Performance Comparisons of Dell PowerEdge Servers with SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4 Enterprise Product Group (EPG)

Transcription

1 Performance Comparisons of Dell PowerEdge Servers with SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4 Enterprise Product Group (EPG) Dell White Paper By Neelima Chinthamani (Enterprise OS Releases) Ravikanth Chaganti (BDC OS Engineering) May 2005

2 Contents Introduction...3 SQL Server 2000 Product Overview...4 Multiple instances of SQL Server...4 Analysis Services...5 Standard Vs Workgroup Editions: Feature Comparison...6 SQL server 2000 Workgroup Edition...6 SQL server 2000 Standard Edition...7 Dell PowerEdge Servers Overview...9 PowerEdge PowerEdge PowerEdge PowerEdge Performance Comparisons of Dell PowerEdge Servers...13 Test Configuration Setup...13 Performance Results...16 Processor Performance...17 Hard Disk Performance...18 Memory Performance...22 Performance Comparisons across All Configurations...23 Conclusion...25 Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 2 Dell Enterprise Product Group

3 Section 1 Introduction Today s businesses are challenged to secure access, manage, and store ever-increasing amounts of data. Productivity is dependent on continuous data availability, even for mobile workers and those at remote sites. The cost of meeting these demands in infrastructure, maintenance, and man-hours can be significant. Dell along with Microsoft now provides a low-cost, high-performance solution designed to meet your unique data requirements. Dell is pleased to be Microsoftʹs partner for the SQL Sever 2000 Service Pack 4 program. The purpose of this document is to provide performance comparisons between various Dell PowerEdge servers running the SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4 Standard and Workgroup editions. This document also serves as a guideline to help customers determine which Dell server best fits the needs of their SQL database workload and show how the scalability of PowerEdge servers can be exploited for better system performance. Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 3 Dell Enterprise Product Group

4 Section 2 SQL Server 2000 Product Overview SQL Server 2000 is an enterprise class database product providing full-fledged data mining support, enhanced clustering algorithms, and the implementation of online analytical processing technology (OLAP). SQL Server with several improvements to features like indexed views, full-text search and failover clustering as compared to the earlier versions of SQL Server - is designed to significantly increase performance while maintaining high data availability. High data availability is one key to increased employee productivity and SQL Server 2000 helps achieve this with low implementation and maintenance costs, designed to increase the return on data management investments. Customers can leverage a variety of administrative tools to ease the complexity of database development and administration. SQL Server also provides enhanced security mechanisms such as Kerberos authentication algorithm to help secure access to the database when creating complex web applications. Some of the improvements and new features of SQL Server 2000 include: Multiple instances of SQL Server SQL Server 2000 supports multiple instances of the relational database engines on a single server. Each computer can run one instance of SQL server 6.5 or 7.0 and one or more Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 4 Dell Enterprise Product Group

5 instances of SQL Server Each of these instances has its own set of system and user databases. Analysis Services The OLAP Services feature that is available in SQL Server version 7.0 is called Analysis Services in SQL Server This feature helps enterprises perform sophisticated analysis on large volumes of data with exceptional data-retrieval performance times. Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 5 Dell Enterprise Product Group

6 Section 3 Standard Vs Workgroup Editions: Feature Comparison SQL Server 2000 is available in eight different editions 1 each targeting a specific group of users, businesses, usage scenarios, and pricing requirements; however, only three editions Enterprise, Standard and Workgroup can be used in production environments. Through the SQL Server 2000 OEM program, Dell provides the customers a choice of two editions of SQL Server 2000: Standard and Workgroup 2. These two editions of SQL Server are designed to accommodate the unique performance, runtime, and pricing requirements of Dell customers. These editions also come with 30-day Getting Started support from Dell when purchased through the OEM program on select Dell PowerEdge servers. SQL server 2000 Workgroup Edition In addition to the core database features, Workgroup edition has key features like full-text search, data replication, XML support etc. The indexed views feature of SQL Server 2000 helps in saving query results, and reduce response times, and as a result, can increase performance of the database application. 1 For a complete explanation and updated information about the features supported by each SQL server 2000 edition please visit; 2 Customers can buy SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition from the Software and Peripherals section on Dell online; however this edition is not offered as a part of the Dell s SQL Server 2000 OEM program. Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 6 Dell Enterprise Product Group

