Capacity Planning Tool updates 38th Edition

This site contains the latest updates of the Capacity Planning Tool and summary of vendor published SPEC hardware platform benchmarks. You need Microsoft® Excel® 2010 or higher to use the Capacity Planning Tool (Excel® 2013 is the current CPT development platform. QuickTime® media player is needed to view the videos.

It is recommended that users complete the System Architecture Design Strategies training before using the Capacity Planning tool.

July 2016 Capacity Planning Tool file download

 * Arc16CapacityPlanning0701.xlsx

The current System Architecture Design Strategies training class exercises use the Arc16CapacityPlanning0701 CPT release.

The Arc16CapacityPlannning0701 release includes the following updates.
 * Update baseline workflow service times to Arc16 baseline.
 * Update CPT models to support Arc16 baseline.
 * Remove release specific baseline workflows (retained as legacy workflows in Workflow tab).
 * CPT Standard Workflow candidates are updated to support selection of Medium and Heavy complexity workflows.

The current System Architecture Design Strategies training class demos and the System Design Strategies Capacity Planning Tool appendix will introduce the Arc16CapacityPlanning0701 release.

Arc16CapacityPlanning0701 was development using Microsoft® Excel® 2016 platform, maintaining functional capability with Office 2007, 2010 and 2013.

Hardware SPEC platform performance file download

 * HardwareSPEC.xlsx

Hardware vendor platform performance updates are published on SPEC. The HardwareSPEC workbook includes a download of published SPEC vendor benchmarks and Amazon EC2 virtual machines (AMI) for your use in capacity planning. Performance benchmark download date is identified on the workbook tab.

It is recommended that users complete the System Architecture Design Strategies training before using the Capacity Planning tool.

Capacity Planning Tool instructional videos

March 2016 Capacity Planning Tool file download

 * Arc15CapacityPlanning0301.xlsx

The Arc15CapacityPlannning0301 release includes two new capabilities for including batch geoprocessing loads within the design analysis.
 * CPT Calculator includes a new concurrent geoprocessing instances entry (T3) which includes background processing loads with the application tier sizing analysis.
 * CPT Workflow tab includes three new Standard Workflows for batch Geoprocessing Services for use in the CPT design analysis.

Jan 2016 Capacity Planning Tool file download

 * Arc15CapacityPlanning0103a.xlsx

The Arc15CapacityPlannning0103 release includes two new capabilities that simplify and stabilize the CPT Design analysis.
 * CPT Design RESET capability is included at the top of the selection list in cell T2. The RESET selection recovers the CPT Design to a stable calculation state in the event of an unstable design solution.
 * An optional CPT Design AutoBatch capability is included at the top of the selection list in cell D1. Batch process productivity (column E) is automatically adjusted for all batch workflows (min think time = 0) when AutoBatch is selected.

"Note: AutoBatch capability must be reset to Live when using the CPT Design RESET to recover from an unstable analysis condition."


 * Arc15CapacityPlanning0101a.xlsx

The current System Architecture Design Strategies training class demos and the System Design Strategies Capacity Planning Tool appendix will introduce the Arc15CapacityPlanning0101 release.

The January 2016 Arc15CapacityPlanning0101 release is designed to simplify and expand CPT capacity planning capabilities, including a variety of design changes to improve virtual server capacity planning, incorporate ArcGIS for Server Site internal communication loads and siloed GIS Server configurations, along with more accurate allocation of hypervisor loads on the host platform. CPT Design upgrades also include a new batch process capacity planning capability for the CPT Calculator, along with several upgrades to simplify CPT configurations (simplified software technology selection, simplified default resolution, CPT Calculator automatic productivity adjustments, and simplified %DataCache and network bandwidth entries). A generic workflow baseline software technology pattern was introduced for general analysis along with a filtering capability to access multiple categories of software technology selection sets for expanded analysis.

Arc15CapacityPlanning0101 was development using Microsoft® Excel® 365 platform, maintaining functional capability with Office 2007, 2010 and 2013.

Capacity Planning Tool instructional videos

July 2015 Capacity Planning Tool file download

 * Arc15CapacityPlanning0715.xlsx.

The Arc15CapacityPlanning0715 update includes several design alternations to incorporate ArcGIS 10.3 technology including ArcGIS for Desktop 2D and 3D workflows (ArcMap and ArcGIS Pro), combined ArcGIS for Desktop feature service workflows incorporating Portal and ArcGIS for Server Data Store and registered Web map services architecture patterns, ArcGIS Pro multi-threading display performance and automated hardware pricing (based on user defined HWPricing lookup table). The CPT user workflow recipe was modified to accommodate the new architecture patterns.

Arc15CapacityPlanning0715 was development using Microsoft® Excel® 2013 platform, maintaining functional capability with Office 2007, 2010 and 2013.

Capacity Planning Tool instructional videos

Capacity Planning Tool (CPT) instructional videos
It is recommended that users review associated chapters in the System Design Strategies wiki site before watching the Capacity Planning Tool videos. These eleven videos demonstrate how to use the CPT to evaluate content discussed in chapters that impact system performance and scalability. A full functionality review of the current CPT release is provided in the SDSwiki Capacity Planning Tool appendix.

