A key to modernizing your data center is to consolidate your legacy workloads through virtualization, which can help reduce complexity for your business. Fewer servers require fewer physical resources, such as power, cabling, and switches, and reduce the burden on IT for ongoing management tasks such as updates. In addition, integrating newer hardware technology into your data center can provide new features that strengthen your infrastructure, such as RAS features on the processor and disk performance improvements. Finally, using SAS 9.4 ensures that you have the latest features and toolsets that SAS can offer.
Compared to a legacy server, we found that a modern four-socket server powered by Intel Xeon processors E7-4890 v2 with Intel SSD DC P3700 Series provided eight times the amount of SAS work, over 11 times the relative performance, and a shorter average time to complete the SAS workload. Running eight virtual SAS instances also left capacity on the server for additional work. Consolidating your SAS workloads from legacy servers onto servers powered by Intel Xeon processors E7 v2 and SAS 9.4 can provide your business with the latest hardware and software features, reduce complexity in your data center, and potentially reduce costs for your business.
Workstation heat and power usage: Lenovo ThinkStation P500 vs. Dell Precision...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 Dell Precision T5810 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.
Workstation heat and power usage: Lenovo ThinkStation P900 vs. Dell Precision...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 P900 generally ran at lower surface temperatures and used less power than the Dell Precision T7910 Workstation. These findings show that the Lenovo ThinkStation P900 could meet the needs of those who want to provide a reliable, comfortable work environment while using less power.
Lenovo ThinkServer RD650: Continuous performance in extreme temperaturesPrincipled Technologies
Servers that are designed to operate at higher inlet temperatures allow for significant energy reductions in your data center. The Lenovo ThinkServer RD650, with its dynamic environmental design, lets you take advantage of these cost reductions. Lenovo has specifically enhanced the ThinkServer RD650 architecture to plan for higher temperatures and maximize data center efficiency. In our labs, this server ran two concurrent workloads, exercising CPU, disk, and memory subsystems, continuously at temperatures ranging from 40 to 45° C, with the temperature staying at or above 43° C for more than half the time for eight days—and did so without significantly varying in performance levels during the test period.
Performance and durability comparison: Dell Latitude 14 5000 Series vs. Lenov...Principled Technologies
The document summarizes a performance and durability test of the Dell Latitude 14 5000 Series laptop compared to the Lenovo ThinkPad T440. The key findings are:
1) The Dell laptop was able to withstand three drops from 29 inches without any hard drive damage, while the Lenovo failed after two drops.
2) The Dell laptop had longer battery life, lasting over two hours more than the Lenovo in a benchmark test.
3) While performance on most benchmarks was comparable, the Dell scored higher on some tests measuring productivity and media tasks.
Workstation heat and power usage: Lenovo ThinkStation P700 vs. Dell Precision...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, the Lenovo ThinkStation P700 ran at lower surface temperatures while idle and under load and used less power than the Dell Precision T7810 Workstation while idle. These findings show that the Lenovo ThinkStation P700 could meet the needs of those who want to provide a reliable, comfortable work environment while using less power.
Workstation heat, sound, and power usage: Lenovo ThinkStation D30 vs. HP Z820...Principled Technologies
A workstation that runs quietly and cooly and uses less power is a great boon to workers and the companies they work for. In our tests, both when idle and when under load, the Lenovo ThinkStation D30 generally ran at lower surface temperatures than the HP Z820 Workstation and ran more quietly. The Lenovo ThinkStation D30 also used less power when idle and while under load. These findings show that the Lenovo ThinkStation D30 could meet the needs of those who want to provide a reliable, comfortable work environment while using less power.
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.
The Dell PowerEdge R920 could replace nine older Oracle database servers and provide nine times the performance while reducing power consumption by 64% and lowering software licensing costs by 17%. Testing showed the R920 running Oracle Database 12c with pluggable databases provided significant savings over three years in power, cooling, and licensing costs compared to running the databases on nine older servers.
Workstation heat and power usage: Lenovo ThinkStation P500 vs. Dell Precision...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 Dell Precision T5810 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.
Workstation heat and power usage: Lenovo ThinkStation P900 vs. Dell Precision...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 P900 generally ran at lower surface temperatures and used less power than the Dell Precision T7910 Workstation. These findings show that the Lenovo ThinkStation P900 could meet the needs of those who want to provide a reliable, comfortable work environment while using less power.
Lenovo ThinkServer RD650: Continuous performance in extreme temperaturesPrincipled Technologies
Servers that are designed to operate at higher inlet temperatures allow for significant energy reductions in your data center. The Lenovo ThinkServer RD650, with its dynamic environmental design, lets you take advantage of these cost reductions. Lenovo has specifically enhanced the ThinkServer RD650 architecture to plan for higher temperatures and maximize data center efficiency. In our labs, this server ran two concurrent workloads, exercising CPU, disk, and memory subsystems, continuously at temperatures ranging from 40 to 45° C, with the temperature staying at or above 43° C for more than half the time for eight days—and did so without significantly varying in performance levels during the test period.
Performance and durability comparison: Dell Latitude 14 5000 Series vs. Lenov...Principled Technologies
The document summarizes a performance and durability test of the Dell Latitude 14 5000 Series laptop compared to the Lenovo ThinkPad T440. The key findings are:
1) The Dell laptop was able to withstand three drops from 29 inches without any hard drive damage, while the Lenovo failed after two drops.
2) The Dell laptop had longer battery life, lasting over two hours more than the Lenovo in a benchmark test.
3) While performance on most benchmarks was comparable, the Dell scored higher on some tests measuring productivity and media tasks.
Workstation heat and power usage: Lenovo ThinkStation P700 vs. Dell Precision...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, the Lenovo ThinkStation P700 ran at lower surface temperatures while idle and under load and used less power than the Dell Precision T7810 Workstation while idle. These findings show that the Lenovo ThinkStation P700 could meet the needs of those who want to provide a reliable, comfortable work environment while using less power.
Workstation heat, sound, and power usage: Lenovo ThinkStation D30 vs. HP Z820...Principled Technologies
A workstation that runs quietly and cooly and uses less power is a great boon to workers and the companies they work for. In our tests, both when idle and when under load, the Lenovo ThinkStation D30 generally ran at lower surface temperatures than the HP Z820 Workstation and ran more quietly. The Lenovo ThinkStation D30 also used less power when idle and while under load. These findings show that the Lenovo ThinkStation D30 could meet the needs of those who want to provide a reliable, comfortable work environment while using less power.
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.
The Dell PowerEdge R920 could replace nine older Oracle database servers and provide nine times the performance while reducing power consumption by 64% and lowering software licensing costs by 17%. Testing showed the R920 running Oracle Database 12c with pluggable databases provided significant savings over three years in power, cooling, and licensing costs compared to running the databases on nine older servers.
Higher-end Intel Xeon processors can support more virtual machines and save on total costs of ownership compared to lower-end processors. Testing showed that upgrading to a newer, higher-bin Intel Xeon processor allowed servers to support more VMs before performance was impacted. While a processor upgrade costs more initially, the performance boost offsets the cost over five years of operation by reducing the number of servers needed. Testing of the Intel Xeon E5-2620 v4, E5-2630 v4, E5-2650 v4, and E5-2660 v4 processors showed each successive upgrade supported more VMs and had a lower five-year total cost of ownership.
This document summarizes Intel's Cluster Studio XE and Parallel Studio XE development tools. It provides an overview of the tools' capabilities for developing applications that can efficiently scale from few cores to many cores. The tools include compilers, performance profiling and analysis tools, and libraries that support parallel programming models and provide optimized math functions and algorithms.
There are already enough things to worry about when you’re in the field. Having a mobile workstation that can handle your demanding workloads without overheating from extended use means you can focus more on the job itself.
The Dell Precision 7520 was cooler on our laps than either the Lenovo ThinkPad P51 or the HP Zbook 15 G4. When it was time for all three mobile workstations to crunch through a punishing photgrammetry workload, the Dell Precision 7520 performed similarly to the Lenovo ThinkPad P51 and completed the task nine minutes faster than the HP Zbook 15 G4. Finally, the Dell Precision 7520 maintained turbo boost longer than either of the other mobile workstations, which means you can get more work done in less time.
Whether you’re looking for the highest possible performance per rack unit or the strongest RAS-enabled server to run your mission-critical databases, Dell has a server to meet your needs. Factors such as performance per rack, expansion capabilities, and flash storage options will also drive your server decision.
In our hands-on tests, we found that the Dell PowerEdge R820 server could handle up to 382,397 database orders per minute and had 73.6 percent greater performance per U of rack space than the R910.
The Dell PowerEdge R910 processed 440,475 OPM. Its high number of logical processors, maximum expansion capabilities, and support for RAS technologies make the Dell PowerEdge R910 an excellent choice for your mission-critical data center applications.
Reducing TCO for Web-Based Applications
Performance-based server consolidation based on the Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series lowers operating costs and achieves positive return on investment
In our tests, we found that the HP Z8 tower with Intel Xeon Gold 6226R processors completed three sample media and entertainment tasks in up to 44 percent less time than the Apple Mac Pro with Intel Xeon W-3275M processor, while adding only 11 percent to the purchase price.
Laptop drive performance comparison: Seagate Solid State Hybrid Drive vs. har...Principled Technologies
Across the three laptop systems we tested, the Seagate SSHD configuration outperformed both hard drive configurations. It booted and launched applications as much as 31.8 percent more quickly and delivered general performance increases of up to 503.3 percent.
By speeding up the tasks that users perform day in and day out, the Seagate Solid State Hybrid Drive can boost productivity and let you spend more of your day working and less of it waiting.
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
Learn about the IBM Flex System x240 Compute Node which is a high-performance server that offers outstanding performance for virtualization with new levels of CPU performance and memory capacity, and flexible configuration options. The x240 Compute Node is an efficient server designed to run a broad range of workloads, armed with advanced management capabilities allowing you to manage your physical and virtual IT resources from a single-pane of glass. For more information on Pure Systems, visit http://ibm.co/18vDnp6.
Visit http://bit.ly/KWh5Dx to 'Follow' the official Twitter handle of IBM India Smarter Computing.
Check items off your to-do list faster with Dell OptiPlex small and micro for...Principled Technologies
In our hands-on benchmark and scenario-based comparisons, we found Dell OptiPlex desktops powered by Intel Core i3, i5, and i7 processors outperformed comparable Lenovo ThinkCentre M Series desktops powered by AMD Ryzen 3, 5, and 7 PRO processors.
When compared to the no-cache solution results, the Intel solution increased database performance in our tests by up to 65 percent using a real-world database workload. Additionally, the Intel solution provided 7 percent greater database performance when compared to the competing solution. This means that with the Intel solution, administrators can give their databases an extra boost to improve performance for end users, especially when RAM upgrades and additional storage are no longer feasible options.
Make the most of your time as well as your space with Dell OptiPlex small and...Principled Technologies
In our benchmark and scenario-based comparisons, we found Dell OptiPlex compact desktops powered by Intel Core i3, i5, and i7 processors outperformed comparable HP ProDesk and EliteDesk compact desktops powered by AMD Ryzen 3, 5, and 7 PRO processors.
