Administration guide to CLEAR Engine system selection

The recommended system specification for a CLEAR Engine instance is determined by the instance scale, which is calculated by the applications the instance will scan, and the frequency of the scans. This guide provides a guidance on choosing the right system configuration for a CLEAR Engine instance.

This article covers the hardware aspects of the system. To learn more about other system requirements or recommendations, such as operating system, view the following article in the Lucent Sky Knowledge Base:
Administration guide to CLEAR Engine and Web UI

In this article, you will learn how to:

• Determine the instance scale
• Choose the right system configuration

At the end, you will be able to determine the instance scale, and choose the right system configuration for the instance.

Determine the instance scale

There are two primary sectors determining the scale of the instance:

• The maximum number of applications it will need to scan at any given time
  • Known as "core" or "concurrent scans"
  • Consider peak periods when a larger number of applications might need to be scanned at a short period of time
• The size of the largest applications it will scan:
  • XS - anything smaller than Small
  • Small - between 500 thousand to 1 million lines of code and below 100 MB of library
  • Medium - between 1 to 2 million lines of code and between 100 to 200 MB of library
  • Large - between 2 to 4 million lines of code or above 200 MB of library
  • XL - anything larger than Large

Choose the right system configuration

Basic principals

• The installed processor cores should be at least double of maximum concurrent scans. For example, a system with 4 maximum concurrent scans should have at least 8 processor cores.
• The installed memory (in GB) should be at least 4 times (for XS and small applications), 8 times (for medium and large applications), or 16 times (for XL applications) of maximum concurrent scans. For example, a system with 4 maximum concurrent scans for medium to large applications should have at least 32 GB of memory.
• The storage should be capable of 2,500 read IOPS per maximum concurrent scans. For example, a system with 4 maximum concurrent scans should have 10,000 IOPS.
• The available storage space should be quadruple of the size of scans that are persisted on the system. For example, if 10 applications, each 100 MB of size, are scanned daily, and are persisted for 7 days before being archived, the system should have at least 28 GB of disk space available to CLEAR Engine.

Reference system specifications

1-core Standard Edition for XS and small applications

2-core Enterprise Edition for small and medium applications

2-core Enterprise Edition for medium and large applications

4-core Enterprise Edition for large and XL applications