Reducing TCO for Web-Based Applications

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1 WHITE PAPER Intel Xeon Processor 5500 Series Total Cost of Ownership/ Return on Investment Reducing TCO for Web-Based Applications Performance-based server consolidation based on the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series lowers operating costs and achieves positive return on investment EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Servers based on the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series deliver both intelligent performance and energy efficiency. Migrating to the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series platform can enable server consolidation in the deployment of database-driven Web applications, resulting in operational that far exceed the cost of server refresh. Kam Lee Intel Corporation Manoj Punamia Intel Corporation Yoshinao Shimizu Intel Corporation Noriko Yamada Intel Corporation Minimizing TCO for Database-Driven Applications Database-driven applications with multi-tier architectures are the norm in many e- commerce businesses. Deploying these applications can involve a heterogeneous mix of server hardware, operating systems, storage technologies, and connectivity. The total cost of ownership (TCO) can be very high due to performance, scalability, availability, and security requirements. This poses a challenge for IT departments: how to deploy these applications within budget constraints and environmental guidelines. A key to minimizing TCO is using servers that deliver high performance, power efficiency, and low maintenance overhead. Servers based on the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series provide a high-performance yet cost-effective solution to meet the requirements of today s large-scale Web database applications. This paper analyzes the economics of server refresh using two application scenarios involving Oracle* software. The results suggest positive ROI in both scenarios when refreshing to the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series platform. The Intel Xeon Processor 5500 Series Server Platform Hardware Innovations The Intel Xeon processor 5500 series twosocket server platform has: Two Intel Xeon processors 5500 series Up to 8MB of L3 cache Up to 144GB of memory capacity (18 x 8GB DIMMs) Figure 1 shows the platform. Based on the newest-generation Intel microarchitecture, the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series brings together several innovative technologies: Intel QuickPath Interconnect (Intel QPI): CPU-to-CPU and CPU-to-chipset bandwidth supports up to 25.6GB per second, enabling faster data movement, calculations, and queries. Integrated memory controllers: DDR3 memory connects locally to each processor with minimal latency, allowing higher performance on memoryintensive computations.

2 Table of Contents Minimizing TCO for Database-Driven Applications The Intel Xeon Processor 5500 Series Server Platform Hardware Innovations Software Performance Improvements...2 Server Refresh ROI Analysis Objectives Methodology Assumptions Scenario 1: Consolidating Single-Core Application Servers Scenario 2: Consolidating Database Servers Server Refresh: Green Computing Conclusions Intel Turbo Boost Technology: It dynamically increases operating frequency according to software needs, enhancing the performance of singlethreaded workload. Intel Hyper-Threading Technology: With up to 16 software threads per platform, it enhances the performance of multi-threaded workloads. Intel Intelligent Power Technology: Providing real-time adaptation of processor and memory power states based on workload, it reduces energy consumption on the system. Together, these technologies improve the execution speed and throughput of software programs and maximize performance according to real-time workload, at the same time optimizing power consumption at all operating points. They are well suited for largescale software systems for e-commerce applications. Typically, such software is composed of multiple processes, with each process spawning a large number of worker threads to handle many transactions simultaneously. A transaction may involve logic execution, data computation, and database queries and updates. Software like this readily benefits from the additional processing cores, large cache size, and ultra-high-memory bandwidth on the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series platform. Software Performance Improvements Intel provides a software compiler that has been enhanced to support the new features of the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series platform. Software binaries generated by the compiler can take advantage of the hardware-level performance-enhancing capabilities, achieving faster code execution and higher data throughput. It is possible to further enhance software performance with direct, code-level optimizations that fully exploit the underlying hardware architecture. These optimizations include locking, threading, and querylevel improvements, among others. To help facilitate this area of software development, Intel has code optimization and performance Up to 25.6 GB/Second Bandwidth per Link Intel Xeon Processor 5500 Series Intel Xeon Processor 5500 Series Memory Memory Up to 18 Slots DDR3 Memory Intel 5520 Chipset 2 Figure 1. Intel Xeon processor 5500 series two-socket processor/chipset block diagram Up to 42 Lanes PCI Express* (36 Lanes PCI Express 2.0)