Hardware upgrades to improve database, SharePoint, Exchange, and file server ...Principled Technologies
Legacy tower servers that cannot meet workload demands can restrict business growth. By upgrading to the Dell PowerEdge T630, you can obtain immediate benefits for current IT performance needs and implement upgrades that will expand server capabilities to help meet future demands. We found that replacing a legacy server with the new Dell PowerEdge T630 tower server offered up to 97.9 percent lower workload latency, 131.9 percent more IOPS, and 421.9 percent more OPM when running the same workload. With component upgrades, the PowerEdge T630 supported more Exchange, SharePoint, and file server users, and more database VM instances. Help ensure that your applications have sufficient hardware resources to keep up with the needs of today and the future by choosing to upgrade to the new Dell PowerEdge T630 tower server.
The document introduces the Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor, which provides highly parallel processing power through up to 61 cores and 244 threads. It can be used to accelerate biophysics simulations involving millions of interacting atoms. The coprocessor delivers up to 1 teraflop of performance using 512-bit SIMD vectors while maintaining a high memory bandwidth. It also offers energy efficiency and allows adding more computing power per server rack compared to Intel Xeon processors alone. Developers can leverage a common programming model and tools to accelerate applications across Intel Xeon and Xeon Phi platforms.
A Dell Latitude 5420 laptop powered by a four-core Intel Core i5-1145G7 vPro ...Principled Technologies
A Dell Latitude 5420 laptop with an Intel Core i5 processor outperformed an HP EliteBook laptop with an AMD Ryzen processor in benchmarks measuring system performance and responsiveness both while plugged in and running on battery power. Specifically:
- The Dell laptop received higher scores on the SYSmark 25 benchmark when unplugged, experiencing only a 2% drop in performance compared to a 34% drop for the HP laptop.
- On the CrossMark benchmark, the Dell laptop saw only a 20% drop in performance when unplugged, compared to a 17% greater score than the HP laptop.
- Both laptops provided over 9 hours of battery life according to MobileMark 2018 testing, but the
A Dell Latitude 7420 laptop powered by a four-core Intel Core i7-1185G7 vPro ...Principled Technologies
A Dell Latitude 7420 laptop powered by an Intel Core i7-1185G7 processor delivered longer battery life and better performance than a Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 2 laptop powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U processor, according to benchmark testing. The Dell laptop had 43 minutes longer battery life in MobileMark 2018 testing and was 63% faster in SYSmark 25 and 43% faster in CrossMark when unplugged. In contrast, the Lenovo laptop saw significant performance drops of 27% in SYSmark 25 and 19% in CrossMark when running on battery power.
BatteryXPRT for Android benchmark reliably evaluates the battery life of Android-based devices. The benchmark provides an intuitive user interface, a runtime allowing it to be completed within one work day, and easy-to-understand results.
- Intel dominates the TOP500 supercomputer list, powering 427 of the top 500 systems and 111 of the newest systems using Intel Xeon and Xeon Phi processors.
- HPC performance has improved over 15,000x in the past 20 years, with innovations like clusters now enabling top performance to waterfall down to single-socket systems within 6-8 years.
- Knights Landing, the next generation Intel Xeon Phi product, will provide over 3 teraflops of performance in a single package in 2015, using enhanced Intel Atom cores and on-package memory.
Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v3 and Intel SSD t...Principled Technologies
A key to modernizing your data center is to consolidate your legacy workloads through virtualization, which can help reduce complexity for your business. Fewer servers require fewer physical resources, such as power, cabling, and switches, and reduce the burden on IT for ongoing management tasks such as updates. In addition, integrating newer hardware technology into your data center can provide new features that strengthen your infrastructure, such as RAS features on the processor and disk performance improvements. Finally, using SAS 9.4 ensures that you have the latest features and toolsets that SAS can offer.
Compared to a legacy server, we found that a modern four-socket server powered by Intel Xeon processors E7-8890 v3 with Intel SSD DC P3700 Series provided 12 times the amount of SAS work, nearly 14 times the relative performance, and a shorter average time to complete the SAS workload. Running 12 virtual SAS instances also left capacity on the server for additional work. Consolidating your SAS workloads from legacy servers onto servers powered by Intel Xeon processors E7 v3 and SAS 9.4 can provide your business with the latest hardware and software features, reduce complexity in your data center, and potentially reduce costs for your business.
Your datacenter is capable of doing great things—if you let it. Upgrades from Intel for compute, storage, and networking components can help your business support new services and expand your customer base. In our hands-on testing, we found that new Intel processors, high-bandwidth network components, and SATA or PCIe SSDs working together can boost your datacenter’s capabilities, which could translate to better business operations for your organization.
Higher-end Intel Xeon processors can support more virtual machines and save on total costs of ownership compared to lower-end processors. Testing showed that upgrading to a newer, higher-bin Intel Xeon processor allowed servers to support more VMs before performance was impacted. While a processor upgrade costs more initially, the performance boost offsets the cost over five years of operation by reducing the number of servers needed. Testing of the Intel Xeon E5-2620 v4, E5-2630 v4, E5-2650 v4, and E5-2660 v4 processors showed each successive upgrade supported more VMs and had a lower five-year total cost of ownership.
This document summarizes Intel's Cluster Studio XE and Parallel Studio XE development tools. It provides an overview of the tools' capabilities for developing applications that can efficiently scale from few cores to many cores. The tools include compilers, performance profiling and analysis tools, and libraries that support parallel programming models and provide optimized math functions and algorithms.
There are already enough things to worry about when you’re in the field. Having a mobile workstation that can handle your demanding workloads without overheating from extended use means you can focus more on the job itself.
The Dell Precision 7520 was cooler on our laps than either the Lenovo ThinkPad P51 or the HP Zbook 15 G4. When it was time for all three mobile workstations to crunch through a punishing photgrammetry workload, the Dell Precision 7520 performed similarly to the Lenovo ThinkPad P51 and completed the task nine minutes faster than the HP Zbook 15 G4. Finally, the Dell Precision 7520 maintained turbo boost longer than either of the other mobile workstations, which means you can get more work done in less time.
Whether you’re looking for the highest possible performance per rack unit or the strongest RAS-enabled server to run your mission-critical databases, Dell has a server to meet your needs. Factors such as performance per rack, expansion capabilities, and flash storage options will also drive your server decision.
In our hands-on tests, we found that the Dell PowerEdge R820 server could handle up to 382,397 database orders per minute and had 73.6 percent greater performance per U of rack space than the R910.
The Dell PowerEdge R910 processed 440,475 OPM. Its high number of logical processors, maximum expansion capabilities, and support for RAS technologies make the Dell PowerEdge R910 an excellent choice for your mission-critical data center applications.
Reducing TCO for Web-Based Applications
Performance-based server consolidation based on the Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series lowers operating costs and achieves positive return on investment
In our tests, we found that the HP Z8 tower with Intel Xeon Gold 6226R processors completed three sample media and entertainment tasks in up to 44 percent less time than the Apple Mac Pro with Intel Xeon W-3275M processor, while adding only 11 percent to the purchase price.
Laptop drive performance comparison: Seagate Solid State Hybrid Drive vs. har...Principled Technologies
Across the three laptop systems we tested, the Seagate SSHD configuration outperformed both hard drive configurations. It booted and launched applications as much as 31.8 percent more quickly and delivered general performance increases of up to 503.3 percent.
By speeding up the tasks that users perform day in and day out, the Seagate Solid State Hybrid Drive can boost productivity and let you spend more of your day working and less of it waiting.
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
Learn about the IBM Flex System x240 Compute Node which is a high-performance server that offers outstanding performance for virtualization with new levels of CPU performance and memory capacity, and flexible configuration options. The x240 Compute Node is an efficient server designed to run a broad range of workloads, armed with advanced management capabilities allowing you to manage your physical and virtual IT resources from a single-pane of glass. For more information on Pure Systems, visit http://ibm.co/18vDnp6.
Visit http://bit.ly/KWh5Dx to 'Follow' the official Twitter handle of IBM India Smarter Computing.
Check items off your to-do list faster with Dell OptiPlex small and micro for...Principled Technologies
In our hands-on benchmark and scenario-based comparisons, we found Dell OptiPlex desktops powered by Intel Core i3, i5, and i7 processors outperformed comparable Lenovo ThinkCentre M Series desktops powered by AMD Ryzen 3, 5, and 7 PRO processors.
When compared to the no-cache solution results, the Intel solution increased database performance in our tests by up to 65 percent using a real-world database workload. Additionally, the Intel solution provided 7 percent greater database performance when compared to the competing solution. This means that with the Intel solution, administrators can give their databases an extra boost to improve performance for end users, especially when RAM upgrades and additional storage are no longer feasible options.
Make the most of your time as well as your space with Dell OptiPlex small and...Principled Technologies
In our benchmark and scenario-based comparisons, we found Dell OptiPlex compact desktops powered by Intel Core i3, i5, and i7 processors outperformed comparable HP ProDesk and EliteDesk compact desktops powered by AMD Ryzen 3, 5, and 7 PRO processors.
Hardware upgrades to improve database, SharePoint, Exchange, and file server ...Principled Technologies
Legacy tower servers that cannot meet workload demands can restrict business growth. By upgrading to the Dell PowerEdge T630, you can obtain immediate benefits for current IT performance needs and implement upgrades that will expand server capabilities to help meet future demands. We found that replacing a legacy server with the new Dell PowerEdge T630 tower server offered up to 97.9 percent lower workload latency, 131.9 percent more IOPS, and 421.9 percent more OPM when running the same workload. With component upgrades, the PowerEdge T630 supported more Exchange, SharePoint, and file server users, and more database VM instances. Help ensure that your applications have sufficient hardware resources to keep up with the needs of today and the future by choosing to upgrade to the new Dell PowerEdge T630 tower server.
The document introduces the Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor, which provides highly parallel processing power through up to 61 cores and 244 threads. It can be used to accelerate biophysics simulations involving millions of interacting atoms. The coprocessor delivers up to 1 teraflop of performance using 512-bit SIMD vectors while maintaining a high memory bandwidth. It also offers energy efficiency and allows adding more computing power per server rack compared to Intel Xeon processors alone. Developers can leverage a common programming model and tools to accelerate applications across Intel Xeon and Xeon Phi platforms.
A Dell Latitude 5420 laptop powered by a four-core Intel Core i5-1145G7 vPro ...Principled Technologies
A Dell Latitude 5420 laptop with an Intel Core i5 processor outperformed an HP EliteBook laptop with an AMD Ryzen processor in benchmarks measuring system performance and responsiveness both while plugged in and running on battery power. Specifically:
- The Dell laptop received higher scores on the SYSmark 25 benchmark when unplugged, experiencing only a 2% drop in performance compared to a 34% drop for the HP laptop.
- On the CrossMark benchmark, the Dell laptop saw only a 20% drop in performance when unplugged, compared to a 17% greater score than the HP laptop.