7 SQL Server 2000 Workgroup edition is best suited for small organizations and workgroups within larger businesses. SQL server 2000 Standard Edition SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition extends the features provided by the Workgroup Edition to support Analysis Services, Data Transformation Services, Reporting Services, and performance analysis tools. Online Analytical Processing, OLAP flexibility, data mining and data transformation services make SQL Server 2000 Standard Edition the best choice for small and mediumsized business. Table 1 gives a high-level view of the differences between Standard and Workgroup editions: Feature Standard Edition Workgroup Edition Clickstream Analysis Closed-Loop Analysis Data Mining Data Transformation Services Data Warehousing Alliance English Query Extend Applications Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 7 Dell Enterprise Product Group

8 Full-Text Search Indexed Views Integration with Microsoft Windows Server System BizTalk Server and Commerce Server Meta Data Services Office 2000 Integration Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) OLAP Flexibility Replication Rich XML Support Scalability Security Simplified Database Administration Web Access to Data Web and Application Hosting Table 1: High level feature comparison of SQL Server 2000 Standard and Workgroup editions (Source: Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 8 Dell Enterprise Product Group

9 Section 4 Dell PowerEdge Servers Overview Customers can choose between four 3 Dell PowerEdge Servers with which they can purchase the SQL Server 2000 application 4 : PE800, PE1800, PE2850, and PE2800. This group of servers consists of a diverse selection of reliable solutions delivering industry standard technology and unparalleled value. PowerEdge 800 The Dell PowerEdge 800 is a general purpose tower server designed for small and medium businesses (SMB). With a powerful Intel Pentium 4 processor and high memory bandwidth using DDR-2 SDRAM technologies, the PE800 brings next-generation performance, expandability, and deployment flexibility to a single processor tower server at a low price point. The PE800 is available with four internal SATA hard drives, using the embedded ICH 6 SATA controller, and also supports drive-based software RAID on two SATA drives. The embedded Gigabit 5 Ethernet controller helps ensure enterprise-level connectivity. 3 Customers can purchase SQL Server 2000 editions from Dell online to install on other Dell PowerEdge Servers; however, not all of them are a part of the SQL Server 2000 OEM program. 4 The SQL Server 2000 application is not factory installed on the Dell PowerEdge Servers. The application CDs are shipped to the customer along with their PowerEdge Servers. 5 This term does not connote an actual operating speed of 1 Gb/sec. For high speed transmission, connection to a Gigabit Ethernet server and network infrastructure is required. Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 9 Dell Enterprise Product Group

10 PowerEdge 1800 The Dell PowerEdge 1800, powered by up to two Intel Xeon processors, gives customers a powerful entry into a technology with greater expandability at an affordable price. The support for embedded SCSI and SATA drives, large memory, hot-pluggable power supplies, SCSI hard drives, PCI Express technology for expansion slots, and remote management capabilities make PE1800 the best suited entrylevel dual-processor for SMBs and large businesses. The PE1800 is designed to improve price/performance in enterprise environments and delivers a balance of high availability, manageability and expandability. PowerEdge 2850 The Dell PowerEdge 2850 delivers next generation performance in a dual-processor, rackable server with more reliability, availability, and serviceability features and is designed to support a variety of applications. The PE2850, which runs on the latest Intel Xeon processors, supports PCI- X and hot-pluggable PCI-e I/O technologies. The large memory support -- up to 12GB --helps deliver great performance for applications that require more than 4GB of physical memory. PowerEdge 2800 The Dell PowerEdge 2800 delivers high performance in a rackable, dual-processor tower with reliability, availability, and serviceability features. With a massive internal storage capacity, a high performance processing subsystem, and enterprise-class availability and management features, the PE2800 is designed to reliably drive business applications. The PE2800 extends the features of the PE with support for seven expansion slots (two PCI-e, four PCI-X Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 10 Dell Enterprise Product Group