Chapter 1: System design process Chapter 2: Software technology selection Chapter 3: Software performance Chapter 4: Server instance configurations Chapter 5: GIS data source Chapter 6: Network suitability analysis Chapter 7: Product architecture selection Chapter 8: Platform performance/selection Chapter 10: Performance management Chapter 11: City of Rome use case.
 * July 2015 Arc15CapacityPlanning0715 demos.
 * City of Rome Year 1
 * City of Rome Year 2

Demo: City of Portland use case HD Video
 * July 2013 Arc13CapacityPlanning0701 demos.

Legacy capacity planning tools
Legacy capacity planning tools are available for reference purposes. The latest capacity planning tool release includes the most current workflows and functionality.

January 2015 Capacity Planning Tool file download

 * Arc14CapacityPlanning0101a [XLSX].

The Arc14CapacityPlanning0101a update automates the user and traffic range settings when adding remote sites on the CPT Design tab. This helps automate the requirements configuration process and simplify the design analysis.


 * Arc14CapacityPlanning0101 [XLSX].

The Arc14CapacityPlanning0101 updates include ArcGIS 10.3 workflow selections and separate Portal and Web Adapter service loads on separate Web servers. CPT also includes a new Needs tab sharing a simple template for collecting system architecture design business requirements and a new HWPricing tab used as a lookup table for evaluating hardware cost in completing your Enterprise Design solutions on the Design tab. The CPT Design cost analysis also accommodates per core software pricing calculations as part of the overall hardware/software pricing assessment and is coupled to the CPT Design Platform selection and loads analysis.

Arc14CapacityPlanning0101 was development using Microsoft® Excel® 2013 platform, maintaining functional capability with Office 2007, 2010 and 2013.

September 2014 Capacity Planning Tool file download

 * Arc14CapacityPlanning0901 [XLSX].

The Arc14CapacityPlanning0901 updates default display resolution settings for Desktop (1920x1028) and Web (1366x768) workflows to better represent current technology. An additional Custom display resolution selection was included on the Calculator tab allowing users to select display resolutions that are not available on the drop-down selection list. CPT also includes a new baseline workflow pattern for ArcGIS for Desktop Citrix Imagery workflows on the Calculator tab and modifies high availability database display to show standby fail-over database in the platform solution.

Arc14CapacityPlanning0901 was development using Microsoft® Excel® 2013 platform, maintaining functional capability with Office 2007, 2010 and 2013.

July 2014 Capacity Planning Tool file download

 * Arc14CapacityPlanning0702 [XLSX].

The Arc14CapacityPlanning0702 release introduces the Arc14 performance baseline. The Arc14 baseline workflows were updated to reflect current popular workflow patterns. Portal for ArcGIS baseline workflow was introduced on the Calculator tab and a registered portal workflow was included as a baseline workflow on the Workflow tab. This release was updated in September 2014 to include CPT Calculator custom client display settings and include Desktop (1920x1080) and Web (1366x768) display selections introduced with the September 2014 CPT release.

Arc14CapacityPlanning0702 was development using Microsoft® Excel® 2013 platform, maintaining functional capability with Office 2007, 2010 and 2013.

February 2014 Capacity Planning Tool file download

 * Arc13CapacityPlanning0201 [XLSX].

The Arc13CapacityPlanning0201 release upgrades implementation of virtual desktop (VDI) workflows first introduced in the Arc13CapacityPlanning0101 release. This implementation is designed to simplify remote ArcGIS desktop workflow management and expand CPT capabilities in managing virtual server and virtual desktop deployments. Additional model tuning improves accuracy of the CPT test tab MSD and MXD measured display workflow service time outputs, along with documentation describing how display processing complexity is measured.

Arc13CapacityPlanning0201 was development using Microsoft® Excel® 2013 platform, providing functional capability with Office 2007, 2010 and 2013.

January 2014 Capacity Planning Tool Releases
This capacity planning release can be downloaded from the following URL:


 * Arc13CapacityPlanning0102 [XLSX].

The Arc13CapacityPlanning0102 release incorporates virtual desktop representation on the virtual tier, something that was not included in the Arc13CapacityPlanning0101 release. A summary of upgrades is provided in the CPT SP0102 workbook tab.


 * Arc13CapacityPlanning0101 [XLSX].

The Arc13CapacityPlanning0101 release includes initial implementation of VDI workflows applied for host platform sizing. KMZ services and Portal for ArcGIS workflows and service configurations were included in the CPT Calculator tab. ArcGIS 10.1 and 10.2 Web baseline service times were modified to represent dedicated Web Adaptor loads (minor performance sizing adjustments). Test tab display rendering tools were updated to more accurately generate workflows from measured render times. A summary of upgrades is provided in the CPT SP0101 workbook tab.

System Architecture Design for GIS preconference videos
These four videos feature the System Architecture Design for GIS preconference seminar presented by author Dave Peters at the 2013 Esri International User Conference in San Diego, California. These videos cover key concepts discussed in the System Design Strategies wiki and System Architecture Design Strategies training.

Session 1 ..Presentation topics: Software design process, GIS software technology, Software performance

Session 2 ..Presentation topics: Server software performance, GIS data administration

Session 3 ..Presentation topics: Network communications, GIS product architecture, Platform performance

Session 4 ..Presentation topics: Information security, System implementation, City of Portland CPT demonstration

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