Dell PowerEdge R7525 Server – AMD Performance for Microsoft SQL Server workloads running on RHEL 8.3
Wed, 19 Jan 2022 21:30:10 -0000
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The Dell EMC PowerEdge R7525 is a highly scalable two-socket 2U rack server that delivers powerful performance and flexible configuration, ideal for data analytics workloads. It features a 2nd Gen AMD EPYC 7002 series processors with up to 24 NVMe drives that provide a unique combination non-oversubscribed NVMe storage and plenty of peripheral options to support applications that require maximum performance.
For this benchmark, the PowerEdge R7525 was subjected to an intense workload over 8 contiguous hours which included necessary operations such as backups. The R7525 emerged with an impressive 1,542,560 QphH@3,000GB TPC Benchmark H (TPC-H) performance rating.
Based upon the results on July 03, 2021, tcp.org, a Decision Support Benchmark organization, the Dell PowerEdge R7525 Server demonstrated a TPC-H Composite Query-per-Hour metric of 1,542,560 when run against a 3,000GB database yielding a TPC-H Price/Performance of rating of $327.38 per query-per-hour.
This performance was realized based on the installation of Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Enterprise Edition 64 bit on a Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Release 8.3
Based on TCP-H V3 benchmarks in the 3,000 Scale Factor Range, this system has demonstrated an outstanding price to performance ratio. You can view the tcp.org results here.
Performance Measurement |
|
Performance | 1,542,560 QphH@3,000GB |
Price Performance | $327.38 per 1,542,560 QphH@3,000GB |
System Information |
|
Processors | 2x AMD EPYC MILAN 75F3, 2.95GHz (2 Proc / 64 Cores / 128 Threads) |
Memory (6TB) | 2048 GB (16x 128GB LRDIMM,3200MT/s, Quad Rank) |
Storage | BOSS controller card + with 2 M.2 Sticks 480GB (RAID 1), LP |
| 4 * 800GB SSD SAS Mix Use 12Gbps512e 2.5in AG Drive,3 DWPD |
| 3 *960GB SSD SAS Read Intensive12Gbps 512 2.5in AG Drive, 1 DWPD |
| 8 * Dell 1.6TB, NVMe, Mixed Use Express Flash, 2.5 SFF Drive, U.2, P4610 |
Why TPC Benchmarks matter
TPC-H is a decision support benchmark recorded at tpc.org. This benchmark consists of a suite of business-oriented ad-hoc queries and concurrent data modifications. The queries and data populating the database simulate a broad industry-wide relevance while maintaining easy implementation. This benchmark illustrates decision support systems that:
- Examine large volumes of data
- Execute queries with a high degree of complexity
- Give answers to critical business questions
Microsoft’s SQL Server is an enterprise-class database platform that more and more companies are using to store critical and sensitive data. SQL Server is an important cog in Microsoft’s.NET enterprise server architecture. It’s easy to use and takes fewer resources to maintain and performance tune.
The PowerEdge R7525 features 3rd Gen AMD EPYC series processors with Dell NVMe drives that provide a unique combination non-oversubscribed NVMe storage along with plenty of peripheral options to support applications that require maximum performance
This measurement is beneficial to a wide range of businesses that use Microsoft’s SQL Server as their enterprise-class database platform. More and more companies are using Microsoft’s SQL Server to store critical and sensitive data. SQL Server remains an important cog in Microsoft .NET enterprise server architecture. It’s easy to use and requires fewer resources to maintain and performance tune.
To find resources for system that is the right fit for your SQL Server see the Dell Technologies SQL Server support page.
Additional Dell Technologies Validated Designs to fit your current and future SQL requirements:
- Consolidated Mixed Workloads
- Re-platform Microsoft SQL to Linux
- Run Microsoft SQL on Containers
- Deploy Microsoft SQL 2019 Big Data Clusters
To explore these options, visit the Dell Technologies Solutions for Microsoft Data Platform.
Related Blog Posts
The Dell PowerEdge R7525: a Leader in Price and performance for SQL Server 2019
Mon, 07 Feb 2022 21:44:20 -0000
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The Microsoft Server team at Dell Technologies is excited to announce the recently published decision support workload benchmark (TPC-H) that has the Dell PowerEdge R7525 as the price performance leader according to the 10,000 GB results published on December 15th, 2021. The Transaction Processing Council (TPC) provides the most trusted sources of independently audited database performance benchmarks. These TPC benchmarks provide a way for customers to compare the performance of servers using different sized workloads.
The Dell PowerEdge R7525 is a two-socket server that uses AMD EPYC processors and supports up to 4TB of memory, making it a strong choice for database workloads. The AMD EPYC 73F3 processor has 16 CPU cores and a base clock speed of 3.5 GHz that can boost up to 4.0 GHz. The base clock speed of 3.5 GHz for the CPU cores enables quick data processes, which enhances database value for customers.
We configured the Dell PowerEdge R7525 with two AMD EPYC 73F3 processors for a total of 32 physical cores and with hyperthreading 64 threads. The server was configured with the maximum amount of memory (4 TB) with DDR4-3200 DRAM in a 32 by 128 GiB memory configuration. The server storage configuration included ten 1.92 TB SSD drives and eight 6.4 enterprise NVMe drives. For the complete PowerEdge R7525 configuration, see the TPC Benchmark H Full Disclosure Report.
