System information

ManualsBrandsDell ManualsComputer HardwarePowerEdge VRTX

JUNE 2013

A PRINCIPLED TECHNOLOGIES TEST REPORT

Commissioned by Dell Inc.

COMPARING PERFORMANCE AND COST: DELL POWEREDGE

VRTX VS. A LEGACY HARDWARE ENVIRONMENT

As your business grows, your server hardware must meet the increasing needs

of users. Running a typical remote or branch office workload consisting of email,

database, and file and print workloads on existing hardware may seem like the cheapest

solution, but may end up costing more through downtime and lost productivity.

Additionally, the aging hardware may simply not be able to keep up.

Choosing the Dell PowerEdge VRTX for your business gives you the

performance, scalability, and high availability your business needs to keep running and

meeting increased demand. In the Principled Technologies Labs, we simultaneously ran

email, database, and simulated file and print workloads in a VMware® vSphere® ESXi

virtual environment on the VRTX. We found that it performed better in all three

workloads, while requiring less space and power, and provided a lower 5-year TCO when

compared with a legacy, disparate hardware solution. Combining servers, networking,

and shared storage into an all-in-one solution, the Dell PowerEdge VRTX can deliver big

performance and savings.

Summary of content (45 pages)

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COMPARING PERFORMANCE AND COST: DELL POWEREDGE VRTX VS. A LEGACY HARDWARE ENVIRONMENT As your business grows, your server hardware must meet the increasing needs of users. Running a typical remote or branch office workload consisting of email, database, and file and print workloads on existing hardware may seem like the cheapest solution, but may end up costing more through downtime and lost productivity. Additionally, the aging hardware may simply not be able to keep up.
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GET BETTER PERFORMANCE WHILE USING LESS POWER We compared performance, power consumption, space, and cost of running typical office applications (email, database, and file/print server) on these two solutions:  A Dell PowerEdge VRTX with two Dell PowerEdge M620 server nodes, running VMware vSphere 5 in a high availability (HA) cluster configuration with three Microsoft® Windows Server® 2012 virtual machines (VMs) – one running SQL Server® 2012, one running Exchange Server 2010, and one acting as a file/pr
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The compact Dell PowerEdge VRTX not only outperformed the legacy tower solution, but it also used significantly less power while delivering that improved performance. The VRTX solution used 19.8 percent less power while running our workloads than the legacy, disparate hardware solution did (see Figure 2). This level of power reduction could significantly lower ongoing operating costs for your business. Power consumption (lower is better) 800 700 544.
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into just 5U of rack-equivalent space – a 70.6 percent reduction in the space that the legacy solution would take up (a massive 17U). As Figure 3 shows, the database performance increase of the Dell PowerEdge VRTX seems even more impressive when you consider that it fits in a fraction of the space needed for a legacy tower solution. The Dell PowerEdge VRTX delivered a whopping 272.
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Dell PowerEdge VRTX offered more performance per TCO dollar, lower 5-year TCO, and a rapid ROI A bloated infrastructure can hurt your bottom line. While choosing to keep your legacy, disparate hardware solution might seem convenient and cost-effective, we found that purchasing and running the Dell PowerEdge VRTX solution could deliver as much as a 26.0 percent lower 5-year total cost of ownership (TCO) than continuing to use the legacy solution (see Figure 5).
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With the Dell PowerEdge VRTX, we found that you could achieve payback, or a return on your investment (ROI), in as little as 33 months (see Figures 7 and 8). This assumes you do not need to add servers for new workloads with the legacy, disparate hardware solution, which could give you an even more dramatic return on your investment. Payback in 33 months with Dell PowerEdge VRTX $90,000 $80,000 Figure 7: The Dell PowerEdge VRTX can deliver payback in as little as 33 months.
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Database performance/TCO dollar Figure 9: The Dell PowerEdge VRTX delivered 47.9 percent more OPM per TCO dollar. Higher numbers are better. OPM per TCO dollar 0.04 0.037 0.03 0.025 0.02 0.01 0.00 Dell PowerEdge VRTX Legacy, disparate hardware solution For complete details and assumptions of our TCO analysis, see Appendix D.
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About the Dell PowerEdge M620 server nodes The Dell PowerEdge M620 server node has features optimized for performance, density, and energy efficiency.  Processors. The Dell PowerEdge M620 is powered by two Intel® Xeon® E52600-series processors, which incorporate the very latest in processor technology from Intel. The powerful processors provide the performance you need for your essential mainstream tasks.
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Mail testing To test the solutions’ mail server performance, we used the Microsoft® Load Generator 2010 (LoadGen) benchmark, performing tasks to simulate a heavy user generating mail activity. For our workloads, we used the following settings:  Number of users: 500  Mailbox Profile: 250MB mailboxes  Action Profile: Outlook_200 For more details about LoadGen, see www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=DDEC1642-F6E3-4D66-A82F8D3062C6FA98&displaylang=en.
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APPENDIX A – SYSTEM CONFIGURATION INFORMATION Figures 10 through 12 provide detailed configuration information for the test systems.
