BestPerf: Performance & Best Practices

The Sun SPARC Enterprise T5440 server with 1.6GHz UltraSPARC T2 Plus with Solaris Containers, Sun Flash Open Storage, and Sun JAVA System Web Server 7.0 Update 5 achieved World Record SPECweb2005.

• Sun has obtained a World Record SPECweb2005 performance result of 100,209 SPECweb2005 on the Sun SPARC Enterprise T5440, running Solaris 10 10/09 Sun JAVA System Web Server 7.0 Update 5, and Java Hotspot™ Server VM.

• This result demonstrates performance leadership of the Sun SPARC Enterprise T5440 server and its scalability, by using Solaris Containers to consolidate multiple web serving environments, and Sun OpenStorage Flash technology to store large datasets for fast data retrieval.

• The Sun SPARC Enterprise T5440 delivers 21% greater SPECweb2005 performance than the HP DL370 G6 with 3.2GHz Xeon W5580 processors.

• The Sun SPARC Enterprise T5440 delivers 40% greater SPECweb2005 performance than the HP DL 585 G5 with four 3.114 GHz Opteron 8393 SE processors.

• The Sun SPARC Enterprise T5440 delivers 2x the SPECweb2005 performance of the HP DL 580 G5 with four 2.66GHz Xeon X7460 processors.

• There are no IBM Power6 results on the SPECweb2005 benchmark.

• This benchmark result clearly demonstrates that the Sun SPARC Enterprise T5440 running Solaris 10 10/09 and Sun Java System Webserver 7.0 Update 5 can support thousands of concurrent web server sessions and is an industry leader in web serving with a Sun solution.
  

Performance Landscape

Server	Processor	SPECweb2005	Banking*	Ecomm*	Support*	Webserver	OS
Sun T5440	4x 1.6 T2 Plus	100,209	176,500	133,000	95,000	Java WebServer	Solaris
HP DL370 G6	2x 3.2 W5580	83,073	117,120	142,080	76,352	Rock	RedHat Linux
HP DL585 G5	4x 3.11 O8393	71,629	117,504	123,072	56,320	Rock	RedHat Linux
HP DL580 G5	4x 2.66 X7460	50,013	97,632	69,600	40,800	Rock	RedHat Linux

* Banking - SPECweb2005-Banking
   Ecomm - SPECweb2005-Ecommerce
   Support - SPECweb2005-Support

Results and Configuration Summary

Hardware Configuration:

  1 Sun SPARC Enterprise T5440 with

• 4 x UltraSPARC T2 Processor 8 core, 64 threads, 1.6 GHz
• 254 GB memory
• 6 x 4Gb PCI Express 8-Port Host Adapter (SG-XPCIE8SAS-E-Z)
• 1 x Sun Storage F5100 Flash Array (TA5100RASA4-80AA)
• 1 x Sun Storage F5100 Flash Array (TA5100RASA4-40AA)

Server Software Configuration:

• Solaris 10 10/09
• JAVA System Web Server 7.0 Update 5
• Java Hotspot™ Server VM

Network configuration:

• 1 x Arista DCS-7124s 24-10GbE port  switch
• 1 x Cisco 2970 series (WS-C2970G-24TS-E) switch for the three 1 GbE networks

Back-end Simulator:

  1 Sun Fire X4270 with

• 2 x 2.93 GHz Intel X5570 Quad core
• 48GB memory
• Solaris 10 10/09
• JSWS 7.0 Update 5
• Java Hotspot™ Server VM

Clients:

  8 Sun Blade™ T6320

• 1 x 1.417 GHz UltraSPARC-T2
• 64 GB memory
• Solaris 10 5/09
• Java Hotspot™ Server VM

  8 Sun Blade™ 6270

• 2 x 2.93 GHz Intel X5570 Quad core
• 36 GB memory
• Solaris 10 5/09
• Java Hotspot™ Server VM

Benchmark Description

SPECweb2005, successor to SPECweb99 and SPECweb99_SSL, is an industry standard benchmark for evaluating Web Server performance developed by SPEC. The benchmark simulates multiple user sessions accessing a Web Server and generating static and dynamic HTTP requests. The major features of SPECweb2005 are:

• Measures simultaneous user sessions
• Dynamic content: currently PHP and JSP implementations
• Page images requested using 2 parallel HTTP connections
• Multiple, standardized workloads: Banking (HTTPS), E-commerce (HTTP and HTTPS), and Support (HTTP)
• Simulates browser caching effects
• File accesses more accurately simulate today's disk access patterns

Key Points and Best Practices

• The server was divided into four Solaris Containers and a single web server instance was executed in each container.
  