We used Microsoft SQL Server 2019 Enterprise Edition and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.3 for the TPC-H workload. The decision support workload (TPC-H) is designed to examine volumes of data, execute queries with a high degree of complexity, and provide answers to critical business questions. The key performance metric is the Composite Query-per-Hour (QphH@Size) for decision support benchmarks. The PowerEdge R7525 achieved a 960,382 QphH@Size rating with a 10,000 GB database size. To determine the price performance metric the total system cost of $379,133 USD was divided by the queries per hour. The price performance metric of $394.78 $/kQphH@10000GB placed the PowerEdge R7525 a leader in this category.*
The Microsoft team at Dell Technologies has recently published best practices for SQL Server, many of which were used in this independently audited TPC-H benchmark. To review these best practices that provide insights into how organizations can optimize their SQL Server environments, see this link: AMD-based SQL Server Best Practices.
The SQL Server Best Practices program includes the following:
- VMware ESXi: Round Robin Path Policy
- PowerMax: Adding Storage Groups
- PowerMax: Storage Directors Ports and Interface Emulations
- SQL Server 2019: CPU Affinity
The solutions page for Microsoft SQL Server provides an overview of how Dell Technologies and Microsoft SQL Server can enable your company with modern infrastructure and agile operations. To learn more, see Dell Technologies Solutions for Microsoft Data Platform.
For those interested in harnessing the performance of the AMD-based PowerEdge R7525 server see, PowerEdge R7525 rack server web page. This provides an overview and technical specifications of the PowerEdge R7525 server.
Dell Technologies offers a portfolio of other rack servers, tower and modular servers that can be configured to accelerate most any business workload. To learn more about these options, see Dell Technologies PowerEdge Server Solutions.
* Based on TPC Benchmark H (TPC-H), December 15th, 2021, the Dell EMC PowerEdge R7525 rack server has a TPC-H Composite Query-per-Hour Performance Metric of 960,382 and a price/kQphH metrick of 394.79 USD when run against a 10,000 GB Microsoft SQL Server 2019 database and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.3 in a non-clustered environment. Actual results may vary based on operating environment. Full results are available at tpc.org.
SQL Server Modernization: 7X Performance Gains, 5.25X Faster Rebuilds
Tue, 26 Oct 2021 09:51:41 -0000
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Upgrading to the latest server generation significantly improves performance and data protection
When it comes time to modernize with Microsoft® SQL Server 2019® to take advantage of its significant advancements for extracting real-time insights from data-intensive workloads, it makes sense to consider an upgrade to the underlying hardware as well.
The latest generation of Dell EMC PowerEdge servers can help SQL Server transform raw data into actionable insights with better performance and data protection. These servers are highly adaptable for seamless scaling and equipped to meet the demands of real-time analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML).
To help you put some numbers around your infrastructure decision, Dell Technologies recently asked a third-party consulting firm, Prowess Consulting, to test SQL Server performance on the latest generation of Dell EMC PowerEdge servers, compared to the previous generation.
The testing demonstrates that the latest server generation with RAID storage based on the latest NVMe™ drives can significantly improve SQL Server 2019 performance, capable of processing more than 7X more new orders per minute (NOPM).[1] In addition, RAID array rebuild times were up to 5.25X faster on the newer platform, enabling significantly faster recovery and less downtime.1
These remarkable improvements in performance and data protection are driven by a variety of new technologies incorporated in PowerEdge servers:
- Latest processors with higher core counts: Compared to the previous generation, 3rd Generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors are built on a more efficient architecture that increases core performance, memory, and I/O bandwidth and provides additional memory channels to accelerate workloads. In addition, it supports more cores and sockets to further enhance performance and throughput.
- More and faster memory: The 3rd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors offer more cores and supports more memory modules (DIMMs) at the same price, for up to 1.60X higher memory bandwidth1 and up to 2.66X higher memory capacity.1
- NVMe™ drives with PCIe® Gen4: Compared to the SATA RAID drives with PCIe Gen3 used previously, the latest generation of NVMe solid-state drives paired with PCIe Gen4 interfaces doubles server throughput.1
- Revolutionary RAID controller technology: The new Dell PERC H755N front NVMe adapter is based on the Broadcom® SAS3916 PCIe to SAS/SATA/PCIe RAID on Chip (RoC) controller. These are the first RAID controllers from Dell Technologies to offer both PCIe Gen4 host and PCIe Gen4 storage interfaces, which deliver double the bandwidth and 75% more IOPS compared to previous generations.1
- Ethernet controllers: The Broadcom NetXtreme® E-Series P425G 4x 25G PCIe NIC combines a high-bandwidth Ethernet controller with a unique set of highly optimized hardware-acceleration engines to enhance network performance and improve server efficiency for enterprise and cloud-scale networking and storage applications, including AI, ML, and data analytics.
Taken together, these modern features deliver a significant SQL Server performance boost with higher-capacity storage and faster database rebuild times. They also greatly increase IT efficiency, a topic we’ll look at in more detail in the next blog.
Learn more
Read the report: Can Newer Dell EMC Servers Offer Significantly Better Performance for Microsoft SQL Server?
Visit: DellTechnologies.com/Microsoft-Data-Platform
Visit: DellTechnologies.com/PowerEdge
[1] Dell EMC R750 server compared with similarly-configured Dell EMC PowerEdge R740xd server. Source: Prowess white paper, sponsored by Dell Technologies, “Can Newer Dell EMC Servers Offer Significantly Better Performance for Microsoft SQL Server?” August 2021. Actual results may vary.