How many connections can server handle?

[Roy]

Hey all,

I've inherited a project involving many different users at various
locations using their own local instances of sql server to access a
Database on a single server (a dual-processor workstation).

Question: How many connections can a single instance of SQL Server
handle?

I'm getting some errors and I suspect we're hitting our limit.

[Roy]

FWIW,
I looked in on the properties of a SQL Server DB and the "maximum
number of concurrent connections" was set to 0 (thereby implying
unlimited). Is it *really* unlimited though?

[Roy]

Let me rephrase the question:
In your esteemed experience, if you had a 2.8ghz workstation with 512mb
of RAM running sql server 2k and windows server 2003 on a relatively
busy intranet, how many active connections could one hope to have
accessing the workstation?

At what point would you say, "ok, X amount of connections is not worth
it, we need to upgrade?"

[Vinod Kumar]

The number of active connections might NOT be a great indicator for the
upgrade as far as I am concerned. It all depends on the application that
invokes it. With "Connection Pooling" in place for some well written
applications these values can be very low but the actual application can
serve 4x-10x number of users. Hence DONOT go blindly with this number. You
might try to look into some of the key performance counters in SQL Server
that might guide you in the proper direction.

Here is an article to start with:
http://www.ExtremeExperts.com/SQL/Articles/SQLCounters.aspx
--
HTH,
Vinod Kumar
MCSE, DBA, MCAD, MCSD
http://www.extremeexperts.com

Books Online for SQL Server SP3 at
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/productdoc/2000/books.asp

Post by Roy
In your esteemed experience, if you had a 2.8ghz workstation with 512mb
of RAM running sql server 2k and windows server 2003 on a relatively
busy intranet, how many active connections could one hope to have
accessing the workstation?
At what point would you say, "ok, X amount of connections is not worth
it, we need to upgrade?"