Technical white paper HP recommended configurations for online transaction processing: ProLiant DL980 G7, VMA-series Memory Array (VMA) and Oracle 11gR2 database When your OLTP application needs extreme performance Table of contents Executive summary 2 Introduction 3 Solution criteria 3 Recommended configurations 6 System/Environment setup Storage configuration details DL980 system setup Oracle database setup VMA-series Memory Array storage setup Test assumptions 8 8 12 13 Bill of materials Reco
Executive summary The HP High Performance Solution for Oracle databases is optimized for HP ProLiant DL980 servers and HP VMA-series Memory Arrays as a common foundation that delivers flexibility and choice. If you are looking for better performance and the lower cost of an ‘appliance-like’ solution that provides a common foundation yet delivers flexibility with choice of OS and database versions then the HP High Performance Solution for Oracle is the solution for you.
Target audience: This white paper is intended for system architects and decision makers who have responsibility for evaluating, purchasing, recommending and/or implementing database applications based on Oracle databases. Previous knowledge of Linux, Oracle database software, HP ProLiant servers, and HP VMA-series Memory Array products would be advantageous but is not required. This white paper describes testing performed in October 2010 and May 2011.
The tables below list the supported Intel Xeon processors, memory DIMMs, and PCI expansion slots for the ProLiant DL980 G7 server. This information is included to help determine how the recommended configurations can be modified to support different workload sizes or user combinations. Table 2. Supported E7 Family Processors Cores Max Cores in a DL980 G7 E7-4870 (30MB Cache, 2.4GHz, 130W, 6.4 GT/s QPI) 10 80 E7-2860 (24MB Cache, 2.26GHz, 130W, 6.4 GT/s QPI) 10 80 E7-2850 (24MB Cache, 2.
Table 4 represents the minimum, middle, and maximum memory combinations possible for the 4, 8, 16, and 32 GB memory kits available for the DL980 G7 servers. However, for best performance use dual or quad rank memory DIMMs. Table 4.
integrated. Table 6 provides the recommended slot locations occupied by the VMA pass-thru cards for each configuration. Table 6.
Table 7. HP ProLiant DL980 G7 server configurations Number CPUs CPU Type Memory GB External Storage Users Transactions /hr Database size TB 1 4 Intel Xeon E7-2830 (24M Cache, 2.13 GHz, 105W, 6.4 GT/s QPI) 256 (2) VMA3210 Memory Arrays 6,000 35,000,000 8 2 4 Xeon E7-4870 (30MB Cache, 2.4GHz, 130W, 6.4 GT/s QPI) 512 (4) VMA3210 Memory Arrays 13,000 70,000,000 15 3 8 Xeon E7-4870 (30MB Cache, 2.4GHz, 130W, 6.
System/Environment setup Storage configuration details Internal storage The DL980 G7 OLTP recommended configurations use four internal drives configured with RAID1 for the OS and 11gR2 software. The server supports up to eight internal drives, so additional drives can be added for staging data, logs, or other requirements. Table 8.
The configuration used to achieve highest performance consists of attaching the VMA directly to the PCIe slots in the back of the DL980 server using VMA Direct Attach PCIe x8 pass-thru cards. This is the configuration used in the three solutions described in this paper. VMA can also be configured via Fibre Channel via a 2U HP VMA SAN Gateway that provides LUN management functions. A maximum of two VMA memory arrays are supported behind one VMA SAN Gateway for Fibre Channel SAN attach.
Figure 2. VMA3210 Memory Array Figure 3 depicts the direct connectivity to the server. Figure 3. Depicts the direct connections between the VMA units and the DL980 server Note: Factory Integration and racking is supported for DL980 servers ordered with VMA-series Memory Array and PCIe-direct options. HP Care Pack Services: Packaged server and storage services for increased uptime, productivity and ROI.
Additional external storage requirements A typical data center will have some sort of shared conventional storage for the various applications based on performance needs and business storage requirements. Most business solutions will have requirements for multiple environments besides the primary production storage requirements such as development, test, quality, training, sandbox and backup. Each of these additional environments typically will require their own storage solution.
Figure 4. P6300 EVA logical drive configuration for the additional nonproduction environments DL980 system setup When setting up the DL980 for an Oracle database there are a few best practices that will provide improved performance and proper configuration. If the DL980 G7 has 1.0TB or more of RAM, the BIOS System Address Mode should be set to 44-bit. By default this is set to 40-bit. Spread the same size DIMM memory evenly across all memory cartridge sockets for maximum performance.
