Benchmark Testing Results: CSC s Integral Life Insurance Software Running on SQL Server

Transcription

1 Benchmark Testing Results: CSC s Integral Life Insurance Software Running on SQL Server Running CSC s Integral life insurance solution on Microsoft SQL Server and Windows Server provides unmatched performance and scalability Technical White Paper Published: January Applies to: Microsoft SQL Server Abstract In June through August of, CSC and Microsoft conducted performance and scalability testing on CSC s Integral life insurance software running on Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise data management software and the Windows Server R Enterprise operating system. The benchmark testing was very successful, demonstrating a near-linear scalability to, concurrent users running against a database of million policies while maintaining excellent performance. These results confirm that SQL Server is an excellent choice for CSC s Integral licensees. Integral is a trademark of CSC, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Benchmark Testing Results: CSC s Integral Life Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server i

2 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This document is provided as-is. Information and views expressed in this document, including URL and other Internet Web site references, may change without notice. You bear the risk of using it. This document does not provide you with any legal rights to any intellectual property in any Microsoft product. You may copy and use this document for your internal, reference purposes. Benchmark Testing Results: CSC s Integral Life Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server ii

3 Table of Contents Introduction... Introducing CSC s Integral... Microsoft and CSC Team Up for Insurance... Benefits of SQL Server... Benchmark Testing Overview... Test Environment... Application and Load Generation Servers... Database Server... Storage... Test Scenarios... Benchmark Testing Results... Single Application Server Tests... Application Server Metric for Single Server Tests... Database Metrics for Single Server Tests... Multiple Application Server Tests... Application Server Metrics for Multiple Server Tests... Database Server Metrics for Multiple Server Tests... Summary... Additional Information... About CSC... About Microsoft... Benchmark Testing Results: CSC s Integral Life Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server iii

4 Introduction The flattening of the global market provides a world of opportunities and challenges for insurers. Companies need flexible, dependable technology that helps them respond quickly to changing conditions and meet the local needs of diverse markets. CSC s Integral insurance software suite helps insurance carriers meet these challenges with a comprehensive solution that is ideally suited for many scenarios, such as: We are thrilled to see insurance carriers increasingly deploy mission-critical applications on the Microsoft platform. CSC s commitment to offering Integral on Windows Server and SQL Server will provide a more modern, configurable core system with the performance and stability that insurers require and a TCO that is second to none. Karen T. Cone General Manager Worldwide Financial Services Microsoft Corporation Multi-national firms seeking a single platform for regional or international operations. Domestic insurance firms wanting to launch new products quickly without disrupting their existing processing. Insurers needing a self-contained insurance administration solution for quick start-up of new ventures. Multi-line insurers looking for a complete, low-maintenance processing capability for a secondary line of business. To give insurers more choices, we have enhanced some of our most widely used software for platform portability and reuse globally. CSC remains committed to delivering the right solutions to the right markets at the right time on a choice of platforms to help our clients boost customer service, create efficiencies, and meet their growth objectives. Ray August President Financial Services Group CSC The underlying core of an insurance solution is the data collected; this data is maintained in an enterprise database such as Microsoft SQL Server. Running on the Windows Server operating system, SQL Server provides a reliable, high performing, and scalable foundation for CSC s Integral software. This white paper begins with an introduction to CSC s Integral insurance software suite. Next, the paper provides an overview of SQL Server, a proven database platform for enterprise deployments of Integral. The many advantages SQL Server brings to Integral software are highlighted, including manageability, scalability, reliability, and affordability. The white paper then presents benchmark test results that confirm that SQL Server scales to meet the needs of even the largest deployments of CSC s Integral life insurance software. Enterprise customers can be confident in the choice of SQL Server and Windows Server as a foundation for CSC s Integral life insurance solution. Introducing CSC s Integral CSC s Integral is a comprehensive administration suite for life insurance and annuities/pensions, property and casualty (P&C)/general insurance, and group insurance that provides end-to-end policy/group management, product configuration, and business-analytics capabilities. Its portable Benchmark Testing Results: CSC s Integral Life Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server

