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1、 Lab Validation Report IBM System Storage DS5020/DS3950 Express and IBM System x x3950 M2 Real-World Mixed Workload Performance in VMware Environments By Brian Garrett June 2011 2011, Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Lab Validation: IBM DS5020/DS3950 Express Mixed Workload Perfor
2、mance Analysis 2 2011, Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Contents Introduction 3 The Challenges 3 The Solution 4 The Results 5 ESG Lab Validation 6 VMmark 6 A Mixed Real-world Storage Benchmark Methodology . 7 Mixed Workloads 8 Test Bed 9 Drive Layout 10 Configuring Virtual Machin
3、es . 11 The Results 12 Characterization . 12 Virtual Machine Utilization. 14 Mixed Real-world IOPS Scalability 14 Handling Throughput Spikes with Ease 16 Mixed Application Performance Scalability 17 DS3950 Express Performance Analysis . 21 Application Aware Storage and Data Management . 22 ESG Lab V
4、alidation Highlights . 25 Issues to Consider . 25 The Bigger Truth . 26 Appendix . 27 All trademark names are property of their respective companies. Information contained in this publication has been obtained by sources The Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) considers to be reliable but is not warrant
5、ed by ESG. This publication may contain opinions of ESG, which are subject to change from time to time. This publication is copyrighted by The Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc. Any reproduction or redistribution of this publication, in whole or in part, whether in hard-copy format, electronically, or
6、otherwise to persons not authorized to receive it, without the express consent of the Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc., is in violation of U.S. Copyright law and will be subject to an action for civil damages and, if applicable, criminal prosecution. Should you have any questions, please contact ESG
7、Client Relations at (508) 482.0188. ESG Lab Reports The goal of ESG Lab reports is to educate IT professionals about emerging technologies and products in the storage, data management and information security industries. ESG Lab reports are not meant to replace the evaluation process that should be
8、conducted before making purchasing decisions, but rather to provide insight into these emerging technologies. Our objective is to go over some of the more valuable feature/functions of products, show how they can be used to solve real customer problems and identify any areas needing improvement. ESG
9、 Labs expert third-party perspective is based on our own hands-on testing as well as on interviews with customers who use these products in production environments. This report was made possible through cooperative testing by Enterprise Strategy Group, IBM System x, IBM System Storage, QLogic and VM
10、ware. This ESG Lab report was sponsored by IBM. Lab Validation: IBM DS5020/DS3950 Express Mixed Workload Performance Analysis 3 2011, Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Introduction Networked storage is being deployed in conjunction with server virtualization by a growing number of
11、 organizations interested in consolidation, reduced costs, and improved flexibility and availability of mission-critical applications, including databases and e-mail. ESG research indicates that IT managers looking to reap the benefits of server and storage consolidation are concerned about performa
12、nce. This ESG Lab report presents the results of a new performance benchmark methodology designed to assess the real-world performance capabilities of a SAN attached IBM System Storage DS5020 Express/DS3950 Express storage system and IBM System x x3950 M2 servers deployed in a highly virtualized, co
13、nsolidated data center. The Challenges A worldwide wave of server and storage consolidation is reducing the cost and complexity of delivering IT services to the business. Consolidation is clearly a priority as a growing number of organizations embrace server virtualization technology. In a recent su
14、rvey, ESG asked IT decision makers to list their top priorities over the next 12-18 months.1Figure 1 As shown in , increased use of server virtualization, data growth management, and data center consolidation were all top priorities. Figure 1. Top 2011 IT Priorities Source: Enterprise Strategy Group
15、, 2011. However, despite the broad success of server virtualization, nagging issues and challenges exist. As a result, a low percentage of the potential workloads that can be virtualized have been migrated to virtual machines, and the consolidation ratios of virtual machines per physical server rema
16、ins relatively low. A recent ESG survey explored the storage challenges associated with the next wave of server virtualization.2 1 Source: ESG Research Report, Given the rapid growth in the number of virtual machines being deployed, its no surprise that scalability, performance, and the overall volu