- Both laptops provided over 9 hours of battery life according to MobileMark 2018 testing, but the
A Dell Latitude 7420 laptop powered by a four-core Intel Core i7-1185G7 vPro ...Principled Technologies
A Dell Latitude 7420 laptop powered by an Intel Core i7-1185G7 processor delivered longer battery life and better performance than a Lenovo ThinkPad T14 Gen 2 laptop powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 5850U processor, according to benchmark testing. The Dell laptop had 43 minutes longer battery life in MobileMark 2018 testing and was 63% faster in SYSmark 25 and 43% faster in CrossMark when unplugged. In contrast, the Lenovo laptop saw significant performance drops of 27% in SYSmark 25 and 19% in CrossMark when running on battery power.
BatteryXPRT for Android benchmark reliably evaluates the battery life of Android-based devices. The benchmark provides an intuitive user interface, a runtime allowing it to be completed within one work day, and easy-to-understand results.
- Intel dominates the TOP500 supercomputer list, powering 427 of the top 500 systems and 111 of the newest systems using Intel Xeon and Xeon Phi processors.
- HPC performance has improved over 15,000x in the past 20 years, with innovations like clusters now enabling top performance to waterfall down to single-socket systems within 6-8 years.
- Knights Landing, the next generation Intel Xeon Phi product, will provide over 3 teraflops of performance in a single package in 2015, using enhanced Intel Atom cores and on-package memory.
Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v3 and Intel SSD t...Principled Technologies
A key to modernizing your data center is to consolidate your legacy workloads through virtualization, which can help reduce complexity for your business. Fewer servers require fewer physical resources, such as power, cabling, and switches, and reduce the burden on IT for ongoing management tasks such as updates. In addition, integrating newer hardware technology into your data center can provide new features that strengthen your infrastructure, such as RAS features on the processor and disk performance improvements. Finally, using SAS 9.4 ensures that you have the latest features and toolsets that SAS can offer.
Compared to a legacy server, we found that a modern four-socket server powered by Intel Xeon processors E7-8890 v3 with Intel SSD DC P3700 Series provided 12 times the amount of SAS work, nearly 14 times the relative performance, and a shorter average time to complete the SAS workload. Running 12 virtual SAS instances also left capacity on the server for additional work. Consolidating your SAS workloads from legacy servers onto servers powered by Intel Xeon processors E7 v3 and SAS 9.4 can provide your business with the latest hardware and software features, reduce complexity in your data center, and potentially reduce costs for your business.
Your datacenter is capable of doing great things—if you let it. Upgrades from Intel for compute, storage, and networking components can help your business support new services and expand your customer base. In our hands-on testing, we found that new Intel processors, high-bandwidth network components, and SATA or PCIe SSDs working together can boost your datacenter’s capabilities, which could translate to better business operations for your organization.
The document compares the performance of a new server with Intel SSDs to an older server with HDDs for database workloads. Testing found that the new server configured with Intel SATA SSDs provided 17x more database orders per minute (OPM) than the older HDD server, while the new server with Intel NVMe PCIe SSDs provided 30x more OPM. On a cost basis, the NVMe SSD configuration delivered over 2x the OPM per dollar compared to the SATA SSD setup, indicating it would provide more value. The document recommends Intel NVMe PCIe SSDs for new servers to maximize performance.
Increase density and performance with upgrades from Intel and MicrosoftPrincipled Technologies
As the needs of your business grow, so must the power of your server infrastructure. Rather than purchasing replacement servers with base configurations, consider upgrading key components to ensure you get the performance you need.
In our tests, we found that upgrading a server with the new Intel Xeon processor E5-2697v2, Microsoft Windows Server 2012 operating system, Intel SSD DC S3700 series drive, and Intel Ethernet CNA X520 series adapters supported 3.5 times more VMs than the legacy server we tested, which also meant 3.5 times the database performance and Exchange user mailboxes. Upgrading components piece by piece can improve your server capacity, but upgrading the processor, OS, storage, and network configuration together provided the biggest increase in our tests. By investing in upgraded components from Intel and Microsoft, you can get the most out of your server infrastructure both now and in the future.
As the needs of your business grow, so must the power of your server infrastructure. Rather than purchasing replacement servers with base configurations, consider upgrading key components to ensure you get the performance you need.
In our tests, we found that upgrading a server with the new Intel Xeon processor E5-2697v2, Microsoft Windows Server 2012 operating system, Intel SSD DC S3700 series drive, and Intel Ethernet CNA X520 series adapters supported 3.5 times more VMs than the legacy server we tested, which also meant 3.5 times the database performance and Exchange user mailboxes. Upgrading components piece by piece can improve your server capacity, but upgrading the processor, OS, storage, and network configuration together provided the biggest increase in our tests. By investing in upgraded components from Intel and Microsoft, you can get the most out of your server infrastructure both now and in the future.
Get insight from document-based distributed MongoDB databases sooner and have...Principled Technologies
With additional drive bays and 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors, Dell EMC PowerEdge R640 servers handled more Yahoo Cloud Serving Benchmark (YCSB) operations per second than previous-generation servers and handled them more efficiently
Upgrading key components in servers can significantly improve performance and capacity. The report tested upgrading components in Dell PowerEdge servers. It found that upgrading to newer Dell PowerEdge R720 servers with Intel Xeon and SSD components, Windows Server 2012, and 10GbE networking supported 4.5 times as many VMs as the older Dell PowerEdge R710 servers. Each individual component upgrade, such as the processor, storage, or network card, increased performance. But upgrading all components together maximized the number of supported VMs, database transactions, and email users.
Component upgrades from Intel and Dell can increase VM density and boost perf...Principled Technologies
The document summarizes an experiment conducted by Principled Technologies that tested the performance improvements from upgrading server components. They found that upgrading from a Dell PowerEdge R720 to a Dell PowerEdge R730 server, along with upgrading the processor, operating system, storage drives and network cards, increased the number of supported VMs by 67% and database performance by 60%. Upgrading all components maximized performance benefits.
Adding Intel Optane DC SSDs to an HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10 server cluster improved response times by 26% and produced 52% more input/output operations per second while using one fewer server
Boosting virtualization performance with Intel SSD DC Series P3600 NVMe SSDs ...Principled Technologies
When it comes time to make your server purchase or if you’re looking for an easy way to boost performance of existing infrastructure, consider upgrading your server’s internal storage. As our hands-on tests with a Dell EMC PowerEdge R630 environment running VMware Virtual SAN proved, Intel SSD DC P3600 Series NVMe SSDs could increase virtualized mixed-workload performance by as much as 59.9 percent compared to SATA SSDs while allowing you to run a large additional number of VMs. When you improve performance for your virtualized workloads, your employees and customers will benefit. By increasing performance with Intel NVMe SSDs on your Dell EMC PowerEdge R630 servers, you can potentially slash wait times and do more work on your servers without having to expand your infrastructure with additional storage arrays, which can translate to happier users and a more efficient infrastructure.
Improve Aerospike Database performance and predictability by leveraging Intel...Principled Technologies
Enabling Application Device Queues (ADQ) on Intel Ethernet 800 Series Network Adapters in Dell EMC PowerEdge R740xd servers significantly improved the performance of Aerospike Database workloads. Testing showed that with ADQ enabled, Aerospike Database throughput increased by up to 64% and response time predictability improved by up to 41%. ADQ also provided near-linear scaling of Aerospike performance as additional server nodes were added. These results demonstrate how ADQ can enhance the performance and scalability of distributed database workloads like Aerospike.
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2600 v4 Big Data Analytics Applications ShowcaseIntel IT Center
This document showcases the Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 v4 product family and its performance benefits for big data analytics workloads. It provides examples of several software vendors who saw performance improvements of up to 34% on their applications when testing the new Intel Xeon processors. The document also outlines new processor technologies in areas like performance, orchestration and security. Configuration details are provided for the software vendor testing.
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
Dell PowerEdge R920 running Oracle Database: Benefits of upgrading with NVMe ...Principled Technologies
Strong server performance is essential to companies running Oracle Database. The new Dell PowerEdge R920 provides strong performance in its base configuration with 24 SAS hard disks, but this performance gets an enormous boost when running the configuration containing NVMe Express Flash PCIe SSDs. In our testing, the upgraded configuration of the Dell PowerEdge R920 delivered 14.9 times the database performance of the base configuration. In addition, in testing the raw I/O throughput of the NVMe Express Flash PCIe SSDs, we saw as much as 192.8 times the IOPS as compared to the base configuration. Given that the storage subsystem is critical in servers and specifically database applications, the performance improvements offered by NVMe Express Flash PCIe SSDs can lead to great service improvements for your customers, making this upgrade a very wise investment.
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2600 v4 Tech Computing Applications ShowcaseIntel IT Center
Where breakthrough performance is expected, the Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2600 v4 product family, a key ingredient of the Intel® Scalable System Framework and the software-defined data center, is designed to deliver better performance and performance per watt than ever before. The combination of Intel Xeon processors, Intel® Omni-Path Architecture, Intel Solutions for Lustre* software, and storage technologies improves bandwidth and reduces latency, providing a high-performing, highly scalable system for your most demanding workloads.
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2600 v4 Enterprise Database Applications ShowcaseIntel IT Center
The Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 v4 product family delivers the high performance, increased memory, and I/O bandwidth required for all forms of enterprise databases, is ideal for next-generation application workloads, and is the powerhouse for software-defined infrastructure (SDI) environments where automation and orchestration capabilities are foundational. See how database solutions deployed on the Intel® Xeon® processor E5 v4 product family can deliver increased performance and throughput, as demonstrated by key software partners.
The Apache Spark config behind the indsutry's first 100TB Spark SQL benchmarkLenovo Data Center
Some configurations deserve their own SlideShare entry: this is one of them. When the indsutry's first 100TB Spark SQL benchmark was reached, the media took notice. For good reason.
Intel, Mellanox, Lenovo and IBM came together to investigate a topology that leveraged advances in CPU, memory, storage and networking to assess the readiness of Spark SQL to harness new capabilities -- and speeds.
Get more VMware vSAN database performance with Intel Optane SSDs and HPE ProL...Principled Technologies
HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10 servers with Intel Optane NVMe SSDs processed 35% more IOPS and provided 34% faster throughput on a write-heavy workload versus a solution with only NAND flash NVMe SSDs.
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.
Improve performance and minimize latency for IO- intensive apps by pairing In...Principled Technologies
1) Pairing Intel NVMe SSDs with Intel Virtual RAID on CPU (VROC) can help improve performance and minimize latency for IO-intensive applications like large databases compared to using a dedicated RAID controller.
2) Testing showed that using Intel VROC provided up to 7.3% better performance over the Broadcom controller. Upgrading from SATA to NVMe PCIe SSDs nearly quadrupled transaction processing.
3) Intel VROC allows direct connection of NVMe drives to the CPU without a separate controller, potentially reducing costs while fully utilizing PCIe bandwidth for each drive. This led to reduced latency compared to the Broadcom solution in testing IO-intensive workloads.
