Moving On Up - smaller servers and bigger performance

Moving On Up –Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Doug LucyAllegro Consultants

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Who…

• Programming since 1978• OpenEdge v3.2A and Unix since 1986• Certified in AIX, HP-UX, Solaris, etc.• 35 programmers and DBAs• Contract programming and

consulting

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Customer history• Chose Progress vertical app• Bought Unix for multiple users• Added on to grow• Kept machine forever

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Results after 10, 15, 20 years

• Locked-in proprietary platform• Rarely upgrade to new model• Very expensive

– Training– Add-on hardware– software

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Need to grow• More users, demands• More data to crunch• Ageing hardware• Increasing support cost

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Moving on up• Upgrade servers• Modern platforms• 50% of cost of proprietary• Reach new features

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Your direction• How many will buy new or

add?• Want fast, cheap, supported• Must be safe, risk-free• How do you decide?

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Previously supported OSes

• DEC VMS• DEC Unix• MS-DOS• Novell Netware• CTOS/BTOS• Sequent

Dynix/ptx• Data General DG-

UX• SCO Xenix & Unix• SCO Unixware

• AT&T/NCR Unix• Unisys Unix• IBM AIX• HP-UX• Sun SunOS &

Solaris• MS Windows NT• RedHat & SUSE

Linux• AS/400

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Current OSes and CPUs• IBM AIX on

Power• Linux

– x86– Power

• HP-UX– PA-RISC– Itanium

• Sun Solaris– SPARC– x86

• Windows Server– x86

• Tru64 on Alpha

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

OS and CPU trends• x86 – Intel Pentium AMD• Linux or Windows on x86

– Reduce costs– Shift most R&D costs to external– Focus on software and services– Standards rather than

proprietary

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Benefits of x86-based• Lower initial costs• Lower support

costs• Increased

selection– Hardware– OS– Add-ons– Vendors– Resources

• Better performance

• Newer features sooner

• Virtualization• More timely

upgrades• Budget for

other options

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Cons of x86-based• More vendors “in the mix”• Limited support for 3rd party• HW and OS support not as

deep yet• Servers not always as cool

looking

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Costs of new platform• New hardware• New OS• HW, OS, and SW annual

support• Porting costs (consulting or

in-house)• Platform change fees

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Solution comparisons

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

5-year costs and savings

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Excellent cluster config

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Question:• Ok, so it’s cheaper…• But is it faster?

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

CPU SPECint_rate2000

“performance measurements that can be used to compare compute-intensive workloads on different computer systems, SPEC CPU2000 CINT2000 for measuring and comparing compute-intensive integer performance.”

-www.spec.org

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

TPC-C• Transaction Processing

Council– www.tpc.org

• TPC-C benchmark for OLTP

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Today’s TPC-C results

• Old days – big iron• Today - top fifty!

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Important performance notes

• Database apps need I/O and memory speed, not so much compute speed– Memory and I/O bus speed– L2 and L3 cache size– Memory size– I/O speed and spread

• OpenEdge uses INT ops, not FP ops• Keep context switching to a

minimum

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Change: What’s important?

• Vendor selection• Vendor support• Planning the migration

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Vendor selection• Choose vendor you trust• Nearby parts and service• Solid Linux/Windows history

and investments• Enterprise relationship

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Vendors and support• 24x7 enterprise support is

critical• Top-tier vendor

– HP, IBM, Sun, Dell• Align for Windows or Linux

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

What is migrating?

Database

QAD MFG/pro

OpenEdge

OS

Model 1000

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Migrating to a new machine

Database

QAD MFG/pro

OpenEdge

OS 1.0

Model 1000

OS 2.3

Model 2000

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Migrating to a new machine

Database

QAD MFG/pro

OpenEdge

OS 1.0

Model 1000

Database

QAD MFG/pro

OpenEdge

OS 2.0

Model 2000

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Porting to a new platform

Database

QAD MFG/pro

OpenEdge

OS 1.0

Model 1000

Database

QAD MFG/pro

OpenEdge

Different OS 2.3

Model XYZ

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Porting plan• Licensing issues – discover early• Validate portable code base, no

orphans• Catalog all services and products• Purchase and install HW and OS• Create bare-metal restore• Test new support contacts and

contracts

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Porting plan (cont’d)• Install software, recompile and basic

test• Migrate users, printers, devices, data• User testing of functionality, external

interfaces• Nightly refresh• DR test• Parallel testing• Switchover and reverse refresh

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Porting issues• UIDS and

Passwords• Profiles• Printers• Locations and

paths• Data

– Tar and untar– Dump&Load

• Scripts– Crontab vs.

Windows– Bourne shell vs.

bash vs. CMD.EXE

– Windows equivalents

• Rosetta stonebhami.com/

rosetta.html

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Pitfalls to watch out for

• /dev/null• Serial ports• No Windows

telnet• Windows swap• Console

messages vs. Event Manager

• Online or LVM under Windows

• Search for “UNIX” or “OP-SYS”

• Sending email• Spaces in

filenames and paths

• Proprietary backup

• RAID 5• Not enough disks

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Progress issues• Dump and load – endian-ness• .R OK with endian-ness, not

32 vs 64• Moving database

– Cannot use probkup– Binary dump and load OK– Character code conversion

• Disk layout and performance

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

End state

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Virtualization• One physical machine

– Multiple OSes– Movable OSes

• Like partitioning• Dramatic trend towards

virtualization

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Harlow’s “Fun with Virtualization”

• Why Virtualize?– Maximize utilization of server

resources– Provide higher availability– Simplify the testing of

upgrades/changes– Ease migration to new servers– Increase security– Reduce administrative workload

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Recommendations• Project support and upgrade

costs• Consider move to x86• Consolidate platforms and

storage• Plan your architecture• Vendors with knowledge and

support• Test, test, test

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Slides and handouts• Slides and handouts available• Questions via phone or email

– Doug Lucy– dlucy@allegroconsultants.com– (804) 553-1130

DB-7 Moving On Up - Smaller Servers and Bigger Performance

Any questions?

www.AllegroConsultants.com