3 analysis tools, including the Intel VTune Performance Analyzer. There is also ongoing collaboration between Intel and independent software vendors (ISVs) to develop new versions of ISV software that run at the optimal performance level and provide higher scalability on the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series platform. Server Refresh: Performance Consolidation In a typical application deployment, multiple servers are often needed to meet a performance target for a given application. When refreshing with Intel Xeon processor 5500 series-based servers, an organization may be able to deploy the same application with fewer servers because of the performance advantage of the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series processors over previous generations of processors. The consolidation ratio (CR) can be determined as: Application Application Number of Legacy Servers Performance on New Server Number of CR = ~ New Servers Performance on Legacy Server Server consolidation produces operational savings, including: Lower costs for hardware warranty and software support Lower electricity bill for powering and cooling of servers processor 5500 series platform, consider two application scenarios representing real deployments and workloads. In each scenario, we analyze the return on investment (ROI) of replacing the existing servers with new Intel Xeon processor 5500 series-based servers. Methodology Step 1: Determine the server consolidation ratio based on measured performance data characterizing application-level performance against workload. Step 2: Quantify the benefits of server consolidation. This includes savings in hardware warranty and software support, IT labor for server administration and maintenance, and electricity. Step 3: Estimate the cost of server refresh. This includes the capital cost of the new server hardware, software upgrade, and IT labor costs for setting up and testing the application on the new hardware. Step 4: Calculate the N-year ROI: ROI N = Benefit NPV Cost NPV Cost NPV Benefit NPV is the net present value of the aggregate benefits over one server life cycle; cost NPV is the net present value of the server refresh cost over the same period. Table 1. Assumptions in ROI Analysis Assumptions Table 1 lists the key parameters and their assumed values in the ROI analysis of the two scenarios. Scenario 1: Consolidating Single-Core Application Servers The first example is an online stock trading application. As shown in Figure 2, it has a three-tier architecture consisting of Web servers in the front end, application servers in the middle tier, and database servers in the back end. In this application, the application servers are the most computationally intensive since they run the application logic and Oracle Coherence* middleware. The application logic processes the stock transactions, while the Oracle Coherence middleware maintains and manages an in-memory cache of database data objects. The application logic can read and write directly to the cache with minimal latency, thereby achieving high throughput. Consider a scenario where 20 one-socket, Intel Xeon processor-based servers are required in the middle tier to support the workload. The Intel Xeon processor used is a single-core processor based on an older-generation microarchitecture. We evaluate the benefits of refreshing these servers with the new-generation Intel Xeon processor 5500 series-based, twoway servers. Less IT time spent on server administration and maintenance Overall, the TCO of application deployment may be reduced by refreshing to the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series-based servers. Server Refresh: ROI Analysis Objective To better understand the business case for refreshing servers to the Intel Xeon Server life cycle Hardware warranty fee Operating system support fee Server busy time IT hourly wage Time cost of money Electricity cost Server management cost Power use efficiency (for cooling) Four years US$500 per server per year US$120 per server per year Seven hours per day US$40 per hour 10 percent US$0.1 per kwh Ten person-minutes per server per day Two 3

