Continuing to run a legacy infrastructure may be possible, but it isn’t optimal—not when new technologies like the Dell and Nutanix solution are available. By upgrading to this new hyperconverged infrastructure, you could do eight times the work of a legacy solution in just 6U and scale for more work by simply adding another node. What’s more, eliminating the need for centralized SAN storage means more space to grow, less hardware to manage, and the potential for lower power and cooling bills.
Take the first step on the path to an upgraded environment. Run DPACK in your own datacenter, and discover your performance requirements and potential bottlenecks. Then consider how the increased mixed workload performance from the hyperconverged, Intel processor-powered Dell and Nutanix solution could help your business thrive.
By upgrading from the legacy solution we tested to the new Intel processor-based Dell and VMware solution, you could do 18 times the work in the same amount of space. Imagine what that performance could mean to your business: Consolidate workloads from across your company, lower your power and cooling bills, and limit datacenter expansion in the future, all while maintaining a consistent user experience—the list of potential benefits is huge.
Try running DPACK, which can help you identify bottlenecks in your environment and inform you about your current performance needs. Then consider how the consolidation ratio we proved could be helpful for your company. The Intel processor-powered Dell PowerEdge R730 solution with VMware vSphere and Dell Storage SC4020, also powered by Intel, could be the right destination for your upgrade journey.
Comparing performance and cost: Dell PowerEdge VRTX with one Dell PowerEdge M...Principled Technologies
Keeping a legacy disparate hardware solution composed of nine older servers instead of choosing the new Dell PowerEdge VRTX powered by the Intel Xeon processor E5-4650 v3 family may cost more than one would expect. We found that the Dell PowerEdge VRTX with an Intel Xeon processor E5-4650 v3-powered Dell PowerEdge M830 server could do the work of nine legacy servers running email, database, and file/print server workloads. The VRTX ran all nine workloads in VMs, achieving a slight performance boost on the database and file/print workloads while using much less datacenter space and reducing power consumption by 38.4 percent.
The VRTX achieved these savings using 88.6 percent less rack-equivalent space than the legacy disparate hardware solution and with one-third as many cables, to reduce complexity and reduce the burden of space in small offices.
Despite a larger initial investment, the Dell PowerEdge VRTX with an Intel Xeon processor E5-4650 v3-powered Dell PowerEdge M830 server could actually lower the total cost of ownership over five years by as much as 48.5 percent, delivering a solid return on investment in less than two years.
As our test results show, investing in the Dell PowerEdge VRTX solution powered by the Intel Xeon processor E5-4600 v3 family could provide a compact solution to optimize application performance and reduce complexity at a lower lifetime cost than a legacy solution composed of nine older servers.
Defining the Value of a Modular, Scale out Storage ArchitectureNetApp
To date, the implementation of enterprise storage systems has evolved around traditional storage array architectures. There are many situations where having the option to scale the same enterprise storage system out, up or both is a better way forward than continuing to rely on the traditional scale up model. Here we compare the approaches, pointing out the significant operational and economic advantages of the new scale out paradigms.
Consolidate and upgrade: Dell PowerEdge VRTX and Microsoft SQL Server 2014Principled Technologies
Your growing business shouldn’t run on aging hardware and software until it fails. Adding memory and upgrading processors will not provide the same benefits to your infrastructure as a consolidation and upgrade can. Upgrading and consolidating your IT infrastructure to the Dell PowerEdge VRTX running Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 and SQL Server 2014 can improve performance while adding features such as high availability.
Based on our findings, a single Dell PowerEdge VRTX can replace four four-year-old dual-socket servers with VMs running heavy SQL database workloads. We found that consolidating four older servers onto a Dell PowerEdge VRTX and upgrading to Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V and SQL Server 2014 could save up to $16,390 over three years, compared to keeping the four-year-old dual-socket servers and upgrading existing storage infrastructure. If your business runs older versions of Microsoft SQL Server on end-of-life dual-socket servers, the Dell PowerEdge VRTX with Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V and SQL Server 2014 could save your company these costs while delivering better performance than the aging hardware and software.
MT12 - SAP solutions from Dell – from your Datacenter to the CloudDell EMC World
SAP HANA has accelerated the pace of innovation – an in-memory platform that runs analytics applications smarter, business processes faster, and data infrastructures simpler. Join this session to learn how Dell EMC offers the broadest solutions for SAP HANA for any sized customer with the best performance and the most customer choices- from on-premise to hybrid to cloud.
Meet database performance needs while reducing TCO with the Dell PowerEdge VR...Principled Technologies
Cloud WAN services can seem convenient for small businesses and remote offices, but they remove local control and can be more expensive over time. In our tests, the all-in-one Dell PowerEdge VRTX provided the necessary transactional database performance while saving up to 63.9 percent in costs over five years. When you’re looking for a reliable solution to run workloads in remote offices, the Dell PowerEdge VRTX has the potential to cost less than running databases from the cloud.
Keep remote desktop power users productive with Dell EMC PowerEdge R840 serve...Principled Technologies
The Dell EMC PowerEdge R840 server powered by 2nd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors can support 230 VDI power users while maintaining acceptable desktop response times of less than 1 second for CPU-centric tasks and less than 6 seconds for storage-centric tasks. This allows companies to keep their remote workforce productive with fewer servers. Testing showed the PowerEdge R840 delivered speedy access to applications for hundreds of users simultaneously working and collaborating.
VDI performance comparison: Dell PowerEdge FX2 and FC430 servers with VMware ...Principled Technologies
Replacing your legacy VDI servers with a new Intel Xeon processor E5-2650 v3-powered Dell PowerEdge FX2 solution using VMware Virtual SAN can be a great boon for your enterprise.
In the Principled Technologies (PT) labs, this space-efficient, affordable solution outperformed a legacy server and traditional SAN VSAN by offering 72 percent greater VDI users. Additionally, it achieved greater performance while using 91 percent less space and at a cost of only $176.52 per user.
By supporting more users, saving space, and its affordability, an upgrade to the Intel-powered Dell PowerEdge FX2 solution using VMware Virtual SAN can be a wise move when replacing your aging, older infrastructure.
By upgrading from the legacy solution we tested to the new Intel processor-based Dell and VMware solution, you could do 18 times the work in the same amount of space. Imagine what that performance could mean to your business: Consolidate workloads from across your company, lower your power and cooling bills, and limit datacenter expansion in the future, all while maintaining a consistent user experience—the list of potential benefits is huge.
Try running DPACK, which can help you identify bottlenecks in your environment and inform you about your current performance needs. Then consider how the consolidation ratio we proved could be helpful for your company. The Intel processor-powered Dell PowerEdge R730 solution with VMware vSphere and Dell Storage SC4020, also powered by Intel, could be the right destination for your upgrade journey.
Comparing performance and cost: Dell PowerEdge VRTX with one Dell PowerEdge M...Principled Technologies
Keeping a legacy disparate hardware solution composed of nine older servers instead of choosing the new Dell PowerEdge VRTX powered by the Intel Xeon processor E5-4650 v3 family may cost more than one would expect. We found that the Dell PowerEdge VRTX with an Intel Xeon processor E5-4650 v3-powered Dell PowerEdge M830 server could do the work of nine legacy servers running email, database, and file/print server workloads. The VRTX ran all nine workloads in VMs, achieving a slight performance boost on the database and file/print workloads while using much less datacenter space and reducing power consumption by 38.4 percent.
The VRTX achieved these savings using 88.6 percent less rack-equivalent space than the legacy disparate hardware solution and with one-third as many cables, to reduce complexity and reduce the burden of space in small offices.
Despite a larger initial investment, the Dell PowerEdge VRTX with an Intel Xeon processor E5-4650 v3-powered Dell PowerEdge M830 server could actually lower the total cost of ownership over five years by as much as 48.5 percent, delivering a solid return on investment in less than two years.
As our test results show, investing in the Dell PowerEdge VRTX solution powered by the Intel Xeon processor E5-4600 v3 family could provide a compact solution to optimize application performance and reduce complexity at a lower lifetime cost than a legacy solution composed of nine older servers.
Defining the Value of a Modular, Scale out Storage ArchitectureNetApp
To date, the implementation of enterprise storage systems has evolved around traditional storage array architectures. There are many situations where having the option to scale the same enterprise storage system out, up or both is a better way forward than continuing to rely on the traditional scale up model. Here we compare the approaches, pointing out the significant operational and economic advantages of the new scale out paradigms.
Consolidate and upgrade: Dell PowerEdge VRTX and Microsoft SQL Server 2014Principled Technologies
Your growing business shouldn’t run on aging hardware and software until it fails. Adding memory and upgrading processors will not provide the same benefits to your infrastructure as a consolidation and upgrade can. Upgrading and consolidating your IT infrastructure to the Dell PowerEdge VRTX running Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 and SQL Server 2014 can improve performance while adding features such as high availability.
Based on our findings, a single Dell PowerEdge VRTX can replace four four-year-old dual-socket servers with VMs running heavy SQL database workloads. We found that consolidating four older servers onto a Dell PowerEdge VRTX and upgrading to Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V and SQL Server 2014 could save up to $16,390 over three years, compared to keeping the four-year-old dual-socket servers and upgrading existing storage infrastructure. If your business runs older versions of Microsoft SQL Server on end-of-life dual-socket servers, the Dell PowerEdge VRTX with Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V and SQL Server 2014 could save your company these costs while delivering better performance than the aging hardware and software.
MT12 - SAP solutions from Dell – from your Datacenter to the CloudDell EMC World
SAP HANA has accelerated the pace of innovation – an in-memory platform that runs analytics applications smarter, business processes faster, and data infrastructures simpler. Join this session to learn how Dell EMC offers the broadest solutions for SAP HANA for any sized customer with the best performance and the most customer choices- from on-premise to hybrid to cloud.
Meet database performance needs while reducing TCO with the Dell PowerEdge VR...Principled Technologies
Cloud WAN services can seem convenient for small businesses and remote offices, but they remove local control and can be more expensive over time. In our tests, the all-in-one Dell PowerEdge VRTX provided the necessary transactional database performance while saving up to 63.9 percent in costs over five years. When you’re looking for a reliable solution to run workloads in remote offices, the Dell PowerEdge VRTX has the potential to cost less than running databases from the cloud.
Keep remote desktop power users productive with Dell EMC PowerEdge R840 serve...Principled Technologies
The Dell EMC PowerEdge R840 server powered by 2nd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors can support 230 VDI power users while maintaining acceptable desktop response times of less than 1 second for CPU-centric tasks and less than 6 seconds for storage-centric tasks. This allows companies to keep their remote workforce productive with fewer servers. Testing showed the PowerEdge R840 delivered speedy access to applications for hundreds of users simultaneously working and collaborating.
VDI performance comparison: Dell PowerEdge FX2 and FC430 servers with VMware ...Principled Technologies
Replacing your legacy VDI servers with a new Intel Xeon processor E5-2650 v3-powered Dell PowerEdge FX2 solution using VMware Virtual SAN can be a great boon for your enterprise.
In the Principled Technologies (PT) labs, this space-efficient, affordable solution outperformed a legacy server and traditional SAN VSAN by offering 72 percent greater VDI users. Additionally, it achieved greater performance while using 91 percent less space and at a cost of only $176.52 per user.
By supporting more users, saving space, and its affordability, an upgrade to the Intel-powered Dell PowerEdge FX2 solution using VMware Virtual SAN can be a wise move when replacing your aging, older infrastructure.
When considering whether to upgrade to the new Dell PowerEdge VRTX or repurpose older hardware, the advantages of new hardware are clear. Not only do you get newer hardware that is faster and is better-equipped to handle the increasing demands of today’s business applications and workloads, but you also benefit from advances that make deployment and management easier than ever.
In our labs, we compared the Dell PowerEdge VRTX with four server nodes and shared storage and networking to a similar infrastructure using four legacy tower servers, external network switches, and an external SAN. Our testing revealed the following:
· PowerEdge VRTX took 78.5 percent less time and 150 fewer steps to configure and deploy out of the box compared to the legacy solution.
· PowerEdge VRTX It took less than 1 hour to unbox and configure into a highly available VMware vSphere cluster compared to over 4 hours on the legacy solution.
· Deploying the Dell PowerEdge VRTX used just a single management tool, the integrated Chassis Management Controller, whereas the tower solution required six separate management tools.
Choosing such a complete solution during your next server refresh can simplify infrastructure setup and configuration, boost performance through built-in high availability features, and potentially save your organization space and operating costs over the life of the hardware.
Keep your data safe by moving from unsupported SQL Server 2008 to SQL Server ...Principled Technologies
Many small and medium businesses delay updating their server operating systems and applications. When software reaches end-of-support and the vendor ceases to release security updates and patches, businesses that fail to migrate risk incurring downtime and expense. They may encounter technical problems, and their vital data becomes especially vulnerable to cyber attackers, who often target outdated software.
Increasing performance with the Dell PowerEdge FX2 and VMware Virtual SANPrincipled Technologies
IT and business goals don’t have to compete: With a Dell PowerEdge FX2 solution powered by Intel Xeon processors and SanDisk SSDs with VMware Virtual SAN 6, you can get the database performance you need by bringing compute and data closer together while maximizing datacenter space, all within the constraints of a tightening budget. We found that the Dell PowerEdge FX2 solution outperformed an HP solution with legacy external SAN array and provided a lower cost per order along with lowering common operating costs. Configured with SanDisk SSDs and VMware Virtual San 6, the Dell PowerEdge FX2 solution delivered 3.1 times the performance and 4.2 times the performance per watt of the HP solution using a legacy SAN array. The entire Dell PowerEdge FX2 solution also took up 90 percent less space and cost half as much per database order it handled.
With numbers like that, it becomes clear that investing in servers for your old external storage array isn’t going to cut it. Moving to an all-in-one Dell PowerEdge FX2 solution with VMware Virtual SAN 6 can help you meet both your performance and budgeting goals.
WorkflowOne needed more server capacity but their old VAX systems took up too much space and power. Implementing Stromasys' CHARON-VAX virtualization software allowed WorkflowOne to consolidate their VAX systems onto a single new server, reducing hardware costs and power consumption significantly while increasing performance. WorkflowOne now pays under $10,000 annually in maintenance fees compared to over $100,000 previously.
Performance per dollar comparison: Dell PowerEdge R715 vs. HP ProLiant DL380p...Principled Technologies
Servers that deliver high performance at lower costs are a smart choice for any IT department building or refreshing a data center. In our tests, we found that the AMD Opteron 6200 Series processor -powered Dell PowerEdge R715 increased performance per dollar by as much as 23.27 percent in our real-world 70 percent processor utilization scenario, and as much as 26.84 percent at maximum processor utilization.
OLTP with Dell hybrid arrays: Comparing the EqualLogic PS6210XS with the Equa...Principled Technologies
The effectiveness of your OLTP database environment can depend to an enormous degree on the storage system you select. We compared a database server solution using the Dell EqualLogic PS6210XS with a database server solution using the previous-generation Dell EqualLogic PS6110XS.
The EqualLogic PS6210XS solution was superior in all areas we tested. It delivered greater performance with faster response time, and used less power. The Dell EqualLogic PS6210XS is a clear improvement over the previous-generation Dell EqualLogic PS6110XS.
Workstation heat and power usage: Lenovo ThinkStation P500 vs. HP Z440 Workst...Principled Technologies
A workstation that runs coolly and uses less power is a great asset to workers and the companies they work for. In our tests, both when idle and when under load, the Lenovo ThinkStation P500 generally ran at lower surface temperatures and used less power than the HP Z440 Workstation. These findings show that the Lenovo ThinkStation P500 could meet the needs of those who want to provide a reliable, comfortable work environment while using less power.
Offer faster access to critical data and achieve greater inline data reductio...Principled Technologies
Compared to a solution from another vendor (“Vendor B”), the PowerStore 7000T delivered a better inline data reduction ratio and better performance during simulated OLTP and other I/O workloads
Setting up a failover cluster on the Dell PowerEdge VRTX is a straightforward process. In very little time, you can deploy Dell PowerEdge VRTX with up to four M-series servers, switches, and storage in a redundant configuration using Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V. By setting up a failover cluster on your compact Dell PowerEdge VRTX, you can maximize server uptime to keep your business moving.
Get data center Storage as-a-Service with Dell APEX Data Storage ServicesPrincipled Technologies
The document discusses Dell's APEX Data Storage Services solution and compares it to a similar solution from another vendor (Vendor C). It finds that the APEX solution had a simpler, faster purchasing process that required no upfront payment and took only 30 minutes to get a quote through their online console. In contrast, getting a quote from Vendor C took 72 hours and required a large upfront payment. It also took 38% less time to activate the APEX solution, with activation occurring within 13 days compared to 21 days for Vendor C. The document concludes that the APEX team provided more assistance and support throughout the purchasing and deployment process.
Dell PowerEdge M820 blades: Balancing performance, density, and high availabi...Principled Technologies
Finding a server that can deliver the right balance of high workload performance, density, and RAS features can help you meet both infrastructure and business goals at the same time.
