested Baseline Configuration for an iFolder Enterprise Server