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System General Number of processor packages Number of cores per processor Number of hardware threads per core System power management policy CPU Vendor Name Stepping Socket type Core frequency (GHz) L1 cache L2 cache L3 cache Memory modules (per node) Total RAM in system (GB) Vendor and model number Type Speed (MHz) Speed in the system currently running @ (MHz) Timing/latency (tCL-tRCD-iRP-tRASmin) Size (GB) Number of RAM modules Chip organization RAID controller Vendor and model number Firmware version Cac
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Server General dimensions of server Height (inches) Width (inches) Depth (inches) U size in server rackequivalent (U) Power supplies Total number HP ProLiant ML310 G5 HP ProLiant ML110 G6 HP ProLiant ML370 G5 14.4 6.9 16.8 17.0 7.9 24.0 17.5 8.6 28.
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Server Type Speed (MHz) Speed in the system currently running @ (MHz) Timing/latency (tCL-tRCDiRP-tRASmin) Size (GB) Number of RAM modules Chip organization RAID controller Vendor and model number Cache size (MB) Hard drive #1 Vendor and model number Number of drives Size (GB) RPM Type Hard drive #2 Vendor and model number Number of drives Size (GB) RPM Type Network adapter Vendor and model number Type Number of ports Network adapter 2 HP ProLiant ML110 G6 PC3-10600E DDR3 1,333 HP ProLiant ML310 G5 PC2-64
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   Storage array Number of arrays Size in server rack-equivalent (U) Number of active storage controllers Number of active storage ports Switch number/type/model Power supplies Power supply vendor and model Number of drives Drive vendor and model number Drive size (GB) Drive buffer size (MB) Drive RPM Drive type Drive firmware Switch Size in server rack-equivalent (U) Ports Port speed Model number HP P2000 G3 Modular Smart Array System 1 2 2 4 P2000 G3 2 3Y Power Technologies YM-3159A AR Rev A 15 HP E
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APPENDIX B - HOW WE TESTED Installing and configuring the infrastructure server We configured a Dell PowerEdge R710 server with VMware vSphere (ESXi) 5.1 Update 1 to host the Active Directory VMs, one for each solution, and the VMware vCenter VM. Installing VMware vSphere 5.1 (ESXi) on the Dell PowerEdge R710 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Insert the ESXi 5.1 disk, and select Boot from disk. On the Welcome screen, press Enter. On the End User License Agreement (EULA) screen, press F11.
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5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. Select the LUN for the storage, and click Next. Select ESX 5.1 and later compatibility, and click Next. Choose Windows, select Microsoft Windows Server 2012, and click Next. Choose the VM’s virtual hardware options, and click Next (see each VM’s section below for additional VM configuration data).
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Installing Active Directory and DNS services 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. Power on the first AD VM. On the VM, open Server Manager. On the Welcome screen, click 2, and click Add roles and features. At the initial Before you begin screen, click Next three times. At the Server Roles screen, select Active Directory Domain Services. On the pop-up window, click Add Features. Click Next three times. Verify the desired role is being installed, and click Install.
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g. h. i. j. k. In the VLAN list box, click 1, and click Remove. In the VLAN list box, enter 1000 and click Add. Click Apply. Select the External Port radio button. After the screen populates, use the drop-down menu to select the port used to connect to the external testing switch. l. In VLAN list, click 1, and click Remove. m. In the VLAN list box, enter 1000 and click Add. n. Click Apply. 13.
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ii. Use the drop-down menu for all virtual disks and SLOT-02, and select Full Access. iii. Click Apply. iv. To confirm the Operation Successful message box, click OK. Configuring the VMware vSphere environment for the VRTX server nodes Installing and configuring vCenter Server 1. Install the vCenter appliance to the PowerEdge R710 infrastructure server: a. In the vSphere client, select FileDeploy OVF Template. b. Browse to the location of the vCenter Server Appliance .ovf file, and click Open. c.
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6. 7. 8. 9. 10. e. To confirm operation was successful, click OK. Click the Properties tab. Click Launch Remote Console. On new browser page, click Continue to website (not recommended) if prompted. a. If a message appears indicating a pop-up was blocked, select Always allow pop-ups from this site. b. Close the browser tab for the iDRAC. c. Click Launch Remote Console. d. If a message appears indicating the Web page wants to run an add-on called “Virtual Console from Dell Inc.
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i. Clear the vmnic0 checkbox. ii. Check the vmnic1 checkbox. iii. Press Enter. e. Press Esc. f. To restart networking, press Y. g. Select Troubleshooting Options. i. Select Enable ESXi shell, and press Enter. ii. Select Enable SSH, and press Enter. iii. Press Esc. h. To log out, press Esc. 2. Repeat step 1 for each additional server you wish to configure. Adding both server nodes to the vCenter Server 1.
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3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Click Storage, and click Add Storage… Choose Disk/LUN. Select the disk, and click Next. Accept the default of VMFS-5 for the file system. Review the disk layout, and click Next. Enter the datastore name, and click Next. Accept the default of using maximum capacity, and click Next. Click Finish. Repeat for the additional volumes. Add shared storage on the second host: a. On the second host, click the Configuration tab. b. Click the Storage menu. c.
