Microsoft is making it easier for administrators managing CIFS/SMB/SMB2 file servers to perform assessments of the capacity of IT environments. In this regard, the Redmond company has pushed the File Server Capacity Tool (FSCT) one step further on its evolution. The development of the capacity planning software has now ended the Beta milestone and entered the Release Candidate stage. In this regard, admins are now free to grab the tool and start test driving it. Microsoft has made FSCT RC available for download via Connect.

“FSCT results include the maximum number of users for a file server configuration, throughput for that configuration and performance counters for the server and clients used,” revealed Jose Barreto, Microsoft principal program manager. “This is a command line tool and the target audience is IT Professionals and Storage Solution Providers. It is not a GUI tool for end users. You will also need a few computers in a lab environment to try it.”

A select pool of testers have already got a chance to run File Server Capacity Tool, but not the latest release. The Redmond company has been testing the FSCT in private Beta since 2008, and only now managed to move the tool to Release Candidate. Those interesting in testing FSCT need to make their way to Microsoft Connect, sign in with their Windows Live ID, or register if they're new to the website, and navigate to “Connection Directory” where it will be easy for them to locate “FSCT RC.”

“Please read the License Agreement carefully, since there are restrictions on the disclosure of the results you get from the tool,” Barreto stated. “The download includes an overview presentation and a white paper that provide detailed instructions on how to use the tool. There is a new public forum for discussions about FSCT has just been configured and the product team is keeping an eye on it. For an in-person conversation with the FSCT team, plan to attend SNIA’s Storage Developers Conference (SDC 2009) in September.”