Can servers share their primary resources?

[freebelion]

I had once constructed a model where four servers shared a single resource pool. I had done that by setting their capacities to 0 and forcing them rely on the secondary resources seized from that pool.

However, I am seeing that the current version of Simio does not allow that. If the server capacities are set to zero, they don't work at all. In other words, that shared pool can only be used as the source of their secondary resources.

My question is, is there another method of forcing the servers seize their primary resources from a shared pool, like in the model of a fast-food establishment where just one employee accepts orders but also prepares fries and drinks and then the same employee delivers the completed orders?

[dsturrock]

Perhaps I am missing something, but I don't recall Simio ever being able to work as you described. We generally recommend making the server capacity Infinite, so it becomes irrelevant, then relying on a secondary resource to be the constraint. I think this approach will work fine for the case you describe.

[freebelion]

Okay, I can't find my old example to show what I mean, but as you noted, primary resource capacity becomes irrelevant if secondary resources are shared. Even if the primary capacity is finite, one can imagine it as a table or a counter space where some work is performed. That's how I have ended up describing the distinction between primary and secondary resources. Thank you for your kind reply.