In our tests, the single-width Dell PowerEdge M820 blade delivered 19.3 percent better Oracle Database 12c performance than the HP ProLiant BL680c G7 in half the space, meaning it could deliver 2.38 times more transactions per U. The value of the denser Dell PowerEdge M820 was clear in our cost analysis of the two systems. Because the Dell PowerEdge M820 takes up less space, you need fewer enclosures, less rack space, and can save on port costs. In our sample comparison of two performance-equivalent solutions, we found that the Dell PowerEdge M820 solution could save up to 42.1 percent compared to an HP ProLiant BL680c G7 solution. That’s money that you can use to buy even more servers for greater performance or to innovate elsewhere. We also found that the Dell PowerEdge M820 took high availability into account by utilizing key RAS features to help increase your workload uptime.
If you’re looking for a dense blade solution to lower costs with the power to handle your important workloads and keep them running, our study shows that the Dell PowerEdge M820 blade addresses all those concerns.
Watch your transactional database performance climb with Intel Optane DC pers...Principled Technologies
Dell EMC PowerEdge R740xd servers with Intel Optane DC persistent memory handled more transactions per minute than configurations with NAND flash NVMe drives or SATA SSDs
Consolidating Web servers with the Dell PowerEdge FX2 enclosure and PowerEdge...Principled Technologies
Consolidating Web servers to a new environment can save you a great deal on operating costs such as power and cooling, and the shared nature of converged infrastructure solutions can maximize these savings. In our tests, we found that the Dell PowerEdge FX2 enclosure with Intel Atom processor C2750-powered FM120 nodes provided better consolidation ratios and power efficiency than both the HP Moonshot 1500 shared infrastructure solution and the current-generation HP ProLiant DL320e Gen8 v2 rack server. The Dell PowerEdge FX2 could consolidate 12 legacy Web servers and deliver up to 6.7 times the power efficiency that legacy servers would use. It also delivered up to 110.1 percent more performance/watt compared to the current-generation Web server solutions we tested from HP.
As these results show, the Dell PowerEdge FX2 with FM120x4 microserver blocks could provide your organization with dramatic power savings through consolidation, all while providing the Web server performance you require.
Run compute-intensive Apache Hadoop big data workloads faster with Dell EMC P...Principled Technologies
Moving compute-intensive, Hadoop big data workloads to current-generation Dell EMC PowerEdge R640 servers powered by 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors could allow your organization to better meet the data analysis challenges of today. Faster analysis of large data sets means getting insight into your organization, products, and services sooner, which could help your organization grow and beat its competition.
Save space, increase efficiency, and boost performance in your remote office ...Principled Technologies
Two realities drive many remote and branch office server decisions: the need for a versatile platform that delivers excellent performance, and the need for simplification by using fewer servers and cables. By consolidating your older servers to the powerful, space-efficient Dell PowerEdge VRTX server, you can increase database performance while saving valuable space. In our tests, the base-configuration Dell PowerEdge VRTX could consolidate four legacy servers while providing 5.4 times the overall performance. With the Micron P420m PCIe SSD added to the configuration, the VRTX consolidated eight legacy servers and delivered 10.7 times the overall performance.
Investing in the Dell PowerEdge VRTX—in either configuration—can elevate your IT infrastructure by answering database performance and space-saving challenges that face your remote and branch offices.
In addition to providing excellent performance in a space-efficient manner, the VRTX simplifies the office environment, brings efficiency to IT staff through its management advantages, and offers businesses the versatility of deploying performance anywhere.
Compute intensive performance efficiency comparison: HP Moonshot with AMD APU...Principled Technologies
AMD’s accelerated processing units can be an enormous boon to those who perform compute intensive processing workloads, such as the 3D rendering workload we tested. In the Principled Technologies labs, an AMD-based HP Moonshot 1500 chassis with the ProLiant M700 server cartridge outperformed an Intel Xeon processor E5-2660 V2-based server —delivering 12.6 times the rendering performance of a single Intel server. It achieved this performance advantage while utilizing 10 percent less power than the more traditional server solution, and used just 4.3U of rack space instead of the 12U that 12 Intel servers would have used.
The Dell PowerEdge VRTX is an all-inclusive platform, suitable for rapid deployment of a virtual environment, such as Citrix XenDesktop 7.5. The integrated components of the VRTX means your business has a centralized management console for the necessary data center components that support VDI environments. We found that the Dell PowerEdge VRTX and XenDesktop set up, configured, and deployed VDI users easily. The addition of Dell Wyse terminals demonstrates how your end-users can access your XenDesktop VDI environment with efficient hardware and little administrative effort. The combination of Dell PowerEdge VRTX and Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 can offer a unified, efficient, and simple enterprise-value VDI solution for your business, but without the resources and commitment need for supporting an enterprise data center.
3 key wins: Dell EMC PowerEdge MX with OpenManage Enterprise over Cisco UCS a...Principled Technologies
In head-to-head tests, the modular Dell EMC™ PowerEdge™ MX7000 with
OpenManage™ Enterprise reduced admin time and effort on repetitive tasks when compared to Cisco UCS® 5108 with Cisco UCS Manager and HPE Synergy with OneView.
VDI with Dell EqualLogic hybrid arrays: A comparative study with the industry...Principled Technologies
Building a VDI environment requires a solid storage system capable of meeting the demands of a large number of users. Being able to support all your users with an attractively priced storage solution is ideal.
We found the Dell EqualLogic PS6110XS to be simple to set up and manage during the course of testing, and it provided significantly higher usable capacity, at 9.1 TB versus 6.7 TB for the competing similarly configured, industry-leading NAS solution.
The Dell EqualLogic PS6110XS also was more power efficient, requiring 68.6 percent less power, while providing comparable performance to the industry-leading competitor. In addition, the solution also saved roughly 51.6 percent on the initial investment in hardware, software, and support, at a cost of $102 per desktop versus $210 for the competitor. The ease of setup and management, performance capabilities, and potential savings with the Dell EqualLogic PS6110XS show that it has the potential to power your VDI environment while helping your bottom line.
As this guide has shown, if your business could benefit from using a hyperconverged computer/storage solution rather than disparate dedicated appliances, a Nutanix storage cluster powered by Dell XC630 appliances could be the right way to go. Able to handle nine SQL Server 2014 OLTP workloads at over 340,000 OPM, 200 mailboxes in Microsoft Exchange 2013, as well as file/print and web server disk workloads, the powerful Dell appliances with the help of Intel processors can keep up with your current business, with room to grow in the future. With software-defined tiered storage, high availability, and a redundant network architecture, the small form factor of the Dell XC630 appliances can help keep your business moving.
This document provides an overview of hyperconverged infrastructure and Cisco's HyperFlex system. It discusses that the hyperconverged market is growing rapidly at 60% annually as virtualized environments increase in complexity and need for simplicity. Cisco's HyperFlex system is highlighted as providing a simple, agile, efficient and adaptable solution. It utilizes a log structured file system, unified management through UCS Manager, policy-based management, and data optimization through deduplication and compression. The HyperFlex system requires a minimum of 3 nodes plus 1 for redundancy, and utilizes SSD caching to improve performance. Each node has a copy of VMs for high availability, and writes are distributed across nodes without moving data over the network during virtual machine migration
When considering whether to upgrade to the new Dell PowerEdge VRTX or repurpose older hardware, the advantages of new hardware are clear. Not only do you get newer hardware that is faster and is better-equipped to handle the increasing demands of today’s business applications and workloads, but you also benefit from advances that make deployment and management easier than ever.
In our labs, we compared the Dell PowerEdge VRTX with four server nodes and shared storage and networking to a similar infrastructure using four legacy tower servers, external network switches, and an external SAN. Our testing revealed the following:
· PowerEdge VRTX took 78.5 percent less time and 150 fewer steps to configure and deploy out of the box compared to the legacy solution.
· PowerEdge VRTX It took less than 1 hour to unbox and configure into a highly available VMware vSphere cluster compared to over 4 hours on the legacy solution.
· Deploying the Dell PowerEdge VRTX used just a single management tool, the integrated Chassis Management Controller, whereas the tower solution required six separate management tools.
Choosing such a complete solution during your next server refresh can simplify infrastructure setup and configuration, boost performance through built-in high availability features, and potentially save your organization space and operating costs over the life of the hardware.
Keep your data safe by moving from unsupported SQL Server 2008 to SQL Server ...Principled Technologies
Many small and medium businesses delay updating their server operating systems and applications. When software reaches end-of-support and the vendor ceases to release security updates and patches, businesses that fail to migrate risk incurring downtime and expense. They may encounter technical problems, and their vital data becomes especially vulnerable to cyber attackers, who often target outdated software.
Increasing performance with the Dell PowerEdge FX2 and VMware Virtual SANPrincipled Technologies
IT and business goals don’t have to compete: With a Dell PowerEdge FX2 solution powered by Intel Xeon processors and SanDisk SSDs with VMware Virtual SAN 6, you can get the database performance you need by bringing compute and data closer together while maximizing datacenter space, all within the constraints of a tightening budget. We found that the Dell PowerEdge FX2 solution outperformed an HP solution with legacy external SAN array and provided a lower cost per order along with lowering common operating costs. Configured with SanDisk SSDs and VMware Virtual San 6, the Dell PowerEdge FX2 solution delivered 3.1 times the performance and 4.2 times the performance per watt of the HP solution using a legacy SAN array. The entire Dell PowerEdge FX2 solution also took up 90 percent less space and cost half as much per database order it handled.
With numbers like that, it becomes clear that investing in servers for your old external storage array isn’t going to cut it. Moving to an all-in-one Dell PowerEdge FX2 solution with VMware Virtual SAN 6 can help you meet both your performance and budgeting goals.
WorkflowOne needed more server capacity but their old VAX systems took up too much space and power. Implementing Stromasys' CHARON-VAX virtualization software allowed WorkflowOne to consolidate their VAX systems onto a single new server, reducing hardware costs and power consumption significantly while increasing performance. WorkflowOne now pays under $10,000 annually in maintenance fees compared to over $100,000 previously.
Performance per dollar comparison: Dell PowerEdge R715 vs. HP ProLiant DL380p...Principled Technologies
Servers that deliver high performance at lower costs are a smart choice for any IT department building or refreshing a data center. In our tests, we found that the AMD Opteron 6200 Series processor -powered Dell PowerEdge R715 increased performance per dollar by as much as 23.27 percent in our real-world 70 percent processor utilization scenario, and as much as 26.84 percent at maximum processor utilization.
OLTP with Dell hybrid arrays: Comparing the EqualLogic PS6210XS with the Equa...Principled Technologies
The effectiveness of your OLTP database environment can depend to an enormous degree on the storage system you select. We compared a database server solution using the Dell EqualLogic PS6210XS with a database server solution using the previous-generation Dell EqualLogic PS6110XS.
The EqualLogic PS6210XS solution was superior in all areas we tested. It delivered greater performance with faster response time, and used less power. The Dell EqualLogic PS6210XS is a clear improvement over the previous-generation Dell EqualLogic PS6110XS.
Workstation heat and power usage: Lenovo ThinkStation P500 vs. HP Z440 Workst...Principled Technologies
A workstation that runs coolly and uses less power is a great asset to workers and the companies they work for. In our tests, both when idle and when under load, the Lenovo ThinkStation P500 generally ran at lower surface temperatures and used less power than the HP Z440 Workstation. These findings show that the Lenovo ThinkStation P500 could meet the needs of those who want to provide a reliable, comfortable work environment while using less power.
Offer faster access to critical data and achieve greater inline data reductio...Principled Technologies
Compared to a solution from another vendor (“Vendor B”), the PowerStore 7000T delivered a better inline data reduction ratio and better performance during simulated OLTP and other I/O workloads
Setting up a failover cluster on the Dell PowerEdge VRTX is a straightforward process. In very little time, you can deploy Dell PowerEdge VRTX with up to four M-series servers, switches, and storage in a redundant configuration using Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V. By setting up a failover cluster on your compact Dell PowerEdge VRTX, you can maximize server uptime to keep your business moving.
Get data center Storage as-a-Service with Dell APEX Data Storage ServicesPrincipled Technologies
The document discusses Dell's APEX Data Storage Services solution and compares it to a similar solution from another vendor (Vendor C). It finds that the APEX solution had a simpler, faster purchasing process that required no upfront payment and took only 30 minutes to get a quote through their online console. In contrast, getting a quote from Vendor C took 72 hours and required a large upfront payment. It also took 38% less time to activate the APEX solution, with activation occurring within 13 days compared to 21 days for Vendor C. The document concludes that the APEX team provided more assistance and support throughout the purchasing and deployment process.
Dell PowerEdge M820 blades: Balancing performance, density, and high availabi...Principled Technologies
Finding a server that can deliver the right balance of high workload performance, density, and RAS features can help you meet both infrastructure and business goals at the same time.
In our tests, the single-width Dell PowerEdge M820 blade delivered 19.3 percent better Oracle Database 12c performance than the HP ProLiant BL680c G7 in half the space, meaning it could deliver 2.38 times more transactions per U. The value of the denser Dell PowerEdge M820 was clear in our cost analysis of the two systems. Because the Dell PowerEdge M820 takes up less space, you need fewer enclosures, less rack space, and can save on port costs. In our sample comparison of two performance-equivalent solutions, we found that the Dell PowerEdge M820 solution could save up to 42.1 percent compared to an HP ProLiant BL680c G7 solution. That’s money that you can use to buy even more servers for greater performance or to innovate elsewhere. We also found that the Dell PowerEdge M820 took high availability into account by utilizing key RAS features to help increase your workload uptime.
If you’re looking for a dense blade solution to lower costs with the power to handle your important workloads and keep them running, our study shows that the Dell PowerEdge M820 blade addresses all those concerns.
Watch your transactional database performance climb with Intel Optane DC pers...Principled Technologies
Dell EMC PowerEdge R740xd servers with Intel Optane DC persistent memory handled more transactions per minute than configurations with NAND flash NVMe drives or SATA SSDs
Consolidating Web servers with the Dell PowerEdge FX2 enclosure and PowerEdge...Principled Technologies
Consolidating Web servers to a new environment can save you a great deal on operating costs such as power and cooling, and the shared nature of converged infrastructure solutions can maximize these savings. In our tests, we found that the Dell PowerEdge FX2 enclosure with Intel Atom processor C2750-powered FM120 nodes provided better consolidation ratios and power efficiency than both the HP Moonshot 1500 shared infrastructure solution and the current-generation HP ProLiant DL320e Gen8 v2 rack server. The Dell PowerEdge FX2 could consolidate 12 legacy Web servers and deliver up to 6.7 times the power efficiency that legacy servers would use. It also delivered up to 110.1 percent more performance/watt compared to the current-generation Web server solutions we tested from HP.
As these results show, the Dell PowerEdge FX2 with FM120x4 microserver blocks could provide your organization with dramatic power savings through consolidation, all while providing the Web server performance you require.
Run compute-intensive Apache Hadoop big data workloads faster with Dell EMC P...Principled Technologies
Moving compute-intensive, Hadoop big data workloads to current-generation Dell EMC PowerEdge R640 servers powered by 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors could allow your organization to better meet the data analysis challenges of today. Faster analysis of large data sets means getting insight into your organization, products, and services sooner, which could help your organization grow and beat its competition.
Save space, increase efficiency, and boost performance in your remote office ...Principled Technologies
Two realities drive many remote and branch office server decisions: the need for a versatile platform that delivers excellent performance, and the need for simplification by using fewer servers and cables. By consolidating your older servers to the powerful, space-efficient Dell PowerEdge VRTX server, you can increase database performance while saving valuable space. In our tests, the base-configuration Dell PowerEdge VRTX could consolidate four legacy servers while providing 5.4 times the overall performance. With the Micron P420m PCIe SSD added to the configuration, the VRTX consolidated eight legacy servers and delivered 10.7 times the overall performance.
Investing in the Dell PowerEdge VRTX—in either configuration—can elevate your IT infrastructure by answering database performance and space-saving challenges that face your remote and branch offices.
In addition to providing excellent performance in a space-efficient manner, the VRTX simplifies the office environment, brings efficiency to IT staff through its management advantages, and offers businesses the versatility of deploying performance anywhere.
Compute intensive performance efficiency comparison: HP Moonshot with AMD APU...Principled Technologies
AMD’s accelerated processing units can be an enormous boon to those who perform compute intensive processing workloads, such as the 3D rendering workload we tested. In the Principled Technologies labs, an AMD-based HP Moonshot 1500 chassis with the ProLiant M700 server cartridge outperformed an Intel Xeon processor E5-2660 V2-based server —delivering 12.6 times the rendering performance of a single Intel server. It achieved this performance advantage while utilizing 10 percent less power than the more traditional server solution, and used just 4.3U of rack space instead of the 12U that 12 Intel servers would have used.
The Dell PowerEdge VRTX is an all-inclusive platform, suitable for rapid deployment of a virtual environment, such as Citrix XenDesktop 7.5. The integrated components of the VRTX means your business has a centralized management console for the necessary data center components that support VDI environments. We found that the Dell PowerEdge VRTX and XenDesktop set up, configured, and deployed VDI users easily. The addition of Dell Wyse terminals demonstrates how your end-users can access your XenDesktop VDI environment with efficient hardware and little administrative effort. The combination of Dell PowerEdge VRTX and Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 can offer a unified, efficient, and simple enterprise-value VDI solution for your business, but without the resources and commitment need for supporting an enterprise data center.