Maximizing Oracle Database performance with Intel SSD DC P3600 Series NVMe SS...Principled Technologies
If your organization runs critical, high-demand databases in environments such as Oracle Database, strong performance is not an option: it’s a must-have. Additionally, getting that necessary strong performance out of a single server can be essential for running a space and cost-efficient datacenter. In the Principled Technologies labs, we found that the Dell PowerEdge R930 offered strong performance for such transactional databases when configured with SATA SSDs. When we upgraded the servers to Intel SSD DC P3600 Series NVMe SSDs, performance doubled, increasing by 2.17 times, or 117 percent. If your datacenter needs a new powerhouse server, purchasing your Dell PowerEdge R930 with Intel NVMe SSDs for a cost increase of only 18 percent can double the performance you get from each server. This increases what your infrastructure can do within the same amount of space and lets you ultimately save money that would otherwise be spent purchasing additional servers and software.
Similar to Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and Intel SSD technology (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.
Scale up your storage with higher-performing Dell APEX Block Storage for AWS
Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and Intel SSD technology
1. MARCH 2015
A PRINCIPLED TECHNOLOGIES TEST REPORT
Commissioned by SAS
CONSOLIDATE SAS® 9.4 WORKLOADS WITH INTEL XEON PROCESSOR E7 V2
AND INTEL SSD TECHNOLOGY
Is an outdated data center holding back your business? It might be time to
modernize and simplify with new systems that can do the work of many older servers.
This can translate to savings in space and operating costs while leaving headroom for
future growth.
For businesses running SAS® Analytics software, this means virtualizing bare-
metal legacy servers onto a newer Intel® Xeon® processor E7 v2 platform. In the
Principled Technologies data center, we found that a server powered by Intel Xeon
processors E5-2680 v2 with Intel Solid-State Drive (SSD) DC S3700 Series did the SAS
work of three legacy servers, and a newer server powered by Intel Xeon processors E7-
4890 v2 did the SAS work of eight legacy servers.1
With eight VMs, the Intel Xeon E7 v2
server with Intel SSD DC P3700 Series for PCIe® delivered over 11 times the relative
performance of the legacy server. What’s more, each VM on the Intel Xeon E5 v2 and E7
v2 servers completed the SAS multi-user scenario workload an average of over 40
minutes and nearly 50 minutes sooner respectively, and completed more jobs per hour
on average than the bare-metal legacy server did. In addition, some performance
capacity remained when running eight virtual instances simultaneously on the newer
server, potentially leaving room for more virtual SAS 9.4 instances.
1
For more information on the SAS 9.4 workload and jobs, see The SAS workload section on page 3 and Appendix A.
2. A Principled Technologies test report 2Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
SAVING WITH MODERNIZATION
One approach to the modernization of data centers combines consolidating
resources through virtualization with upgrading to new hardware technology. These
improvements can lead to reduced complexities throughout the technology stack, and
potentially reduce operational expenses (OPEX). Specifically, consolidating physical
hardware in the data center typically provides these advantages:
Reduced power and cooling requirements
Smaller physical footprints, such as reduced number of racks and
servers, which reduces space-related costs
Lower management costs due to fewer physical servers to manage
Fewer resources wasted as a result of underutilized hardware
Newer systems generally support, and will have, substantially more RAM and
storage, sometimes in the form of faster SSDs. These technologies are ideal for in-
memory data processing and analytics, such as SAS 9.4. The additional RAM and high-
performance SSDs work with Intel Xeon processor E5 v2 and E7 v2 technology, and are
designed by Intel to deliver fast performance for analytics workloads while increasing
data center efficiencies. Moving from multiple legacy servers onto newer servers
powered by Intel Xeon processors E7-4890 v2 and Intel SSDs DC P3700 running SAS 9.4,
can help in consolidation efforts, contributing to your modernization initiatives. In our
tests, which we describe further below, we found that one newer four-socket server
powered by Intel Xeon processors E7-4890 v2 could replace eight legacy servers running
SAS workloads (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Consolidating legacy servers is a key to modernization.
3. A Principled Technologies test report 3Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
THE RIGHT COMBINATION WITH INTEL + SAS
Deployments of SAS 9.4, an environment designed by SAS for business and
advanced complex data analytics, can benefit from servers powered by the Intel Xeon
processor E7 v2 family as processing, data storage, and analysis requirements increase
over time. The updated Intel technology in four-socket servers can make them well
suited to support large-volume, complex data analytics software such as those from
SAS. The Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 family features up to 50 percent more
cores/threads and 25 percent more cache than previous processor generations to
improve performance and help speed up your SAS workloads. Newer servers can also
support increased RAM and faster SSD storage. In our testing, we took advantage of
these RAM and SSD improvements. The servers powered by Intel Xeon processors E5-
2680 v2 had 256 GB RAM with DC S3700 SATA SSDs and the servers powered by Intel
Xeon processors E7-4890 v2 had 1,024 GB RAM with DC P3700 PCIe SSDs.
For the modern data center, servers based on the Intel Xeon processor E7 v2
family also offer a number of enhanced reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS)
and resource management features that build on previous processor releases. With
Intel Run Sure technology, these processors add new RAS features such as eMCA Gen 1,
MCA Recovery – Execution Path, MCA I/O, and PCIe Live Error Recovery to help keep
SAS workloads up and running. For more information on components used in our
testing, see Appendix A. For detailed hardware configuration information, see Appendix
B.
The SAS workload
For our hands-on testing, SAS created a multiuser workload to simulate the
workload of a typical SAS foundation environment consisting of 25 different data
analysis tasks. The test scenario was a self-contained SAS 9.4 workload that simulated 8
to 16 simultaneous users performing computation-focused jobs, as well as I/O-focused
jobs. The data analysis jobs varied from small and lightweight (e.g., simple reporting), to
more complex analytics (e.g., regression), to heavy data manipulations (e.g., joins,
sorts).
For more information on SAS 9.4 and the SAS workload, see Appendix A.
Appendix C shows how we performed our tests. See Appendix D and Appendix E for
configuration files and test scripts.
4. A Principled Technologies test report 4Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
WHAT WE FOUND
More jobs in less time and more headroom with 8 VMs
Running eight virtual SAS 9.4 instances on the server powered by Intel Xeon
processors E7-4890 v2 and PCIe SSDs provided a number of benefits. First, we found
that simply virtualizing the SAS workloads increased the amount of jobs that both the
two-socket server powered by the Intel Xeon processors E5-2680 v2 and the four-socket
server powered by the Intel Xeon processors E7-4890 v2 could perform simultaneously.
Simply put, virtualizing meant more work in less physical space, which creates an
opportunity to consolidate legacy two-socket servers in your data center.
Second, the two-socket server powered by Intel Xeon processors E5-2680 v2
provided up to nearly four times the relative performance of the two-socket legacy
server, while the four-socket Intel Xeon processor E7-4890 v2 server provided over 11
times the relative performance. This performance calculation uses the average time to
complete the workload to compare the work of each VM. Figure 2 shows the relative
performance for our three solutions.
Figure 2: The relative
performance of each solution.
Keeping those two previous points in mind, the four-socket server powered by
Intel Xeon processors E7-4890 v2 provided over 11 times the relative performance of
the legacy server in 28.2 percent less time—completing the SAS workload nearly 50
minutes faster. The shorter average time to complete the workload was driven by the
four Intel Xeon processors E7-4890 v2 processors and the improved I/O performance
offered by the Intel DC P3700 PCIe SSDs. Improved technology simply meant less time to
complete the work. Figure 3 shows the average time each solution took to complete the
SAS multi-user scenario workload.
Virtualizing meant
more work in less
physical space—up to
8 times the amount
of jobs ran
simultaneously on
one four-socket
server powered by
Intel Xeon processors
E7-4890 v2 as
compared to the
legacy server.
The four-socket
server with Intel
Xeon processors E7-
4890 v2 completed
the SAS workload on
average 28 percent
faster than the
legacy server did.
5. A Principled Technologies test report 5Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
Figure 3: The average time it
took each solution to complete
one SAS multi-user scenario in
hours:minutes:seconds.
Examining the time savings another way, the server powered by Intel Xeon
processors E7-4890 v2 completed an average of over 95 jobs in an hour, which is over
11 times the number of jobs per hour that the legacy server performed. As shown in
Figure 4, the server powered by Intel Xeon processors E5-2680 v2 completed an average
of over 34 jobs per hour, or almost three times more jobs per hour than the legacy
server did. More SAS jobs per hour means your business can analyze more quicker.
Figure 4: The average number
of jobs per hour for each
solution.
6. A Principled Technologies test report 6Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
In addition to the performance and time benefits, we saw that the four-socket
server powered by Intel Xeon processors E7-4890 v2 had system processing power
remaining even when it was running eight virtual SAS 9.4 instances. This headroom
means that for some periods during the test scenario, the eight VMs did not fully
saturate the processors, storage, or memory. With the available headroom, one could
increase the number of VMs on the server for more SAS 9.4 instances running additional
analytics, though we did not do so.
SUPPORTING PROCESSOR PERFORMANCE WITH INTEL SSD STORAGE
Running SAS 9.4 software on a server without improved storage performance
could place limitations on the workloads, leave the processor underutilized, and limit
the speed of your SAS jobs. Combining the Intel Xeon processors E5 v2 and E7 v2 with
the Intel DC S3700 SATA and DC P3700 PCIe SSDs respectively, allowed us to increase
the workload density and get more from our storage subsystem. A higher workload
density meant the newer servers completed more jobs simultaneously and averaged
more jobs per hour. Using the Intel DC S3700 SATA and DC P3700 PCIe SSDs improved
the outputs from the disk subsystem. Figure 5 shows the peak disk throughput that each
solution achieved.
Figure 5: The peak disk
throughput in GB per second
for each solution. For the E5 v2
server, we rounded 1.99 GB to
2.0.
Even with our eight VMs on the server powered by Intel Xeon processors E7-4890 v2 with Intel SSDs DC
P3700, we had headroom remaining at points in the test, which could translate to a potentially greater
number of VMs in your environment.
7. A Principled Technologies test report 7Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
Your business could see a number of potential benefits by upgrading your legacy
servers with hard-disk drives (HDDs) to newer servers with SATA and PCIe SSDs:
Get SAS data sooner and have more time to analyze the data
Save on management time by having fewer servers to maintain
Reduce waste by utilizing processor and memory resources more
effectively
CONCLUSION
A key to modernizing your data center is to consolidate your legacy workloads
through virtualization, which can help reduce complexity for your business. Fewer
servers require fewer physical resources, such as power, cabling, and switches, and
reduce the burden on IT for ongoing management tasks such as updates. In addition,
integrating newer hardware technology into your data center can provide new features
that strengthen your infrastructure, such as RAS features on the processor and disk
performance improvements. Finally, using SAS 9.4 ensures that you have the latest
features and toolsets that SAS can offer.
Compared to a legacy server, we found that a modern four-socket server
powered by Intel Xeon processors E7-4890 v2 with Intel SSD DC P3700 Series provided
eight times the amount of SAS work, over 11 times the relative performance, and a
shorter average time to complete the SAS workload. Running eight virtual SAS instances
also left capacity on the server for additional work. Consolidating your SAS workloads
from legacy servers onto servers powered by Intel Xeon processors E7 v2 and SAS 9.4
can provide your business with the latest hardware and software features, reduce
complexity in your data center, and potentially reduce costs for your business.
