Paper

Benchmark Results
Testing undertaken by Intel and IBM
using an internal proof of performance
and scalability benchmark for measuring
database query performance reveals
breathtaking performance improvements
for database queries with DB2 with
BLU Acceleration running on an Intel
Xeon processor E7-4890 v2. The tests
demonstrated that DB2 with BLU
Acceleration running on the previous-
generation Intel Xeon processor E7-4870
achieved 77 times greater performance
than DB2 10.1 with the same workload.
Running DB2 with BLU Acceleration on
the next-generation Intel Xeon processor
E7-4890 v2 nearly doubled performance,
logging a 1.9x increase. In total, running
the latest software on the latest hardware
provided 148 times greater performance
than the combination of previous-
generation software and hardware
(see Figure 1).
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The performance improvements were not
just limited to query speed. The database
with 10 TB of raw data used in the testing
was 4.55x smaller with DB2 with BLU
Acceleration using actionable compression
than the corresponding DB2 10.1 database
with static compression (2,127 GB
actionable compression versus 9,687 GB
static compression).
Take Advantage of Flexibility
and Efficiency
The coupling of the Intel Xeon processor
E7 v2 family with IBM DB2 with BLU
Acceleration provides a exible platform
to run a variety of workloads efciently.
Speed and Cost Efficiency
DB2 is designed for highly parallel
processing and uses multiple cores within
an Intel Xeon processor to divide up the
query processing into multiple threads
that work simultaneously. DB2 further
takes advantage of Intel® Advanced Vector
Extensions (Intel® AVX) on the Intel Xeon
processor E7 family. Intel AVX increases
the throughput of oating-point, SIMD
calculations like those used in highly
parallelized computations. This enables
DB2 to pack more data elements into the
register of a single processor and then
process all of those data elements with just
one call. This optimizes both memory usage
and processor I/O and can dramatically
increase performance for computationally
intense workloads like database queries.
While DB2 with BLU Acceleration capitalizes
on the performance benets of in-memory
storage, it is not limited to main-memory
capacity. DB2 with BLU Acceleration
provides the performance of in-memory
without being restricted to the capacity
of main memory so you don’t need to
continuously add more memory to meet
growing demand.
Easy Upgrade
DB2 with BLU Acceleration is an easy
upgrade. All of the performance benets
come straight out of the box. You don’t
need to tune DB2 to achieve these
impressive performance results.
Multiple Workloads
The combination of IBM DB2 with BLU
Acceleration and the Intel Xeon processor
E7 v2 family provides a exible platform
for multiple workloads. Performance
improvements in both products can
speed up complex online transaction
processing (OLTP) queries. Greater memory
support in Intel Xeon processors and
columnar technology in IBM DB2 with BLU
Acceleration enable real-time, in-memory
business intelligence and analytics.
The Intel Xeon processor E7 v2 family
can also boost your virtualized workloads.
Many companies have not yet virtualized
business-critical, tier-1 workloads like
databases, ERP, or CRM, yet many of these
workloads could benet from virtualization.
Intel® Virtualization Technology
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for IA-32
and Intel® 64 architecture (Intel® VT-x)
enhances key virtualization usages, like
live migration and dynamic load balancing,
while Advanced Programmable Interrupt
Controller virtualization (APICv) can reduce
virtualization performance penalties.
1.9x
speedup
IBM
*
DB2
*
10.1 on
Intel® Xeon® processor E7
IBM
*
DB2
*
with
BLU Acceleration on
Intel® Xeon® processor E7
IBM
*
DB2
*
with
BLU Acceleration on
Intel® Xeon® processor E7 v2
77x
speedup
148x speedup
Figure 1. Internal Intel and IBM test results, Proof of Performance and Scalability (POPS) benchmark on 10 TB star-schema database
(typical for data warehouses and data marts), January 2014
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