11 and one legacy 32-bit PCI) and eight internal hot-pluggable hard drives to provide increased scalability. Table 2 compares some of the features of the four Dell PowerEdge servers discussed in this section. Features PowerEdge 800 PowerEdge 1800 PowerEdge 2800 PowerEdge 2850 Processors Single Intel Pentium 4 processor up to 3.8GHz 1-2 Intel Xeon (EM64T capable) processors at up to 3.6GHz 1-2 Intel Xeon (EM64T capable) processors at up to 3.6GHz 1-2 Intel Xeon (EM64T capable) processors at up to 3.6GHz Or Single Intel Celeron processor at up to 2.53GHz Memory 256MB - 4GB of DDR-2 400/533MHz SDRAM 256MB 12GB ECC DDR-2 400MHz SDRAM 256MB 12GB ECC DDR-2 400MHZ SDRAM 256MB 12GB ECC DDR-2 400MHz SDRAM Drive Controller Four channel embedded SATA Controller Single embedded Ultra320 SCSI; two-channel SATA controller Dual embedded Ultra320 SCSI Dual embedded Ultra320 SCSI RAID Controller Optional CERC SATA 2s, CERC SATA 6ch, 4/DC, 4/SC Optional CERC SATA 6ch, CERC SATA 2S, 4/DC, 4/SC, 4e/DC Optional dual channel ROMB ( 4/Di), 4/DC, 4e/DC Optional dual channel ROMB ( 4/Di), 4/DC, 4e/DC Internal Hard Drive Bays 4 1 SATA or 4 1 SCSI (Hotplug or non-hot plug) 6 1 SCSI (Hotplug or non-hot plug) or 2 1 SATA drives 8 1 hot-plug SCSI drives 6 1 hot-plug SCSI drives Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 11 Dell Enterprise Product Group

12 Features PowerEdge 800 PowerEdge 1800 PowerEdge 2800 PowerEdge 2850 Networking Single Embedded BroadCom Gigabit NIC Single embedded Intel Gigabit NIC Dual embedded Intel Gigabit NIC Dual embedded Intel Gigabit NIC PCI Hot-plug Support No No Yes No Table 2: Feature Comparison of Dell PowerEdge Servers 6 Section5 6 For more information on the features supported by Dell PowerEdge Servers, please visit Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 12 Dell Enterprise Product Group

13 Section 5 Performance Comparisons of Dell PowerEdge Servers This section compares the performance of different configurations of the four supported Dell PowerEdge servers running SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4. Testing was done by Dell in June 2005 using a recognized online transaction processing benchmark tool. The results demonstrate how adding hardware components to a configuration resulted in increased performance. Test Configuration Setup Nine hardware configurations were selected for comparison. These configurations range from the basic to the more complex configurations that are supported by Dell. Table 3 compares these nine test configurations, increasing in size from left to right. The highlighted portions in the table represent the changes in the configuration when compared to the preceding one. Configuration A B C D E F G H I PowerEdge Server PE 800 PE 800 PE 1800* PE 1800 PE 2850* PE 2850 PE 2800* PE 2800 PE 2800 Number of CPUs * Storage Controller used to connect to Internal Hard Drives 4/DC 4/DC 4e/DC* 4e/DC 4e/Di* 4e/Di 4e/Di 4e/Di 4e/Di Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 13 Dell Enterprise Product Group

14 Configuration A B C D E F G H I Number of Internal Hard Drives 4 4 6* Internal Hard Drive Size/Speed 36GB 10K 36GB 15K* 73GB 15K* 73GB 15K 73GB 15K 73GB 15K 73GB 15K 73GB 15K 73GB 15K Storage Controller used to connect to PowerVaults _ - - 4e/DC* 4e/DC 4e/DC 4e/DC 4e/DC 4e/DC Number of PVs * * 4* Memory 4GB 4GB 4GB 4GB 4GB 4GB 4GB 4GB 4GB RAID Configuration RAID 0 RAID 0 RAID 0 RAID 0 RAID 0 RAID 0 RAID 0 RAID 0 RAID 0 Table 3: Test configurations * The highlighted portions in the table represent the changes when compared to the preceding configuration. The test configurations have the following common parameters: Software: Operating System: Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 1 Database Application: SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4 Workgroup Edition: single-processor configurations Standard Edition: dual-processor configurations *Both editions support single and dual processor configurations. On-line transaction processing benchmark tool. Hardware: Internal Hard Drives: SCSI U320 Disks RAID 0 External Storage: PowerVault 220s with 36GB, 15K RPM, Ultra 320 SCSI hard drives RAID 0 Memory: 4GB Network Switch: PowerConnect 2708 Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 14 Dell Enterprise Product Group

