SPC-2 Sun Storage 6780 Array RAID 5 & RAID 6 51% better $/performance than IBM DS5300
Significance of Results
Results on the Sun Storage 6780 Array with 8Gb connectivity are presented for the SPC-2 benchmark using RAID 5 and RAID 6.-
The Sun Storage 6780 array outperforms the IBM DS5300 by 51% in price performance for SPC-2 benchmark using RAID 5 data protection.
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The Sun Storage 6780 array outperforms the IBM DS5300 by 51% in price performance for SPC-2 benchmark using RAID 6 data protection.
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The Sun Storage 6780 Array has 62% better performance than the Fujitsu 800/1100 and delivers a price performance advantage of 5.6x as measured by the SPC-2 benchmark.
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The Sun Storage 6800 array with 8Gb connectivity improved performance by 36% over the 4GB connected solution as measured by the SPC-2 benchmark.
Performance Landscape
SPC-2 Performance Chart (in increasing price-performance order)
| Sponsor | System | SPC-2 MBPS |
$/SPC-2 MBPS |
ASU Capacity (GB) |
TSC Price | Data Protection Level |
Date | Results Identifier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun | SS6780 (8Gb) | 5,634.17 | $44.88 | 16,383.186 | $252,873 | RAID 5 | 10/27/09 | B00047 |
| IBM | DS5300 (8Gb) | 5,634.17 | $67.75 | 16,383.186 | $381,720 | RAID 5 | 10/21/09 | B00045 |
| Sun | SS6780 (8Gb) | 5,543.88 | $45.61 | 14,042.731 | $252,873 | RAID 6 | 10/27/09 | B00048 |
| IBM | DS5300 (8Gb) | 5,543.88 | $68.85 | 14,042.731 | $381,720 | RAID 6 | 10/21/09 | B00046 |
| Sun | SS6780 (4Gb) | 4,818.43 | $53.61 | 16,383.186 | $258,329 | RAID 5 | 02/03/09 | B00039 |
| IBM | DS5300 (4Gb) | 4,818.43 | $93.80 | 16,383.186 | $451,986 | RAID 5 | 09/25/08 | B00037 |
| Sun | SS6780 (4Gb) | 4,675.50 | $55.25 | 14,042.731 | $258,329 | RAID 6 | 02/03/09 | B00040 |
| IBM | DS5300 (4Gb) | 4,675.50 | $96.67 | 14,042.731 | $451,986 | RAID 6 | 09/25/08 | B00038 |
| Fujitsu | 800/1100 | 3,480.68 | $238.93 | 4,569.845 | $831,649 | Mirroring | 03/08/07 | B00019 |
SPC-2 MBPS = the Performance Metric
$/SPC-2 MBPS = the Price/Performance Metric
ASU Capacity = the Capacity Metric
Data Protection = Data Protection Metric
TSC Price = Total Cost of Ownership Metric
Results Identifier = A unique identification of the result Metric
Complete SPC-2 benchmark results may be found at http://www.storageperformance.org.
Results and Configuration Summary
Storage Configuration:
- 8 x CM200 trays, each with 16 x 146GB 15K RPM drives
8 x Qlogic 8Gb HBA
Server Configuration:
- 4 x IBM x3650
- 2 x 2.93 GHz Intel X5570
5 GB memory
Software Configuration:
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition (32-bit) with SP2
SPC-2 benchmark kit
Benchmark Description
The SPC Benchmark-2™ (SPC-2) is a series of related benchmark performance tests that simulate the sequential component of demands placed upon on-line, non-volatile storage in server class computer systems. SPC-2 provides measurements in support of real world environments characterized by:- Large numbers of concurrent sequential transfers.
- Demanding data rate requirements, including requirements for real time processing.
- Diverse application techniques for sequential processing.
- Substantial storage capacity requirements.
- Data persistence requirements to ensure preservation of data without corruption or loss.
Key Points and Best Practices
- This benchmark was performed using RAID 5 and RAID 6 protection.
- The controller stripe size was set to 512k.
- No volume manager was used.
See Also
- Sun Storage 6780 Array SPC-2 (RAID 5) Executive Summary (7 pages, acrobat pdf)
- Complete Sun Storage 6780 Array SPC-2 (RAID 5) Full Disclosure Report (acrobat pdf)
- Sun Storage 6780 Array SPC-2 (RAID 6) Executive Summary (7 pages, acrobat pdf)
- Complete Sun Storage 6780 Array SPC-2 (RAID 6) Full Disclosure Report (acrobat pdf)
- Storage Performance Council (SPC) Home Page
- Ideas International Benchmark Page
- Evaluator Group Page
Benchmark Tags
$/Perf, performance, bandwidth, OpenStorage, Storage
Disclosure Statement
SPC-2, SPC-2 MBPS, $/SPC-2 MBPS are regular trademarks of Storage Performance Council (SPC). More info www.storageperformance.org. Sun Storage 6780 Array 5,634.17 SPC-2 MBPS, $/SPC-2 MBPS $44.88, ASU Capacity 16,838.186GB, Protect RAID 5, Cost $252,873.00, Ident. B00047. Sun Storage 6780 Array 5,543.88 SPC-2 MBPS, $/SPC-2 MBPS $45.61, ASU Capacity 14,042.731 GB, Protect RAID 6, Cost $252,873.00, Ident. B00048.
Publication Rules
See here for publication rules.
Ok...
So here we learn that Sun "wins" this because its DISCOUNTED prices on re-badged LSI Logic storage hardware are cheaper than IBM's LIST prices for absolutely identical LSI stuff. That's the only thing this benchMARKETINGing exercise illustrates.
When you compare apples-to-apples (list price to list price), IBM's price/performance is BETTER than Sun's.
I wonder how many people here DON'T know that these comparisons are smoke and mirrors -- they are based on the same SPC test runs on LSI hardware...with the only difference being the way IBM and Sun cut-and-paste their price lists into the results.
So...IBM quotes "List" prices, then six days later Sun quotes 38% "Discount from List"...and Sun "wins"??? That's not a benchmark...it's a joke.
Oh yeah...and your links to the published results above are incorrect...I had to (once again) go and dig up the actual published results to decipher this nonsense. This is now 3 times I've found this same phenomenon on the first three blog entries here I have read here. Certainly this is not done intentionally to make it less likely that readers will check out Sun's performance claims... right?
Here are the corrected links for IBM and Sun results:
http://www.storageperformance.org/benchmark_results_files/SPC-2/IBM_SPC-2/B00045_IBM_DS5300_8Gb-R5/b00045_IBM_DS5300-8Gb-R5_SPC2_executive-summary.pdf
http://www.storageperformance.org/benchmark_results_files/SPC-2/Sun_SPC-2/B00047_Sun-6780_R5/b00047_Sun_6780-8Gb-R5_SPC2_executive-summary.pdf
Why don't you tell us something useful...like what happens when we use SATA disks...or SSD for the same benchmark in an identical configuration?
Posted by Typo or on November 01, 2009 at 07:09 AM PST #
With its touted million plus IOPs wouldn't an F5100 have trounced the IBM storage on performance? Is price the reason we've not seen any F5100 SPC benchmarks yet?
Posted by rick jones on November 10, 2009 at 10:18 PM PST #