3 key wins: Dell EMC PowerEdge MX with OpenManage Enterprise over Cisco UCS a...Principled Technologies
In head-to-head tests, the modular Dell EMC™ PowerEdge™ MX7000 with
OpenManage™ Enterprise reduced admin time and effort on repetitive tasks when compared to Cisco UCS® 5108 with Cisco UCS Manager and HPE Synergy with OneView.
VDI with Dell EqualLogic hybrid arrays: A comparative study with the industry...Principled Technologies
Building a VDI environment requires a solid storage system capable of meeting the demands of a large number of users. Being able to support all your users with an attractively priced storage solution is ideal.
We found the Dell EqualLogic PS6110XS to be simple to set up and manage during the course of testing, and it provided significantly higher usable capacity, at 9.1 TB versus 6.7 TB for the competing similarly configured, industry-leading NAS solution.
The Dell EqualLogic PS6110XS also was more power efficient, requiring 68.6 percent less power, while providing comparable performance to the industry-leading competitor. In addition, the solution also saved roughly 51.6 percent on the initial investment in hardware, software, and support, at a cost of $102 per desktop versus $210 for the competitor. The ease of setup and management, performance capabilities, and potential savings with the Dell EqualLogic PS6110XS show that it has the potential to power your VDI environment while helping your bottom line.
As this guide has shown, if your business could benefit from using a hyperconverged computer/storage solution rather than disparate dedicated appliances, a Nutanix storage cluster powered by Dell XC630 appliances could be the right way to go. Able to handle nine SQL Server 2014 OLTP workloads at over 340,000 OPM, 200 mailboxes in Microsoft Exchange 2013, as well as file/print and web server disk workloads, the powerful Dell appliances with the help of Intel processors can keep up with your current business, with room to grow in the future. With software-defined tiered storage, high availability, and a redundant network architecture, the small form factor of the Dell XC630 appliances can help keep your business moving.
This document provides an overview of hyperconverged infrastructure and Cisco's HyperFlex system. It discusses that the hyperconverged market is growing rapidly at 60% annually as virtualized environments increase in complexity and need for simplicity. Cisco's HyperFlex system is highlighted as providing a simple, agile, efficient and adaptable solution. It utilizes a log structured file system, unified management through UCS Manager, policy-based management, and data optimization through deduplication and compression. The HyperFlex system requires a minimum of 3 nodes plus 1 for redundancy, and utilizes SSD caching to improve performance. Each node has a copy of VMs for high availability, and writes are distributed across nodes without moving data over the network during virtual machine migration
This presentation was given at the London Nutanix user group (NUG) on Oct 26 by Ray Hassan. If you would like to join a NUG, you can find more information here http://bit.ly/NTNXUG - Hope to see you at a community meeting!
In cases of data loss, erasure coding is an alternative form of data protection in which data is broken into fragments and stored across a set of different locations or storage media, like object storage
Dell - The Incredible Shrinking DatacenterNEXTtour
This document summarizes Dell's partnership with Nutanix to provide hyper-converged infrastructure solutions using Dell servers and Nutanix software. It discusses how the convergence of technologies is leading to more integrated systems, and how Dell and Nutanix are accelerating data center transformations through their partnership. Examples are provided of customers like Williams and the FBI who deployed Dell XC Series appliances powered by Nutanix to improve performance, management, and cost savings for their virtual desktop infrastructure and other workloads.
This document summarizes an interactive workshop on virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) design. It discusses technical components of VDI like where desktops are delivered from and run, as well as storage considerations. Key topics covered include IO dispersion across different types of storage, squeezing virtual machines onto hardware, and balancing persistent versus non-persistent desktops. The document also outlines several important considerations for a successful VDI implementation like whether to use a traditional or converged infrastructure, how to pilot VDI, scaling out cost effectively, and where to focus efforts.
Nutanix NEXT on Tour - Maarssen, Netherlands NEXTtour
The document provides an agenda for a Nutanix .NEXT event, including keynote speeches on Nutanix products and use cases from HERO and OGD. It discusses Nutanix adoption in Europe, the benefits of hyperconverged infrastructure, and Nutanix products like Acropolis and Prism. Later presentations will provide overviews of Nutanix deployments at HERO and OGD, focusing on simplified management and improved performance.
This IT Brand Pulse mini-report includes 2016 market leader data from the independent, non-sponsored survey covering six categories of brand leadership–Market, Price, Performance, Reliability, Service & Support and Innovation–for thirteen classes (plus two special achievement) of Flash Storage/NVMe.
Complete survey data for each product category is available. Please contact us at info@itbrandpulse.com for information and pricing.
Read the 2016 Flash Storage-NVMe Brand Leader Survey Press Release: http://www.itbrandpulse.com/press-release/it-pros-choose-2016-flash-storagenvme-brand-leaders/
This document discusses HDFS Erasure Coding and its usage at Yahoo Japan. It begins with an overview of erasure coding, how it is implemented in HDFS, and compares it to replication. Test results show the write performance is lower for erasure coding while read performance is similar. Yahoo Japan uses erasure coding for cold weblog data, reducing storage costs by 65% compared to replication. Future plans include supporting additional codecs and features to provide more usability.
Hyperconverged Infrastructure: The Leading Edge of VirtualizationScalar Decisions
Hyper-convergence is today's leading edge of virtualization. Technologies have entered the market that have greatly simplified the deployment and maintenance of virtualized workloads. In this session, we will discuss the complexity associated with these types of highly virtualized environments and the modern approaches to reducing it.
This document discusses Nutanix's converged infrastructure platform which combines storage and computing resources into a single system. It aims to provide Google-like infrastructure for enterprises with a software-defined, hyperconverged approach that offers linear scalability, predictable economics, and simplified management compared to traditional complex datacenter architectures. Nutanix has seen unprecedented customer adoption and has grown to become one of the fastest growing infrastructure companies of the last decade.
Performance advantages of Hadoop ETL offload with the Intel processor-powered...Principled Technologies
High-level Hadoop analysis requires custom solutions to deliver the data that you need, and the faster these jobs run the better. What if ETL jobs created by an entry-level employee after only a few days of training could run even faster than the same jobs created by a Hadoop expert with 18 years of database experience?
This is exactly what we found in our testing with the Dell | Cloudera | Syncsort solution. Not only was this solution was faster, easier, and less expensive to implement, but the ETL use cases our beginner created with this solution ran up to 60.3 percent more quickly than those our expert created with open-source tools.
Using the Dell | Cloudera | Syncsort solution means that your organization can compensate a lower-level employee for half as much time as a senior engineer doing less-optimized work. That is a clear path to savings.
Move your private cloud to Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420 server nodes and boost Ap...Principled Technologies
Powered by 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors, Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420 server nodes handled 2X the operations per second of older HPE ProLiant XL170r Gen9 nodes
Meeting the challenges of AI workloads with the Dell AI portfolio - SummaryPrincipled Technologies
A comparison of the Dell AI portfolio vs. similar offerings from HPE
In brief: Additional contributors to AI success
AI models require more than high performance servers for success. You must also consider storage for unstructured data and professional services to plan, prepare, deploy, and manage your AI solution. The Dell portfolio offers storage for AI datasets with the PowerScale series for file storage and Elastic Cloud Storage or ObjectScale storage for object storage.
Organizations can reap the advantages of Dell’s professional and consulting services for AI, which offers some services that HPE does not, such as data preparation. The Dell portfolio also includes Validated Designs for AI, which takes the guesswork out of designing and deploying AI.
Accelerating Business Through Next Generation StorageDell World
Simplicity, flexibility and cost-savings are but a few of the virtues driving the rapid growth of software-defined storage (SDS) offerings. Hear how Dell’s broad x86 server portfolio enables us to deliver the most extensive range of SDS offerings in the industry—from hyper-converged appliances to software-only options to open-source solutions—helping organizations of all sizes find a storage solution that best meets their needs and objectives.
Run compute-intensive Apache Hadoop big data workloads faster with Dell EMC P...Principled Technologies
Efficiently running compute-heavy, Apache Hadoop big data workloads today might not translate to continued quality performance for growing data sets. Moving compute-intensive, Hadoop big data workloads to currentgeneration Dell EMC PowerEdge R640 servers powered by 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors could allow your organization to better meet the data analysis challenges of today and have the resources to support growth. In our data center, a Hadoop cluster of PowerEdge R640 servers completed three big data workloads in less time by delivering greater throughput than a cluster of previous-generation Dell EMC PowerEdge R630 servers. Faster analysis of large data sets means getting insight into your organization, products, and services sooner, which could help your organization grow and beat its competition.
Reduce complexity and save money with Dell Engineered Solutions for VMware EV...Principled Technologies
Companies like ManuCorp have seemingly contradictory goals for their virtualized infrastructure: They want a solution that eases the deployment and management burden for generalized IT staff while simultaneously saving money over the long term. According to our analysis, ManuCorp would do well to choose Dell Engineered Solutions for VMware EVO:RAIL, saving up to 63.9 percent in costs over three years compared to a solution with Cisco UCS blades and NetApp storage.
Less experienced administrators like ManuCorp already has in house would be able to plug in the Dell Engineered Solutions for VMware EVO:RAIL and use its single, easy-to-use interface to deploy end-to-end virtual infrastructure and complete updates without any additional training or instruction. The Cisco UCS and NetApp solution required extra tools and a wider skillset, which can mean adding a more experienced person and inviting the chance for human error. In addition, the hyper-converged Dell Engineered Solutions for VMware EVO:RAIL appliance reduced power consumption compared to the do-it-yourself environment with Cisco UCS blades and NetApp, which can contribute to big operating cost savings.
Move your private cloud to Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420 server nodes and boost Ap...Principled Technologies
Powered by 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors, Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420 server nodes handled 2X the operations per second of older HPE ProLiant XL170r Gen9 nodes
Databases power your business, so the performance of the hardware behind your databases is crucial. In our datacenter, the Dell EMC VxRail P470F with VMware vSAN handled more orders per minute, delivered higher IOPS, responded more quickly, and utilized resources more efficiently than the HPE Hyper Converged 380 with HPE StoreVirtual VSA. Plus, scaling up and tuning performance for our specific workload was considerably easier with the Dell EMC VxRail solution than the HPE solution. These differences translate to real-world benefits. With the Dell EMC VxRail solution, you can achieve shorter wait times for customers and staff, which could increase sales and innovation at your company; reduce work for your IT staff, so they can spend more time on other critical tasks; and save space, potentially helping you delay capital expenditures. To find out more about the Dell EMC VxRail P470F, visit DellEMC.com/VxRail.
Update your private cloud with 14th generation Dell EMC PowerEdge FC640 serve...Principled Technologies
The document discusses testing of Dell EMC PowerEdge FC640 servers running Apache Cassandra databases for private clouds. It finds that a solution using the 14th generation Dell EMC PowerEdge FC640 servers handled over 4.7 times the workload of a previous generation solution using Dell PowerEdge R710 servers, while using half the rack space. This allows supporting more user requests while potentially saving on datacenter expansion costs.
Design advantages of Hadoop ETL offload with the Intel processor-powered Dell...Principled Technologies
High-level Hadoop analysis requires custom solutions to deliver the data that you need and the amount of time that even senior engineers require to create ETL jobs in a DIY hardware and software situation, can be substantial.
We found that the Dell | Cloudera | Syncsort solution was so easy to use that an entry-level employee could use it to create optimized ETL jobs after only a few days of training. And he could do it quickly—our technician, who had no previous experience using Hadoop, developed three optimized ETL jobs in 31 hours. That is less than half of the 68 hours our expert with years of Hadoop experience needed to create the same jobs using open source tools.
Using the Dell | Cloudera | Syncsort solution means that your organization can implement a Hadoop solution using employees already on your staff rather than trying to recruit expensive, difficult-to-find specialists. Not only that, but the projects can be completed in a fraction of the time. This makes the Dell | Cloudera | Syncsort solution a winning business proposition.
Handle transaction workloads and data mart loads with better performancePrincipled Technologies
Database work is a big deal—in terms of its importance to your company, and the sheer magnitude of the work. Our tests with the Dell EMC PowerEdge R930 server and Unity 400F All-Flash storage array demonstrated that it could perform comparably to an HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 server and 3PAR array during OLTP workloads, with a better compression ratio (3.2-to-1 vs. 1.3-to-1). For loading large sets of data, the Dell EMC Unity finished 22 percent faster than the HPE 3PAR, which can result in less hassle for the administrator in charge of data marts. When running both OLTP and data mart workloads in tandem, the Unity array outperformed the HPE 3PAR in terms of orders processed per minute by 29 percent. For additional product information concerning the Unity 400F storage array, visit DellEMC.com/Unity.
MT25 Server technology trends, workload impacts, and the Dell Point of ViewDell EMC World
As you modernize your data center and become future ready, your server requirements are changing. With innovations such as software-defined storage and networking, your compute platform is now more important than ever. Discover how the highly innovative Dell EMC PowerEdge portfolio is designed to meet the challenges of your future ready data center and how selecting the right compute platform can better enable you to deliver more efficient, secure and manageable IT for your business.
Drive new initiatives with a powerful Dell EMC, Nutanix, and Toshiba solution...Principled Technologies
A Dell EMC XC Series cluster featuring Nutanix software and powered by Toshiba PX05S SAS SSDs delivered strong database performance with a blend of structured and unstructured data
A Dell PowerEdge MX environment using OpenManage Enterprise and OpenManage En...Principled Technologies
Compared to a Cisco UCS-X environment using Intersight, the Dell environment streamlined making changes to VLANs and helped avoid interventions during scheduled firmware updates
Conclusion
We executed two management scenarios in a Dell PowerEdge MX environment with Dell OpenManage Enterprise and OpenManage Enterprise Modular and a Cisco UCS X-Series chassis environment with Cisco Intersight. We learned that the Dell solution’s single-part profile modification for performing VLAN updates was quicker and simpler than the Cisco solution’s two-part profile deployment, requiring 40 percent less time and two-thirds as many steps. We also compared the firmware updating process on the solutions. Being able to schedule these updates to occur automatically from the online Dell repository offered an advantage over having to manually execute the same tasks from the Cisco Intersight repositories. Namely, administrators do not need to take action during maintenance windows but can instead schedule them ahead of time. Saving time on routine tasks frees administrators to pursue innovation, and being able to avoid middle-of-the-night duties helps companies provide a better work experience for admins. Together, these advantages help make Dell PowerEdge MX servers a good candidate for companies considering upgrading the older Cisco UCS servers in their data centers.
Oracle Database 12c introduces new features that enable customers to embrace cloud computing. The new multitenant architecture allows multiple databases to be consolidated and managed within a single container database. This simplifies administration and enables rapid provisioning of databases. Oracle Database 12c also features in-memory analytics for real-time queries, automatic data optimization and compression, high availability, and security features. These capabilities help customers deploy databases in private or public clouds in a cost-effective manner.
MT23 Benefits of Modular Computing from Data Center to Branch OfficeDell EMC World
IT modernization, simplified management and cost reduction initiatives have propelled an industry shift to modular computing models from "one size fits all" approaches. In this session, we discuss how you can leverage innovative Modular Infrastructure solutions from Dell EMC to transform your environment- gaining greater control and efficiency while accelerating IT services- no matter the size and location of operations.
Upgrading to Windows Server 2019 on Dell EMC PowerEdge servers: A simple proc...Principled Technologies
Using Dell EMC PowerEdge R740xd servers with Intel Xeon Scalable processors, we upgraded from Windows Server 2016 and saw data compression ratios of up to 9.8:1 thanks to new Storage Spaces Direct features
Comparing performance and cost: Dell PowerEdge VRTX vs. legacy hardware solutionPrincipled Technologies
Keeping a legacy, disparate hardware solution instead of choosing the new Dell PowerEdge VRTX may cost you more than you realize. We found that the Dell PowerEdge VRTX increased application performance over a legacy, disparate hardware solution across email, database, and file/print server simultaneous workloads while reducing power consumption by 19.8 percent. The VRTX did so in 70.6 percent less rack-equivalent space than the legacy, disparate hardware solution and with one-third as many cables, to reduce complexity and reduce the burden of space in small offices. Finally, despite a larger initial investment, the Dell PowerEdge VRTX could actually lower your total cost of ownership over years as much as 26.0 percent, delivering a solid return on your investment in less than three years.
As our test results show, investing in the Dell PowerEdge VRTX solution could provide you with a compact solution to optimize application performance, reduce complexity, and even lower the total cost of your solution over its lifetime.
Drive new initiatives with a powerful Dell EMC, Nutanix, and Toshiba solutionPrincipled Technologies
A Dell EMC XC Series cluster featuring Nutanix software and powered by Toshiba PX05S SAS SSDs delivered strong database performance with a blend of structured and unstructured data
Cloudwatt wanted to develop a big data analytics offering using Apache Hadoop on OpenStack but needed a hardware and software solution. A proof of concept using Intel Distribution for Apache Hadoop software on Intel Xeon processors with Intel SSDs showed faster cluster provisioning within 2 minutes and improved performance over HDDs. This enabled Cloudwatt to expand its cloud computing offering to include big data analytics attracting new customers and revenue.
