Microsoft KB Archive/140194

= PC WSPlus: Tuning a Schedule+ 1.0 Installation =

Article ID: 140194

Article Last Modified on 8/18/2005

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Schedule+ 1.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Schedule+ 1.0a

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This article was previously published under Q140194



1.00 1.00a WINDOWS kbref



SUMMARY
This article outlines some of the tuning considerations to think about when you implement Microsoft Schedule+. You should have a general understanding of Schedule+ server and clients to obtain value from this section.

NOTE: The following information is from the Microsoft Mail Resource Kit, Chapter 4, pages 129-131.

The Schedule Distribution Process
Schedule distribution is the process by which an administrator can send snapshots of user's appointment books to another postoffice so users on that postoffice can view the data. These snapshots--schedule distribution mail messages, actually--contain the following information:


 * Free/busy bits for each user on the postoffice.
 * Flags specifying which accounts on the postoffice are resources.
 * A list of the assistants for those users on the postoffice who have assistants.

This information is sent only if a change occurs. For example, if there are 150 users on a postoffice but only 10 users have modified their schedule since the last schedule distribution message was sent, only 10 new sets of free/busy bits are sent in the next schedule distribution message.

The schedule distribution information is kept in the CAL directory of the receiving postoffice. On every postoffice, there is one postoffice file (POF) for each postoffice that sends it schedule distribution messages.

Schedule distribution is configured through the Schedule+ administration program. The actual work of distributing schedule information is done when the schedule distribution program is run.

With schedule distribution, users can view free/busy information for users on another postoffice without having network access or access privileges to the other postoffice. Once the user has viewed the free/busy time of users on other postoffices, they can send a meeting request.

Limitations
The network traffic caused by schedule distribution is predictable, as explained below. Schedule distribution allows Schedule+ to quickly find out if users on other postoffices have assistants or are resources. Schedule+ needs to know this information to decide where to send meeting requests. Schedule distribution uses the mail system to route information across different LANs. Schedule distribution can cause a large amount of consistent network traffic.

This process does not allow users on one postoffice to see anything more than free/busy time of users on other postoffices. Schedule distribution alone cannot enable a user on one postoffice to view appointment details, modify appointment books, or act as an assistant for a user on another postoffice.

Additionally, schedule distribution alone does not let users on one postoffice automatically book resources on another postoffice. The process of schedule distribution requires the schedule distribution program to be run, either manually or continuously, on a dedicated machine or with other processes using the DISPATCH.EXE program.

Message size
The size of each schedule distribution message is determined by:


 * 1) the number of Schedule+ users on the postoffice
 * 2) the number of schedule changes the average user makes each day
 * 3) the frequency with which schedule distribution messages are sent
 * 4) the number of months of data sent by schedule distribution.

Each schedule distribution message contains the following data: Information                                Size Message header                             100 bytes

Assistant/resource information for each user whose free/busy information has changed                     25 bytes

One month of free/busy information for one user                    20 bytes For example, if an administrator chooses to distribute 3 months of schedule data and 10 users on the postoffice have changed their appointments since the last schedule distribution, the schedule distribution message will be 100+{10x[25+(3x20)]}=950 bytes. Of course, these numbers will vary depending on the frequency of schedule distribution, number of months of data propagated, and the frequency of schedule activity per user on the postoffice.

Each schedule distribution message is very small. On a large network, however, these messages can really add up. On a mail network with 100 postoffices all participating in schedule distribution, for instance, each postoffice could send up to 99 schedule distribution messages per "round" of schedule distribution. If every postoffice sends to every other, 9,900 messages are sent during every round of schedule distribution.

Optimizing the Performance of a Schedule+ 1.0 Installation
This section outlines the tuning options available for a Schedule+ 1.0 installation.

Server:

Do not over-send free/busy information. If you do not need to have each others free/busy information updated every 10 minutes, then do not set up SchDist to send this information so often. A user's free/busy information may not change very often, and an organization may need just an idea of when a user might be free of busy. Find a reasonable interval for your organization, recognizing that decreasing the interval to give users more up-to-the-minute information increases the messages that must be processed. Also, send free/busy information only where it makes sense. If users on two postoffices do not schedule meetings with each other very often (or at all), do not set up SchDist between them.

Do not run SchDist across time zones. Because Schedule+ does not work across time zones, there is no need to run schedule distribution across time zones. In fact, doing so will cause confusion for the users.

Use dynamic postoffice connections very sparingly. Dynamic postoffice connection establishes network connections between postoffices. Therefore, it may cause network traffic to increase, because every Schedule+ user could connect to multiple postoffices. Limiting the number of dynamic postoffice connections will help limit the amount of network traffic. A common practice is to allow everyone to be able to dynamically connect to the postoffice that contains the conference rooms and other resources, but that is all.

When using dynamic postoffice connections, still run SchDist between the two postoffices. Most users will not need to dynamically connect to other postoffices to see detailed, up-to-the-second information on other calendars. Free/busy information as recent as the last SchDist cycle is usually enough. Running SchDist at least once a day will make the Schedule+ system run more efficiently by reducing network traffic.

Client:

When working remotely, work offline. Schedule+ performs slowly across dial- up connections because of its infrastructure. Working offline keeps Schedule+ from trying to update the user's calendar (CAL) file on the postoffice. Then, when the user is back online, Schedule+ updates the user's CAL file with the changes they made while working offline.

Change how often Schedule+ updates the user's CAL file. By changing the CopyTime parameter in the SCHDPLUS.INI file, a user can control how often (in minutes) that the online CAL file is copied to the local CAL file. The default time is 15 minutes.



MORE INFORMATION
For additional information regarding the Schedule Distribution process, please see the following articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

94183 Schedule Distribution Command-Line Parameters

100032 Free/Busy Times Are Not Received

101403 Running SCHDIST.EXE as Idle Process in Dispatch

101752 Dispatch Cannot Spawn Batch File Without COMMAND.COM

104249 Setting Up Schedule Distribution

98977 Setting up Dynamic Connections

Additional query words: fine tune sched plus dist setting mrk

Keywords: KB140194

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