Open source Software - Wow!: SPECjAppServer2004 Sun Fire T2000/X4200 $/Perf Leadership

Wednesday Jul 25, 2007

Two Sun Fire X4200's each equipped with 2 2.8 GHz Opteron processors running the Sun Java System Application Server 9.1 and one Sun Fire T2000 equipped with 1 UltraSPARC 1.2 GHz T1 processor running PostgreSQL 8.2 database obtained a score of 813.73 SPECjAppServer2004 JOPS@Standard on the SPECjAppServer2004 benchmark. This result is 3 times better price/performance than the latest HP dual-core Itanium2 results with Oracle (note3).

Benchmark was run entirely on Open Source software: GlassFish, PostgreSQL and Solaris.

Sun is the only vendor that has published results using Open Source databases (MySQL and PostgreSQL), demonstrating full commitment to these price-efficient database alternatives.

Sun Fire T2000 shows it stregths as a database server using PostgresSQL.

Competitive Landscape

SPECjAppServer2004 Results Page SPECjAppServer2004 JOPS@Standard (bigger is better), $/SPECjAppServer2004 JOPS@Standard (smaller is better)

	SPECjAppServer2004 JOPS@Standard	J2EE Server	DB Server	$/JOPS
Sun	813.73	2x Sun Fire X4200 8 cores, 4 chips @ 2.8 GHz Opteron 2220SE SJSAS 9.1	1x Sun Fire T2000 8 cores, 1 chip @ 1.2 GHz US-T1 PostgreSQL 8.2	$71 (1)
HP	874.17	1x HP rx2660 4 cores, 2 chips @ 1.6 GHz Itanium 2 Oracle Application Server 10g Release 10.1.3.2	1x HP rx2660 4 cores, 2 chips @ 1.6 GHz Itanium 2 Oracle 10g	$211 (2)

Benchmark Description

SPECjAppServer2004 (Java Application Server) is a multi-tier benchmark for measuring the performance of Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) technology-based application servers. SPECjAppServer2004 is an end-to-end application which exercises all major J2EE technologies implemented by compliant application servers as follows:

• The web container, including servlets and JSPs
• The EJB container
• EJB2.0 Container Managed Persistence
• JMS and Message Driven Beans
• Transaction management
• Database connectivity

Moreover, SPECjAppServer2004 also heavily exercises all parts of the underlying infrastructure that make up the application environment, including hardware, JVM software, database software, JDBC drivers, and the system network. The primary metric of the SPECjAppServer2004 benchmark is jAppServer Operations Per Second (JOPS) which is calculated by adding the metrics of the Dealership Management Application in the Dealer Domain and the Manufacturing Application in the Manufacturing Domain. There is NO price/performance metric in this benchmark.

Disclosure Statement:

SPECjAppServer2004: 1 Sun Fire T2000 (8 cores, 1 chip) and 2 Sun Fire X4200 (8 cores, 4 chips) 813.73 SPECjAppServer2004 JOPS@Standard; 1 HP rx2660 (4 cores, 2 chips) and 1 HP rx2660 (4 cores, 2 chips) 874.17 SPECjAppServer2004 JOPS@Standard; SPEC, SPECjAppServer reg tm of Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. Results from www.spec.org as of 07/23/2007.

Pricing obtained from publicly available sources.

Results Summary

Certified Results			813.73 SPECjAppServer2004 JOPS@Standard
Reference Date:			July 23, 2007
Systems:			1 x Sun Fire T2000, 16GB
			2 x Sun Fire X4200, 8GB
Total Number Processors:			1, 4
Processor/GHz of Server:			UltraSPARC T1 1.2 GHz
			Opteron 2220SE 2.8 GHz
Operating System:			Solaris 10 11/06
Software:			Sun Java System Application Server 9.1 Platform Edition
			PostgreSQL 8.2
JVM:			J2SE 6.0 update 02

Pricing Substantiation

(note1) Sun ... all prices from www.sun.com

• App server X4200 -- # of units:2 -- $16,290.00
• DB server T2000 -- # of units: 1 -- $21,495.00
• 4 GB dual FC adapter -- # of units: 1 -- $2,530.00
• StorageTek 2540 -- # of units:1 -- $17,110
• Postgres -- $0
• Glassfish -- $0
• Total: $57,425
• $/JOPS: $70.57

(note2) HP ... prices from URL's indicated below

• rx2660 w/16GB -- #of units: 2 -- $37990.00
  http://h71028.www7.hp.com/ERC/cache/251028-0-0-0-121.html?ERL=true
• 8GB DDR2 (AD276A) -- # of units:1 -- $3273.00
  http://www.needthese.com/DATARAM_DRH2660/8GB_513305.htm
• Dual port 4GB FC adapter (AB379A) -- #of units: 2 -- see... www.hp.com (HP online store)
  
• Modular SAN Array 1000 (201723-B22) -- #of units:2 -- $12998.00
  www.hp.com (HP online store)
• 72GB 15k driver (286778-B22) -- #of units:28 -- $12292.00
  www.hp.com (HP online store)
• Oracle DB 10g Enterprise Edition -- # of units:2 -- see...
  http://www.oracle.com/corporate/pricing/pricelists.html
• Oracle DB Horizontal Partition option -- # of units:2 -- see...
  http://www.oracle.com/corporate/pricing/pricelists.html
• Oracle App server 10g Java edition, see...
  http://www.oracle.com/corporate/pricing/pricelists.html
• Total: $184,543.00
• $/JOPS: $211.10

(note3) Sun to HP $/JOPS: 211.10 / 70.57 = 2.99x -> 3x