9.3 Search Appliance Planning

The amounts shown in “Worksheet 11 - Search Appliances” are explained in Table 9-3. As noted elsewhere, you can adjust the numbers shown with green borders. Data numbers in white cells are fixed and should not be changed. Cells with black dashes are calculated based on information you entered previously and you should not modify them directly.

Table 9-3 Using Worksheet 11 - Search Appliances

Item	Recommendations and Guidelines	Planning Worksheet Example
/ (System Disk)	20 GB fixed
/vastorage	Use the following guidelines when planning /vastorage for a Search appliance. Allocate 10 GB as a base amount. Add the amount set for storing rooms, topics, and comments.	The worksheet calculates this as follows: It includes 10 GB as a base disk amount. It adds the amount estimated for storing room, topic, and comment data on Worksheet 6 - User-Gen’d Storage & Limits.
/var	Use the following guidelines when planning /var for a Search appliance. Include 4 GB for system logs. Include space for core dumps by multiplying the total RAM allocation by 3.	The worksheet calculates this as follows: It automatically includes 4 GB for system logs. It multiplies the total RAM by 3 to accommodate core dumps.
CPUs	The default allocation at install time is 2 CPUs. However, large installations usually require 4 CPUs.	The planning worksheet reflects a large installation, so 4 CPUs are planned.
RAM	Use the following guidelines when allocating RAM for a Search appliance. Plan to allocate 30% of amount calculated for /vastorage or 8 GB, whichever is greater.	The worksheet calculates this as follows: It multiples the calculated amount for /vastorage by 3 to get 30% and displays either the result as a whole number or 8 GB in the RAM (GB) cell.
JVM Heap Allocation	Use the following guidelines when allocating RAM for a Search appliance. You should adjust the JVM Heap size to be 50 - 60% of total RAM.	The worksheet calculates this as follows: It multiples the RAM (GB) cell by .7 to get 70%.