• Four processor sets were created (with varying numbers of threads depending on the workload) to run the web server in. This was done to reduce memory access latency using the physical memory closest to the processor.  All interrupts were run on the remaining threads.
  
• Each web server is executed in the FX scheduling class to improve performance by reducing the frequency of context switches.
• Two Sun Storage F5100 Flash Arrays (holding the target file set and logs) were shared by the four containers  for fast data retrieval.   
• Use of Solaris Containers highlights the consolidation of multiple web serving environments on a single server.
• Use of the Sun Ext I/O Expansion unit and Sun Storage F5100 Flash Arrays highlight the expandability of the server.
  

Disclosure Statement

Sun SPARC Enterprise T5440 (8 cores, 1 chip) 100209 SPECweb2005, was submitted to SPEC for review on October 13, 2009.  HP ProLiant DL370 G6 (8 cores, 2 chips) 83,073 SPECweb2005. HP ProLiant DL585 G5 (16 cores, 4 chips) 71,629 SPECweb2005. HP ProLiant DL580 G5 (24 cores, 4 chips) 50,013 SPECweb2005. SPEC, SPECweb reg tm of Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. Results from www.spec.org as of Oct 10, 2009.

Significance of Results

Results on the Sun Storage 6180 Array with 8Gb connectivity are presented for the SPC-2 benchmark using RAID 5 and RAID 6.

• The Sun Storage 6180 Array outperforms the IBM DS5020 by 77% in price performance for SPC-2 benchmark using RAID 5 data protection.

• The Sun Storage 6180 Array outperforms the IBM DS5020 by 91% in price performance for SPC-2 benchmark using RAID 6 data protection.

• The Sun Storage 6180 Array is 50% faster than the previous generation, the Sun Storage 6140 Array and IBM DS4700 on the SPC-2 benchmark using RAID 5 data protection.

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	SS6180	1,286.74	$45.47	3,504.693	$58,512	RAID 6	10/08/09	B00044
IBM	DS5020	1,286.74	$87.04	3,504.693	$112,002	RAID 6	10/08/09	B00042
Sun	SS6180	1,244.89	$42.53	3,504.693	$52,951	RAID 5	10/08/09	B00043
IBM	DS5020	1,244.89	$75.30	3,504.693	$93,742	RAID 5	10/08/09	B00041
Sun	J4400	887.44	$25.63	23,965.918	$22,742	unprotected	08/15/08	B00034
IBM	DS4700	823.62	$106.73	1,748.874	$87,903	RAID 5	04/01/08	B00028
Sun	ST6140	790.67	$67.82	1,675.037	$53,622	RAID 5	02/13/07	B00017
Sun	ST2540	735.62	$37.32	2,177.548	$27,451	RAID 5	04/10/07	B00021
IBM	DS3400	731.25	$34.36	1,165.933	$25,123	RAID 5	02/27/08	B00027
Sun	ST2530	672.05	$26.15	1,451.699	$17,572	RAID 5	08/16/07	B00026
Sun	J4200	548.80	$22.92	11,995.295	$12,580	Unprotected	07/10/08	B00033

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:

30 146.8GB 15K RPM drives (for RAID 5)
36 146.8GB 15K RPM drives (for RAID 6)
4 Qlogic HBA

Server Configuration:

IBM system x3850 M2

Software Configuration:

MS Win 2003 Server 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 6180 Array (RAID-5) SPC-2 Executive Summary (6 pages, acrobat pdf)
• Complete Sun Storage 6180 Array (RAID-5) SPC-2 Full Disclosure Report (acrobat pdf)
• Sun Storage 6180 Array (RAID-6) SPC-2 Executive Summary (6 pages, acrobat pdf)
• Complete Sun Storage 6180 Array (RAID-6) SPC-2 Full Disclosure Report (acrobat pdf)
• Storage Performance Council (SPC) Home Page
• Ideas International Benchmark Page

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 6180 Array 1,286.74 SPC-2 MBPS, $/SPC-2 MBPS $45.47, ASU Capacity 3,504.693 GB, Protect RAID 6, Cost $58,512.00, Ident. B00044. Sun Storage 6180 Array 1,244.89 SPC-2 MBPS, $/SPC-2 MBPS $42.53, ASU Capacity 3,504.693 GB, Protect RAID 5, Cost $52,951.00, Ident. B00043.