8. A Principled Technologies test report 8Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
APPENDIX A – ABOUT THE COMPONENTS
About the new Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 family
Intel designed the new Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 family to support mission-critical, high-performance
workloads by adding up to 50 percent more cores/threads and 25 percent more cache to provide significant jumps in
performance from previous releases. The Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 family provides up to 6TB DDR3 memory, supports
up to 24 DDR3 DIMMs per socket, and supports up to 1,600MHz DDR3 speeds to improve performance and increase
scalability.
The Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 family supports all the previous reliability, availability, and serviceability features
of previous processor releases to support critical workloads. With Intel® Run Sure technology, these processors add new
RAS features, including eMCA Gen 1, MCA Recovery – Execution Path, MCA IO, and PCIe Live Error Recovery. For more
information about the Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 product family, visit
www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/processors/xeon/xeon-e7-v2-family-details.html.
About the new Intel SSD DC P3700 Series
According to Intel, “[t]he Intel® Solid-State Drive Data Center Family for PCIe brings extreme data throughput
directly to Intel Xeon processors with up to six times faster data transfer speed than 6 Gbps SAS/SATA SSDs. The
performance of a single drive from the Intel SSD Data Center Family for PCIe, specifically the Intel Solid-State Drive Data
Center P3700 Series (460K IOPS), can replace the performance of seven SATA SSDs aggregated through a host bus
adapter (HBA) (approximately 500K IOPS).” For more information on the Intel SSD PC P3700 Series, visit
www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/solid-state-drives/solid-state-drives-dc-p3700-series.html.
About SAS 9.4
SAS 9.4, the latest release of SAS®9 architecture, uses multicore technologies2
to deliver processing capabilities
through in-database and in-memory analytics. According to SAS, this results “in greater insights more quickly from big
data and streaming data.” SAS upgraded the architecture with features that meet the needs of traditional on-site SAS
deployments and of private and public cloud deployments:
Choose from many deployment options, including hosted and managed cloud options with SAS Solutions
OnDemand
Use potentially highly scalable environments for testing and development with six new products
Integrate SAS into your business processes with new APIs, including mobile delivery options for popular
smartphones and tablets
Get monitoring and management capabilities with the new Web-based SAS Environment Manager
Monitor data according to your schedule (daily, weekly, or monthly) with the new SAS Environment
Manager
Receive alerts, notifications, and data from your servers in the customizable SAS Environment Manager
dashboard
2
Multi-core/threading technologies were not fully leveraged with the workload used in this study, but can be with newer SAS 9.4
capabilities such as In-memory and high-performance analytics.
9. A Principled Technologies test report 9Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
The second maintenance release, SAS® 9.4 TS1M2 (9.4M2), offers new features and enhancements for products
such as SAS/STAT®, SAS® Enterprise Miner™, and SAS/ETS®. For more information on SAS 9.4, visit
sas.com/en_us/software/sas9.html.
About the SAS workload
Test details
Each test scenario consisted of a set of 25 jobs running in a multiuser fashion to simulate a typical SAS batch and
SAS enterprise user environment where 8 to 16 simultaneous jobs were executing at any one time (except during initial
startup and during the ramp down period at the end). In the scenario-controlled scripts, jobs were launched over a set
interval to simulate a multiuser environment where users came and went from the system. To help simulate a typical
work environment during the test, some periods were heavier than others were. Some periods were batch-only and
other periods were batch and interactive users. This simulated a real-world environment where there are peaks and
valleys in system resource use.
The jobs used a mix of CPU, memory, and I/O-intensive workloads designed to simulate a larger work-group of 8
to 16 simultaneous sessions. During the test, 14 different programs were executed (25 different jobs were run during
the test, some more than once). We used different input data for all jobs. SAS procedures used during execution
included: LOGISTIC, REG, GLM, SORT, MEANS, MIXED, SUMMARY, DATA steps, and SQL.
Data
A single copy of the workload includes the following details:
• Individual file sizes up to 30 GB
• File types: text, sas7bdat, binary
• Row counts up to 76 million
• Variable and or column counts up to 297
• Binary file usage with EBCDIC and binary data from a mainframe (MVS)
• Approximately 130 GB of input data was used in each 8-to-16-simultaneous-user scenario that we executed
Input and output volumes were at least three to four times the input size (SAS programs typically read and write
data depending on function).
10. A Principled Technologies test report 10Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
APPENDIX B – SYSTEM CONFIGURATION INFORMATION
Figure 6 provides detailed configuration information for the test systems.
System Dell PowerEdge R710 Dell PowerEdge R720 Dell PowerEdge R920
General
Number of processor
packages
2 2 4
Number of cores per
processor
4 10 15
Number of hardware
threads per core
2 2 2
System power
management policy
Maximum performance Performance Performance
Power supplies
Total number 2 2 4
Vendor and model
number
Dell A870P-00 Dell E1100E-S0 Dell E1100E-S0
Wattage of each (W) 870 1,100 1,100
Cooling fans
Total number 5 6 6
Vendor and model
number
Dell PFC0612DE
San Ace® 60
9GA0612P1K641
Nidec® UltraFlo®
V12C12BS1M3
Dimensions (h × w) of
each
3″ × 3″ 3″ × 3″ 6″ × 6″
Volts 12 12 12
Amps 1.68 0.95 2.31
CPU
Vendor Intel Intel Intel
Name Xeon Xeon Xeon
Model number X5570 E5-2680 v2 E7-4890 v2
Socket type FCLGA1366 FCLGA2011 FCLGA2011
Core frequency (GHz) 2.93 2.8 2.8
Bus frequency 6.4 GT/s 8 GT/s 8 GT/s
L1 cache
4 × 32 KB Data
4 × 32 KB Instr.
10 × 32 KB Data
10 × 32 KB Instr.
15 × 32 KB Data
15 × 32 KB Instr.
L2 cache 4 × 256 KB 10 × 256 KB 15 × 256 KB
L3 cache 8 MB 25 MB 37.5 MB
Platform
Vendor and model
number
Dell PowerEdge R710 Dell PowerEdge R720 Dell PowerEdge R920
Motherboard model
number
0YDJK3 0M1GCRX04 0Y4CNCA01
BIOS name and version 6.4.0 2.4.3 1.3.2
BIOS settings Default Default Default
11. A Principled Technologies test report 11Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
System Dell PowerEdge R710 Dell PowerEdge R720 Dell PowerEdge R920
Memory module(s)
Total RAM in system
(GB)
48 256 1,024
Vendor and model
number
Samsung® M393B1K70DH0-
YH9
Hynix HMT42GR7MFR4C-PB Hynix HMT42GR7MFR4C-PB
Type PC3L-10600R PC3-12800R PC3-12800R
Speed (MHz) 1,333 1,600 1,600
Speed running in the
system (MHz)
1,333 1,600 1,333
Timing/Latency (tCL-
tRCD-tRP-tRASmin)
9-9-9-36 11-11-11-35 11-11-11-35
Size (GB) 8 16 16
Number of RAM
module(s)
6 16 64
Chip organization Double Sided Double Sided Double Sided
Rank Dual Dual Dual
Operating system
Name CentOS 6.6 CentOS 6.6 CentOS 6.6
Kernel Version 2.6.32-504.1.el6.x86_64 2.6.32-504.1.el6.x86_64 2.6.32-504.1.el6.x86_64
File system
ext4 (OS and SAS program
files)
xfs (SAS DATA/OUTPUT)
xfs (SAS WORK/UTILLOC)
ext4 (OS and SAS program
files)
xfs (SAS DATA/OUTPUT)
xfs (SAS WORK/UTILLOC)
ext4 (OS and SAS program
files)
xfs (SAS DATA/OUTPUT)
xfs (SAS WORK/UTILLOC)
RAID controller
Vendor and model
number
Dell PERC 6/i Dell PERC H710P Mini 2 × Dell PERC H730P
Firmware version 6.3.3.0002 21.3.0-0009 25.2.0.0019
Driver version
06.803.01.00-rh1
(megaraid_sas)
06.803.01.00-rh1
(megaraid_sas)
06.803.01.00-rh1
(megaraid_sas)
Cache size (MB) 256 1,024 2,048
Solid-state drives
Vendor and model
number
N/A Intel SSD DC S3700 Intel SSD DC P3700
Number of drives N/A 8 4
Size N/A 800 GB 1.6 TB
Type N/A 2.5in SATA 6Gb/s 1/2 Height PCIe 3.0
Hard drives
Vendor and model
number
8 × Seagate® ST9300605SS
2 × Seagate ST300MM0006,
4 × Toshiba® MBF2600RC
2 × Seagate ST300MM0006,
4 × Toshiba AL13SEB900
Number of drives 8 6 6
Size (GB) 300 300, 600 300, 900
RPM 15K 10K 10K
Type SAS 6Gb/s SAS 6Gb/s SAS 6Gb/s
12. A Principled Technologies test report 12Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
System Dell PowerEdge R710 Dell PowerEdge R720 Dell PowerEdge R920
Ethernet adapters
Vendor and model
number
Broadcom NetXtreme® II 4P Intel 2P X540/2P I350 Intel 2P X540/2P I350
Type rNDC rNDC rNDC
Driver bnx2 v2.2.4 Intel 5.0.5-k Intel 5.0.5-k
Figure 6: System configuration information for the test systems.
13. A Principled Technologies test report 13Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
APPENDIX C – HOW WE TESTED
Installing the CentOS 6.5 64-bit operating system
1. Insert the CentOS 6.5 installation DVD, and boot from it.
2. On the Welcome to CentOS 6.5! screen, select Install or upgrade an existing system, and press Enter.
3. On the Disc Found screen, select Skip, and press Enter.
4. On the CentOS 6 screen, click Next.
5. On the installation-selection screen, keep the default, and click Next.
6. One the keyboard-selection screen, keep the default, and click Next.
7. On the storage-selection screen, click Basic Storage Devices, and click Next.
8. On the Storage Device Warning pop-up screen, click Yes, discard any data.
9. On the Hostname screen, enter the server’s name, and click Configure Network.
10. On the Network Connections pop-up screen, click Add.
11. On the Choose a Connection Type, select Wired, and click Create.
12. On the Editing Wired Connection pop-up, select the IPv4 Settings tab, change Method to Manual, click Add,
enter the interface's IP address, netmask, and gateway, and click Apply.
13. Close the Network Connections pop-up screen.
14. Click next on the Hostname screen.
15. On the time-zone screen, click Next.
16. On the administrator-password screen, enter the Root Password (twice), and click Next.
17. On the Which type of installation would you like screen, click both Replace Existing Linux Systems(s), and click
Next.
18. On the Format Warnings pop-up screen, click Format.
19. On the Writing storage configuration to disk pop-up screen, click Write changes to disk.
20. On the boot-loader selection screen, click Next.
21. On the software-selection screen, click Basic Server (R710, R720 VM, R920 VM) or Virtual Host (R720, R920), and
click Next.
22. On the Congratulations screen, click Reboot.
Configuring the Dell R710 (bare-metal)
Run the following commands for each process.