Similar to A Dell and Nutanix solution can boost datacenter efficiency (20)
Help skilled workers succeed with Dell Latitude 7030 and 7230 Rugged Extreme ...Principled Technologies
Instead of equipping consumer-grade tablets with rugged cases
Conclusion
In our hands-on testing, the Dell Latitude 7030 and 7230 Rugged Extreme Tablets showed that they are better equipped to help skilled workers than consumer-grade Apple iPad Pro and Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 tablets in multiple ways. They provide more built-in capabilities and features than the consumer-grade tablets we tested. And, while they were more expensive than the rugged-case fortified consumer-grade options we tested, their rugged claims were more than skin deep.
In our performance and durability tests, the Dell Latitude 7030 and 7230 Rugged Extreme Tablets performed better in demanding manufacturing, logistics, and field service environments than consumer-grade tablets with rugged cases. Both Rugged Extreme Tablets, with their greater thermal range, suffered less performance degradation in extreme temperatures, never failed and were merely scuffed after 26 hard drops, survived a 10 minute drenching with no ill effects, and were easier to view in direct sunlight than Apple iPad Pro and Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 tablets.
Bring ideas to life with the HP Z2 G9 Tower Workstation - InfographicPrincipled Technologies
We compared CPU performance and noise output of an HP Z2 G9 Tower Workstation in High Performance Mode to a similarly configured Dell Precision 3660 Tower Workstation in its out-of-box performance mode
Investing in GenAI: Cost‑benefit analysis of Dell on‑premises deployments vs....Principled Technologies
Conclusion
Diving into the world of GenAI has the potential to yield a great many benefits for your organization, but it first requires consideration for how best to implement those GenAI workloads. Whether your AI goals are to create a chatbot for online visitors, generate marketing materials, aid troubleshooting, or something else, implementing an AI solution requires careful planning and decision-making. A major decision is whether to host GenAI in the cloud or keep your data on premises. Traditional on-premises solutions can provide superior security and control, a substantial concern when dealing with large amounts of potentially sensitive data. But will supporting a GenAI solution on site be a drain on an organization’s IT budget?
In our research, we found that the value proposition is just the opposite: Hosting GenAI workloads on premises, either in a traditional Dell solution or using a managed Dell APEX pay-per-use solution, could significantly lower your GenAI costs over 3 years compared to hosting these workloads in the cloud. In fact, we found that a comparable AWS SageMaker solution would cost up to 3.8 times as much and an Azure ML solution would cost up to 3.6 times as much as GenAI on a Dell APEX pay-per-use solution. These results show that organizations looking to implement GenAI and reap the business benefits to come can find many advantages in an on-premises Dell solution, whether they opt to purchase and manage it themselves or choose a subscription-based Dell APEX pay-per-use solution. Choosing an on-premises Dell solution could save your organization significantly over hosting GenAI in the cloud, while giving you control over the security and privacy of your data as well as any updates and changes to the environment, and while ensuring your environment is managed consistently.
Workstations powered by Intel can play a vital role in CPU-intensive AI devel...Principled Technologies
In three AI development workflows, Intel processor-powered workstations delivered strong performance, without using their GPUs, making them a good choice for this part of the AI process
Conclusion
We executed three AI development workflows on tower workstations and mobile workstations from three vendors, with each workflow utilizing only the Intel CPU cores, and found that these platforms were suitable for carrying out various AI tasks. For two of the workflows, we learned that completing the tasks on the tower workstations took roughly half as much time as on the mobile workstations. This supports the idea that the tower workstations would be appropriate for a development environment for more complex models with a greater volume of data and that the mobile workstations would be well-suited for data scientists fine-tuning simpler models. In the third workflow, we explored tower workstation performance with different precision levels and learned that using 16-bit floating point precision allowed the workstations to execute the workflow in less time and also reduced memory usage dramatically. For all three AI workflows we executed, we consider the time the workstations needed to complete the tasks to be acceptable, and believe that these workstations can be appropriate, cost-effective choices for these kinds of activities.
Enable security features with no impact to OLTP performance with Dell PowerEd...Principled Technologies
Get comparable online transaction processing (OLTP) performance with or without enabling AMD Secure Memory Encryption and AMD Secure Encrypted Virtualization - Encrypted State
Conclusion
You’ve likely already implemented many security measures for your servers, which may include physical security for the data center, hardware-level security, and software-level security. With the cost of data breaches high and still growing, however, wise IT teams will consider what additional security measures they may be able to implement.
AMD SME and SEV-ES are technologies that are already available within your AMD processor-powered 16th Generation Dell PowerEdge servers—and in our testing, we saw that they can offer extra layers of security without affecting performance. We compared the online transaction processing performance of a Dell PowerEdge R7625 server, powered by AMD EPYC 9274F processors, with and without these two security features enabled. We found that enabling AMD Secure Memory Encryption and Secure Encrypted Virtualization-Encrypted State did not impact performance at all.
If your team is assessing areas where you might be able to enhance security—without paying a large performance cost—consider enabling AME SME and AMD SEV-ES in your Dell PowerEdge servers.
Improving energy efficiency in the data center: Endure higher temperatures wi...Principled Technologies
In high-temperature test scenarios, a Dell PowerEdge HS5620 server continued running an intensive workload without component warnings or failures, while a Supermicro SYS‑621C-TN12R server failed
Conclusion: Remain resilient in high temperatures with the Dell PowerEdge HS5620 to help increase efficiency
Increasing your data center’s temperature can help your organization make strides in energy efficiency and cooling cost savings. With servers that can hold up to these higher everyday temperatures—as well as high temperatures due to unforeseen circumstances—your business can continue to deliver the performance your apps and clients require.
When we ran an intensive floating-point workload on a Dell PowerEdge HS5620 and a Supermicro SYS-621CTN12R in three scenario types simulating typical operations at 25°C, a fan failure, and an HVAC malfunction, the Dell server experienced no component warnings or failures. In contrast, the Supermicro server experienced warnings in all three scenario types and experienced component failures in the latter two tests, rendering the system unusable. When we inspected and analyzed each system, we found that the Dell PowerEdge HS5620 server’s motherboard layout, fans, and chassis offered cooling design advantages.
For businesses aiming to meet sustainability goals by running hotter data centers, as well as those concerned with server cooling design, the Dell PowerEdge HS5620 is a strong contender to take on higher temperatures during day-to-day operations and unexpected malfunctions.
Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Red Hat OpenShift: An easily deployable and powe...Principled Technologies
The 4th Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processor‑powered solution deployed in less than two hours and ran a Kubernetes container-based generative AI workload effectively
Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Red Hat OpenShift: An easily deployable and powe...Principled Technologies
The 4th Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processor‑powered solution deployed in less than two hours and ran a generative AI workload effectively
Conclusion
The appeal of incorporating GenAI into your organization’s operations is likely great. Getting started with an efficient solution for your next LLM workload or application can seem daunting because of the changing hardware and software landscape, but Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Red Hat OpenShift powered by 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors could provide the solution you need. We started with a Dell Validated Design as a reference, and then went on to modify the deployment as necessary for our Llama 2 workload. The Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Red Hat OpenShift solution worked well for our LLM, and by using this deployment guide in conjunction with numerous Dell documents and some flexibility, you could be well on your way to innovating your next GenAI breakthrough.
Upgrade your cloud infrastructure with Dell PowerEdge R760 servers and VMware...Principled Technologies
Compared to a cluster of PowerEdge R750 servers running VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF)
For organizations running clusters of moderately configured, older Dell PowerEdge servers with a previous version of VCF, upgrading to better-configured modern servers can provide a significant performance boost and more.
Upgrade your cloud infrastructure with Dell PowerEdge R760 servers and VMware...Principled Technologies
Compared to a cluster of PowerEdge R750 servers running VMware Cloud Foundation 4.5
If your company is struggling with underperforming infrastructure, upgrading to 16th Generation Dell PowerEdge servers running VCF 5.1 could be just what you need to handle more database throughput and reduce vSAN latencies. As an additional benefit to IT admins, we also found that the embedded VMware Aria Operation adapter provided useful infrastructure insights.
Realize 2.1X the performance with 20% less power with AMD EPYC processor-back...Principled Technologies
Three AMD EPYC processor-based two-processor solutions outshined comparable Intel Xeon Scalable processor-based solutions by handling more Redis workload transactions and requests while consuming less power
Conclusion
Performance and energy efficiency are significant factors in processor selection for servers running data-intensive workloads, such as Redis. We compared the Redis performance and energy consumption of a server cluster in three AMD EPYC two-processor configurations against that of a server cluster in two Intel Xeon Scalable two-processor configurations. In each of our three test scenarios, the server cluster backed by AMD EPYC processors outperformed the server cluster backed by Intel Xeon Scalable processors. In addition, one of the AMD EPYC processor-based clusters consumed 20 percent less power than its Intel Xeon Scalable processor-based counterpart. Combining these measurements gave us power efficiency metrics that demonstrate how valuable AMD EPYC processor-based servers could be—you could see better performance per watt with these AMD EPYC processor-based server clusters and potentially get more from your Redis or other data intensive applications and workloads while reducing data center power costs.
Improve performance and gain room to grow by easily migrating to a modern Ope...Principled Technologies
We deployed this modern environment, then migrated database VMs from legacy servers and saw performance improvements that support consolidation
Conclusion
If your organization’s transactional databases are running on gear that is several years old, you have much to gain by upgrading to modern servers with new processors and networking components and an OpenShift environment. In our testing, a modern OpenShift environment with a cluster of three Dell PowerEdge R7615 servers with 4th Generation AMD EPYC processors and high-speed 100Gb Broadcom NICs outperformed a legacy environment with MySQL VMs running on a cluster of three Dell PowerEdge R7515 servers with 3rd Generation AMD EPYC processors and 25Gb Broadcom NICs. We also easily migrated a VM from the legacy environment to the modern environment, with only a few steps required to set up and less than ten minutes of hands-on time. The performance advantage of the modern servers would allow a company to reduce the number of servers necessary to perform a given amount of database work, thus lowering operational expenditures such as power and cooling and IT staff time for maintenance. The high-speed 100Gb Broadcom NICs in this solution also give companies better network performance and networking capacity to grow as they embrace emerging technologies such as AI that put great demands on networks.
Boost PC performance: How more available memory can improve productivityPrincipled Technologies
With more memory available, system performance of three Dell devices increased, which can translate to a better user experience
Conclusion
When your system has plenty of RAM to meet your needs, you can efficiently access the applications and data you need to finish projects and to-do lists without sacrificing time and focus. Our test results show that with more memory available, three Dell PCs delivered better performance and took less time to complete the Procyon Office Productivity benchmark. These advantages translate to users being able to complete workflows more quickly and multitask more easily. Whether you need the mobility of the Latitude 5440, the creative capabilities of the Precision 3470, or the high performance of the OptiPlex Tower Plus 7010, configuring your system with more RAM can help keep processes running smoothly, enabling you to do more without compromising performance.
Deploy with confidence: VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1 on next gen Dell PowerEdg...Principled Technologies
A Principled Technologies deployment guide
Conclusion
Deploying VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1 on next gen Dell PowerEdge servers brings together critical virtualization capabilities and high-performing hardware infrastructure. Relying on our hands-on experience, this deployment guide offers a comprehensive roadmap that can guide your organization through the seamless integration of advanced VMware cloud solutions with the performance and reliability of Dell PowerEdge servers. In addition to the deployment efficiency, the Cloud Foundation 5.1 and PowerEdge solution delivered strong performance while running a MySQL database workload. By leveraging VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1 and PowerEdge servers, you could help your organization embrace cloud computing with confidence, potentially unlocking a new level of agility, scalability, and efficiency in your data center operations.
Upgrade your cloud infrastructure with Dell PowerEdge R760 servers and VMware...Principled Technologies
Compared to a cluster of PowerEdge R750 servers running VMware Cloud Foundation 4.5
Conclusion
If your company is struggling with underperforming infrastructure, upgrading to 16th Generation Dell PowerEdge servers running VCF 5.1 could be just what you need to handle more database throughput and reduce vSAN latencies. We found that a Dell PowerEdge R760 server cluster running VCF 5.1 processed over 78 percent more TPM and 79 percent more NOPM than a Dell PowerEdge R750 server cluster running VCF 4.5. It’s also worth noting that the PowerEdge R750 cluster bottlenecked on vSAN storage, with max write latency at 8.9ms. For reference, the PowerEdge R760 cluster clocked in at 3.8ms max write latency. This higher latency is due in part to the single disk group per host on the moderately configured PowerEdge R750 cluster, while the better-configured PowerEdge R760 cluster supported four disk groups per host. As an additional benefit to IT admins, we also found that the embedded VMware Aria Operation adapter provided useful infrastructure insights.
Based on our research using publicly available materials, it appears that Dell supports nine of the ten PC security features we investigated, HP supports six of them, and Lenovo supports three features.
Increase security, sustainability, and efficiency with robust Dell server man...Principled Technologies
Compared to the Supermicro management portfolio
Conclusion
Choosing a vendor for server purchases is about more than just the hardware platform. Decision-makers must also consider more long-term concerns, including system/data security, energy efficiency, and ease of management. These concerns make the systems management tools a vendor offers as important as the hardware.
We investigated the features and capabilities of server management tools from Dell and Supermicro, comparing Dell iDRAC9 against Supermicro IPMI for embedded server management and Dell OpenManage Enterprise and CloudIQ against Supermicro Server Manager for one-to-many device and console management and monitoring. We found that the Dell management tools provided more comprehensive security, sustainability, and management/monitoring features and capabilities than Supermicro servers did. In addition, Dell tools automated more tasks to ease server management, resulting in significant time savings for administrators versus having to do the same tasks manually with Supermicro tools.
When making a server purchase, a vendor’s associated management products are critical to protect data, support a more sustainable environment, and to ease the maintenance of systems. Our tests and research showed that the Dell management portfolio for PowerEdge servers offered more features to help organizations meet these goals than the comparable Supermicro management products.
Increase security, sustainability, and efficiency with robust Dell server man...Principled Technologies
Compared to the Supermicro management portfolio
Conclusion
Choosing a vendor for server purchases is about more than just the hardware platform. Decision-makers must also consider more long-term concerns, including system/data security, energy efficiency, and ease of management. These concerns make the systems management tools a vendor offers as important as the hardware.
We investigated the features and capabilities of server management tools from Dell and Supermicro, comparing Dell iDRAC9 against Supermicro IPMI for embedded server management and Dell OpenManage Enterprise and CloudIQ against Supermicro Server Manager for one-to-many device and console management and monitoring. We found that the Dell management tools provided more comprehensive security, sustainability, and management/monitoring features and capabilities than Supermicro servers did. In addition, Dell tools automated more tasks to ease server management, resulting in significant time savings for administrators versus having to do the same tasks manually with Supermicro tools.
When making a server purchase, a vendor’s associated management products are critical to protect data, support a more sustainable environment, and to ease the maintenance of systems. Our tests and research showed that the Dell management portfolio for PowerEdge servers offered more features to help organizations meet these goals than the comparable Supermicro management products.
Scale up your storage with higher-performing Dell APEX Block Storage for AWS ...Principled Technologies
In our tests, Dell APEX Block Storage for AWS outperformed similarly configured solutions from Vendor A, achieving more IOPS, better throughput, and more consistent performance on both NVMe-supported configurations and configurations backed by Elastic Block Store (EBS) alone.
Dell APEX Block Storage for AWS supports a full NVMe backed configuration, but Vendor A doesn’t—its solution uses EBS for storage capacity and NVMe as an extended read cache—which means APEX Block Storage for AWS can deliver faster storage performance.
Scale up your storage with higher-performing Dell APEX Block Storage for AWSPrincipled Technologies
Dell APEX Block Storage for AWS offered stronger and more consistent storage performance for better business agility than a Vendor A solution
Conclusion
Enterprises desiring the flexibility and convenience of the cloud for their block storage workloads can find fast-performing solutions with the enterprise storage features they’re used to in on-premises infrastructure by selecting Dell APEX Block Storage for AWS.
Our hands-on tests showed that compared to the Vendor A solution, Dell APEX Block Storage for AWS offered stronger, more consistent storage performance in both NVMe-supported and EBS-backed configurations. Using NVMe-supported configurations, Dell APEX Block Storage for AWS achieved 4.7x the random read IOPS and 5.1x the throughput on sequential read operations per node vs. Vendor A. In our EBS-backed comparison, Dell APEX Block Storage for AWS offered 2.2x the throughput per node on sequential read operations vs. Vendor A.
Plus, the ability to scale beyond three nodes—up to 512 storage nodes with capacity of up to 8 PBs—enables Dell APEX Block Storage for AWS to help ensure performance and capacity as your team plans for the future.
Monitoring and Managing Anomaly Detection on OpenShift.pdfTosin Akinosho
Monitoring and Managing Anomaly Detection on OpenShift
Overview
Dive into the world of anomaly detection on edge devices with our comprehensive hands-on tutorial. This SlideShare presentation will guide you through the entire process, from data collection and model training to edge deployment and real-time monitoring. Perfect for those looking to implement robust anomaly detection systems on resource-constrained IoT/edge devices.
Key Topics Covered
1. Introduction to Anomaly Detection
- Understand the fundamentals of anomaly detection and its importance in identifying unusual behavior or failures in systems.
2. Understanding Edge (IoT)
- Learn about edge computing and IoT, and how they enable real-time data processing and decision-making at the source.
