Samsung PM853T SSD for mail servers

White Paper Samsung PM853T SSD for mail servers Exceptional performance and cost-efficiency specifically designed for mail server use

2 Reduce mail server maintenance costs while satisfying workload demands Keep mail servers running smoothly and TCO low with high-performance Samsung SSDs Typically, traditional HDDs have been used for data centers but more recently data centers are migrating to SSDs to boost performance, save space and reduce maintenance costs, resulting in an overall reduction in total cost of ownership (TCO). Data centers are realizing the benefits of SSDs in mail server applications in particular. Mail servers are used in virtually all businesses and are responsible for communication within and outside organizations. Communications include mail traffic, Short Message Service (SMS) and a variety of other messaging. Whether using laptops, mobile phones or tablets, employees need to access company resources through the Internet wherever they may be. Data centers that continue to use HDDs for their mail servers are finding poor latency rates due to the drives' spinning magnetic disks and the mechanical action of their head arms, which create a delay in data retrieval and ultimately slow down the speed of the entire system. The latency rate of HDDs is measured in tens of milliseconds to hundreds of milliseconds compared to microseconds with SSDs. The Input/Output (I/O) bottleneck with most mail servers is caused by high disk queuing. And, as the number of I/O workloads pending on the device queue bottlenecks, the disk queuing increases thereby reducing the system performance as a whole. As a result, heavy workloads pose the biggest challenge to data center mail servers that still use HDDs. Storage requirements for email servers can vary depending on the email size, number of emails, type and number of users. While small departmental email servers may need limited storage and features, large corporate ones require greater storage capacity and a high level of availability, performance and scalability. Of course, the server workload varies depending on the number of users, and the size of the emails and their attachments. Transactions performed by the users mainly include writing new emails (write), reading emails (read), replying to existing ones (append) and deleting them (write). All these transactions happen in parallel, and vary in size and volume. Often a single mail server will provide mail server solutions to several organizations of various sizes and process multiple transactions a day. For example, if a mail server supports ten thousand users, the server must be able to process ten thousand transactions a second, placing a higher demand on HDDs. From a user experience (UX) perspective, the user expects to be able to send, read or delete emails within a one-second mouse click; hence the need for ten thousand transactions per second when serving ten thousand users. Samsung has developed the PM853T SSD specifically tailored to meet taxing mail server volume demands while reducing TCO.

3 Compare the performance of the Samsung PM853T SSD to a typical data center HDD Weigh the advantages of the Samsung PM853T SSD In order to accurately test the performance of its PM853T SSD in a real mail server scenario, Samsung tested it against an HDD that is widely used in the data center field. To simulate real-world workloads and actual mail server traffic, Samsung used the popular mail server benchmarking tool Postmark, 1 widely used by various SSD manufacturers and other Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) vendors to benchmark their SSDs in the mail server environment. Postmark performs operations such as read, append, create and delete, replicating real-world scenarios. server operations simultaneously with ten thousand users sending and receiving mail every second. Each user had two gigabytes of mail capacity. Plus, all performance measurements were executed under the steady state of the SSD rather than in the Fresh Out of the Box (FOB) state, which typically has a much higher write performance than later on. When compared with typical data center HDDs, the Samsung PM853T SSDs delivered higher transactions per second (TPS), less procurement costs, lower power consumption, higher storage capacity and a higher endurance rating. Samsung used four threads of the Postmark tool to simulate the assumed workloads of four organizations performing random mail Test Environment Proccssor Used Motherboard Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2690 v2 @ 3.00GHz HP, ProLiant DL380p Gen8 System Configuration NO.of CPU 40 RAM OS 256 GB RHEL 7.0, 3.10.0-123.6.3.el7x86_64 Host Interface Mode AHCI SSD HDD RAID Size Model Firmware Conneeted as Size Model Connected as RAID 5 with 8 HDDs / SSDs 960GB MZ-7GE960 EXT0303Q Secondary Storage (ext4 File system) 1 TB ST91000640NS Secondary Storage (ext4 File system) Tool Postmark v1.5 Table 1. Mail server test environment

4 Generate higher throughput regardless of the transaction volume Maintain high TPS rates during workload fluctuations In the TPS tests under a Postmark workload, the Samsung PM853T SSDs produced overwhelmingly superior performance in transaction processing capabilities compared with the HDDs. The graph in Figure 1 depicts the total TPS for all transactions and detailed TPS in each thread of eight Samsung PM853T SSDs and eight data center HDDs in a Redundant Array of Independent Disk (RAID) 5 environment for all mail server workloads. The results demonstrate that the PM853T SSDs performed 7.6 times faster than the HDDs in a mail server environment. These results further demonstrated that the PM853T SSDs are able to accept all transactions that can be generated by different kinds of organizations. In addition, the PM853T SSDs steadily showed much higher throughputs in spite of the increasing number of initial emails from 50K to 500K, concluding that the PM853T SSDs are the preferred choice for mail servers. TPS Total TPS 4000 3000 2000 1000 0 1200 900 600 300 0 Total TPS Comparison 3460 452 TPS Comparison in Each Thread 1029 896 766 769 115 115 116 106 50K 100K 200K 500K Number of Inltial Mails Data center HDD Samsung PM853T SSD Figure 1. Completion time and TPS comparison between the PM853T and the data center HDD