5 architecture lets companies implement Integral quickly and operate cost-effectively, either in-house or through CSC s business process services. For more information about Integral, visit Microsoft and CSC Team Up for Insurance Microsoft and CSC have formed an alliance to support CSC s Integral on Microsoft software. Because Integral interoperates seamlessly with Windows Server and SQL Server, insurance carriers who deploy the joint CSC/Microsoft solution obtain a modern, easy-to-manage solution for improving processes, customer service, and overall productivity. The Windows Server operating system delivers the power and reliability that businesses require to thrive and grow, while SQL Server provides the performance, availability, and security to manage large volumes of data intelligently and eliminate silos of information. The result is a streamlined solution with global reach that lets carriers operate regionally and internationally with ease. Figure shows CSC s Integral on Microsoft software. Figure. CSC's Integral on Microsoft software For more information about how CSC and Microsoft are working together, visit Benchmark Testing Results: CSC s Integral Life Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server

6 Benefits of SQL Server SQL Server is a comprehensive, integrated, and enterprise-ready data-management software solution. It provides a reliable, cost-effective, low-maintenance database framework for CSC s Integral that can support the largest and most process-intensive deployments. Hundreds of enterprises are currently running terabyte and larger transactional databases on SQL Server. Running CSC s Integral on SQL Server provides customers with many benefits: Scalability and performance features SQL Server includes features that can help CSC customers scale and maintain performance as their businesses grow. Six nines (. percent) uptime availability CSC customers can protect their mission-critical databases from downtime and data loss with six nines uptime availability., Faster to deploy On average, SQL Server database administrators (DBAs) can install and configure new database in. hours, while the largest competitor s DBAs can take hours. Lower hardware cost SQL Server can run on standard commodity server hardware, which can dramatically lower the total cost of ownership (TCO) for customers. Lower software costs The list price of SQL Server is a third of the largest competitors; in addition, SQL Server includes major database-related features, such as high availability; remote disaster recovery; partitioning; data compression; transparent data encryption; spatial; master data management; complex event processing; extract, transform, and load (ETL); online analytical processing (OLAP); data mining; reporting services; and self-service business intelligence (BI) tools. Competitors licensing models add costs for options and add-ins. Simpler systems management and lower staffing costs SQL Server database administrators can typically manage four times as many physical databases as a competitor s DBAs, leading to an estimated annual savings of $, in administrative costs per database, a percent difference in annual cost of administration per database Benchmark Testing Results: CSC s Integral Life Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server

7 Fewer security vulnerabilities Since, SQL Server has recorded the fewest reported vulnerabilities of any of the major database platforms as compiled by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). With SQL Server, CSC customers can save with reduced licensing, hardware, administration, and support fees, which translate into substantially lower costs over the life of the system. For more information about SQL Server, visit Benchmark Testing Overview As part of their strategic alliance, CSC and Microsoft ran real-world benchmarking tests at the Microsoft Platform Adoption Center (PAC) in Redmond, Washington, to evaluate and optimize the performance and scalability of CSC s Integral life insurance component running on SQL Server and Windows Server R Enterprise. The benchmarking tests aimed to simulate the typical daily activities of agents at a large insurer, with up to, concurrent users running against a database of million policies. This was achieved on five application and a database server, all industry-standard with a total list price of less than $,, and industry-standard storage with a list price of $, a compelling scenario for customers. A variety of tests were performed, including: Single server tests These tests investigated the performance of Integral on a single application server with various numbers of virtual users. Note that based on the test methodology, virtual users are equivalent to actual concurrent users. Multiple server tests These tests looked at the horizontal scalability of the solution by starting with one application server with concurrent users, and adding application, each with concurrent users, up to five application with, concurrent users. A test was then run with five application and, concurrent users, representing a very large insurance company. Manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) in April Manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) in April Benchmark Testing Results: CSC s Integral Life Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server

