You really should rethink the idea of assigning 16 or even 8 vCPU. The scheduling of threads requires that all CPUs be idle to execute once and if the server is hosting more than 1 VM (which is generally the point), doing what you want can seriously slow you down. I'd suggest you read this: http://www.zdnet.com/article/virtual-cpus-the-overprovisioning-penalty-of-vcpu-to-pcpu-ratios/
As others have suggested, start with 2 and increase as needed. You DO NOT need one CPU per concurrent user. CPUs are often idle and in an RDS system can support 4-10 users OR MORE per CPU in most RDS loads.
Deepin
ASKER
Thanks for the info guys - the RDP server is heavily used by approx 50 users
This will be the third RD server that will be going on site to load balance users - there is a third party app installed which is resource hungry but it is also the company's core application
Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)
As I've stated, scale out, not increase resources per server, it does not scale.
Reduce numbers of concurrent users per server, 50 is a lot, I would half to 25.
You may want to look at the costs of Windows licenses versus VMware vSphere Standard per Host CPU, plus support....and stay with FREE.
a VMware vSphere Standard license is require per CPU, so you will need
4 x VMware vSphere Standard license , and Basic or Production Support, for 1 or 3 years.
http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/products/vsphere/VMware-vSphere-Pricing-Whitepaper.pdf