15 Network Adapters: Embedded Processors: Intel Xeon processor at 3.6GHz/1MB Cache, 800MHz FSB Hyperthreading: Enabled Fig. 1 represents the test setup. The benchmark tool is running on the Remote Terminal Emulator (RTE), which simulates a load created by the number of users specified in the tool. The RTE is connected to the Database Server via the Client. The RTE, Client, and Database Server are connected using a PowerConnect 2708 Gigabit Ethernet switch. In some of the test configurations, the Database Server is connected to PowerVault 220s units which act as external storage. For configurations with more than one PowerVault unit, the database was distributed evenly across all units. The number of users that is supported by a particular configuration is the maximum numbers of users that the Database Server can handle without generating any errors while also maintaining a response time of less than 0.5 seconds. Response time is the amount of time that the server takes to complete a user transaction. Although a limit of 0.5 seconds on the response time is not an industry standard, it is a commonly accepted performance benchmark. Performance is measured in terms of transactions per minute. The number of transactions per minute supported by a configuration initially increases with the number of users; however, as more users are added than can be supported by the configuration, the number of transactions per minute decreases. Usually, the best transactions per minute numbers are generated when the Database Server is stressed with the maximum number of users that it can support without producing errors. Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 15 Dell Enterprise Product Group

16 Fig. 1: Test setup Performance Results The overall performance of a server is determined by its building blocks: processors, memory, external storage, storage controllers, network adapters, etc. The data results, obtained using the online transaction processing benchmark tool, show how some of these components come into play when determining the throughput of the system and demonstrates how performance can be improved by enhancing the system configuration. Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 16 Dell Enterprise Product Group

17 Processor Performance A Central Processing Unit (CPU), also commonly known as a processor, does most of the data processing. The two main features of a processor that determine its performance are speed and cache. Processor speed, often measured in Gigahertz (GHz), is the rate with which it executes commands. In general, the faster the processor speed, the more instructions it can execute, thus resulting in a faster running system. Processor cache is extremely fast memory that stores data that is accessed frequently. Without cache memory, every time the CPU needs data, it sends a request to the main memory, which then sends the information back to the CPU, across a memory bus. This is a slow process. Dell PowerEdge servers support Intel processors as fast as 3.8GHz with up to 2MB of level 2 cache. The test configurations all used Intel Xeon 3.6GHz processors with 1MB level 2 cache. The two PE2850 configurations (E and F in Table 3) are similar in all aspects except that Configuration E has a single processor whereas Configuration F contains dual processors. When running stress on the two 2850 s CPU utilization on E was more than double that on F. (See Fig. 2). At lower loads, these two systems performed almost equally; however, the single-processor system displayed higher CPU utilization. As the load increased, the efficiency of these configurations began to vary. Naturally, the dual-processor system is faster and can handle larger number of applications simultaneously. Database applications such as SQL Server are known to be mostly I/O-bound, but when a server is being used to host other applications, in addition to being a database server, having an additional processor can make a significant impact on the response time of the system. Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 17 Dell Enterprise Product Group

18 Fig 2: Performance comparison between Configurations E and (described in Table 3) Hard Disk Performance A hard disk is a permanent, mass-storage, memory device used to store applications and data. There are two main properties of a hard disk. One is the capacity, which is the number of bytes it can hold. In general, the larger the size of the hard disk, the higher is the density of the data, which results in lower seek time since the distance the read/write head is required to move decreases. The second property is the rate at which the platters contained in the hard disk spin. This is measured in rotations Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 18 Dell Enterprise Product Group

19 per minute (rpm). As the rpm of the hard disk increases, the seek time decreases, thus increasing the throughput. Dell offers its customers a large selection of hard disk drives varying in size, speed, and manufacturer. Fig. 3 compares how a PE800 system (Configurations A and B in Table 3) performed with hard drives of same size but different speeds. Configuration A contains four 36GB, 10K rpm internal hard drives while Configuration B contains four 36GB, 15K rpm internal. As expected, the 15K drives had better performance because they are faster. The results obtained using the benchmark tool show that by using 15K drives instead of the 10K drives Configuration B achieved a 16.7% increase in performance. Fig 3: Performance comparison between Configurations A and B (described in Table 3) External Storage Performance Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 19 Dell Enterprise Product Group