8 Test Environment The test infrastructure included five major components: Database server Application Load-generation Domain controller/active Directory Domain Services Storage Details of the used are shown in Table. Table. Servers used in benchmark testing Server Number of Make/model Cache Number of cores CPU RAM Database server Intel four socket MB Four Intel Xeon X processors (. GHz) GB Application HP ProLiant DL G MB Two Intel Xeon X processors (. GHz) GB Load-generation HP ProLiant DL G IBM System x X MB MB Two Intel Xeon X processors (. GHz) Four Intel Xeon X processors (. GHz) GB GB Domain controller/ Active Directory Domain Services Dell PowerEdge MB Two Intel Xeon processors (. GHz) GB Storage X-IO Hyper ISE Two Datapacs ( solid-state drives [SSD] and serialattached SCSI [SAS] drives each), capable of K-K IOPS Figure shows a schematic of the infrastructure used in the benchmark testing. Benchmark Testing Results: CSC s Integral Life Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server

9 UID PowerEdge HP ProLiant DL G OVER TEMP POWER POWER SUPPLY SUPPLY POWER CAP FANS ONLINE SPARE MIRROR OVER TEMP POWER POWER SUPPLY SUPPLY POWER CAP OVER TEMP POWER POWER SUPPLY SUPPLY POWER CAP FANS FANS FANS System x OVER TEMP POWER POWER SUPPLY SUPPLY POWER CAP ONLINE SPARE MIRROR ONLINE SPARE MIRROR ONLINE SPARE MIRROR OVER TEMP POWER POWER SUPPLY SUPPLY POWER CAP FANS ONLINE SPARE MIRROR OVER TEMP POWER POWER SUPPLY SUPPLY POWER CAP OVER TEMP POWER POWER SUPPLY SUPPLY POWER CAP FANS ONLINE SPARE MIRROR OVER TEMP POWER POWER SUPPLY SUPPLY POWER CAP FANS FANS ONLINE SPARE MIRROR ONLINE SPARE MIRROR UID UID UID UID UID UID UID UID HP ProLiant DL G HP ProLiant DL G HP ProLiant DL G HP ProLiant DL G ESD HP ProLiant DL G HP ProLiant DL G HP ProLiant DL G HP ProLiant DL G Application Load-generation Back-End Tier (Database) Windows Server R Enterprise with SP Front-End Tier (Application/Load Generation) Windows Server R Enterprise with SP SQL Server Enterprise HP ProLiant DLG x. GHz GB RAM Intel Xeon -socket x. GHz GB RAM HP ProLiant DLG x. GHz GB RAM X-IO storage Hyper ISE HP ProLiant DLG x. GHz GB RAM Pool x K SAS x SSD SQL DB Drive E GB SQL TempDB Drive F GB SQL Logs Drive G GB ISE Pool x K SAS x SSD SQL DB Drive E GB SQL TempDB Drive F GB SQL Logs Drive G GB Dlink DSX-SR Gbps Ethernet HP ProLiant DLG x. GHz GB RAM HP ProLiant DLG x. GHz GB RAM HP ProLiant DLG x. GHz GB RAM SQL Scratch Drive S TB SQL Scratch Drive S TB HP ProLiant DLG x. GHz GB RAM Active Directory Domain Services/ Domain Name System Windows Server R Enterprise HP ProLiant DLG x. GHz GB RAM Dell PowerEdge x. GHz GB RAM IBM System x X x. GHz GB RAM Figure. Benchmark testing equipment Application and Load Generation Servers The tests used up to five Hewlett-Packard (HP) ProLiant DL G application, and one IBM System x X and up to three HP ProLiant DL G load-generation. This ensured that the tests were carried out at full throttle, and that the tests provided an accurate measurement of the scalability of the system. Database Server A single Intel four-socket database server was used, taking advantage of the latest generation of the Intel Xeon processor E family. The configuration was as follows: SQL Server Enterprise Windows Server R Enterprise with Service Pack (SP) Four Intel Xeon X processors, for a total of cores GB of random access memory (RAM) Benchmark Testing Results: CSC s Integral Life Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server