3. What is ArgoCD?
- Discover ArgoCD, a declarative, GitOps continuous delivery tool for Kubernetes, and its role in deploying applications on edge devices.
4. Deployment Using ArgoCD for Edge Devices
- Step-by-step guide on deploying anomaly detection models on edge devices using ArgoCD.
5. Introduction to Apache Kafka and S3
- Explore Apache Kafka for real-time data streaming and Amazon S3 for scalable storage solutions.
6. Viewing Kafka Messages in the Data Lake
- Learn how to view and analyze Kafka messages stored in a data lake for better insights.
7. What is Prometheus?
- Get to know Prometheus, an open-source monitoring and alerting toolkit, and its application in monitoring edge devices.
8. Monitoring Application Metrics with Prometheus
- Detailed instructions on setting up Prometheus to monitor the performance and health of your anomaly detection system.
9. What is Camel K?
- Introduction to Camel K, a lightweight integration framework built on Apache Camel, designed for Kubernetes.
10. Configuring Camel K Integrations for Data Pipelines
- Learn how to configure Camel K for seamless data pipeline integrations in your anomaly detection workflow.
11. What is a Jupyter Notebook?
- Overview of Jupyter Notebooks, an open-source web application for creating and sharing documents with live code, equations, visualizations, and narrative text.
12. Jupyter Notebooks with Code Examples
- Hands-on examples and code snippets in Jupyter Notebooks to help you implement and test anomaly detection models.
Introduction of Cybersecurity with OSS at Code Europe 2024Hiroshi SHIBATA
I develop the Ruby programming language, RubyGems, and Bundler, which are package managers for Ruby. Today, I will introduce how to enhance the security of your application using open-source software (OSS) examples from Ruby and RubyGems.
The first topic is CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures). I have published CVEs many times. But what exactly is a CVE? I'll provide a basic understanding of CVEs and explain how to detect and handle vulnerabilities in OSS.
Next, let's discuss package managers. Package managers play a critical role in the OSS ecosystem. I'll explain how to manage library dependencies in your application.
I'll share insights into how the Ruby and RubyGems core team works to keep our ecosystem safe. By the end of this talk, you'll have a better understanding of how to safeguard your code.
Skybuffer SAM4U tool for SAP license adoptionTatiana Kojar
Manage and optimize your license adoption and consumption with SAM4U, an SAP free customer software asset management tool.
SAM4U, an SAP complimentary software asset management tool for customers, delivers a detailed and well-structured overview of license inventory and usage with a user-friendly interface. We offer a hosted, cost-effective, and performance-optimized SAM4U setup in the Skybuffer Cloud environment. You retain ownership of the system and data, while we manage the ABAP 7.58 infrastructure, ensuring fixed Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and exceptional services through the SAP Fiori interface.
Digital Banking in the Cloud: How Citizens Bank Unlocked Their MainframePrecisely
Inconsistent user experience and siloed data, high costs, and changing customer expectations – Citizens Bank was experiencing these challenges while it was attempting to deliver a superior digital banking experience for its clients. Its core banking applications run on the mainframe and Citizens was using legacy utilities to get the critical mainframe data to feed customer-facing channels, like call centers, web, and mobile. Ultimately, this led to higher operating costs (MIPS), delayed response times, and longer time to market.
Ever-changing customer expectations demand more modern digital experiences, and the bank needed to find a solution that could provide real-time data to its customer channels with low latency and operating costs. Join this session to learn how Citizens is leveraging Precisely to replicate mainframe data to its customer channels and deliver on their “modern digital bank” experiences.
leewayhertz.com-AI in predictive maintenance Use cases technologies benefits ...alexjohnson7307
Predictive maintenance is a proactive approach that anticipates equipment failures before they happen. At the forefront of this innovative strategy is Artificial Intelligence (AI), which brings unprecedented precision and efficiency. AI in predictive maintenance is transforming industries by reducing downtime, minimizing costs, and enhancing productivity.
5th LF Energy Power Grid Model Meet-up SlidesDanBrown980551
5th Power Grid Model Meet-up
It is with great pleasure that we extend to you an invitation to the 5th Power Grid Model Meet-up, scheduled for 6th June 2024. This event will adopt a hybrid format, allowing participants to join us either through an online Mircosoft Teams session or in person at TU/e located at Den Dolech 2, Eindhoven, Netherlands. The meet-up will be hosted by Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), a research university specializing in engineering science & technology.
Power Grid Model
The global energy transition is placing new and unprecedented demands on Distribution System Operators (DSOs). Alongside upgrades to grid capacity, processes such as digitization, capacity optimization, and congestion management are becoming vital for delivering reliable services.
Power Grid Model is an open source project from Linux Foundation Energy and provides a calculation engine that is increasingly essential for DSOs. It offers a standards-based foundation enabling real-time power systems analysis, simulations of electrical power grids, and sophisticated what-if analysis. In addition, it enables in-depth studies and analysis of the electrical power grid’s behavior and performance. This comprehensive model incorporates essential factors such as power generation capacity, electrical losses, voltage levels, power flows, and system stability.
Power Grid Model is currently being applied in a wide variety of use cases, including grid planning, expansion, reliability, and congestion studies. It can also help in analyzing the impact of renewable energy integration, assessing the effects of disturbances or faults, and developing strategies for grid control and optimization.
What to expect
For the upcoming meetup we are organizing, we have an exciting lineup of activities planned:
-Insightful presentations covering two practical applications of the Power Grid Model.
-An update on the latest advancements in Power Grid -Model technology during the first and second quarters of 2024.
-An interactive brainstorming session to discuss and propose new feature requests.
-An opportunity to connect with fellow Power Grid Model enthusiasts and users.
Taking AI to the Next Level in Manufacturing.pdfssuserfac0301
Read Taking AI to the Next Level in Manufacturing to gain insights on AI adoption in the manufacturing industry, such as:
1. How quickly AI is being implemented in manufacturing.
2. Which barriers stand in the way of AI adoption.
3. How data quality and governance form the backbone of AI.
4. Organizational processes and structures that may inhibit effective AI adoption.
6. Ideas and approaches to help build your organization's AI strategy.
TrustArc Webinar - 2024 Global Privacy SurveyTrustArc
How does your privacy program stack up against your peers? What challenges are privacy teams tackling and prioritizing in 2024?
In the fifth annual Global Privacy Benchmarks Survey, we asked over 1,800 global privacy professionals and business executives to share their perspectives on the current state of privacy inside and outside of their organizations. This year’s report focused on emerging areas of importance for privacy and compliance professionals, including considerations and implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, building brand trust, and different approaches for achieving higher privacy competence scores.
See how organizational priorities and strategic approaches to data security and privacy are evolving around the globe.
This webinar will review:
- The top 10 privacy insights from the fifth annual Global Privacy Benchmarks Survey
- The top challenges for privacy leaders, practitioners, and organizations in 2024
- Key themes to consider in developing and maintaining your privacy program
Fueling AI with Great Data with Airbyte WebinarZilliz
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How to Interpret Trends in the Kalyan Rajdhani Mix Chart.pdfChart Kalyan
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Prompting language models is hard, while programming language models is easy. In this talk, I will discuss the state-of-the-art framework DSPy for programming foundation models with its powerful optimizers and runtime constraint system.
Freshworks Rethinks NoSQL for Rapid Scaling & Cost-EfficiencyScyllaDB
Freshworks creates AI-boosted business software that helps employees work more efficiently and effectively. Managing data across multiple RDBMS and NoSQL databases was already a challenge at their current scale. To prepare for 10X growth, they knew it was time to rethink their database strategy. Learn how they architected a solution that would simplify scaling while keeping costs under control.
Ivanti’s Patch Tuesday breakdown goes beyond patching your applications and brings you the intelligence and guidance needed to prioritize where to focus your attention first. Catch early analysis on our Ivanti blog, then join industry expert Chris Goettl for the Patch Tuesday Webinar Event. There we’ll do a deep dive into each of the bulletins and give guidance on the risks associated with the newly-identified vulnerabilities.
FREE A4 Cyber Security Awareness Posters-Social Engineering part 3Data Hops
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FREE A4 Cyber Security Awareness Posters-Social Engineering part 3
A Dell and Nutanix solution can boost datacenter efficiency
1. A Principled Technologies report: Hands-on testing. Real-world results.
Dell XC series solutions powered by Nutanix can boost
datacenter efficiency
when combining workloads on a hyperconverged Dell™
XC series solution
with Nutanix®
Acropolis™
and Prism
Upgrading to a new hyperconverged solution can help you save
space and improve efficiency in your datacenter. Choosing the right
new solution can be challenging, however. You need something that
will successfully handle your current resource needs while leaving
you plenty of room to grow.
At Principled Technologies, we compared two different datacenter
solutions: a bare-metal legacy solution consisting of 5- to 7-year-
old components and a brand-new hyperconverged solution
featuring three Dell XC730xd-12 appliances with Intel®
Xeon®
processors E5-2680 v4, running Nutanix Acropolis and Nutanix
Prism management software.
Though both solutions ran a mixed workload of database, email,
and simulated file server work, the new Dell XC series solution did
eight times the work of the 8U legacy one. When we added a fourth
appliance, the hyperconverged solution did ten times the work of
the legacy solution.
This Dell XC series solution doesn’t require external storage.
By ugrading to it, you could reduce rack space by getting rid of
external storage arrays entirely, potentially simplifying hardware
configuration and maintenance.
We ran the Dell Performance Analysis Collection Kit (DPACK) to gather information on
the performance of the new environment. By running DPACK in your own datacenter,
you can characterize your environment's performance and resource utilization, plus
identify bottlenecks for troubleshooting. Then, take a look at the DPACK data for
our newer solution to see its performance metrics. In your environment, using
DPACK can highlight upgrade opportunities and help you better understand
specific performance requirements.
A Principled Technologies report: Hands-on testing. Real-world results.
Do the work of 10
legacy solutions
Get performance data with DPACK
A Dell and Nutanix solution can boost datacenter efficiency August 2016
2. Save space and do more when you upgrade
The growing problems with legacy hardware
As your legacy infrastructure gets older, it may not be able to keep up with the growth of business. Consider the
following obstacles:
1. Customers are always demanding new innovations and a consistent quality of service. When you’re relying on
aging, slowing hardware, those things can be hard to provide.
2. Between normal wear and tear and updates, IT administrators have to spend more time maintaining
legacy hardware.
3. Even when it can handle your current performance needs, legacy hardware lacks the speed of newer processors,
functionality of newer management features, and benefits from other new technologies.
4. Constantly expanding with repurposed hardware to handle your customers’ needs contributes to costly
datacenter sprawl.
Upgrading to a Dell XC series hyperconverged solution powered by Nutanix can help overcome these obstacles.
Scale simply as your business grows
Scaling a Dell XC series solution with more hardware is straightforward – simply add another node.
The addition of a fourth Dell XC730xd-12 node increased the size of our solution by only 2U. This scaling up immediately
paid off by delivering more compute, networking, and storage resources, boosting the amount of work the new solution
can do. The scaled Dell XC with Nutanix solution did 10 times the work of the legacy solution.
Every business wants to reach its full potential and needs its datacenter to support continued growth. Scaling the Dell XC
series solution could handle that growth with ease.
Reap the benefits of a hyperconverged solution
When you virtualize with the Dell and Nutanix solution, you
consolidate your workloads and save space by removing the
need for a physical storage array.
Moving to a fully virtualized, hyperconverged solution
has several other advantages, however. Virtualization lets
the solution run multiple, separate workloads in a single
appliance. The virtualized workloads use only the portions of
the physical resource allotted to them. If a VM maxes out one
resource, the other VMs can still use their portion.
This means it’s less likely that idle physical resources will go
underutilized while other resources bottleneck, a common
problem in legacy hardware. In a traditional legacy setup,
IT may assign a single application to a single server. That
application uses the hardware resources it needs while
others sit idle. This problem grows with the company; as the
organization splits into multiple departments with distributed
IT staff, it can get even worse.
Nutanix Acropolis can leverage the compute, storage, and
networking resources in the Dell XC730xd-12 nodes to increase existing application efficiency and gain maximum
performance benefits. What’s more, leftover compute, storage, and networking resources are available to do things like
power new applications or expand existing ones.
What is a hyperconverged solution?
A hyperconverged solution features a software-
based architecture that closely integrates
virtualization, compute, storage, and networking
resources in a single appliance, which you can
scale modularly for high availability and additional
performance. IT can typically manage the
resources from a single interface.
The market for hyperconverged systems like
the Dell XC series solution is growing quickly, as
Gartner analysts predict they “will be mainstream”
in the next five years.1
A Dell and Nutanix solution can boost datacenter efficiency August 2016 | 2
3. Keep your favorite management tools
The hyperconverged Dell XC series solution offers
new technologies, but that doesn’t mean you have to
retool your management software. Both of the solutions
we tested support Dell OpenManage Essentials
(OME), management software you may already use
in your own legacy Dell environment. If you upgrade
to the hyperconverged solution, you can keep using
this familiar Dell tool and not re-train your IT staff on
new management software. In previous studies, we
found OME can save time and improve efficiency in
datacenter management.2
Moreover, Dell OME has evolved and improved in the
time that has passed since our legacy environment was
new. You’ll be able to leverage the same toolset you
already know, but you’ll also gain access to additional
and upgraded features.
Run more mixed workloads in less space
In our datacenter, we determined that by upgrading
from a legacy environment to one with the new Dell XC
series hyperconverged solution, you can do eight times
more work in 2U less rack space. That can translate to
consolidating workloads from multiple departments.
By reclaiming rack space (up to 1 ¹⁄3 racks, or 58U, in this
scenario), you can ease any immediate concerns about
the need to expand your datacenter. Consolidating
workloads opens newly available rack space and existing
hardware for continued growth, and it can offer potential
savings on your monthly power and cooling bills. Less
hardware means less to manage too, which can save
valuable IT administrator time.
Take a look at DPACK
DPACK measures the throughput, disk I/O, memory,
capacity, and CPU utilization of your servers and storage.
Its reports present this data to help you better understand
what hardware you’ll need when you upgrade.
Using the DPACK online viewer, you can review your
results in two ways: Aggregate or Individual. Aggregate
results offer performance data for the full environment,
while Individual results provide numbers for just a single
specific server. When we ran DPACK on the new Dell and
Nutanix solution, we viewed Aggregate results.
In addition to simply running DPACK in your own
environment, you can contact a Dell salesperson who can
help you interpret your DPACK results, size your upgraded
environment, and choose a solution that best fits your
needs. We did not test this service.
Dell Open Manage Essentials
Dell Performance Analysis Collection Kit
A Dell and Nutanix solution can boost datacenter efficiency August 2016 | 3
4. Our roadmap to an upgraded infrastructure
Our legacy environment
We created our legacy solution to approximate an infrastructure that a small enterprise
might have purchased five or six years ago and still use today. This bare-metal (non-
virtualized) environment contained three Dell PowerEdge R710 servers with one Dell
EqualLogic™
PS6110 storage array. Appendix A has complete details on the solution.
Our upgraded environment
Our upgraded environment represents a possible next step for an enterprise moving from
the legacy environment we chose.
The Dell hyperconverged solution contained three Dell XC730xd-12 nodes with a fourth for scaling, all powered by
Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4 processors. See Appendix A for more details. We installed Nutanix Acropolis hypervisor (version
20160217) on the nodes and then added the Nutanix Prism management software (version 4.6.1.1). Nutanix Prism gives
administrators a centralized management tool for their Acropolis virtual environments. It provides tools to manage
clusters, VMs, and storage as well as performance monitors for troubleshooting and real-time visibility into the health of
the environment. Additionally, Prism streamlines updates for hypervisor, management software, and firmware through
automated processes that minimize downtime and administrator interaction.
What we did
On the legacy environment, we ran multiple iterations of the same mixed workload. The workload contained database,
email, and simulated file server applications with a dedicated server for each. We tuned each application to its maximum
performance while maintaining acceptable thresholds for storage latency—a measure of how fast storage can complete a
request. For our purposes, those thresholds were under 20ms.
Then, on the new Dell and Nutanix environment, we virtualized all legacy application servers and multiplied these VMs
and their workloads in sets until we reached a bottleneck (CPU, storage capacity, or storage latency). In our case, the
bottleneck was storage latency, with average latency once again getting close to 20ms with eight sets of the workloads.
After we tested with three appliances, we scaled up by adding a fourth appliance to the solution and tested again,
reaching a storage latency bottleneck after 10 sets of the workloads.
To capture data on the upgraded environment’s performance, we ran DPACK. (For our DPACK results on both solutions,
view Appendix D.)
Nutanix Prism management software
A Dell and Nutanix solution can boost datacenter efficiency August 2016 | 4
5. Our workloads
We generated the workloads for each application using industry-standard
tools. For a database, we chose Microsoft®
SQL Server®
2014 running
a DVD Store 2 workload; for email, we chose Microsoft Exchange 2013
running a Microsoft Exchange Load Generator 2013 workload; and for file/
print, we chose the Iometer tool, which generates synthetic data streams
mimicking a file server workload. This mixed workload reflects many
companies’ operations.
