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Forsta Plus is built to be highly scalable both outwards and upwards. Performance capability or availability prediction can be increased by either deciding to use additional servers, or by upgrading existing servers with additional and/or faster CPU's and more memory. When one or more servers are working together towards the same database repository, the group is collectively named a Forsta Site. The number of servers that can be used for a site is virtually unlimited, and servers can be added or removed from the configuration on the fly in most scenarios. All the servers in the same Forsta Site can use the same Forsta license file.
The Forsta SaaS Operations team can assist you both with deciding which configuration is more suited to your needs and with planning site architecture based on some key figures from the expected usage levels. Contact support@confirmit.com or your account manager for assistance.
The most important factors to consider when planning a Forsta site are:
- Availability - Everyone involved in systems maintenance knows that servers are prone to error both in hardware and software. If your Forsta Plus installation is business critical, consider at least N+1 redundancy for your critical components such as deployment servers and database servers (as well as underlying services such as power and network.)
- Performance - With more features running on a single server, the Forsta Plus system is more vulnerable for several components to stop working. For instance, Forsta Plus tasks might often use large amounts of CPU and memory resources for shorter periods of time, which might also affect database server or web server performance.
- Scalability for future growth - In virtually all scenarios, it will be possible to extend or expand existing Forsta Plus site architecture with additional or updated hardware. Analyzing expected usage patterns and planning one or two upgrade steps ahead could save both time and expenses later.