4 NS Solutions Corporation has measured the performance of this Web application with the application logic and Oracle Coherence middleware running on these two types of servers. 1 Figure 3 compares the application throughput at 50 percent CPU utilization. The data shows that the Intel Xeon processor 5500 seriesbased server can process 2,400 requests per second at 50 percent CPU utilization, while the single-core Intel Xeon processor-based server can handle only 200 requests per second at 50 percent CPU utilization. In other words, the application runs 12 times faster on the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series-based server. The performance improvement is due in large part to the efficient execution of the multi-threaded application and middleware on the microarchitecture. As such, the 20 Intel Xeon processorbased servers in the scenario under considera- tion can adequately be replaced by four Intel Xeon processor 5500 series-based servers. With this replacement, reduced spending on hardware warranty fees and software support licenses will save up to US$14,000 per year. Also, reduced IT overhead in the administration, management, and maintenance of the application servers will save up to 1,800 person-hours per year. Finally, much lower server power consumption and cooling costs will save up to 19,000 kwh per year. As shown in Figure 4, over a four-year period, these operational savings will far exceed the cost of the new server hardware and software upgrade and the project cost to migrate the applications to the new servers. The four-year ROI is estimated to be about 410 percent, with a pay-back in only nine months. Scenario 2: Consolidating Database Servers The second example is a Web-based ticket ordering application. It is implemented in two tiers, as shown in Figure 5. The front-end Web servers process customer requests and submit information queries and data updates to the back-end database servers running Oracle Database Enterprise Edition*. Consider a scenario where four two-socket, Intel Xeon processor 5355 series-based servers are required to run the database software to handle peak workload. The Intel Xeon processor 5355 series is a quad-core processor based on the original Intel Core microarchitecture. We evaluate the benefits of refreshing these servers to the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series platform. Web Servers Application Servers with Oracle Coherence* Database Servers Figure 2. Intel Xeon processorbased application servers for processing stock transactions 14 Figure 3. Application performance improvement on the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series platform 1 Normalized Response Throughput Single-Core Intel Xeon Processor-Based One-Socket Server Intel Xeon Processor 5500 Series-Based Two-Socket Server Online Trading Application Throughput at 50 Percent CPU Utilization 4

5 NS Solutions Corporaton has measured the Oracle Database performance on these two servers. 2 Based on the measured data shown in Figure 6, the application can handle up to approximately 10,000 transactions per second when the database software runs on an Intel Xeon processor 5355 series-based server. In comparison, the application can sustain up to approximately 23,000 transactions per second when the database software is running on an Intel Xeon processor 5500 series-based server. This throughput increase of 2.3 times is a direct result of the execution performance increase of the database software on the newer microarchitecture. Instead of four Intel Xeon processor 5355 series-based servers, only two Intel Xeon processor 5500 series-based servers are required to run the database software for this application. With the number of physical servers reduced by half, we estimate that the hardware and software warranty cost can be reduced by up to US$70,000 per year. IT server support time can be reduced by up to 200 person-hours per year; energy consumption can be reduced by up to 9,900 kwh per year. As shown in Figure 7, these savings over four years will be much greater than the cost to acquire the new hardware and to migrate the database software to the new hardware. This corresponds to a fouryear ROI of 45 percent and a pay-back period of 32 months. US$400,000 US$300,000 $US200,000 Benefits Power Server operations and administration labor Support, maintenance, and service contract US$100,000 Migration/project change Figure 4. Cost and benefits of migrating to Intel Xeon processor 5500 series-based servers (over four years) 5 0 -US$100,000 Costs Server software licensing costs Server hardware cost Web Servers Web Web Server Database Servers with with Oracle Database* Oracle Database Database Figure 5. Intel Xeon processorbased database servers for an online ticket ordering application Web Server 5

6 Server Refresh: Green Computing The Intel Xeon processor 5500 series has superb, power-efficient performance. As shown in the two scenarios, migrating to the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series-based platform results in substantial reduction in electricity consumption by server operation and cooling. This helps to reduce carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emission by power plants. The amount of CO 2 reduction per year (V C ) can be simply calculated as: V C = Energy to CO 2 Conversion Factor Energy Savings Per Year The conversion factor depends on the type of fuel and the power generation process. In Japan, approximately 0.41 kg of CO 2 is emitted per kwh of energy generated 3. x From a different perspective, the amount of CO 2 reduction can be quantified as the number of trees required to absorb the equivalent amount of CO 2 from the environment. It is known that a 50-year-old cedar tree removes about 0.14 kg of CO 2 annually 4. So, Number of Trees = V C in kg 0.14 Table 2 shows the estimated CO 2 reduction realized as a result of server consolidation in the two scenarios (assuming deployment in Japan). In both scenarios, the environmental Table 2. Estimated Reduction in Carbon Footprint Scenario Reduction in CO 2 Emissions/Year No. Trees Needed to Absorb CO 2 Application servers ~ 12,000 kg ~ 800 trees Database servers ~ 6,000 kg ~ 400 trees Figure 6. Online ticketing application throughput performance 1 Normalized Normalized Transaction Transaction Throughput Throughput Intel Xeon Processor 5500 (Two-Socket) Intel Xeon Processor 5355 (Two-Socket) Load (No. (# Virtualized Clients) Clients) 6

