Thin Client Queuing - A ThinManager Exclusive!

With the introduction of Smart Session in ThinManager version 2.5 we gave our users an automatic method of balancing the Thin Client load among multiple Terminal Servers. While this load balancing feature is not unique, ThinManager has a special feature that no other Terminal Server management application has - Smart Session Queuing.

Smart Session Queuing improves the load adjustment when a number of Thin Clients need to get a connection at the same time. This situation is frequently seen in a plant when power has just been restored after a power failure. All of the Clients request the Terminal Server with the lowest load at about the same time and they could all receive the same answer. But if all of these Thin Clients tried to connect to the same server simultaneously it would bring the server to its knees.

When Queuing is enabled, ThinManager will allow the Thin Clients to connect one at a time, waiting to make sure that the Terminal Server has had time to get the session started and recover before checking the loads again. Not only does this ensure that the processing load is evenly balanced among all of the Terminal Servers, but it also keeps one server from being overloaded when a large number of clients attempt to connect all at the same time.

The timings are user configurable with the following settings:

Min Queuing Time -This is the delay time (in seconds) that the next session will be held before it is sent on to the Terminal Server. Once a session is started on a server, the Min Queuing Time will have to expire before another session is allowed to be started. Setting this value to 0 disables the Minimum Queuing functionality.

Max Queuing Time - If a terminal server is overloaded (based on its CPU load limit settings, for instance), this is the maximum amount of time a Thin Client can be delayed before starting a session. If the terminal server load drops during this wait period, however, the session will be started immediately.

Infinite - The Infinite checkbox will set the maximum queuing time to infinite to keep the terminal from reconnecting until the CPU usage has dropped to an acceptable level.

In addition to ensuring better load balancing, taking advantage of Smart Session Queuing can drastically decrease the amount of time required to take a large number of Thin Clients from offline to running by allowing the server(s) to start the sessions in an orderly fashion. Additionally, Queuing can ensure that certain Thin Clients will come online before others.

For more information on ACP Industrial Thin Client computers, please visit our web site at http://www.thinmanager.com

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