Conclusion
Continuing to run a legacy infrastructure may be possible, but it isn’t
optimal—not when new technologies like the Dell and Nutanix solution are
available. By upgrading to this new hyperconverged infrastructure, you could
do eight times the work of a legacy solution in just 6U and scale for more
work by simply adding another node. What’s more, eliminating the need for
centralized SAN storage means more space to grow, less hardware to manage,
and the potential for lower power and cooling bills.
Take the first step on the path to an upgraded environment. Run DPACK
in your own datacenter, and discover your performance requirements and
potential bottlenecks. Then consider how the increased mixed workload
performance from the hyperconverged, Intel processor-powered Dell and
Nutanix solution could help your business thrive.
DVD Store 2
We used DVD Store Version 2.1,
or DS2.3
DS2 is a performance
measurement tool that works as a
sample SQL Server workload. It models
an online store where customers log
in, search for products, and make
purchases. It also performs other
actions, such as adding new customers,
to exercise a wide range of everyday
database functions.
Microsoft Exchange Load
Generator 2013
Microsoft Exchange Server is an email
application that businesses use widely
across multiple industries. To test
how well the solutions could run an
Exchange server workload, we used
Microsoft Exchange Load Generator
2013 (LoadGen), which functions as
a sample Exchange workload and
simulates a large number of users
generating email activity.4
Iometer
Your employees likely use file/print
servers often, so we simulated a
file/print workload using Iometer
1.1.5
Iometer uses action profiles to
perform input/output (I/O) operations
that can mimic specific types of data
streams, such as the kind that occur
when employees upload, download, or
search for files or print documents on
a host server.
1 http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3308017
2 See the Principled Technologies reports Systems management savings with Dell
OpenManage on 13G Dell PowerEdge servers and Dell OpenManage Essentials:
Improve efficiency with fewer tools, more benefits.
3 http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/extras/w/wiki/dvd-store
4 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=14060
5 http://www.iometer.org/
A Dell and Nutanix solution can boost datacenter efficiency August 2016 | 5
6. On May 28, 2016, we finalized the hardware and software configurations we tested. Updates for current and recently
released hardware and software appear often, so unavoidably these configurations may not represent the latest versions
available when this report appears. For older systems, we chose configurations representative of typical purchases of
those systems. We concluded hands-on testing on June 10, 2016.
Appendix A – Test systems
Hardware configuration information 3x Dell PowerEdge R710 4x Dell XC730xd-12
BIOS name and version Dell 6.4.0 Dell 2.0.2
Non-default BIOS settings N/A N/A
Operating system name and version/
build number
Windows Server®
2012 R2
Acropolis Hypervisor Nutanix
20160217
Date of last OS updates/patches
applied
03/31/16 05/28/16
Power management policy Balanced Performance
Processor
Number of processors 2 2
Vendor and model Intel Xeon E5520 Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4
Core count (per processor) 4 14
Core frequency (GHz) 2.26 2.4
Stepping D0 M0
Memory module(s)
Total memory in system (GB) 48 256
Number of memory modules 6 16
Vendor and model Samsung M393B1K70DH0-YH9
Micron MTA36ASF2G72PZ-
2G1A2IK
Size (GB) 8 16
Type PC3-10600 PC4-2133P
Speed (MHz) 1333 2133
Speed running in the server (MHz) 1333 2133
A Dell and Nutanix solution can boost datacenter efficiency August 2016 | 6
7. Hardware configuration information 3x Dell PowerEdge R710 4x Dell XC730xd-12
Storage controller
Vendor and model Dell PERC 6/i Dell HBA 330 Mini
Cache size 256MB None
Firmware version 6.3.3.0002 9.17.20.07
Driver version 6.600.21.8 N/A
Local storage
Number of drives 2 4
Drive vendor and model Western Digital WD3000BKHG Intel SSD DC S3710
Drive size (GB) 300 400
Drive information (speed, interface,
type)
10K, 6Gb SAS, 2.5” HDD SATA, 6Gbps, 3.5˝ SSD
Local storage 2
Number of drives N/A 8
Drive vendor and model N/A Seagate ST4000NM0005
Drive size (GB) N/A 4000
Drive information (speed, interface,
type)
N/A 7.2K, SAS 12Gbps, 3.5˝ HDD
Network adapter
Vendor and model Broadcom BCM5709C Intel X520/I350 rNDC
Number and type of ports 4 x 1GbE 2 x 1GbE, 2 x 10GbE
Driver version 7.4.23.2 ixgbe 4.0.1-k-rh7.1
Network adapter 2
Vendor and model Intel Ethernet Server Adapter X520 N/A
Number and type of ports 2 x 10GbE N/A
Driver version 3.9.58.9101 N/A
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8. Hardware configuration information 3x Dell PowerEdge R710 4x Dell XC730xd-12
Power supplies
Vendor and model Dell N870P-S0 Dell D1100E-S0
Number of power supplies 2 2
Wattage of each (W) 870 1100
The figure below provides detailed configuration information for the legacy storage solution.
Storage configuration information Dell EqualLogic PS6110
Controller firmware revision V7.0.5 (R390599)
Number of storage controller
modules
2 x 70-0477 (TYPE 14)
Number of drives 24
Drive vendor and model number Seagate®
ST9900805SS
Drive size (GB) 900
Drive information (speed, interface,
type)
10K, 6Gb SAS, HDD
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9. Appendix B – How we tested
Legacy environment
We used the following steps to configure our legacy Dell PowerEdge R710 mixed workload environment. We included
notes on the virtual disk settings where applicable because we also used these steps in the creation of the upgraded
environment’s virtual machine.
Performing the initial OS install and setup
Installing Windows Server 2012 R2
1. Insert the installation media into the CD/DVD drive, and restart the server.
2. When prompted to boot from DVD, press any key.
3. When the installation screen appears, click My language is English (United States).
4. Leave language, time/currency format, and input method as default, and click Next.
5. Click Install now.
6. When the installation prompts you, enter the product key.
7. Select Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter (Server with a GUI), and click Next.
8. Check I accept the license terms, and click Next.
9. Click Custom: Install Windows only (advanced).
10. Select Drive 0 Unallocated Space, and click Next.
11. When the Settings page appears, fill in the Password and Reenter Password fields with the same password.
12. Log in with the password you set up previously.
Configuring the operating system
1. Enable remote desktop access.
2. Change the hostname, and reboot when the installer prompts you.
3. Set up networking:
a. Click StartàControl Panel, right-click Network Connections, and select Open.
b. Right-click the management traffic NIC, and select Properties.
c. Select TCP/IP (v4), and select Properties.
d. Set the IP address and subnet for the NIC, which will handle management traffic, and click OK.
e. Click OK, and click Close.
4. Install all available Windows updates. Restart as necessary.
Configuring the Microsoft Active Directory and Iometer server
For the legacy environment, we created a large dedicated LUN on the Dell EqualLogic PS6110 storage for the Iometer
workload file. For the upgraded environment, we added a 120GB virtual disk for Iometer to the AD VM using the default
Nutanix storage pool.
Installing Active Directory and DNS services
1. Launch Server Manager.
2. Click ManageàAdd Roles and Features.
3. At the Before you begin screen, click Next.
4. At the Select installation type screen, leave Role-based or feature-based installation selected, and click Next.
5. At the Server Selection Screen, select the server from the pool, and click Next.
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10. 6. At the Select Server Roles screen, select Active Directory Domain Services. When prompted, click Add Features, and
click Next.
7. At the Select Features screen, click Next.
8. At the Active Directory Domain Services screen, click Next.
9. At the Confirm installation selections screen, check Restart the destination server automatically if required, and
click Install.
Configuring Active Directory and DNS services
1. After the installation completes, a screen should pop up with configuration options. If it does not, click the Tasks flag in
the upper-right section of Server Manager.
2. Click Promote this server to a Domain Controller.
3. At the Deployment Configuration screen, select Add a new forest. In the Root domain name field, type
test.local, and click Next.
4. At the Domain Controller Options screen, leave the default values, and enter a password twice.
5. To accept default settings for DNS, NetBIOS, and directory paths, click Next four times.
6. At the Review Options screen, click Next.
7. At the Prerequisites Check dialog, allow the check to complete. If there are no relevant errors, check Restart the
destination server automatically if required, and click Install.
8. When the server restarts, log on using testAdministrator and the specified password.
Configuring the Windows Time Service on the domain controller
To ensure reliable time, we pointed our Active Directory server to a local NTP server.
1. Open a command prompt.
2. Type the following:
W32tm /config /syncfromflags:manual /manualpeerlist:”<ip address of a NTP server>”
W32tm /config /reliable:yes
W32tm /config /update
W32tm /resync
Net stop w32time
Net start w32time
Preparing AD for Microsoft Exchange
1. Create a reverse lookup zone:
a. Click the start button, and in the search field, type DNS.
b. Open the DNS manager by clicking on it in the results field.
c. Expand your Active Directory domain, and click Reverse Lookup Zones.
d. Click ActionàNew Zone.
e. On the Welcome screen, click Next.
f. Chose Primary Zone, and click Next.
g. Leave default replication scope, and click Next.
h. Choose IPv4, and click Next.
i. Enter the IP address of your domain (192.168.1 for our example).
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11. j. Choose Allow both nonsecure and secure dynamic updates, and click Next.
k. Click Finish.
2. Insert the Exchange 2013 R2 Installation ISO in the AD DVD drive.
3. In Windows Explorer, double-click the Exchange DVD icon.
4. In the Exchange installation folder, hold down shift, and right-click.
5. Choose Open a command window here.
6. Run the following command: Setup.exe /PrepareSchema /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
7. When the previous command completes, run the following command: Setup.exe /PrepareAD /
OrganizationName:”organization name” /IAcceptExchangeServerLicenseTerms
8. When the setup finishes, close the command window.
Installing Active Directory Certificate Services
1. Launch Server Manager, and select Add roles and features.
2. At the Add Roles and Features Wizard, click Next.
3. Select Role-based or feature-based installation, and click Next.
4. Choose Active Directory Certificate Services.
5. Click Add Features, if prompted, to install any required features.
6. Click Next three times.
7. Choose Certificate Authority and Certification Authority Web Enrollment.
8. Click Add Features, if prompted, to install any required features.
9. Click Next.
10. Leave defaults, and click Next.
11. Click Install.
12. When the install finishes, click Close.
13. Click the yellow warning symbol in the Server Manager, and click Configure Active Directory Certificate Services.
14. Leave defaults, and click Next.
15. Check both Certification Authority and Certification Authority Web Enrollment, and click Next.
16. Choose Enterprise CA, and click Next.
17. Choose Root CA, and click Next.
18. Choose Create a new private key, and click Next.
19. Leave defaults, and click Next.
20. Leave defaults, and click Next.
21. Leave 5 years, and click Next.
22. Leave default locations, and click Next.
23. Click Configure.
24. When the configuration finishes, close the window.
25. Open Internet Explorer®
, and navigate to localhost/certsrv/Default.asp to verify that the
installation succeeded.
Installing Iometer
1. Download the Iometer 1.1.0 package for Windows from www.iometer.org/doc/downloads.html.
2. Double-click the installer, and click Run.
3. At the Welcome window, click Next.
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12. 4. At the License Agreement window, click I Agree.
5. At the Choose Components window, leave the defaults selected, and click Next.
6. At the Choose Install Location window, leave it at defaults, and click Install.
7. When the installation is complete, click Finish.
Setting up the Iometer workload
We used the following settings for each test:
1. Open Iometer.exe.
2. Create the following access specification:
a. Transfer Delay: 0ms
b. Burst Length: 1 I/O
c. Outstanding I/Os: 1
d. Under Reply Size, select No Reply.
e. 100% random
f. 80% reads
g. Under Align I/Os, select Sector Boundaries.
3. Under Disk Targets, set the number of Outstanding I/Os to 1.
4. Set the disk size to 209715200 (100 GB).
5. Under Results Display, make sure that Iometer has selected Start of Test.
6. Under Test Setup, set the Run Time to 60 minutes and the Ramp Up Time to 600 seconds.
7. Exit Iometer.
Configuring the Microsoft Exchange 2013 Server
Joining the domain
1. Set a static IP.
2. Select StartàControl PanelàNetwork ConnectionsàLocal Area Connection.
3. Click Properties.
4. Highlight Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and click Properties.
5. Select the Use the following DNS server addresses radio button, and enter the IP of the DNS server in the Preferred
DNS server field. Click OK.
6. Right-click My Computer, and select Properties.
7. Under the Computer Name tab, click Change.
8. In the Computer Name Changes screen, under the Member of section, select the Domain radial box, and type
test.local
9. To start joining the domain, select OK.
10. When the screen appears asking for a person qualified on the domain, type Administrator as the username and
Password1 as the password.
11. At the Welcome pop-up window and the window warning that you must reset the computer for the changes to take
effect, click OK.
12. At the System Properties screen, click OK.
13. When a pop-up appears asking if you want to restart now, to restart your computer, click Yes.
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13. Installing Exchange Server 2013 SP1 Mailbox and Client Access Server roles
For the legacy environment, we created large dedicated LUNs on the Dell EqualLogic PS6110 for the Exchange
database, logs, and backup. For the upgraded environment, we added a 120GB virtual disk for the database, a 10GB
virtual disk for logs, and a 120GB virtual disk for backup to the Exchange VM using the default Nutanix storage pool.
1. On the Exchange Server, log into the server using domain administrator credentials.
2. Open Windows PowerShell®, and run the following command:
Install-WindowsFeature AS-HTTP-Activation, Desktop-Experience, NET-Framework-45-
Features, RPC-over-HTTP-proxy, RSAT-Clustering, RSAT-Clustering-CmdInterface,
RSAT-Clustering-Mgmt, RSAT-Clustering-PowerShell, Web-Mgmt-Console, WAS-
Process-Model, Web-Asp-Net45, Web-Basic-Auth, Web-Client-Auth, Web-Digest-
Auth, Web-Dir-Browsing, Web-Dyn-Compression, Web-Http-Errors, Web-Http-Logging,
Web-Http-Redirect, Web-Http-Tracing, Web-ISAPI-Ext, Web-ISAPI-Filter, Web-Lgcy-
Mgmt-Console, Web-Metabase, Web-Mgmt-Console, Web-Mgmt-Service, Web-Net-Ext45,
Web-Request-Monitor, Web-Server, Web-Stat-Compression, Web-Static-Content, Web-
Windows-Auth, Web-WMI, Windows-Identity-Foundation
3. Restart the server.
4. Download the Microsoft Unified Communications Managed API 4.0, Core Runtime 64-bit (go.microsoft.com/fwlink/
p/?linkId=258269).
5. Run UcmaRuntimeSetup.exe.
6. When the installation completes, click Finish.
7. Navigate to the location of the Exchange installation media, and double-click Setup.exe.
8. At the Check for Updates? screen, check the Connect to the Internet and check for updates checkbox, and
click Next.
9. When the updates complete, click Next.
10. At the Introduction screen, click Next.
11. At the License Agreement screen, check to accept the terms, and click Next.
12. At the Recommended Settings screen, check Don’t use recommended settings, and click Next.
13. At the Server Role Selection, select Mailbox and Client Access role, and click Next.
14. At the Installation Space and Location screen, leave the default location for the installation, and click Next.
15. To disable the Malware Protection Settings, select Yes, and click Next.
16. At the Readiness Checks screen, allow the verification to complete. If there are no failures, click Install.
17. When the installation completes, click Finish, and restart the server.
Configuring Exchange
1. On the Exchange server, open the Exchange Admin Center by using a browser and navigating to https://
localhost/ecp
2. Enter the domain administrator credentials, and click Sign in.
3. If prompted, select the language and time zone, and click Save.
4. In the left pane, click Mail Flow, and then click Send Connectors.
5. On the Send Connectors page, click the New icon.
6. In the New Send Connector wizard, specify SMTP as the name, and select Internet as the type. Click Next.
7. In the Network settings screen, choose MX record associated with recipient domain, and click Next.
8. In the Address space screen, click the Add icon.
9. In the Add domain window, type * in the Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) field, and click Save.
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14. 10. Click Next.
11. In the Source Server screen, click the Add icon.
12. In the Select a Server window, select the Exchange server, click Add, and click OK.
13. Click Finish.
14. In the left pane of the EAC, click servers, select the name of the Exchange server, and click Edit.
15. Click Outlook Anywhere, and enter the appropriate FQDN of the Client Access Server for the external and internal
hostname field. For example, exchangeserver.test.local
16. As the authentication method, choose NTLM, and click Save.
17. Click Virtual Directories, and then click the Configure external access domain icon.
18. In the Select the Client Access servers to use with the external URL window, click the Add icon.
19. Select the Exchange server, and click Add. Click OK.
20. Enter the FQDN of the Exchange server in the Enter the domain field, and click Save.
21. Log into the Active Directory server using administrator credentials, and complete the following steps:
a. Open Server Manager, then click ToolsàDNS.
b. In the left pane of DNS Manager, expand the Active Directory server nameàForward Lookup Zonesàtest.
local.
c. In the right pane, verify or create the DNS records as presented below.
