Overview
Because of the overusing the Kerio Control appliance, the users may face a slow download/upload speed and the overall degraded responsiveness of the Internet connection.
The WAN and LAN interfaces may experience poor bandwidth or stability issues, which may cause connected devices to load slower than usual or disconnecting randomly. It may happen to both Hardware appliances, like NG100, NG300, NG500, and Virtual/Software installations.
When calculating performance requirements, the maximum user limit should not be confused with the maximum connection limit.
Diagnosis
The following table describes both Users & Licenses and Connections for a better understanding.
|
Item |
Description |
|
Users and Licenses |
Every Kerio Control NG-series product comes with a set number of maximum licenses. Every non-guest user on the system requires one. |
| Connections |
Each licensed user has the ability to simultaneously connect up to five devices. Each of those devices can create multiple connections to Kerio Control. You can monitor and control those connections by configuring connection limits. |
While Kerio Control appliances do not specify a maximum connection limit, the number of concurrent connections supported to maintain acceptable performance depends on several factors, including:
- The number of traffic rules implemented.
- The number of rules implemented in the Content Filter (WebFilter).
- Whether Application Awareness is enabled or not.
- Whether Kerio Antivirus protection is enabled or not.
Every listed feature above provides benefits, but under heavy loads, those benefits require significant resources and substantial processor utilization.
Solution
Kerio Control Hardware Appliances
The following table will give you an idea of the typical usage requirements, based on the expected number of concurrent connections by an average licensed user on a Kerio Control appliance with multiple features enabled:
|
Kerio Control Appliance |
Max concurrent users |
Suggested concurrent users |
|---|---|---|
| NG100/W |
20 |
10 |
| NG300/W |
80 |
50 |
| NG500 |
300 |
200 |
| NG110 |
20 |
10 |
| NG310 |
80 |
50 |
| NG510 / NG511 |
300 |
200 |
Important: if any streaming services are required (e.g. Youtube, Twitch, Netflix, etc), you should follow recommended user limits, not maximum.
Kerio Control Virtual Appliances
Kerio Control virtual appliances are licensed the same as hardware appliances. Since you control the size of the underlying hardware and the amount of resources dedicated to the virtual appliance, you can scale up to and above the NG500 performance level.
However, because the Kerio Control software is the same on virtual appliances and hardware appliances, you can use the suggestions in the table coupled with the Kerio Control Technical Specifications as a basic guide for your hardware requirements.