System information

A Principled Technologies test report 8

Comparing performance and cost: Dell PowerEdge VRTX vs.

legacy hardware solution

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® E5-

2600-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. The Intel Xeon E5-2600-series

processor gives you up to eight cores per processor, or up to 16 cores per

server.

 Memory. The Dell PowerEdge M620 holds up to 768GB DDR3 RAM (up to

1600 MHz) across 24 DIMM slots per compute node.

 Management. The Dell PowerEdge M620, like all late-model Dell servers,

comes with the Dell Lifecycle Controller. This tool simplifies server

management by providing a single interface for management functions and

by storing critical system information in the system itself. There are no CDs

or USB keys to keep track of for drivers or firmware.

About VMware vSphere 5

vSphere 5 is the latest virtualization operating system from VMware. vSphere 5

virtualizes server, storage, and networking resources, achieving a consolidation ratio

greater than 15:1. Features such as automated management and dynamic resource

allocation improve efficiency. The services that vSphere 5 provides fall into two

categories: infrastructure services and application services. The former handle the

virtualization of resources and their allocation to application when most needed, while

the latter provide service-level controls to applications running on vSphere 5.

To learn more about VMware vSphere 5, visit

www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/overview.html.

WHAT WE TESTED

Database testing

To create our real-world ecommerce workload, we used the DVD Store Version

2.1 benchmarking tool. DS2 models an online DVD store, where customers log in, search

for movies, and make purchases. DS2 reports these actions in orders per minute that

the system could handle, to show what kind of performance you could expect for your

customers. The DS2 workload also performs other actions, such as adding new

customers, to exercise the wide range of database functions you would need to run your

ecommerce environment.

For more details about the DS2 tool, see