ArcGIS Server Pooling

[mpboyle]

Is there a way to tell if a service is being taxed or if it's not being used?  I'm trying to get a better idea of where to set the pooling options for some of our services.  I understand that by setting a higher minimum/maximum number of instances allows for more SOC instances but is there a way to definitively tell how much a service is being used?

Thanks in advance!

[KennethKirk]

I am not sure this helps, but I have discovered the following:

Keep your minimum instances to a one (1).  Each instance consumes approximately 0.5GB of RAM on our server.

I have reduced the idle time of the instances to five (5) minutes before the service is recycled. 

I think by recycling the service returns the RAM back to the server.

I have watched my service usage periodically through the day to see if my maximums are ever reached. 

You need to account for all services running so that you do not out run the server capacity.

Balancing the service pools to optimize use and performance is tricky.

So far, the more RAM the better is the rule of thumb I've heard everyone use.

My problem is that with only one server, everyone in the county as well as any public users are hitting the machine.

I am looking to separate the internal and external services to distinct machines or clusters to provide better load balance.

Our server is currently running with 18GB of RAM and may need more to handle the load.

Hope this helps a little.