10 Storage X-IO Hyper ISE storage modules provided. terabytes of storage for the database tables and indices. However, less than terabyte of the total capacity of the storage was used for the tests. Test Scenarios The benchmark testing used automated test scenarios that represent more than percent of the transaction types that are performed daily at a typical insurance firm, including inquiries, modifications, and additions. Each test scenario involved between three and ten user steps, with a think time of seconds between steps. Completion times varied between test scenarios. The tests scenarios and the number of steps in each are listed in Table. Table. Test scenarios Test number Test scenarios Number of steps Test Add personal client Test Modify bank/branch Test Group member inquiry Test Agent appointment Test New contract/universal variable life Test New contract/hospital cash plan Test New contract/flexible premium Test Medical provider inquiry Test Policy load inquiry Test Modify allocation rules Test Table inquiry Test Help lines inquiry Test Policy notes inquiry Test Reassurer inquiry Test Modify client bank account Test Life Insurance Association records inquiry For the benchmarking tests, the average throughput of a mix of the test scenarios was measured. Benchmark Testing Results: CSC s Integral Life Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server

11 As an example, Table lists the steps in three typical test scenarios: New contract (NC) universal variable life (test ), New contract hospital cash plan (test ), and Table inquiry (test ). Note that some steps are performed more than once. Table. Examples of steps in test scenarios New contract universal variable life. New contract proposal submenu New contract hospital cash plan. New contract proposal submenu Table inquiry. Tables and codes maintenance submenu. Universal variable life. Hospital cash plan. Table item scroll inquiry. Lives assured. Lives assured. Table item maintenance. Underwriting questionnaire. Underwriting questionnaire. Alter/cancel from inception subroutine. Lives assured. Lives assured. Table item scroll inquiry. Select cover required. Select cover required. Tables and codes maintenance submenu. Universal variable life. Work with proposal. Premium direction. New contract proposal submenu. Work with proposal. New contract proposal submenu Benchmark Testing Results The following sections provide detailed results of the benchmark tests. Single Application Server Tests The team from CSC and Microsoft performed a series of single application server benchmarking tests with the goal of identifying the optimal number of users that can be served by a single entrylevel application server. These tests were performed on one application server (HP ProLiant DL G with cores and GB RAM) and one database server (Intel Xeon four-socket), using the IBM System x X server to generate the test workload. Benchmark Testing Results: CSC s Integral Life Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server

12 For these single application server tests, the team added virtual users up to a maximum of virtual users, which is equivalent to concurrent users. The team ran each scenario several times, and calculated an average of these test runs. Table lists the response times, or average time to complete each test scenario, for the various numbers of virtual users on a single server. Table. Results of single application server tests with various numbers of concurrent users Test scenarios Response time (seconds) users users users users users Add personal client..... Modify bank/branch..... Group member inquiry..... Agent appointment..... NC/universal variable life..... NC/hospital cash plan..... NC/flexible premium..... Medical provider inquiry..... Policy load inquiry..... Modify allocation rules..... Table inquiry..... Help lines inquiry..... Policy notes inquiry..... Reassurer inquiry..... Modify client bank account Life Insurance Association records inquiry Benchmark Testing Results: CSC s Integral Life Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server

13 Transaction processing time (seconds) Figure visualizes the transaction processing times for the test scenarios for a single server with varying numbers of virtual users Number of concurrent users Figure. Single server user test results, transaction processing time per test scenario Application Server Metric for Single Server Tests Table shows total throughput and the average and maximum application server memory and CPU utilizations in the single server tests. Table. Application server metrics for single server tests Test scenarios Add personal client Modify bank/branch Group member inquiry Agent appointment NC-universal variable life NC-hospital cash plan NC-flexible premium Medical provider inquiry Policy loan inquiry Modify allocation rules Table inquire Help lines inquiry Policy notes inquiry Reassurer inquiry Modify client bank account LIA records inquiry Application server metrics users users users users users Average application server memory utilization.%.%.%.%.% Maximum application server memory utilization.%.%.%.%.% Average application server CPU utilization.%.%.%.%.% Maximum application server CPU utilization.%.%.%.%.% Total throughput (business transactions per minute) Figure visualizes the application server CPU and memory utilization and the total number of transactions. Note that the average application server CPU utilization remained below percent, which is considered acceptable. Benchmark Testing Results: CSC s Integral Life Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server