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14. 15. 16. 17. 18. Keep the default virtual device node (0:0), and click Next. Click Finish. Right click the VM, select Upgrade Virtual Hardware, and click Yes. Start the VM. Attach the Windows Server 2012 ISO image to the VM, and install Windows Server 2012 on your VM. Installing the operating system on the VMs See the above sections regarding the initial creation of the virtual machines. We provide steps below for installing the operating system. Installing the VM operating system on the first VM 1.
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4. Begin initialization on the newly created virtual disk, and reboot the server. 5. Repeat this steps 1 through 4 for the HP ProLiant ML310 G5, using all four installed hard drives. Installing the operating systems on the legacy systems 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. Insert installation DVD for Windows Server 2012 Enterprise into the HP ProLiant ML370 G5. Power on the system. At the Language Selection Screen, click Next. Click Install Now.
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10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. Click Next. Leave the defaults for Enable system-management services checked, and click Next. Provide system information, or accept the defaults, and click Next. Accept the defaults for event notification, and click Next. Provide IP addresses for the iSCSI ports.
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Installing and configuring Microsoft Exchange Server We installed Microsoft Exchange 2010 SP3 on a VM residing on the first Dell PowerEdge M620 and on the HP ProLiant ML370 G5. Configuring the Exchange 2010 VM (VRTX only) After cloning, modify the Exchange 2010 VM to contain the following settings:  Memory: 16GB  Virtual Processors: 8  Additional virtual disks: o 1 x 750 GB virtual disk for mailbox storage and logs (Thick-provisioned, eager-zeroed) Configuring the legacy machine (legacy only) 1.
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9. In the Computer Name Changes screen, under Computer name, type exchange 10. In the Computer Name Changes screen, under the Member of section, select the Domain radio button, and type test.local 11. To start joining the domain, select OK. 12. When the screen appears asking for a person qualified on the domain, type administrator as the username and Password1 as the password. 13. At the Welcome pop-up and the window warning that you must restart the computer for the changes to take effect, click OK. 14.
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9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. Click Install only languages from the DVD. Click the link for Step 4: Install Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 SP1. To go past the introduction screen, click Next. Accept the license agreement, and click Next. Select No for error reporting, and click Next. Select Typical Exchange Server Installation, and click Next. Leave the organization name at default (First Organization), and click Next.
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10. At the New Connector page, click New to create the connector. 11. To close the New SMTP Send Connector wizard, click Finish. Configuring the Exchange Server 2010 Mailbox role (both legacy and VRTX) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. Select StartAll ProgramsMicrosoft Exchange Server 2010Exchange Management Console. In the left pane, expand Organization Configuration, and click Mailbox. Click the Database Management tab.
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6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. Right-click My Computer, and select Properties. Under the Computer Name tab, click Change. In the Computer Name Changes screen, under Computer name, type loadgen as your computer name. In the Computer Name Changes screen, under the Member of section, select the Domain radio button, and type test.local To start joining the domain, select OK. When the screen appears asking for a person qualified on the domain, type administrator as the username and Password1 as the password.
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8. To accept defaults for Advanced recipient settings, click Continue. 9. In the Specify test user groups screen, select the plus sign to add a user group. 10. Change the Client Type to Outlook 2007 Cached, the Action Profile to Exchange_200, and the Mailbox size to 250 MB. 11. In Remote configurations, click Continue. 12. Click Save the configuration file as, and name it testcfg.xml 13. After saving the configuration file, click Start the initialization phase (recommended before running the test).
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14. Open the start menu, type Hard Disk Partitions, on the right, select Settings, and click the displayed tile. 15. Right-click the disk sized 93.13 GB, and select Online. 16. Right-click the disk, select Initialize Disk, and click Ok. 17. Right-click the volume space, and select Create Simple Volume. 18. At the Specify Volume Size window, leave the default selection, and click Next. 19. At the Assign Drive Letter or Path window, choose a drive letter, and click Next. 20.
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25. At the Ready to Install screen, click Install. 26. After installation completes, click Close. 27. Create a SQL Server login for the ds2user (see the Configuring the database (Data generation overview) section for the specific script to use). 28. Copy the pre-created DVD Store backup to the specified backup volume. 29. Download and install any available updates for Microsoft SQL Server 2012. We installed SQL Server 2012 SP1 and CU5.