Type
Host or child domain/alias
name
FQDN FQDN of mail server
Mail Exchanger (MX) Leave blank domain.com
exchangeserver.domain.
com
Alias (CNAME) Autodiscover Autodiscover.domain.com
exchangeserver.domain.
com
Alias (CNAME) Owa Owa.domain.com
exchangeserver.domain.
com
22. Log into your Exchange server.
23. In the Exchange PowerShell, run the following commands, replacing $HostName with the host name (not FQDN) of
your Exchange server:
Set-EcpVirtualDirectory “$HostNameECP (Default Web Site)” -InternalUrl ((Get-
EcpVirtualDirectory “$HostNameECP (Default Web Site)”).ExternalUrl)
Set-WebServicesVirtualDirectory “$HostNameEWS (Default Web Site)” -InternalUrl
((get-WebServicesVirtualDirectory “$HostNameEWS (Default Web Site)”).
ExternalUrl)
Set-ActiveSyncVirtualDirectory “$HostNameMicrosoft-Server-ActiveSync (Default
Web Site)” -InternalUrl ((Get-ActiveSyncVirtualDirectory “$HostNameMicrosoft-
Server-ActiveSync (Default Web Site)”).ExternalUrl)
Set-OabVirtualDirectory “$HostNameOAB (Default Web Site)” -InternalUrl ((Get-
OabVirtualDirectory “$HostNameOAB (Default Web Site)”).ExternalUrl)
Set-OwaVirtualDirectory “$HostNameOWA (Default Web Site)” -InternalUrl ((Get-
OwaVirtualDirectory “$HostNameOWA (Default Web Site)”).ExternalUrl)
Set-PowerShellVirtualDirectory “$HostNamePowerShell (Default Web Site)”
-InternalUrl ((Get-PowerShellVirtualDirectory “$HostNamePowerShell (Default Web
Site)”).ExternalUrl)
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15. Get-OfflineAddressBook | Set-OfflineAddressBook -GlobalWebDistributionEnabled $True
-VirtualDirectories $Null
Get-OutlookAnywhere | Set-OutlookAnywhere -ExternalHostname mail.ives.
lan -InternalHostname mail.ives.lan -ExternalClientsRequireSsl $true
-InternalClientsRequireSsl $true -DefaultAuthenticationMethod NTLM
24. Create a folder at the root of C: on the Exchange server, and share it to Everyone with read/write permissions.
25. Log into the Exchange admin center, and navigate to Serversàcertificates.
26. In the drop-down menu, choose the Exchange server, and to create a new certificate, click the plus sign.
27. Choose Create a request for a certificate from a certification authority, and click Next.
28. Name the certificate, and click Next.
29. Do not request a wildcard certificate, and click Next.
30. Click Browse, choose the Exchange server, and click OK. Click Next.
31. Leave defaults, and click Next.
32. Leave defaults, and click Next.
33. Enter your organization information, and click Next.
34. Enter the path to the share you created on the Exchange server, and click Finish. Example: exchangeshare
myrequest.REQ
35. Log into the AD server, and open Internet Explorer.
36. Browse to localhost/CertSrv
37. Click Request a certificate.
38. Choose advanced certificate request.
39. Choose Submit a certificate request by using a base-64-endcoded CMC…
40. Open Windows Explorer, and navigate to the share folder on the Exchange server where the certificate request
is stored.
41. Open the certificate with Notepad, and copy the content between BEGIN NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST and END
NEW CERTIFICATE REQUEST.
42. Paste the copied content into the Saved Request window.
43. Choose Web Server in the Certificate Template drop-down menu, and click Submit.
44. Choose Base 64 encoded, and download the certificate.
45. Copy the new certificate into the share folder on the Exchange server.
46. Log into the Exchange server and open the Exchange Admin Center.
47. Go to ServersàCertificates, and highlight the certificate you began before (it should read “Pending request” in the
status column).
48. On the right side, click Complete.
49. Enter the path to the certificate, including the certificate name, and click OK.
Example: exchangesharecertnew.CER
50. Verify that the status has changed to Valid.
51. Edit the new entry, and click Edit.
52. Go to Services, check SMTP and IIS, and click Save.
53. On the warning message, click Yes.
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16. 54. Run the following steps on the Exchange and AD servers:
a. Click Start, and type MMC
b. Click FileàAdd/Remove Snap-in.
c. Choose Certificates, and click Add.
d. Choose Computer account, and click Next.
e. Choose Local computer, and click Finish.
f. Click OK.
g. Expand CertificatesàTrusted Root Certificate AuthoritiesàCertificates.
h. Click ActionàAll TasksàImport.
i. Click Next.
j. Browse to the share folder on the Exchange server, and choose the new certificate you created. Click Next.
k. Leave defaults, and click Next.
l. Click Finish.
m. On the Import was successful message, click OK.
55. Log into the Exchange server, and open the Exchange admin center.
56. Navigate to ServersàDatabases.
57. On the MB server, restart the Microsoft Exchange Information Store service.
58. Using the Edit button, disable the maintenance schedule, and enable circular logging for each mailbox database.
59. Dismount and remount the databases.
60. Open the Exchange Management shell, and type the following to move the paths of the default mailbox:
Move-Databasepath “DatabaseName” –EdbFilepath “E:NewlocationDBname.edb”
–LogFolderpath “F:Newlocation”
61. When prompted, type A, and press Enter.
62. Open Exchange Management Shell, and type the following:
Get-OutlookAnywhere |Set-OutlookAnywhere -ExternalHostname exchange.domain.com
-DefaultAuthenticationMethod NTLM -ExternalClientsRequireSsl $true
Configuring the Microsoft SQL Server 2014 server
For the legacy environment, we created large dedicated LUNs on the Dell EqualLogic PS6110 for the SQL database,
logs, and backup. For the upgraded environment, we added a 55GB virtual disk for the database, a 30GB virtual disk for
logs, and a 42GB virtual disk for backup to the SQL VM using the default Nutanix storage pool.
Installing SQL Server 2014 with Service Pack 1
1. Prior to installing, add the .NET Framework 3.5 feature to the server.
2. Mount the installation SQL Server 2014 DVD.
3. Click Run SETUP.EXE. If Autoplay does not begin the installation, navigate to the SQL Server 2014 DVD, and double-
click it.
4. In the left pane, click Installation.
5. Click New SQL Server stand-alone installation or add features to an existing installation.
6. Select Enter the product key, and enter the product key. Click Next.
7. Click to accept the license terms, and click Next.
8. Click Use Microsoft Update to check for updates, and click Next.
9. To install the setup support files, click Install.
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17. 10. If there are no failures displayed, click Next.
11. At the Setup Role screen, choose SQL Server Feature Installation, and click Next.
12. At the Feature Selection screen, select Database Engine Services, Full-Text and Semantic Extractions for Search,
Client Tools Connectivity, Client Tools Backwards Compatibility, Management Tools – Basic, and Management Tools –
Complete. Click Next.
13. At the Installation Rules screen, after the check completes, click Next.
14. At the Instance configuration screen, leave the default selection of default instance, and click Next.
15. At the Server Configuration screen, choose NT ServiceSQLSERVERAGENT for SQL Server Agent, and choose NT
ServiceMSSQLSERVER for SQL Server Database Engine. Change the Startup Type to Automatic. Click Next.
16. At the Database Engine Configuration screen, select the authentication method you prefer. For our testing purposes,
we selected Mixed Mode.
17. Enter and confirm a password for the system administrator account.
18. Click Add Current user. This may take several seconds.
19. Click Next.
20. At the Error and usage reporting screen, click Next.
21. At the Installation Configuration Rules screen, check that there are no failures or relevant warnings, and click Next.
22. At the Ready to Install screen, click Install.
23. After installation completes, click Close.
24. Run through the installation again, creating a new installation of SQL with the same settings.
25. Close the installation window.
Generating the DVD Store 2 data
We generated the data using the Install.pl script included with DVD Store version 2.1 (DS2), providing the parameters for
our 40GB database and the Microsoft SQL Server 2014 platform. We ran the Install.pl script on a utility system running
Linux®
. The Install.pl script also generated the database schema.
After processing the data generation, we transferred the data files and schema creation files to a Windows-based system
running SQL Server 2014. We built the 40GB database in SQL Server 2014, then performed a full backup, storing the
backup file on the SQL backup LUN for quick access. We used that backup file to restore the server between test runs.
The only modifications we made to the schema creation scripts were the specified file sizes for our database. We
explicitly set the file sizes higher than necessary to ensure that no file-growth activity would affect the output of the
test. Apart from this file-size modification, we created and loaded the database schema according to the DVD Store
documentation. Specifically, we followed these steps:
1. Using database creation scripts in the DS2 download, generate the data, and create the database and file structure.
Make size modifications specific to the 40GB database, and make the appropriate changes to drive letters.
2. Transfer the files from a Linux data-generation system to a Windows system running SQL Server.
3. Create database tables, stored procedures, and objects using the provided DVD Store scripts.
4. To prevent excess logging, set the database recovery model to bulk-logged.
5. Load the generated data into the database. For data loading, use the import wizard in SQL Server Management
Studio. Where necessary, retain options from the original scripts, such as Enable Identity Insert.
6. Create indices, full-text catalogs, primary keys, and foreign keys using the database-creation scripts.
7. Update statistics on each table according to database-creation scripts, which sample 18 percent of the table data.
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18. 8. To create a ds2user SQL Server login on the SQL Server instance, use the following Transact-SQL (T-SQL) script:
USE [master]
GO
CREATE LOGIN [ds2user] WITH PASSWORD=N’’,
DEFAULT_DATABASE=[master],
DEFAULT_LANGUAGE=[us_english],
CHECK_EXPIRATION=OFF,
CHECK_POLICY=OFF
GO
9. Set the database recovery model back to full.
10. Using SQL Server Management Studio, create the necessary full text index.
11. Create a database user, and map this user to the SQL Server login.
12. Perform a full backup of the database. This backup allows a restore of the database to a pristine state relatively
quickly between tests.
The figure below shows our initial file size modifications.
Logical name Filegroup Initial size (MB)
primary PRIMARY 3
cust1 DS_CUST_FG 6,144
cust2 DS_CUST_FG 6,144
cust3 DS_CUST_FG 6,144
cust4 DS_CUST_FG 6,144
ind1 DS_IND_FG 3,280
ind2 DS_IND_FG 3,280
ind3 DS_IND_FG 3,280
ind3 DS_IND_FG 3,280
ds_misc DS_MISC_FG 200
orders1 DS_ORDERS 3,072
orders2 DS_ORDERS 3,072
orders3 DS_ORDERS 3,072
orders4 DS_ORDERS 3,072
Log files
ds_log N/A 25,375
Upgraded Dell XC730xd-12 Nutanix environment
We used the following steps to configure the Dell XC730xd-12 environment with Nutanix Acropolis. For the backing
storage, we used the default storage pool created from each host’s onboard SSDs and HDDs. For the initial testing, we
created a three-node Nutanix cluster. For the scaled environment, we used the Prism web console to expand the cluster
and automatically add the additional storage resources to the default pool. Once the virtual infrastructure was in place,
we used the same steps from the legacy environment to create VMs identical to each server role.
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19. Imaging bare metal nodes
A workstation machine is required to host the Nutanix Foundation VM during the imaging process.
1. In a browser, navigate to the Foundation download page in the Nutanix support portal (support.nutanix.com), and
download the latest Foundation_VM_OVF-version#.tar file.
2. Navigate to the download location, and extract the archive with your environment’s preferred method.
3. Navigate to www.virtualbox.org, download Oracle VM VirtualBox, and install it to your workstation.
4. In your home directory, create a new folder called VirtualBox VMs.
5. Copy the .ovf and .vmdk files from the tar archive to the folder created in step 4.
6. Launch Oracle VM VirtualBox.
7. Click File, and select Import Appliance.
8. Navigate to the directory containing the Foundation VM .ovf file, select it, and click Next.
9. Click Import.
10. From the left column, select the Foundation VM, and click Start.
11. Boot the VM, and log into the nutanix account with the password nutanix4u.
12. To determine whether the Foundation VM was assigned an IP address via DHCP or not, open Terminal, and run
ifconfig. If it was not, perform the following:
a. On the desktop, double-click set_foundation_ip_address.
b. Select Run in Terminal.
c. Select Device configuration.
d. Select the appropriate network device.
e. Uncheck Use DHCP, provide appropriate addresses to the Static IP, Netmask, Default gateway IP, and Primary
DNS Server fields, and select OK.
f. Select Save.
g. Select Save&Quit.
13. Copy nutanix_installer_package-version#.tar.gz to the /home/nutanix/foundation/nos folder.
14. Navigate to the Nutanix support website, download the latest Acropolis ISO image, and copy the Acropolis ISO
image (we used version 20150921) into the /home/nutanix/foundation/isos/hypervisor/kvm folder.
15. On the Foundation VM desktop, double-click the Nutanix Foundation icon.
16. In the top section of the Global Configuration screen, provide appropriate values for the IPMI, hypervisor, and
Controller VM in the required fields. Additionally, set the CVM memory as appropriate for your environment, though
Default is usually recommended.
17. Click Next.
18. If the page doesn’t automatically discover your nodes, select Add Blocks. In the dialog box, provide the correct
number of blocks and number of nodes per block. For the XC730xd nodes, we used one node per block.
19. If you added the nodes with the Add Blocks dialog, manually enter the IPMI MAC addresses, IPMI IP addresses,
hypervisor IP addresses, CVM IP addresses, and hypervisor hostnames.
20. Click Next.
21. Specify the Acropolis Base Software package and Acropolis hypervisor image, and click Next.
22. Click Create New Cluster.
23. In the Cluster creation section, provide a name for the cluster, a virtual cluster IP address, CVM DNS servers, CVM
NTP servers, hypervisor NTP servers, and the max redundancy factor.
24. In the Post Image Testing section, check the boxes for Diagnostics and NCC if desired.
25. In Assigned to ClusterName, to choose all of the nodes for configuration, click Select All.
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20. 26. Verify that your settings are correct. At the top of the page, click Run Installation.
27. To continue, click Proceed when the pop-up appears.
28. When the new buttons appear at the top right, click the Configure IPMI button.
29. When the IPMI configuration process completes and the page is still showing the cluster configuration, click Image
Nodes at the top of the page.
30. To continue, click Proceed when the pop-up appears.
31. When imaging completes, open the cluster IP address in a browser to access the Prism Central interface.
32. Log in as admin/admin, and then create a new password for the cluster admin account.
33. Agree to the EULA conditions, provide your name, company, and job title, and click Accept.
34. If desired, enable Pulse when prompted.
Upgrading the cluster
1. Log into the Prism web console.
2. In the upper right-hand corner of the Home page, click the cogwheel, and click Upgrade Software.
3. Select the desired component to upgrade. For example, select Acropolis.
4. If there is an upgrade available, click Download.
5. After the download finishes, click UpgradeàUpgrade Now.
6. After the upgrade finishes, complete steps 3 through 5 for the remaining upgrades available for each component.
Creating the VM networks
1. In the upper right-hand corner of the Prism web console Home page, click the cogwheel, and click
Network Configuration.
2. Click + Create Network.
3. Enter a name and a VLAN ID for the new network, and click Save.
4. Complete steps 2 and 3 for every desired network. For our testing, we used separate VLANs for each Exchange and
AD environment to simplify our networking configuration after cloning.
Adding the necessary ISO images
We used the following steps to upload the virtio drivers for Windows and the Windows Server 2012 R2 ISO. We
uploaded each image to our client desktop for easy upload into the Nutanix image service.
1. In the upper right-hand corner of the Prism web console Home page, click the cogwheel, and click
Image Configuration.
2. Click + Upload Image.
3. Enter a name for the ISO image.
4. Select the default container for storage.
5. Select upload file, and click Choose File.
6. Browse to the client desktop, and select the desired file.
7. Complete steps 2 through 6 for the remaining files.
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21. Creating the VMs
We created three gold-image VMs for each of the workloads: SQL, Exchange, and AD with Iometer. We then used
these gold images to clone the three workloads multiple times until we reached the number of VMs that kept latency
under 20ms—a total of eight sets of the legacy environment for the three-node configuration and 10 sets for the four-
node environment.
1. Log into the Prism web console.
2. In the upper left-hand corner, click the Home dropdown menu, and select VM.
3. Select the Table view.
4. Click + Create New VM.
5. Use the following settings for each VM type:
a. For the SQL VM:
i. Enter a name for the VM.
ii. Set the vCPU count to four.
iii. Set Number of cores per vCPU to one.
iv. Set the Memory to 32 GB.
v. Add a disk with the CDROM type, and select the virtio image from the image service.
vi. Add a disk with the CDROM type, and select the Windows Server 2012 R2 ISO image from the
image service.
vii. Add a 40GB virtual disk for the OS, a 55GB virtual disk for the database, a 30GB virtual disk for logs,
and a 42GB virtual disk for SQL backup.
viii. Using the default VLAN network, add a NIC.
b. For the Exchange VM:
i. Enter a name for the VM.
ii. Set the vCPU count to four.
iii. Set Number of cores per vCPU to one.
iv. Set the Memory to 16 GB.
v. Add a disk with the CDROM type, and select the virtio image from the image service.
vi. Add a disk with the CDROM type, and from the image service, select the Windows Server 2012 R2
ISO image.
vii. Add a 40GB virtual disk for the OS, a 120GB virtual disk for the database, a 10GB virtual disk for
logs, and a 120GB virtual disk for Exchange backup.
viii. Using the default VLAN network, add a NIC, and using the desired Exchange network VLAN, add
a NIC.
c. For the AD/Iometer VM:
i. Enter a name for the VM.
ii. Set the vCPU count to four.
iii. Set Number of cores per vCPU to one.
iv. Set the Memory to 2 GB.
v. Add a disk with the CDROM type, and select the virtio image from the image service.
vi. Add a disk with the CDROM type, and from the image service, select the Windows Server 2012 R2
ISO image.
vii. Add a 40GB virtual disk for the OS and a 120GB virtual disk for the Iometer test file.
viii. Using the default VLAN network, add a NIC, and using the desired Exchange network VLAN, add
a NIC.