14 Percent utilization Total throughput (business transactions/minute) Average CPU Maximum CPU Average memory Maximum memory Total throughput (business transactions/minute) Number of concurrent users Figure. Single server total number of transactions and CPU and memory utilizations Figure and Figure show that there is a sweet spot between and concurrent users in terms of throughput, execution time, and CPU utilization. Database Metrics for Single Server Tests Table shows the CPU utilization by SQL Server and the number of batch requests per second processed by SQL Server in the single server tests. Note that the average database server CPU utilization remained below percent. The average number of batch requests per second processed by SQL Server was, with concurrent users. Table. Database server metrics for single server tests Database server metrics users users users users users Average database server CPU utilization.%.%.%.%.% Maximum database server CPU utilization.%.%.%.%.% Average number of batch requests per second Maximum number of batch requests per second,,,,,,,,,, Benchmark Testing Results: CSC s Integral Life Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server

15 Percent utilization Number of batch requests/second Figure visualizes the database server metrics for the single server tests.. Average CPU Maximum CPU.... Average number of batch requests/sec Maximum number of batch requests/sec Number of concurrent users Figure. CPU utilization by SQL Server and the number of batch requests per second processed by SQL Server in the single users tests Multiple Application Server Tests To confirm the scalability of the solution, the CSC and Microsoft team performed benchmark tests using multiple application in a scale-out configuration. These tests simulated concurrent users ( virtual per application server and added application up to a total of five with, concurrent users. A final test was run with five application and, concurrent users. The team ran each scenario several times and calculated an average of these test runs. The test results showed that as the number of increased from one to five and as the corresponding number of concurrent users increased from to, the throughput increased nearly linearly. At the same time, the average number of transactions per server remained constant when adding application up to five application serves and, users; however, the average number of transactions per server increased for the final test that used five applications and, concurrent users. These results show the effectiveness of using a scale-out deployment to increase the overall throughput. Benchmark Testing Results: CSC s Integral Life Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server

16 Table lists the response times, or average time to complete each test scenario, for the various numbers of and users in the multiple user tests. Table. Results of multiple application server tests with various numbers of simulated concurrent users Response time (seconds) Test scenarios One app server ( Two app ( Three app ( Four app ( Five app (, Five app (, Add personal client Modify bank/branch Group member inquiry Agent appointment NC/universal variable life NC/hospital cash plan NC/flexible premium Medical provider inquiry Policy load inquiry Modify allocation rules Table inquiry Help lines inquiry Policy notes inquiry Reassurer inquiry Modify client bank account Life Insurance Association records inquiry Benchmark Testing Results: CSC s Integral Life Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server

17 Transaction processing time (seconds) Figure visualizes the response times for the various test scenarios... Test scenarios Add personal client Modify bank/branch Group member inquiry Agent appointment NC-universal variable life. NC-hospital cash pplan NC-flexible premium Medical provider inquiry Policy loan inquiry. Modify allocation rules Table inquire Help lines inquiry. Policy notes inquiry Reassurer inquiry server, users, users, users, users,, users,, users Modify client bank account LIA record details inquiry Figure. Multiple server test results, transaction processing time per test scenario Table shows total throughput and the average and maximum application server memory and CPU utilizations in the multiple server tests. Table. Application server metrics for multiple server tests Application server metrics One app server ( Two app ( Three app ( Four app ( Five app (, Five app (, Average application server memory utilization Maximum application server memory utilization Average application server CPU utilization Maximum application server CPU utilization Average number of transactions per server, per minute Total throughput (business transactions per minute).%.%.%.%.%.%.%.%.%.%.%.%.%.%.%.%.%.%.%.%.%.%.%.%,,,,, Benchmark Testing Results: CSC s Integral Life Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server