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USE [master] GO CREATE LOGIN [ds2user] WITH PASSWORD=N’’, DEFAULT_DATABASE=[master], DEFAULT_LANGUAGE=[us_english], CHECK_EXPIRATION=OFF, CHECK_POLICY=OFF GO 9. We set the database recovery model back to full. 10. We created the necessary full text index using SQL Server Management Studio. 11. We created a database user and mapped this user to the SQL Server login. 12. We then performed a full backup of the database.
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2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. Select StartControl PanelNetwork ConnectionsEthernet 2. Click Properties. Highlight Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), and click Properties. Select the Use the following IP address radio button, and enter the desired IP for your iSCSI network. Click OK. Open the Start menu, type iSCSI Initiator and select the displayed tile. If it asks you to start the service, click OK.
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 Cycling – normal Running the test Test start and run times We ran all workloads concurrently in order to start and record all performance counters for this report. The specific testing parameters we used for each benchmark are included in the setup sections, and specifics for launching these tests are described below.
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APPENDIX C – DETAILED TEST RESULTS Figure 14 shows the results of our database, mail, and file and print testing as well as power data for the Dell PowerEdge VRTX solution we tested. The median run was determined by OPM. Dell PowerEdge VRTX Power Idle power (W) Active power (W) Database Orders per minute Mail Avg latency (ms) File and print IOPS Run 1 Run 2 Run 3 Median run 533.1 546.6 534.1 545.7 532.3 544.5 532.3 544.5 2241 2257 2247 2247 0.5 0.4 0.5 0.5 8.5 8.5 8.5 8.
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APPENDIX D – TCO CALCULATIONS In this appendix, we estimate and compare 5-year costs for the two solutions we tested in this report. Each solution supports one SQL Server 2012 Standard Edition instance, one Microsoft Exchange 2013 Standard Edition instance, and one instance for file/print -- in three VMs on the Dell PowerEdge VRTX solution and on individual servers in the legacy solution.
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 We do not include data center costs such as space or build costs because we assume these solutions would be installed within the SMB or branch office, not in a centralized enterprise data center.  We include costs to power and cool the solutions using power utilization measurements we made during testing. We estimate cooling costs as the same as power costs.  We estimate negligible downtime for VRTX and nine hours per server per year for the older legacy servers.
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Dell PowerEdge VRTX platform Unit Cost per unit Quantity description Quantity Total cost Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Standard (Software Assurance) One license per SQL VM $224.50 One SQL Server VM 1 $224.50 Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 (Software Assurance) One server $177.00 One Exchange VM 1 $177.00 One per processor per year $273.00 Number processors 4 $1,092.00 Platform $942.98 One VRTX 1 $942.98 12 24 $600.00 $1,200.00 $5,977.98 $498.
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Annual costs Annual costs include mission critical support for the Dell PowerEdge VRTX platform, Microsoft Software Assurance for the Microsoft software and VMware Support and Subscription costs for the VMware software, staff time to maintain the hardware and support the VMs, and energy costs for powering and cooling the platforms. Hardware support Dell supplied annual cost for mission critical support for the Dell PowerEdge VRTX solution that we tested.
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Legacy costs Microsoft Exchange Server 2013 (server licenses) Unit Cost per unit One server $708.00 Quantity description One server with Exchange Quantity Total cost 1 $708.00 $50.00 Number hours 16 $800.00 $5,055.00 Each server with up to two processors Three servers $220.75 with one or two processors each 3 $662.25 One server $224.50 One server with SQL installed 1 $224.50 One server $177.00 One server with Exchange 1 $177.00 $2,483.00 One year 1 $2,483.
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Acquisition costs Acquisition costs for the legacy solution include software license and setup costs. This solution does not have a hardware purchase cost. Software costs We include license costs for the following software:  Windows Server 2012 Standard Edition licenses processor licenses for the three servers; each server requires a single two-license pack, which licenses a one- or two-processor server.
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Energy costs for power and cooling We measured power utilization of the legacy servers, storage, and switch under load and at idle. We used the same formulas and assumptions to calculate energy costs for the legacy solution that we used for the Dell PowerEdge VRTX solution. Systems management We expect the HP solution, even with vendor support, to require more hands-on in-house support than the newer Dell PowerEdge VRTX solution.
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ABOUT PRINCIPLED TECHNOLOGIES Principled Technologies, Inc. 1007 Slater Road, Suite 300 Durham, NC, 27703 www.principledtechnologies.com We provide industry-leading technology assessment and fact-based marketing services. We bring to every assignment extensive experience with and expertise in all aspects of technology testing and analysis, from researching new technologies, to developing new methodologies, to testing with existing and new tools.