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22. 6. Click Save.
7. Power on the VMs, and follow the steps outlined in the Legacy Environment section to install and configure
each workload.
8. After each configuration completes, clone all three VMs to the desired counts of eight times or ten times depending
on the node configuration.
9. Make the necessary virtual NIC adjustments on each clone to ensure that the Exchange and AD VMs are on the
correct VLAN for each configuration.
Configuring the clients and running the test
We ran all test clients on an appliance running a hypervisor. We used the following steps to configure each client VM.
Installing and configuring the Microsoft Exchange 2013 mail test clients and completing LoadGen
configuration on Exchange 2013
For our testing, we used one virtual client machine to run LoadGen 2013. To create the mail clients, we installed several
software components. We followed this process for each installation.
Installing Windows Server 2012 R2
1. Insert the installation media into the CD/DVD drive, and restart the appliance.
2. When prompted to boot from DVD, press any key.
3. When the installation screen appears, click My language is English (United States).
4. Leave language, time/currency format, and input method as default, and click Next.
5. Click Install now.
6. When the installation prompts you, enter the product key.
7. Select Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter (Server with a GUI), and click Next.
8. Check I accept the license terms, and click Next.
9. Click Custom: Install Windows only (advanced).
10. Select Drive 0 Unallocated Space, and click Next.
11. When the Settings page appears, fill in the Password and Reenter Password fields with the same password.
12. Log in with the password you set up previously.
To set up this appliance, we had to install several additional software components. The following subsections detail the
necessary installation processes.
Joining the domain
1. Set a static IP.
2. Select StartàControl PanelàNetwork ConnectionsàLocal Area Connection.
3. Click Properties.
4. Highlight Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and click Properties.
5. Select Use the following DNS server addresses, and enter the IP of the DNS server in the Preferred DNS server field.
Click OK.
6. Right-click My Computer, and select Properties.
7. Under the Computer Name tab, click Change.
8. In the Computer Name Changes screen, under the Member of section, select the Domain radial box, and type
test.local
9. To start joining the domain, select OK.
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23. 10. When the screen appears asking for a person qualified on the domain, type Administrator as the username and
Password1 as the password.
11. At the Welcome pop-up window and the window warning that you must reset the computer for the changes to take
effect, click OK.
12. At the System Properties screen, click OK.
13. When a pop-up appears asking if you want to restart now, click Yes.
Installing Internet Information Services
1. Click StartàAdministrative ToolsàServer Manager.
2. On the left pane, click Roles.
3. Click Add Roles.
4. Click the Application Server checkbox.
5. When the Add features required for Application Server? screen appears, click Add Required Features.
6. Click Next twice.
7. At the Select Role Services page for Application Server, click the Web Server (IIS) Support checkbox.
8. Click Add Required Support Role Services.
9. Click Next twice.
10. At the Select Role Services page for Web Server (IIS), click the IIS 6 Management Compatibility, ASP, and CGI
checkboxes, and click Next.
11. Click Install.
12. Click Close.
Importing the certificate and editing the hosts file
1. Click Start, and type MMC
2. Click FileàAdd/Remove Snap-in.
3. Choose Certificates, and click Add.
4. Choose Computer account, and click Next.
5. Choose Local computer, and click Finish.
6. Click OK.
7. Expand CertificatesàTrusted Root Certificate AuthoritiesàCertificates.
8. Click ActionàAll TasksàImport.
9. Click Next.
10. Browse to the share folder on the Exchange appliance, and choose the new certificate you created. Click Next.
11. Leave defaults, and click Next.
12. Click Finish.
13. On the Import was successful message, click OK.
14. Open the Notepad program, and use FileàOpen to open the hosts file stored at C:WindowsSystem32driversetc.
15. Add the IP and FQDN of the Exchange appliance.
16. Save the file, and close Notepad.
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24. Preparing Load Generator
1. Log into the mail client.
2. Using all defaults, download and install Load Generator 2013.
3. Select StartàAll ProgramsàMicrosoft ExchangeàExchange Load Generator 2013.
4. When the Load Generator screen appears, select Start a new test.
5. Select Create a new test configuration, and click Continue.
6. Change the total length of simulation to one hour.
7. In the Specify test settings screen, type Password1 as the Directory Access Password and Mailbox Account Master
Password, and click Continue with recipient management.
8. Create 500 users in the Mailbox Database, and click Continue.
9. To accept defaults for Advanced recipient settings, click Continue.
10. In the Specify test user groups screen, select the plus sign to add a user group.
11. Change the Client Type to Outlook 2007 Cached, the action profile to Outlook_250, and the Mailbox size to 250 MB,
and click Continue.
12. In Remote configurations, leave the checkbox to enable distributing the workload unchecked, and click Continue.
13. Click Save the configuration file as, and name it testcfg.xml
14. Click Start the initialization phase (recommended before running the test).
15. After the database initializes, create a backup copy of the Exchange mailbox databases.
Configuring the database workload client
For our testing, we used a virtual client for the Microsoft SQL Server client. To create this client, we installed Windows
Server 2012 R2 and assigned a static IP address. We then copied over the DS2 driver executable and the associated
test scripts.
Running the tests
We ran all three tests simultaneously, using a script to start the final step of each of the following methodologies. If
necessary, run them manually.
Running the DVD Store test
We created a series of batch files, SQL scripts, and shell scripts to automate the complete test cycle. DVD Store outputs
an orders-per-minute (OPM) metric, which is a running average calculated through the test. In this report, we report the
last OPM reported by each client/target pair.
Each complete test cycle consisted of the following general steps:
1. Clean up prior outputs from the target system and the client driver system.
2. Drop the database from the target.
3. Restore the database on the target.
4. Shut down the target.
5. Reboot the system under test and the client system.
6. Wait for a ping response from the system under test and from the client system.
7. Let the system under test idle for 10 minutes.
8. Start the DVD Store driver on the client. We used the following DVD Store parameters for testing:
ds2sqlserverdriver.exe --target=<target_IP> --ramp_rate=10 --run_time=60 --n_
threads=16 --db_size=40GB --think_time=0.100 --detailed_view=Y --warmup_
time=10 --report_rate=5 --csv_output=<drive path>
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25. Running the Iometer test
1. Reboot the system under test.
2. Log in, and let the system idle for 10 minutes.
3. Open Iometer, and load the test file created earlier during setup.
4. To kick off the Iometer test, click Start.
Running Load Generator
1. Log into the mail client.
2. Select StartàAll ProgramsàMicrosoft ExchangeàExchange Load Generator 2013.
3. When the Load Generator screen appears, select Start a new test.
4. Select load a test configuration, and click Continue.
5. Leave the settings at their already determined settings, and click continue until you get to the last stage.
6. After 10 minutes, click Skip initialization and start test.
Installing and configuring the management tools
We used the following steps to configure our management tool VMs for Dell Performance Analysis Collection Kit and
Dell OpenManage Essentials on the client appliances. Each VM started with a base install of Windows Server 2012 R2.
Installing and configuring Dell OpenManage Essentials
1. Download Dell OpenManage Essentials. Open the installation media.
2. Leave Dell OpenManage Essentials checked, and click Install.
3. At the Critical Prerequisites screen, click Install All Critical Prerequisites. When the warning dialog appears, to
continue installation of the critical prerequisites, click Yes.
4. At the next prerequisites screen, click Install Essentials. To install Essentials on a local database, click Yes.
5. Click Install Essentials.
6. Accept the license agreement for Dell OpenManage Essentials, and click Next.
7. Leave the Typical setup type selected, and click Next.
8. Review the installation settings, and click Install.
9. When installation completes, leave Launch Dell OpenManage Essentials checked, and click Finish.
10. When Dell OpenManage Essentials launches, click the Manage tab.
11. Click the Discovery and Inventory subtab.
12. Click Add Discovery Range.
13. At the Discovery Range Configuration wizard, enter the IP address range for the first Dell appliance.
14. Click Add.
15. Click Next.
16. Leave the default Timeout and Retries ICMP parameters, and click Next.
17. Ensure the WS-Man discovery type is selected, and click Next.
18. Type the iDRAC User ID and Password for discovery (root / calvin). Ensure that Secure Mode and Trusted Site are
checked, and click Next.
19. Review the summary, and click Finish.
20. From the Manage tab, click the Discovery and Inventory subtab.
21. Click Add Discovery Range.
22. At the Discovery Range Configuration wizard, enter the IP address range for the second Dell appliance.
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26. 23. Click Add.
24. Click Next.
25. Leave the default Timeout and Retries ICMP parameters, and click Next.
26. Ensure the WS-Man discovery type is selected, and click Next.
27. Type the iDRAC User ID and Password for discovery (root / calvin). Ensure that Secure Mode and Trusted Site are
checked, and click Next.
28. Review the summary, and click Finish.
Configuring Dell Performance Analysis Collection Kit (DPACK)
For this report, Dell gave us a DPACK account to download the tool and upload DPACK projects. We used the following
steps to perform DPACK data collection for each environment.
1. Download the Windows DPACK executable file to a Windows Server 2012 R2 client system.
2. Launch the executable file.
3. To agree to the license terms, click Yes.
4. Review the customer data, and click Yes.
5. To automatically upload DPACK collections to the web account, select Establish a secure (HTTPS) connection to the
DPACK Web Service.
6. To generate a local IOKIT file, select Do not connect to the DPACK Web Service.
7. Click OK.
8. If DPACK has been configured previously, it will prompt you to decide if you want to use the previous setting.
Click No.
9. Select the local drive listed, and click Ignore Disk.
10. Click Add Remote Server.
11. Perform the following steps for each environment:
For the legacy environment:
a. Select Connect to a Windows server, and enter the IP of the first appliance.
b. Click Connect, and enter in the login credentials of the appliance.
c. Repeat steps a and b to add the remaining two appliances.
For the upgraded environment:
a. Select Connect to a Windows server, and enter the IP address of the first VM running on the Nutanix
environment.
b. Click Connect, and enter the login credentials of the VM.
c. Repeat steps a and b for every other VM running in the Nutanix environment.
d. Select Connect to a Linux server, and enter the IP address of the first Nutanix management VM in the
Nutanix environment.
e. Click Connect, and enter the login credentials of the VM.
f. Repeat steps d and e for the other two or three Nutanix management VMs (depending on the number of
servers running in the test).
g. Select Connect to a Linux server, and enter the IP address of the first Nutanix hypervisor appliance in the
Nutanix environment.
h. Click Connect, and enter the login credentials of the VM.
i. Repeat steps g and h for the other two or three Nutanix hypervisors (depending on the number of servers
running in the test).
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27. 12. After connecting all desired appliances, select any undesired disks from the list, and click Ignore Disk.
13. Change the capture duration to four hours.
14. Click Start capture.
Note: For our testing, we started the capture right before kicking off each test run. We cancelled the capture at the end
of roughly one hour, capturing data only when the appliances were under load.
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28. Appendix C – Our setup
Legacy environment
Our legacy environment consisted of three identical Dell PowerEdge R710 servers. Each contained 48 GB of RAM and
dual Intel Xeon E5520 processors. We installed Windows Server 2012 R2 with updates on them and configured each for
its individual workload purpose. For the database workload server, we installed SQL Server 2014 SP1 with updates and
configured a single SQL instance with a 40GB database for the DVD Store 2 server to target. For the mailbox workload
server, we installed Microsoft Exchange 2013 with updates. We then generated a typical 500-mailbox environment
using a Load Generator 2013 client. Finally, we installed Iometer on the third server to simulate file server work and
configured the VM to act as the Active Directory server for the Exchange environment. We cabled all three servers to
a standard 1Gb Ethernet switch using the onboard NICs for client and management traffic. For information on our test
methodology, see Appendix B.
For the backing storage, we configured a Dell EqualLogic PS6110 array with 24 10K HDDs and 10Gb iSCSI connectivity.
We cabled each of the EqualLogic controllers to a 10Gb Dell Networking S4810 with redundant paths. We then installed
an Intel Ethernet Server Adapter X520 in each PowerEdge R710 and cabled both ports on each card to the S4810. We
configured each port for iSCSI traffic and multipath I/O using native Windows tools and the EqualLogic HIT Kit software.
We presented each server with individual LUNs on the EqualLogic PS6110 for their specific workloads: three LUNs for
the SQL database, logs, and backups to the database server; three LUNs for the Exchange mailbox database, logs, and
backups to the mailbox server; and one LUN for the Iometer work file to the file server. See below for a detailed diagram
of our legacy environment test bed.
Our legacy environment test bed
1Gb switch
Clients
Dell EqualLogic PS6110
Dell Networking S4810
Dell PowerEdge R710: SQL Dell PowerEdge R710: Exchange Dell PowerEdge R710: Iometer
1Gb
10Gb
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29. Upgraded environment
For our upgraded environment, we configured four identical Dell XC730xd-12 appliances. Each server contained 256 GB
of RAM and dual Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4 processors. We initially created a three-node cluster using Nutanix Foundation to
deploy Acropolis to the nodes and configure Prism. Once the three-node testing concluded, we expanded the cluster to
include the fourth node. We cabled each server’s IPMI port to a Dell Networking N2024 1Gb switch. We then cabled two
10Gb ports per server to two Dell Networking S4048-ON switches for all client, VM, and storage traffic. The two S4048-
ON switches were stacked via two 40Gb ports for redundancy. Additionally, we cabled the N2024 switch to the S4048
stack via two 10Gb ports split between the two switches. We set up a generic server for our test clients and management
VMs and cabled it via a 1Gb onboard port to the N2024.
For the backing storage on the XC730xd-12 appliances, we allowed Acropolis to configure a default storage pool using
each server’s onboard storage and Nutanix Distributed File system for VM storage. See below for a detailed diagram of
our upgraded environment test bed.
Our upgraded environment test bed
Each server hosted a mix of database workload VMs, mailbox workload VMs, and file workload VMs, with each VM
matching the software configuration of the legacy servers. We allowed Nutanix to balance the test VMs, evenly spreading
24 VMs across three XC730xd-12 appliances for the initial configuration and 30 VMs across four nodes for the scaled
configuration. We resized the VMs’ resources lower than the legacy environment servers to allow for maximum resource
utilization and workload consolidation because our test VMs were performing at the level of the legacy environment or
better. For each VM type, we used the following VM hardware settings:
Workload vCPU
RAM
(GB)
OS vDisk
(GB)
Data vDisk
(GB)
Log vDisk
(GB)
Backup vDisk
(GB)
Database 4 32 40 55 30 42
Mailbox 4 16 40 120 10 120
File 4 2 40 120 N/A N/A
Clients
Dell XC730xd-12 Dell XC730xd-12
Dell Networking S4048-ON
Dell XC730xd-12 Dell XC730xd-12
1Gb
10Gb
40Gb
Dell Networking N2024
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30. Appendix D – DPACK data
The following screenshots of the DPACK reports show performance of the upgraded environment with three and four
nodes. The data from this hour-long test run serves as an example of the solution’s performance throughout testing,
specifically in regards to CPU utilization, input/output per second (IOPS), and storage latency.
CPU utilization
The upgraded environment with three nodes achieved a peak CPU utilization of 22.9 percent and averaged
approximately 16 percent. This leaves plenty of CPU for additional VMs or for existing VMs.
With the addition of the fourth node, the environment CPU utilization peaked at 24.2 percent and averaged about 17
percent at a steady state. Overall, the infrastructure’s CPU in both cases remained underutilized due to the limitations of
our storage.
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31. IOPS
With the three-node configuration, the environment peaked at nearly 9,000 IOPS and averaged about 6,000 IOPS.
However, with the addition of the fourth node, the environment achieved a peak of around 12,000 IOPS and averaged
approximately 8,000 IOPS over the course of the run. The results show scaling up to the fourth node adds IOPS nearly
perfectly with an overall increase of about 33 percent.
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32. Latency
We considered 20ms an acceptable threshold for latency during testing. In the three-node configuration, the upgraded
environment’s latency peaked at a 19ms read and a 13ms write. Latency remained below the acceptable threshold during
the run.
With the additional fourth node, the upgraded environment latency peaked at just over a 16ms read and a 12ms write.
Latency again remained below the acceptable threshold during the test run.
The performance of the 7.2K HDDs limited the overall performance of the configuration. An additional set of VMs raised
the disk latency above the 20ms threshold. With upgraded disks, these servers could have potentially handled many
more VMs.
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33. Additional DPACK counters
DPACK also provides many other graphs showing metrics like memory utilization, network and storage throughput, I/O
size, and more. We did not use these graphs in our analysis. When you examine all the graphs together, the data they
provide can give you a clear picture of your current environment’s performance needs as well as potential bottlenecks
and limitations.
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34. Boost datacenter efficiency with a Dell and Nutanix solution August 2016 | 34
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