Installing updates and additional packages
yum install -y epel-release
yum update -y
yum install -y chrony nmon time xfsprogs tuned numactl acpid cpuspeed wget vim
nfs-utils openssh-clients man unzip smartmontools numactl ipmitool OpenIPMI
sysstat
Disabling SELINUX and the firewall
setenforce 0
sed -i 's/SELINUX=enforcing/SELINUX=disabled/' /etc/selinux/config
service iptables stop
14. A Principled Technologies test report 14Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
service ip6tables stop
chkconfig iptables off
chkconfig ip6tables off
Editing /etc/fstab
Change the following:
/dev/mapper/vg_r710-lv_root / ext4 defaults 1 1
To the following:
/dev/mapper/vg_r710-lv_root / ext4 defaults,nobarrier,noatime,nodiratime 1 1
Synching the time
service ntpd stop
chkconfig ntpd off
sed -i '/server .*/d' /etc/chrony.conf
echo 'server time.ptnet.principledtech.com iburst prefer' >> /etc/chrony.conf
service chronyd restart
chkconfig chronyd on
Creating and formatting volumes (assume RAID10)
VG_NAME=vg_r710
DISKS=8
STRIPE=256
lvcreate ${VG_NAME} -L 350G -C y -n lv_sasdata
lvcreate ${VG_NAME} -l 100%FREE -n lv_saswork
mkfs.xfs -d su=${STRIPE}k,sw=$(($DISKS / 2)) /dev/${VG_NAME}/lv_sasdata
mkfs.xfs -d su=${STRIPE}k,sw=$(($DISKS / 2)) /dev/${VG_NAME}/lv_saswork
mkdir -p /data
echo -e "/dev/${VG_NAME}/lv_sasdata /data xfs
defaults,nobarrier,noatime,nodiratime,inode64 0 0" >> /etc/fstab
mount -v /data
mkdir -p /data/saswork
echo "/dev/${VG_NAME}/lv_saswork /data/saswork xfs
defaults,nobarrier,noatime,nodiratime,inode64 0 0" >> /etc/fstab
mount -v /data/saswork
Creating and applying a tuned profile
cp -r /etc/tune-profiles/enterprise-storage /etc/tune-profiles/sas
sed -i 's/set_transparent_hugepages.*always/set_transparent_hugepages never/'
/etc/tune-profiles/sas/ktune.sh
sed -i 's/multiply_disk_readahead.*4/multiply_disk_readahead 64/' /etc/tune-
profiles/sas/ktune.sh
tuned-adm profile sas
reboot
15. A Principled Technologies test report 15Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
Creating users
groupadd -g 500 sas
useradd -u 500 -g 500 sasdemo
useradd -u 400 -g 500 sas
passwd sasdemo
passwd sas
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/SAS/SASFoundation/9.4' >> /home/sasdemo/.bashrc
echo 'export ASUITE=/data/asuite' >> /home/sasdemo/.bashrc
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/SAS/SASFoundation/9.4' >> /root/.bashrc
echo 'export ASUITE=/data/asuite' >> /root/.bashrc
Extracting SAS workload files
cd /
tar -zxvf opt_SAS.tar.gz
tar -zxvf data.tar.gz
Configure the R720 (Virtual Host)
Run the following commands for each process.
Installing updates and additional packages
yum install -y epel-release
yum update -y
yum install -y chrony nmon time xfsprogs tuned numactl acpid cpuspeed wget vim
nfs-utils openssh-clients man unzip smartmontools numactl ipmitool OpenIPMI
sysstat
Disabling SELINUX and the firewall
setenforce 0
sed -i 's/SELINUX=enforcing/SELINUX=disabled/' /etc/selinux/config
service iptables stop
service ip6tables stop
chkconfig iptables off
chkconfig ip6tables off
Editing /etc/fstab
1. Change the following:
/dev/mapper/vg_r720-lv_root / ext4 defaults 1 1
To the following:
/dev/mapper/vg_r720-lv_root / ext4 defaults,nobarrier,noatime,nodiratime 1 1
2. Add the following:
hugetlbfs /dev/hugepages hugetlbfs mode=1770,gid=107 0 0
Editing /etc/libvirt/qemu.conf
hugetlbfs_mount = "/dev/hugepages"
Editing /etc/sysctl.conf
vm.hugetlb_shm_group = 107
vm.nr_hugepages = 122904
16. A Principled Technologies test report 16Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
Synching the time
service ntpd stop
chkconfig ntpd off
sed -i '/server .*/d' /etc/chrony.conf
echo 'server time.ptnet.principledtech.com iburst prefer' >> /etc/chrony.conf
service chronyd restart
chkconfig chronyd on
Creating and formatting volumes (assume RAID10)
STRIPE=256
VMCOUNT=6
POOL_NAME[0]=vmpool
POOL_DEVS[0]="/dev/sdb"
POOL_DISKS[0]=4
POOL_HWRAID[0]=true
POOL_VOLNAME[0]=os
POOL_VOLSIZE[0]=80
POOL_NAME[1]=datapool
POOL_DEVS[1]="/dev/sdc"
POOL_DISKS[1]=8
POOL_HWRAID[1]=true
POOL_VOLNAME[1]=data
POOL_VOLSIZE[1]=496
for (( i=0; i<${#POOL_NAME[@]}; i++ ));
do
NAME=${POOL_NAME[$i]}
DEVS=${POOL_DEVS[$i]}
DISKS=${POOL_DISKS[$i]}
HWRAID=${POOL_HWRAID[$i]}
VOLNAME=${POOL_VOLNAME[$i]}
VOLSIZE=${POOL_VOLSIZE[$i]}
vgremove -f $NAME
pvremove $DEVS
for dev in $DEVS; do
dd if=/dev/zero of=${dev} bs=1M count=10 oflag=direct
done
if $HWRAID; then
pvcreate --dataalignment $((${DISKS} / 2 * ${STRIPE}))K $DEVS
else
pvcreate $DEVS
fi
vgcreate -s 1g $NAME $DEVS
for vm in `seq 1 $VMCOUNT`;
do
if $HWRAID; then
17. A Principled Technologies test report 17Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
lvcreate -n ${VOLNAME}${vm} -l ${VOLSIZE} -C y $NAME
else
if [ ${DISKS} -lt 4 ]; then
lvcreate --type raid1 -m 1 -n ${VOLNAME}${vm} -l ${VOLSIZE} -C y $NAME
else
lvcreate --type raid10 -i $((${DISKS} / 2)) -I ${STRIPE} -m 1 -n
${VOLNAME}${vm} -l ${VOLSIZE} -C y $NAME
fi
fi
done
virsh pool-define-as --name $NAME --type logical --target /dev/$NAME
virsh pool-start --pool $NAME
virsh pool-autostart --pool $NAME
sync
done
Creating and applying a tuned profile
tuned-adm profile virtual-host
Configure the R920 (Virtual Host)
Installing updates and additional packages
yum install -y epel-release
yum update -y
yum install -y chrony nmon time xfsprogs tuned numactl acpid cpuspeed wget vim
nfs-utils openssh-clients man unzip smartmontools numactl ipmitool OpenIPMI
sysstat
Disabling SELINUX and the firewall
setenforce 0
sed -i 's/SELINUX=enforcing/SELINUX=disabled/' /etc/selinux/config
service iptables stop
service ip6tables stop
chkconfig iptables off
chkconfig ip6tables off
Editing /etc/fstab
1. Change the following:
/dev/mapper/vg_r920-lv_root / ext4 defaults 1 1
To the following:
/dev/mapper/vg_r920-lv_root / ext4 defaults,nobarrier,noatime,nodiratime 1 1
2. Add the following:
hugetlbfs /dev/hugepages hugetlbfs mode=1770,gid=107 0 0
Editing /etc/libvirt/qemu.conf
hugetlbfs_mount = "/dev/hugepages"
18. A Principled Technologies test report 18Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
Editing /etc/sysctl.conf
vm.hugetlb_shm_group = 107
vm.nr_hugepages = 327744
Synching the time
service ntpd stop
chkconfig ntpd off
sed -i '/server .*/d' /etc/chrony.conf
echo 'server time.ptnet.principledtech.com iburst prefer' >> /etc/chrony.conf
service chronyd restart
chkconfig chronyd on
Creating and formatting volumes (assume RAID10)
STRIPE=256
VMCOUNT=12
POOL_NAME[0]=vmpool
POOL_DEVS[0]="/dev/sdb"
POOL_DISKS[0]=4
POOL_HWRAID[0]=true
POOL_VOLNAME[0]=os
POOL_VOLSIZE[0]=80
for (( i=0; i<${#POOL_NAME[@]}; i++ ));
do
NAME=${POOL_NAME[$i]}
DEVS=${POOL_DEVS[$i]}
DISKS=${POOL_DISKS[$i]}
HWRAID=${POOL_HWRAID[$i]}
VOLNAME=${POOL_VOLNAME[$i]}
VOLSIZE=${POOL_VOLSIZE[$i]}
vgremove -f $NAME
pvremove $DEVS
for dev in $DEVS; do
dd if=/dev/zero of=${dev} bs=1M count=10 oflag=direct
done
if $HWRAID; then
pvcreate --dataalignment $((${DISKS} / 2 * ${STRIPE}))K $DEVS
else
pvcreate $DEVS
fi
vgcreate -s 1g $NAME $DEVS
for vm in `seq 1 $VMCOUNT`;
do
if $HWRAID; then
lvcreate -n ${VOLNAME}${vm} -l ${VOLSIZE} -C y $NAME
else
if [ ${DISKS} -lt 4 ]; then
19. A Principled Technologies test report 19Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
lvcreate --type raid1 -m 1 -n ${VOLNAME}${vm} -l ${VOLSIZE} -C y $NAME
else
lvcreate --type raid10 -i $((${DISKS} / 2)) -I ${STRIPE} -m 1 -n
${VOLNAME}${vm} -l ${VOLSIZE} -C y $NAME
fi
fi
done
virsh pool-define-as --name $NAME --type logical --target /dev/$NAME
virsh pool-start --pool $NAME
virsh pool-autostart --pool $NAME
sync
done
Creating and formatting volumes (assume no RAID)
vgcreate -s 1g datapool /dev/nvme0n1 /dev/nvme1n1 /dev/nvme2n1 /dev/nvme3n1
lvcreate -L 496g datapool -C y -n data1 /dev/nvme0n1
lvcreate -L 496g datapool -C y -n data2 /dev/nvme1n1
lvcreate -L 496g datapool -C y -n data3 /dev/nvme2n1
lvcreate -L 496g datapool -C y -n data4 /dev/nvme3n1
lvcreate -L 496g datapool -C y -n data5 /dev/nvme0n1
lvcreate -L 496g datapool -C y -n data6 /dev/nvme1n1
lvcreate -L 496g datapool -C y -n data7 /dev/nvme2n1
lvcreate -L 496g datapool -C y -n data8 /dev/nvme3n1
lvcreate -L 496g datapool -C y -n data9 /dev/nvme0n1
lvcreate -L 496g datapool -C y -n data10 /dev/nvme1n1
lvcreate -L 496g datapool -C y -n data11 /dev/nvme2n1
lvcreate -L 496g datapool -C y -n data12 /dev/nvme3n1