7 effect of server power saving is just as good as planting hundreds of trees. Conclusions Use of energy-efficient, high-performance Intel Xeon processor 5500 series-based servers can drive down the TCO of today s large-scale, database-driven applications. As illustrated in the two example scenarios, a cluster of single-core or multi-core servers can be replaced by a smaller cluster of Intel Xeon processor 5500 series-based servers, leading to savings in hardware warranty and software support fees, server power consumption, facility cooling costs, and IT overhead. Over four years, these cumulative operational savings easily exceed the initial hardware and migration costs, leading to positive ROI in some cases, in as soon as nine months. In addition, using more efficient servers helps to reduce the carbon footprint and CO 2 emissions into the environment. By refreshing to Intel Xeon processor 5500 series-based servers, an organization may not only achieve operational excellence, but also meet its corporate social responsibility goals. For more information on Intel Xeon processor 5500 series, visit Power US$300,000 US$250,000 Server operations and administration labor $US150,000 US$50,000 Benefits Support, maintenance, and service contract Figure 7. Costs and benefits of migrating to the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series (over four years) 5 -US$50,000 -US$150,000 -US$250,000 Costs Migration/project change Server software licensing costs Server hardware cost 1 Source: NS Solutions Corporation (March, 2009). Performance comparison data in Scenario 1 were measured by NS Solutions Corporation with a test setup consisted of a web server, an application server (running stock transaction software) and an database server. The following application server platforms were compared in the test: Legacy platform: Intel server platform with one single-core Intel Xeon processor, 2.80GHz with 2M L2 cache, 800 FSB, 8x1GB DDR2-400 memory, one hard drive, one power supply, Oracle Linux*, Oracle Coherence* middleware, New platform: Intel server platform with two Intel Xeon processors 5500 series, 2.80GHz, 8MB L3 cache, 6.4QPI, 12 GB memory (6x2GB DDR3-1333), one hard drive, one power supply, Oracle Linux*, Oracle Coherence* middleware. 2 Source: NS Solutions Corporation (March, 2009). Performance comparison data in Scenario 2 were measured by NS Solutions Corporation with a test setup consisted of a database server responding to direct database queries. The following database server platforms were compared in the test: Legacy platform: Intel server platform with two Intel Xeon processors 5355 series, GHz with 2M L2 cache, 800 FSB, 8x1GB DDR2-400 memory, one hard drive, one power supply, RedHat Enterprise Linux* 4 Update 4, Oracle Database* 10g R Enterprise Edition. New platform: Intel server platform with two Intel Xeon processors 5500 series, 2. 8 GHz, 8MB L3 cache, 6.4QPI, 12 GB memory (6x2GB DDR3-1333), one hard drive, one power supply, Oracle Enterprise Linux R5.2, Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition. 3 Energy and Environment published by The Federation of Electric Power Companies in Japan. 4 Sink Measures to Prevent Global Warming by the Ministry of the Environment and the Forestry Agency of Japan. 5 Performance tests and ratings are measured using specific computer systems and/or components and reflect the approximate performance of Intel products as measured by those tests. Any difference in system hardware or software design or configuration may affect actual performance. Buyers should consult other sources of information to evaluate the performance of systems or components they are considering purchasing. For more information on performance tests and on the performance of Intel products, reference or call (U.S.) or *Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others. 7

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