Set HUGE pages for system global area (SGA) to 2MB. The main advantages of creating an SGA using huge pages has to do with increased performance from improving the translation lookaside buffer (TLB) hit ratio and reducing the memory footprint required for mapping the SGA. Oracle database setup Location of Oracle 11gR2 binaries The Oracle database software should be installed separately from the storage used for the database instance itself.
The first step towards installing the VMA drivers is to ensure that all of the required VMA packages are installed on the host server prior to the installation and configuration of the VMA driver. The VMA Linux driver (vtms-linux-driver) must be installed on the host machine if the Memory Array is to be directly attached to a Linux host. The VMA Windows Storport driver must be installed on the host machine if the VMA is to be directly attached to a Windows host.
Note: One PCIe Pass-Thru Card is required with each Memory Array and is used to connect the array to the external server. The card must be installed in the target server (for the PCI-direct attach method) Bill of materials Recommended configuration 1 for 6,000 users Figure 5. Oracle Database 11gR2 online transaction processing (OLTP) 6000 user solution Table 10.
Qty Description 4 HP 1200W CS Platinum Power Supply kit 32 HP 8GB 2Rx4 PC3-10600R-9 kit 1 HP Slim 12.7mm SATA DVD Optical kit 1 PCI Express I/O Exp. Kit 2 HP 8Gb Dual Port PCIe FC HBA 1 Dual Port 10GbE Server Adapter 4 HP 72GB 6G SAS 15k 2.5in DP ENT HDD Test/Dev Database Server Configuration 1 HP ProLiant DL980 G7 CTO system 1 HP DL980 G7 E7-2830 FIO 4-processor Kit 4 HP 1200W CS Platinum Power Supply kit 16 HP 8GB 2Rx4 PC3-10600R-9 kit 1 HP Slim 12.
Recommended configuration 2 for 13,000 users Figure 6. Oracle Database 11gR2 online transaction processing (OLTP) 13,000 user solution Table 11. Bill of materials – Configuration 2 – DL980 G7 4P with (4) VMA3210 Memory Arrays Qty Description Production Database Server Configuration 1 HP ProLiant DL980 G7 CTO system 1 HP DL980 G7 E7-4870 FIO 4-processor Kit 4 HP 1200W CS Platinum Power Supply kit 64 HP 8GB 2Rx4 PC3-10600R-9 kit 1 HP Slim 12.7mm SATA DVD Optical kit 1 PCI Express I/O Exp.
Qty 4 Description HP 72GB 6G SAS 15k 2.5in DP ENT HDD Test/Dev Database Server Configuration 1 HP ProLiant DL980 G7 CTO system 1 HP DL980 G7 E7-2830 FIO 4-processor Kit 4 HP 1200W CS Platinum Power Supply kit 16 HP 8GB 2Rx4 PC3-10600R-9 kit 1 HP Slim 12.7mm SATA DVD Optical kit 1 PCI Express I/O Exp. Kit 2 Dual port 8 Gb FC HBA 1 Dual Port 10GbE Server Adapter 4 HP 72GB 6G SAS 15k 2.
Recommended configuration 3 for 26,000 users Figure 7. Oracle Database 11gR2 online transaction processing (OLTP) 26,000 user solution Table 12.
Qty Description 1 Low Profile PCI Express I/O Expansion Kit 2 HP 8Gb Dual Port PCIe FC HBA 1 Dual Port 10GbE Server Adapter 4 HP 72GB 6G SAS 15k 2.5in DP ENT HDD Test/Dev Database Server Configuration 1 HP ProLiant DL980 G7 CTO system 1 HP DL980 G7 E7-2830 FIO 4-processor Kit 4 HP 1200W CS Platinum Power Supply kit 16 HP 8GB 2Rx4 PC3-10600R-9 kit 1 HP Slim 12.7mm SATA DVD Optical kit 1 PCI Express I/O Exp.
Appendix Oracle Advanced Compression Many customers are looking for solutions that provide a means for reducing the size of their rapidly growing databases without negatively affecting their end user performance. Oracle 11gR2 offers integrated database compression to address this requirement. We often think of compression as being a trade-off between performance and storage: compression reduces the amount of storage required, but the overhead of compressing and decompressing makes things slower.
For more information For additional Oracle solutions from HP, please visit hp.com/go/oracle HP VMA-series Memory Array products at hp.com/go/VMA; hp.com/go/vma-docs HP ProLiant servers, hp.com/go/proliant HP P6000 Enterprise Virtual Array (EVA), hp.com/go/eva HP P6300/P6500 Enterprise Virtual Array Best Practice http://h20195.www2.hp.com/V2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=4AA3-2641ENW HP Single Point of Connectivity Knowledge (SPOCK) website http://h20272.www2.hp.com Open Source and Linux from HP hp.