18 Throughput (transactions/server/minute) Figure shows that the average number of transactions per server stays nearly constant as the number of, and the number of concurrent users, increases. The test with five application and, users showed even higher average number of transactions. server, users, users, users, users,, users,, users Figure. Average number of transactions per server as the number of, and the number of concurrent users, increases These results demonstrate that the solution provides excellent linear scalability: the response times, as well as the average number of transactions per server, remain constant when adding application up to five. Application Server Metrics for Multiple Server Tests Figure visualizes the application server CPU and memory utilization and the total number of transactions. Note that the average application server CPU utilization remained below percent, which is considered acceptable. Benchmark Testing Results: CSC s Integral Life Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server

19 Percent utilization Total throughput (business transactions/minute) Average CPU Maximum CPU Average memory Maximum memory server, users, users, users, users,, users,, users Figure. Multiple application server total number of transactions and CPU and memory utilizations Database Server Metrics for Multiple Server Tests Table shows the CPU utilization by SQL Server and the number of batch requests per second processed by SQL Server. The results show that the average database server CPU utilization remained below. percent, with a maximum of only. percent for five application with, concurrent users. The average number of batch requests per second processed by SQL Server was, for the five application with, users, with a maximum of, batch requests per second. Table. Database server metrics for multiple server tests Database server metrics One app server ( Two app ( Three app ( Four app ( Five app (, Five app (, Average database server CPU utilization Maximum database server CPU utilization Average number of batch requests/ second Maximum number of batch requests/ second.%.%.%.%.%.%.%.%.%.%.%.%,,,,,,,,,,,, Figure visualizes the database server metrics for the multiple server tests. Benchmark Testing Results: CSC s Integral Life Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server

20 Percent utilization Number of batch requests/second. Average CPU Maximum CPU... Average number of batch requests per second Maximum number of batch requests per second. app server, users app, users app, users app, users app,, users app,, users Figure. CPU utilization by SQL Server and the number of batch requests per second processed by SQL Server in the multiple server tests Summary Scalability, stability, and performance are important to CSC insurance customers. These customers want assurances that as their organizations grow and the number of policies increases, their database software can maintain the performance they rely on. CSC has worked with Microsoft to develop insurance solutions that combine CSC software with Microsoft products and technologies. Benchmark testing and product optimizations are part of this joint effort. The CSC and Microsoft benchmark tests were designed to simulate the real-world usage patterns of large insurance customers. The test results were impressive. In the single application server test with concurrent users, the measured throughput was business transactions per minute. For the five application with, concurrent users test, the total throughput was, business transactions per minute. SQL Server Enterprise performed remarkably well in the tests; for the five application with, concurrent users, SQL Server processed an average, batch request per second (and a maximum of, batch request per second), with an average of less than percent CPU utilization. These results clearly confirm that CSC s Integral running on SQL Server and Windows Server can easily support at least, concurrent users. The results also show that the system is highly scalable, with near-linear scalability as the number of application and the number of concurrent users increase. CSC customers can select SQL Server as the database platform for large and complex deployments of CSC s Integral life insurance component with confidence. Benchmark Testing Results: CSC s Integral Life Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server

21 Additional Information The following references provide more information about CSC and Microsoft. About CSC CSC is a global leader in providing technology-enabled business solutions and services. For more than years, clients in industries and governments worldwide have trusted CSC with their business process and information systems outsourcing, systems integration and consulting needs. CSC has approximately, employees and reported revenue of $. billion for the months ended March,. The company trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CSC. For more information about CSC, visit About Microsoft Founded in, Microsoft (Nasdaq MSFT ) is the worldwide leader in software, services, and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. For more information about Microsoft products and services, visit Benchmark Testing Results: CSC s Integral Life Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server