Configure the R720 Virtual Machines
Installing updates and additional packages
yum install -y epel-release
yum update -y
yum install -y chrony nmon time xfsprogs tuned acpid wget vim nfs-utils openssh-
clients man unzip sysstat numactl
ln -s /dev/null /etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules
rm -f /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules
Disabling SELINUX and the firewall
setenforce 0
sed -i 's/SELINUX=enforcing/SELINUX=disabled/' /etc/selinux/config
service iptables stop
service ip6tables stop
chkconfig iptables off
chkconfig ip6tables off
Editing /etc/fstab
Change the following:
/dev/mapper/vg_r720vm1-lv_root / ext4 defaults 1 1
20. A Principled Technologies test report 20Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
To the following:
/dev/mapper/vg_r720vm1-lv_root / ext4 defaults,nobarrier,noatime,nodiratime 1 1
Synching the time
service ntpd stop
chkconfig ntpd off
sed -i '/server .*/d' /etc/chrony.conf
echo 'server time.ptnet.principledtech.com iburst prefer' >> /etc/chrony.conf
service chronyd restart
chkconfig chronyd on
Creating users
groupadd -g 500 sas
useradd -u 500 -g 500 sasdemo
useradd -u 400 -g 500 sas
passwd sasdemo
passwd sas
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/SAS/SASFoundation/9.4' >> /home/sasdemo/.bashrc
echo 'export ASUITE=/data/asuite' >> /home/sasdemo/.bashrc
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/SAS/SASFoundation/9.4' >> /root/.bashrc
echo 'export ASUITE=/data/asuite' >> /root/.bashrc
Creating and applying a tuned profile
cp -r /etc/tune-profiles/enterprise-storage /etc/tune-profiles/sas
sed -i 's/set_transparent_hugepages.*always/set_transparent_hugepages never/'
/etc/tune-profiles/sas/ktune.sh
sed -i 's/multiply_disk_readahead.*4/multiply_disk_readahead 64/' /etc/tune-
profiles/sas/ktune.sh
tuned-adm profile sas
reboot
Creating and formatting volumes (assume RAID10)
VG_NAME=vg_sas
STRIPE=256
DATA_DISKS=8
WORK_DISKS=8
DATA_DEV=/dev/vdb
WORK_DEV=/dev/vdb
pvcreate --dataalignment $((${DATA_DISKS} / 2 * ${STRIPE}))K $DATA_DEV
pvcreate --dataalignment $((${WORK_DISKS} / 2 * ${STRIPE}))K $WORK_DEV
vgcreate -s ${STRIPE}m $VG_NAME $DATA_DEV
vgextend $VG_NAME $WORK_DEV
lvcreate ${VG_NAME} ${DATA_DEV} -L 350G -n lv_sasdata
lvcreate ${VG_NAME} ${WORK_DEV} -l 100%FREE -n lv_saswork
mkfs.xfs -d su=${STRIPE}k,sw=$((${DATA_DISKS} / 2)) /dev/${VG_NAME}/lv_sasdata
21. A Principled Technologies test report 21Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
mkfs.xfs -d su=${STRIPE}k,sw=$((${WORK_DISKS} / 2)) /dev/${VG_NAME}/lv_saswork
mkdir -p /data
echo -e "/dev/${VG_NAME}/lv_sasdata /data xfs
defaults,nobarrier,noatime,nodiratime,inode64 0 0" >> /etc/fstab
mount -v /data
mkdir -p /data/saswork
echo "/dev/${VG_NAME}/lv_saswork /data/saswork xfs
defaults,nobarrier,noatime,nodiratime,inode64 0 0" >> /etc/fstab
mount -v /data/saswork
poweroff
Extracting SAS workload files
cd / ; tar -zxvf opt_SAS.tar.gz
cd / ; tar -zxvf data.tar.gz
Configure the R920 Virtual Machines
Installing updates and additional packages
yum install -y epel-release
yum update -y
yum install -y chrony nmon time xfsprogs tuned acpid wget vim nfs-utils openssh-
clients man unzip sysstat numactl
ln -s /dev/null /etc/udev/rules.d/75-persistent-net-generator.rules
rm -f /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules
Disabling SELINUX and the firewall
setenforce 0
sed -i 's/SELINUX=enforcing/SELINUX=disabled/' /etc/selinux/config
service iptables stop
service ip6tables stop
chkconfig iptables off
chkconfig ip6tables off
Editing /etc/fstab
Change the following:
/dev/mapper/vg_r920vm1-lv_root / ext4 defaults 1 1
To the following:
/dev/mapper/vg_r920vm1-lv_root / ext4 defaults,nobarrier,noatime,nodiratime 1 1
Synching the time
service ntpd stop
chkconfig ntpd off
sed -i '/server .*/d' /etc/chrony.conf
echo 'server time.ptnet.principledtech.com iburst prefer' >> /etc/chrony.conf
service chronyd restart
chkconfig chronyd on
22. A Principled Technologies test report 22Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
Creating users
groupadd -g 500 sas
useradd -u 500 -g 500 sasdemo
useradd -u 400 -g 500 sas
passwd sasdemo
passwd sas
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/SAS/SASFoundation/9.4' >> /home/sasdemo/.bashrc
echo 'export ASUITE=/data/asuite' >> /home/sasdemo/.bashrc
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/SAS/SASFoundation/9.4' >> /root/.bashrc
echo 'export ASUITE=/data/asuite' >> /root/.bashrc
Creating and applying a tuned profile
cp -r /etc/tune-profiles/enterprise-storage /etc/tune-profiles/sas
sed -i 's/set_transparent_hugepages.*always/set_transparent_hugepages never/'
/etc/tune-profiles/sas/ktune.sh
sed -i 's/multiply_disk_readahead.*4/multiply_disk_readahead 64/' /etc/tune-
profiles/sas/ktune.sh
tuned-adm profile sas
reboot
Creating and formatting volumes (assume no RAID)
VG_NAME=vg_sas
STRIPE=256
DATA_DISKS=1
WORK_DISKS=1
DATA_DEV=/dev/vdb
WORK_DEV=/dev/vdb
pvcreate $DATA_DEV
pvcreate $WORK_DEV
vgcreate -s ${STRIPE}m $VG_NAME $DATA_DEV
vgextend $VG_NAME $WORK_DEV
lvcreate ${VG_NAME} ${DATA_DEV} -L 350G -n lv_sasdata
lvcreate ${VG_NAME} ${WORK_DEV} -l 100%FREE -n lv_saswork
mkfs.xfs -d su=${STRIPE}k,sw=${DATA_DISKS} /dev/${VG_NAME}/lv_sasdata
mkfs.xfs -d su=${STRIPE}k,sw=${WORK_DISKS} /dev/${VG_NAME}/lv_saswork
mkdir -p /data
echo -e "/dev/${VG_NAME}/lv_sasdata /data xfs
defaults,nobarrier,noatime,nodiratime,inode64 0 0" >> /etc/fstab
mount -v /data
mkdir -p /data/saswork
echo "/dev/${VG_NAME}/lv_saswork /data/saswork xfs
defaults,nobarrier,noatime,nodiratime,inode64 0 0" >> /etc/fstab
mount -v /data/saswork
23. A Principled Technologies test report 23Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
poweroff
Extracting SAS workload files
cd / ; tar -zxvf opt_SAS.tar.gz
cd / ; tar -zxvf data.tar.gz
29. A Principled Technologies test report 29Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
APPENDIX E – TEST SCRIPTS
run_sas_multi.sh
#!/bin/bash
STATS_INTERVAL=15
MAX_RUNTIME=7200
REMOTE_ASUITE=/data/asuite
REMOTE_SASPATH=/opt/SAS/SASFoundation/9.4
SSH_CMD="ssh -2"
MAX_SAMPLES=$((${MAX_RUNTIME} / ${STATS_INTERVAL}))
TIMESTAMP=$(date +"%Y%m%d_%H%M%S")
if [ "$SAS_HOSTS" == "" ]; then
echo Variable SAS_HOSTS is invalid...exiting
exit
fi
echo "SAS Hosts: $SAS_HOSTS"
# Check if VM
VM_TEST=true
if [ "$VIRT_HOSTS" == "$SAS_HOSTS" ]; then
VM_TEST=false
elif [ "$VIRT_HOSTS" == "" ]; then
VM_TEST=false
VIRT_HOSTS="$SAS_HOSTS"
fi
if $VM_TEST; then
echo "Hypervisor Hosts: $VIRT_HOSTS"
fi
TEST_NAME=$(echo $VIRT_HOSTS | awk '{print $1}')
RESULTS_DIR="${TEST_NAME}_${TIMESTAMP}"
REMOTE_HOST=
echo "Results Directory: $RESULTS_DIR"
mkdir -p $RESULTS_DIR
# Cleanup and drop caches
echo Cleanup and drop caches
for REMOTE_HOST in $SAS_HOSTS;
do
$SSH_CMD root@$REMOTE_HOST "export ASUITE=${REMOTE_ASUITE} ; pkill sas ; sync ;
sleep 1 ; $ASUITE/bin/clean.sh ; rm -f $ASUITE/logs/*.* ; sync ; sleep 1 ; echo
3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches ; sync ; sleep 1 ; find /* > /dev/null" 1> /dev/null
&
done
wait
30. A Principled Technologies test report 30Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
# Start performance monitoring on VIRT hosts
if $VM_TEST; then
echo Start performance monitoring on VIRT hosts
for REMOTE_HOST in $VIRT_HOSTS;
do
$SSH_CMD root@$REMOTE_HOST "pkill nmon ; rm -f /tmp/*.nmon ; nmon -F
/tmp/${REMOTE_HOST}.nmon -s${STATS_INTERVAL} -c${MAX_SAMPLES} -t -C sas"
$SSH_CMD -f root@$REMOTE_HOST "pkill sar ; rm -f /tmp/*.sar ; sar -o
/tmp/${REMOTE_HOST}.sar ${STATS_INTERVAL} ${MAX_SAMPLES} > /dev/null 2>&1" 2>
/dev/null
done
sleep $((${STATS_INTERVAL} * 2))
fi
# Start performance monitoring on SAS hosts
echo Start performance monitoring on SAS hosts
for REMOTE_HOST in $SAS_HOSTS;
do
$SSH_CMD root@$REMOTE_HOST "pkill nmon ; nmon -F
${REMOTE_ASUITE}/logs/${REMOTE_HOST}.nmon -s${STATS_INTERVAL} -c${MAX_SAMPLES} -t
-C sas"
$SSH_CMD -f root@$REMOTE_HOST "pkill sar ; sar -o
${REMOTE_ASUITE}/logs/${REMOTE_HOST}.sar ${STATS_INTERVAL} ${MAX_SAMPLES} >
/dev/null 2>&1" 2> /dev/null
done
sleep $((${STATS_INTERVAL} * 2))
# Run SAS Demo
date +%s.%N > ${RESULTS_DIR}/start_time.txt
for REMOTE_HOST in $SAS_HOSTS;
do
#/usr/bin/time -p $SSH_CMD sasdemo@$REMOTE_HOST "export ASUITE=${REMOTE_ASUITE}
; export PATH=$PATH:$REMOTE_SASPATH ; echo Running on ${REMOTE_HOST}!