17、me of storage capacity have been identified as key challenges. 2011 IT Spending Intentions Survey, January 2011. 2 Source: ESG Research, 2010 Server Virtualization Survey, September 2010. 20% 21% 21% 22% 23% 24% 24% 30% 0%5%10%15%20%25%30%35% Business continuity/disaster recovery programs Data cente
18、r consolidation Desktop virtualization Improve data backup and recovery Major application deployments or upgrades Information security initiatives Manage data growth Increase use of server virtualization Which of the following would you consider to be your organizations most important IT priorities
19、over the next 12-18 months? (Percent of respondents, N=611, ten responses accepted) Lab Validation: IBM DS5020/DS3950 Express Mixed Workload Performance Analysis 4 2011, Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Solution This ESG Lab report examines the performance of real-world appli
20、cation workloads running in a virtualized and consolidated IT environment that leverages the following technologies: IBM System Storage DS5020 Express and DS3950 Express storage systems: With high performance that is optimized for mixed workloads, the DS5020 Express and the DS3950 Express were desig
21、ned for modular scalability (capacity and/or performance), high availability, and advanced functionality including copy services and remote replication. IBM System x x3950 M2 servers: The IBM System x x3950 M2 is a rack-optimized server with extraordinary performance and scalability that is ideally
22、suited for virtualized environments. VMware vSphere: Building on the power of VMware Infrastructure, VMware vSphere transforms IT infrastructures into a private cloud which enables the automated delivery of IT infrastructure as a service. QLogic 8 Gb FC Dual-port HBA for IBM System x: The QLogic 8 G
23、b Dual-port HBA for IBM System x is designed to deliver sustained high throughput and reliability in highly available virtual environments. The capabilities of the IBM servers and storage that were used during this evaluation are summarized in Figure 2. The IBM System x x3950 M2 supports up to 96 In
24、tel Xeon 7400 processor cores, 1 TB of DDR-2 memory and 28 PCI- Express x8 expansion slots. The IBM System Storage DS5020 Express and the DS3950 Express support up to 112 drives (FC, FC-SAS, SATA, or mixed configurations) and are equipped with up to 4 GB of cache and 8 GB/sec of internal bandwidth.
25、The DS3950 Express is a variant of the DS5020 Express that is available in two pre-configured models. The DS5020 Express can be custom configured and adds support for (FC, FC FDE, SSD, FC-SAS, FC-SAS, FDE, or SATA). The DS5020 Express supports up to eight FC host interfaces and the DS3950 Express su
26、pports up to four FC host interfaces. Figure 2. IBM Server and Storage Highlights Lab Validation: IBM DS5020/DS3950 Express Mixed Workload Performance Analysis 5 2011, Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Results This report examines the performance capabilities of IBM System Sto
27、rage DS5020 Express and DS3950 Express storage systems running a mix of real-world applications in a VMware vSphere-enabled virtual server environment powered by a pair of IBM System x x3950 M2 servers. In particular, this report explores how: An eight socket System x x3950 M2 achieved an excellent
28、VMmark mixed workload score of 33.8524 Tiles. A single DS5020 attached to a pair of System x x3950 M2 servers running a mix of real-world application workloads in 16 virtual machines supports up to: 8,252 mailboxes using the Microsoft Exchange 2007 Jetstress utility and 3,580 small database IOs per
29、second using the Oracle Orion utility and 468 MB/sec of throughput for large OLAP Oracle Orion operations and 3,324 simulated web server IOPs and 366 MB/sec of throughput for simulated backup/scan/index jobs with the predictably fast response times and scalability Within a vSphere enabled infrastruc
30、ture, the DS5020 Express achieved a maximum aggregate throughput of 3.1 GB/sec during bandwidth intensive throughput testing and 1.12 GB/sec during mixed application workload testing. The predictably fast, mixed workload performance scalability of the virtualized environment tested by ESG Lab is sum
31、marized in Figure 3. The results will be explored in detail later in this report, but for now it should be noted that the performance of the DS5020 Express scaled extremely well as a mix of real-world application workloads ran in parallel on up to 16 virtual machines. Figure 3. DS5020 Express Mixed
32、Workload Scalability The balance of this report explores how mixed workload testing was accomplished, what the results mean, and why they matter to your business. Lab Validation: IBM DS5020/DS3950 Express Mixed Workload Performance Analysis 6 2011, Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
33、. ESG Lab Validation The real-world performance capabilities of the IBM DS5020 Express/DS3950 Express were assessed by ESG Lab at an IBM facility located in Tucson, Arizona. The methodology presented in this report was designed to assess the performance capabilities of a single IBM DS5020 Express st