20 Dell provides several different kinds of external storage, which can be used to achieve higher data availability and redundancy. Available external storage products include cost-effective solutions like PowerVault 22xs External SCSI Enclosures, Dell/EMC Fibre Channel AX100 and iscsi AX100i and a highly available and scalable external fibre channel RAID storage solution like Dell/EMC Fibre Channel Disk Array. For our performance testing we used Dell PowerVault 220s storage enclosures. The Dell PowerVault 220s is a 3U, rack-mounted, directattached SCSI storage enclosure that can be seamlessly connected to any Dell PowerEdge server for easily achievable expandability, redundancy and performance. The PV220s can hold up to 14 1 SCSI U320 hard disk drives that can be configured using RAID 0, 1, 5, 1/0 or 5/0. A few select PowerEdge servers can be connected to up to eight PowerVault enclosures. For an I/O-intensive application such as SQL Server 2000, adding storage can result in significant increases in system throughput. This is because by adding storage, the number of I/O operations per second increases. As a result, the system can access and store more data in the same amount of time. This is shown in the comparison of PE1800 configurations C and D and PE2800 configurations G, H and I. The benchmark tool was used to obtain these results. Fig. 4 shows the comparison between configurations C and D. Configuration D is a PE1800 server with six internal hard drives and is connected to one PowerVault 220s, while Configuration C is not connected to any external storage. By simply adding a PowerVault, performance increased by 138%. Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 20 Dell Enterprise Product Group

21 Fig 4: Performance comparison between Configurations C and D (described in Table 3) Fig. 5 compares configurations G, H and I. Configuration G is the PE2800 with six internal hard drives and is connected to a PowerVault 220s enclosure. The number of PowerVaults increases to two in Configuration H, and then to 4 in Configuration I. As the number of PowerVaults doubles to two (Configuration H), there was a performance gain of nearly 69%. Similarly, when the number of PowerVaults quadruples to four (Configuration I), the performance increased by 160%. Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 21 Dell Enterprise Product Group

22 Fig 5: Performance comparison between Configurations G, H and I (described in Table 3) Memory Performance Random Access Memory (RAM), commonly known as ʺmemoryʺ provides a fast storage area for the processor to operate in. The amount of memory in the computer is crucial in that it determines how many programs can run simultaneously, as well as how much data is available for each program. The four Dell PowerEdge servers included in the SQL Server 2000 OEM program support a minimum of 256 MB memory and as much as 12 GB. Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 22 Dell Enterprise Product Group

23 SQL Server 2000 Standard and Workgroup editions, by design, support up to 2 GB of physical memory; however, if the server has more than 2GB of memory, it can assign the additional memory to other running applications. This means that the operating system can store more data on the physical memory corresponding to these applications and, as a result, reduces the number of times the system needs to retrieve data from a hard disk drive. Performance Comparisons across All Configurations The previous sections have shown how the various hardware components contribute to the overall performance of the system; however, software changes can also affect performance. Fig. 6 shows the percentage increase in both the number of supported users for SQL Server 2000 and the percentage increase in the number of transactions per minute across the nine configurations As shown in Fig. 6, the number of transactions/minute increased with the number of users. This is because when a greater number of users is using SQL Server, they generate more traffic for the system to handle which results in an increase in the system throughput measured in transactions/minute. When the server gets more traffic than it can normally handle, its response time goes down and throughput decreases. In such a situation, the user would need to determine which subsystem is the bottleneck and add more hardware to increase the system performance. This is where the hardware scalability of the server benefits the customer. Fig. 6 shows that there was an 802% increase in performance for hardware configuration I as compared to A using the online transaction processing benchmark tool. Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 23 Dell Enterprise Product Group

24 Fig 6: Performance comparison across all configurations (described in Table 3) Dell PowerEdge servers come with varying degrees of expandability. When choosing a server it is important that customers keep in mind how their computing needs might increase in the future. Buying a server that has the capability to scale along with business needs helps in reducing the overall cost and giving a better return on investment. Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 24 Dell Enterprise Product Group

25 Section 7 Conclusion Today, Dell provides customers with a wide variety of options and flexibility to configure database servers for their specific needs be it a small-scale or an enterprise-level business. This document shows how users can increase their system throughput when running a SQL Server 2000 application by scaling hardware components, as opposed to buying additional servers. Customers can now purchase SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4 from Dell online along with their PowerEdge servers. By partnering with Microsoft on this program, Dell now provides its customers a one-stop shop for all of their database needs. Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 25 Dell Enterprise Product Group

26 THIS WHITE PAPER IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, AND MAY CONTAIN TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS AND TECHNICAL INACCURACIES. THE CONTENT IS PROVIDED AS IS, WITHOUT EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. Dell, the Dell Logo and PowerEdge are trademarks of Dell Inc. Intel, Celeron and Xeon are registered trademarks or trademarks of Intel Corp. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell disclaims proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. Copyright 2004 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of Dell Inc is strictly forbidden. For more information, contact Dell. Information in this document is subject to change without notice. Revision Date: 7/5/2005 Page 26 Dell Enterprise Product Group