PATH=$PATH 2> $ASUITE/logs/time.log | tee $ASUITE/logs/output.log ; sleep 5 ;
echo Done on ${REMOTE_HOST}!" 2> ${RESULTS_DIR}/${REMOTE_HOST}_time.log 1>
${RESULTS_DIR}/${REMOTE_HOST}_output.log &
/usr/bin/time -p $SSH_CMD sasdemo@$REMOTE_HOST "/usr/bin/time -p
$ASUITE/bin/mixed_8_to_16.sh 2> $ASUITE/logs/time.log | tee
$ASUITE/logs/output.log ; sync" 2> ${RESULTS_DIR}/${REMOTE_HOST}_time.log 1>
${RESULTS_DIR}/${REMOTE_HOST}_output.log &
done
sleep 1
echo "Running SAS Demo! (To see output run: tail -f ${RESULTS_DIR}/*_output.log)"
wait
date +%s.%N > ${RESULTS_DIR}/stop_time.txt
echo SAS Demo complete!
sync
echo "$(cat ${RESULTS_DIR}/stop_time.txt) - $(cat ${RESULTS_DIR}/start_time.txt)"
| bc > ${RESULTS_DIR}/test_time.txt
31. A Principled Technologies test report 31Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
sleep $((${STATS_INTERVAL} * 2))
# Stop performance monitoring on SAS hosts
echo Stop performance monitoring on SAS hosts
for REMOTE_HOST in $SAS_HOSTS;
do
$SSH_CMD root@$REMOTE_HOST "pkill -USR2 nmon ; killall -w sar ; sync"
done
# Stop performance monitoring on VIRT hosts
if $VM_TEST; then
sleep $((${STATS_INTERVAL} * 2))
echo Stop performance monitoring on VIRT hosts
for REMOTE_HOST in $VIRT_HOSTS;
do
$SSH_CMD root@$REMOTE_HOST "pkill -USR2 nmon ; killall -w sar ; sync"
done
fi
# Parse and transfer remote results
echo Parse and transfer remote results
for REMOTE_HOST in $SAS_HOSTS;
do
$SSH_CMD root@$REMOTE_HOST "export ASUITE=${REMOTE_ASUITE} ; cd $ASUITE/logs ;
grep -A100 "NOTE: The SAS System used:" *.log | grep -v "The SAS System" |
sed 's/.log-//' > sas_system.log ; cat sas_system.log | awk '/real time/{print
$1","$4}' | awk -F'[,:]'
'BEGIN{min_sum=0;sec_sum=0};/:/{printf("%s,%sn",$1,($2*60)+$3);min_sum+=$2
;sec_sum+=$3};!/:/{printf("%s,%sn",$1,$2);sec_sum+=$2};END{printf("total_
real_time,%sn",min_sum*60+sec_sum)}' > real_time.csv"
mkdir -p ${RESULTS_DIR}/${REMOTE_HOST}
scp root@$REMOTE_HOST:${REMOTE_ASUITE}/logs/*.* ${RESULTS_DIR}/${REMOTE_HOST}
done
OLD_DIR=$(pwd)
cd ${RESULTS_DIR}
find */real_time.csv | awk -F'/' '{printf("jobname,%s,",$1)}END{print""}' >
real_time.csv
paste -d',' */real_time.csv >> real_time.csv
cd ${OLD_DIR}
# Transfer virthost stats
if $VM_TEST; then
echo Transfer virthost stats
for REMOTE_HOST in $VIRT_HOSTS;
do
scp root@$REMOTE_HOST:/tmp/*.nmon ${RESULTS_DIR}/
scp root@$REMOTE_HOST:/tmp/*.sar ${RESULTS_DIR}/
for SAS_HOST in $SAS_HOSTS;
do
$SSH_CMD root@$REMOTE_HOST "virsh dumpxml ${SAS_HOST}" >
${RESULTS_DIR}/${SAS_HOST}.xml
done
32. A Principled Technologies test report 32Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
done
fi
mixed_8_to_16.sh
#!/bin/sh
echo "computation multi-user ~8-16 simultaneous session test..."
echo ""
cd $ASUITE
OPTIONS="-memsize 2048M -bufsize 256k -sortsize 256M -fullstimer -work
/data/saswork "
OPTIONS2="-memsize 4096M -bufsize 256k -sortsize 256M -fullstimer -work
/data/saswork "
date
echo "ramp up..."
sas $ASUITE/code/codegen_issue.sas -sysparm 1 -log
$ASUITE/logs/codegen_a_1.log -print $ASUITE/lst/codegen_a_1.lst
$OPTIONS &
sleep 30
sas $ASUITE/code/io1_ca.sas -sysparm ca1 -log $ASUITE/logs/io1_ca_a_1.log
-print $ASUITE/lst/io1_ca_a_1.lst $OPTIONS &
sleep 30
sas $ASUITE/code/comp_test1.sas -log $ASUITE/logs/comp_test1_a_1.log
-print $ASUITE/lst/comp_test1_a_1.lst $OPTIONS &
sas $ASUITE/code/comp_test1.sas -log $ASUITE/logs/comp_test1_a_2.log
-print $ASUITE/lst/comp_test1_a_2.lst $OPTIONS &
sleep 30
sas $ASUITE/code/mixed4.sas -sysparm 1 -log $ASUITE/logs/mixed4_a_1.log
-print $ASUITE/lst/mixed4_a_1.lst $OPTIONS &
sleep 30
sas $ASUITE/code/dim.sas -sysparm 1 -log $ASUITE/logs/dim_a_1.log -print
$ASUITE/lst/dim_a_1.lst $OPTIONS &
sleep 30
sas $ASUITE/code/hist_clm.sas -sysparm 1 -log $ASUITE/logs/hist_clm_a_1.log
-print $ASUITE/lst/hist_clm_a_1.lst $OPTIONS &
sleep 30
sas $ASUITE/code/comp_test2.sas -log $ASUITE/logs/comp_test2_a_1.log
-print $ASUITE/lst/comp_test2_a_1.lst $OPTIONS &
sas $ASUITE/code/comp_test2.sas -log $ASUITE/logs/comp_test2_a_2.log
-print $ASUITE/lst/comp_test2_a_2.lst $OPTIONS &
sleep 90
sas $ASUITE/code/customer1.sas -sysparm 1 -log $ASUITE/logs/customer1_a_1.log
-print $ASUITE/lst/customer1_a_1.lst $OPTIONS &
sleep 5
33. A Principled Technologies test report 33Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
sas $ASUITE/code/gsort.sas -sysparm 1 -log $ASUITE/logs/gsort_a_1.log
-print $ASUITE/lst/gsort_a_1.lst $OPTIONS &
sleep 60
sas $ASUITE/code/gsort.sas -sysparm 2 -log $ASUITE/logs/gsort_a_2.log
-print $ASUITE/lst/gsort_a_2.lst $OPTIONS &
sleep 30
sas $ASUITE/code/customer1.sas -sysparm 2 -log
$ASUITE/logs/customer1_a_2.log -print $ASUITE/lst/customer1_a_2.lst
$OPTIONS &
sleep 30
sas $ASUITE/code/io2.sas -sysparm large1 -log $ASUITE/logs/io2_a_1.log
-print $ASUITE/lst/io2_a_1.lst $OPTIONS &
sleep 30
sas $ASUITE/code/ranrw.sas -sysparm 1 -log $ASUITE/logs/ranrw_a_1.log
-print $ASUITE/lst/ranrw_a_1.lst $OPTIONS &
sleep 60
sas $ASUITE/code/comp_test5.sas -log $ASUITE/logs/comp_test5_a_1.log
-print $ASUITE/lst/comp_test5_a_1.lst $OPTIONS &
sas $ASUITE/code/comp_test5.sas -log $ASUITE/logs/comp_test5_a_2.log
-print $ASUITE/lst/comp_test5_a_2.lst $OPTIONS &
sleep 60
sas $ASUITE/code/comp_test2.sas -log $ASUITE/logs/comp_test2_a_3.log
-print $ASUITE/lst/comp_test2_a_3.lst $OPTIONS &
sas $ASUITE/code/comp_test5.sas -log $ASUITE/logs/comp_test5_a_3.log
-print $ASUITE/lst/comp_test5_a_3.lst $OPTIONS &
sas $ASUITE/code/comp_test5.sas -log $ASUITE/logs/comp_test5_a_4.log
-print $ASUITE/lst/comp_test5_a_4.lst $OPTIONS &
sleep 60
sas $ASUITE/code/gsort.sas -sysparm 3 -log $ASUITE/logs/gsort_a_3.log
-print $ASUITE/lst/gsort_a_3.lst $OPTIONS &
sas $ASUITE/code/ds.sas -sysparm 1 -log $ASUITE/logs/ds_a_1.log
-print $ASUITE/lst/ds_a_1.lst $OPTIONS &
sleep 120
sas $ASUITE/code/comp_test2.sas -log $ASUITE/logs/comp_test2_a_4.log
-print $ASUITE/lst/comp_test2_a_4.lst $OPTIONS &
sas $ASUITE/code/comp_test5.sas -log $ASUITE/logs/comp_test5_a_5.log
-print $ASUITE/lst/comp_test5_a_5.lst $OPTIONS &
sas $ASUITE/code/ds.sas -sysparm 2 -log $ASUITE/logs/ds_a_2.log
-print $ASUITE/lst/ds_a_2.lst $OPTIONS &
sleep 5
echo "All jobs are submitted!!!! "
wait
echo "All Done!!!!"
date
echo ""
echo "************************************************************************"
echo "*** ERROR CHECK - if there are ERRORS between the stars!! Check run!!***"
34. A Principled Technologies test report 34Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
echo "************************************************************************"
echo "ERRORS: "
grep "ERROR:" $ASUITE/logs/*.log
echo "************************************************************************"
echo "************************************************************************"
echo ""
35. A Principled Technologies test report 35Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 and
Intel SSD technology
ABOUT PRINCIPLED TECHNOLOGIES
Principled Technologies, Inc.
1007 Slater Road, Suite 300
Durham, NC, 27703
www.principledtechnologies.com
We provide industry-leading technology assessment and fact-based
marketing services. We bring to every assignment extensive experience
with and expertise in all aspects of technology testing and analysis, from
researching new technologies, to developing new methodologies, to
testing with existing and new tools.
When the assessment is complete, we know how to present the results to
a broad range of target audiences. We provide our clients with the
materials they need, from market-focused data to use in their own
collateral to custom sales aids, such as test reports, performance
assessments, and white papers. Every document reflects the results of
our trusted independent analysis.
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requirements. Whether the technology involves hardware, software, Web
sites, or services, we offer the experience, expertise, and tools to help our
clients assess how it will fare against its competition, its performance, its
market readiness, and its quality and reliability.
Our founders, Mark L. Van Name and Bill Catchings, have worked
together in technology assessment for over 20 years. As journalists, they
published over a thousand articles on a wide array of technology subjects.
They created and led the Ziff-Davis Benchmark Operation, which
developed such industry-standard benchmarks as Ziff Davis Media’s
Winstone and WebBench. They founded and led eTesting Labs, and after
the acquisition of that company by Lionbridge Technologies were the
head and CTO of VeriTest.
Principled Technologies is a registered trademark of Principled Technologies, Inc.
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Disclaimer of Warranties; Limitation of Liability:
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ANALYSIS, THEIR ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS OR QUALITY, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
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