Significance of Results

Results on the Sun Storage 6180 Array with 8Gb connectivity are presented for the SPC-1 benchmark.

• The Sun Storage 6180 Array outperforms the IBM DS5020 by 72% in price performance on the SPC-1 benchmark.

• The Sun Storage 6180 Array is 50% faster than the previous generation, Sun Storage 6140 Array and IBM DS4700 on the SPC-1 benchmark.

• The Sun Storage 6180 Array betters the HDS 2100 by 27% in price performance on the SPC-1 benchmark.

• The Sun Storage 6180 Array has 16% better IOPS/Drive performance than the HDS 2100 on the SPC-1 benchmark.

Performance Landscape

SPC-1 Performance Chart (in increasing price-performance order)

Sponsor	System	SPC-1 IOPS	$/SPC-1 IOPS	ASU Capacity (GB)	TSC Price	Data Protection Level	Date	Results Identifier
HDS	AMD 2300	42,502.61	$6.96	7,955.000	$295,740	Mirroring	3/24/09	A00077
HDS	AMD 2100	31,498.58	$5.85	3,967.500	$187,321	Mirroring	3/24/09	A00076
Sun	SS6180 (8Gb)	26,090.03	$4.70	5,145.060	$122,623	Mirroring	10/09/09	A00084
IBM	DS5020 (8Gb)	26,090.03	$8.08	5,145.060	$210,782	Mirroring	8/25/09	A00081
Fujitsu	DX80	19,492.86	$3.45	5,355.400	$67,296	Mirroring	9/14/09	A00082
Sun	STK6140 (4Gb)	17,395.53	$4.93	1,963.269	$85,823	Mirroring	10/16/06	A00048
IBM	DS4700 (4Gb)	17,195.84	$11.67	1,963.270	$200,666	Mirroring	8/21/06	A00046

SPC-1 IOPS = the Performance Metric
$/SPC-1 IOPS = 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-1 benchmark results may be found at http://www.storageperformance.org.

Results and Configuration Summary

Storage Configuration:

80 x 146.8GB 15K RPM drives
8 Qlogic HBA

Server Configuration:

IBM system x3850 M2

Software Configuration:

MS Windows 2003 Server SP2
SPC-1 benchmark kit

Benchmark Description

SPC Benchmark-1 (SPC-1): is the first industry standard storage benchmark and is the most comprehensive performance analysis environment ever constructed for storage subsystems. The I/O workload in SPC-1 is characterized by predominately random I/O operations as typified by multi-user OLTP, database, and email servers environments. SPC-1 uses a highly efficient multi-threaded workload generator to thoroughly analyze direct attach or network storage subsystems. The SPC-1 benchmark enables companies to rapidly produce valid performance and price/performance results using a variety of host platforms and storage network topologies.

SPC1 is built to:

• Provide a level playing field for test sponsors.
• Produce results that are powerful and yet simple to use.
• Provide value for engineers as well as IT consumers and solution integrators.
• Is easy to run, easy to audit/verify, and easy to use to report official results.

Key Points and Best Practices

See Also

• Sun Storage 6180 Array SPC-1 Executive Summary (6 pages, acrobat pdf)
• Complete Sun Storage 6180 Array SPC-1 Full Disclosure Report (acrobat pdf)
• Storage Performance Council (SPC) Home Page
• Ideas International Benchmark Page

Disclosure Statement

SPC-1, SPC-1 IOPS, $/SPC-1 IOPS reg tm of Storage Performance Council (SPC). More info www.storageperformance.org. Sun Storage 6180 Array 26,090.03 SPC-1 IOPS, ASU Capacity 5,145.060GB, $/SPC-1 IOPS $4.70, Data Protection Mirroring, Cost $122,623, Ident. A00084.