34、orage system shared by multiple virtual servers running a mix of real-world application workloads. The cooperation of VMware, IBM, and QLogic was key to the success of this project. In particular, this project benefitted from VMwares expertise in helping customers plan for the deployment of business
35、-critical applications in virtual server environments and IBMs long heritage of success in the modular storage systems market. VMmark Conventional server benchmarks were designed to measure the performance of a single application running on a single operating system inside a single physical computer
36、. SPEC CPU2000 and CPU2006 are well known examples of this type of server benchmarking tool. Much like traditional server benchmarks, conventional storage system benchmarks were designed to measure the performance of a single storage system running a single application workload. The SPC-1 benchmark,
37、 developed and managed by the Storage Performance Council with IBM playing a key role, is a great example. SPC-1 was designed to assess the performance capabilities of a single storage system as it services an online interactive database application. Traditional benchmarks running a single applicati
38、on workload cant help IT managers understand what happens when a mix of applications are deployed together in a virtual server environment. To overcome these limitations, VMware created a mixed workload benchmark called VMmark. VMmark uses a tile-based scheme for measuring application performance an
39、d provides a consistent methodology that captures both the overall scalability and individual application performance of a virtual server solution. As shown in Figure 4, compared to a traditional benchmark, which tests a single application running on a single physical server, VMmark measures perform
40、ance as a mix of application workloads are run in parallel within virtual machines deployed on the same physical server. Figure 4. Traditional Benchmarking vs. VMmark Tile-Based Benchmarking The novel VMmark tile concept is simple, yet elegant. A tile is defined as a mix of industry standard benchma
41、rks that emulate common business applications (e.g., e-mail, database, web server). The number of tiles running on a single machine is increased until the server runs out of performance. A score is derived so that IT managers can compare servers with a focus on their performance capabilities when ru
42、nning virtualized applications. Lab Validation: IBM DS5020/DS3950 Express Mixed Workload Performance Analysis 7 2011, Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The IBM System x x3950 M2 used during this ESG Lab Validation has an excellent published VMmark score of 33.85 24 tiles.3 A Mixed
43、 Real-world Storage Benchmark Methodology At a high level, this means that the IBM System x x3950 M2 did 33.85 times more work than the dual processor, single core server that VMware used as a reference when VMmark was first released in 2007. While VMmark is well suited for understanding the perform
44、ance of a mix of applications running on a single server, it was not designed to assess what happens when a mix of applications is run on multiple servers sharing a single storage system. VMmark tends to stress server internals more than it does the storage system. The methodology presented in the b
45、alance of this report was designed to stress the storage system more than the servers. Taking a cue from the VMmark methodology, a tile-based concept was used. As shown in Figure 5, each tile is composed of a mixture of four application workloads. Two physical servers, each configured with eight vir
46、tual machines, were used to measure performance as the number of active tiles was increased from one to four. Figure 5. ESG Lab Tile-Based Storage Benchmarking The difference between the server-focused VMmark benchmarking and storage-focused ESG Lab benchmarking is shown in Figure 6. Note how VMmark
47、 testing is performed with a single server, often attached to multiple storage systems. As a matter of fact, the IBM System x x3950 M2 VMmark results presented earlier in this report were achieved with a pair of IBM System Storage DS4700 arrays.4 ESG Lab storage-focused benchmarking uses a different
48、 approach. Instead of testing with a single server and more than enough storage, multiple servers are attached to a single storage system. Rather than running application level benchmarks which stress the CPU and memory of the server, lower level industry standard benchmarks are used with a goal of
49、measuring the maximum mixed workload capabilities of a single storage system. In other words, when vendors publish VMmark results, they make sure there is plenty of storage available so they can record the highest VMmark server score. This provides IT managers with a fair comparison of the performance capabilities of competitive server technologies. 3 The full disclosure for the IBM Syst