5 Lower TCO with less procurement costs Process more transactions with less equipment outlays In order for a data center to run profitably, it needs to store as much data on a drive as possible to reduce costly device expenditures. That's why the PM853T SSD is the ideal option for reducing procurement costs when compared with HDDs. To put these costs into perspective, it would take 184 HDDs to achieve ten thousand TPS data management functions compared to only 24 PM853T SSDs. The reason being is that HDDs can typically perform only 452 TPS. However, when PM853T SSDs were installed using a RAID 5 storage setup, performance test results were 3,460 TPS. To fulfill the performance requirement of 10K TPS, 3* (10K TPS / 3,460 TPS) are needed for RAID 5 storage. Since each RAID 5 storage setup consists of 8 SSDs, a total of 24 PM853T SSDs are needed, compared with a total of 184 HDDs necessary to fulfill the same performance requirements. * The exact value of 2.8 has been rounded up for practical usage purposes. Setup Required Number of devices Number of Servers needed Number of Enclosures needed External HBAs needed Samsung SSDs Quantity Approx. Cost Quantity HDDs Approx. Cost 24 $21,576 2 184 $46,000 3 1 $6,529 4 1 $6,529 0 $0 7 $23,793 5 0 $0 1 $799 6 Total Cost - $28,105 - $77,121 Table 2. Approximate procurement costs of a mail server setup with SSDs versus HDDs* * Please note : These figures are merely approximations and can vary depending on the equipment usaed and the manufacturers. For example, in the previously discussed user scenario, with 10K users and assuming each user has stored a large amount of the 2 GB of space on the server, the total space needed would be 20 TB. Using the RAID 5 setup, 24 SSDs would provide nearly 20 TB, which would satisfy the storage requirements. On the other hand, 184 HDDs provide approximately 155 TB of space, which is considerably more space than required to meet the needs of the 10K users. Therefore, mail server data centers only need to procure the storage capacity they need when choosing SSDs. In addition, to house 184 HDDs in a RAID 5 configuration, only 25 9 HDDs HDD Configuration Disk Enclosuse HDDs would able to be placed in a server. The remaining HDDs would need to be housed in seven disk enclosures, with in each enclosure. Using this setup, the data center would still need to purchase an external RAID controller to be able to connect the disk enclosures to the server, further increasing TCO. Since a typical server can house up to 25 SSDs, a mail server can be configured with just one server using SSDs.The estimated procurement costs for setting up the below HDD and SSD mail servers are shown in Table 2. Server SSD Configuration 24 SSDs Server

6 Reduce power consumption and maintain a high endurance rating Save costs with the highly power-efficient PM853T SSD Usually, HDDs consume more power than SSDs because of their mechanical disk movements. A typical data center HDD consumes 5.21 Watts in one hour whereas the Samsung PM853T SSD consumes just 3.25 W in an hour,7 which equates to nearly 40 percent 8 less power consumption than the data center HDD. In addition, HDDs generally generate more heat than SSDs due to their moving parts. Considering that 70 percent of actual power consumed by both SSDs and HDDs is needed for cooling purposes, 9 clearly a large amount of energy is devoted to cooling an HDD alone. Taking these statistics into consideration, the total amount of data bytes written to an SSD in the mail server environment with 10K users is approximately 295 GB of data written to 24 SSDs in the mail server setup per day. Factoring in that the write endurance limit of the PM853T is 1.1 TB a day per SSD in an email server, the actual data written is close to 295 GB per day, which is much less than the maximum limit. These calculations conclude that the PM853T SSD has high endurance and is able to sustain the writes needed in a mail server scenario. Parameters Data Center HDD Samsung PM853T SSD Leverage performance and efficiency in an SSD that lowers TCO Number of Devices Needed Procurement Cost (Devices, Servers, Enclosures) Power Consumption Cost on Devices (5 Years) Cooling Power Consumption Cost on Devices (5 Years) 184 24 $77,121 $28,105 $5,038.61 $409.97 $3,527.03 $286.98 In summation, when compared with a traditional HDD, the Samsung PM853T SSD provides higher random I/O throughput with less response time at a lower cost. In addition, the PM853T SSD is physically denser, costs less per gigabyte in the long term and consumes less energy. The PM853T also supports a significantly higher transaction rate than HDDs, which improved overall throughput and the user experience (UX). TCO $85,686.64 $28,801.95 Table 3. TCO comparison of PM853T and data center HDD Sustain write performance with high endurance rates Normally, the endurance rate of an SSD is determined in terms of Drive Writes Per Day (DWPD). DWPD for a PM853T SSD with a mail server workload is 1.2. This clearly conveys that the maximum of 1.1 TB(1.2x960GB) per day can be written to a PM853T SSD for a 5-year warranty period. According to statistical research performed by a well-known firm, the average number of emails sent and received by a user per day in a corporate organization is 121 10 with the average mail size considered to be 256 KB. Along with the impressive comparisons, the PM853T boasts innovative features such as an advanced Error-Correcting Code (ECC) engine, enhanced end-to-end data security, power-loss protection, a host of SMART features, thermal throttling and full support for robust storage architecture. The Samsung PM853T SSD is engineered to meet the high performance demands of mail servers, while simultaneously reducing power and cooling costs, resulting in effectively reducing TCO. Factoring in all these benefits, it is clear why the Samsung PM853T SSD is the smart choice for mail server applications. All data and test results aforementioned in this brochure were determined within a Samsung data lab and are subject to change based on varying conditions and their specific circumstances.

7 Technical Specification Samsung PM853T Capacity Application Weight Dimensions (L x W x H) Interface Form factor NAND flash memory 240 GB, 480 GB, 960 GB is available Mixed and read-centric usages are recommended 63 g (2.22 oz) 100.2 ± 0.25 x 69.85 ± 0.25 x 6.8 ± 0.2 mm (3.94 ± 0.01 x 2.75 ± 0.01 x 0.27 ± 0.01 in.) For the thickness size, drive label thickness was included Serial ATA 6 Gbps (Compatible with SATA 3 Gbps and STAT 1.5 Gbps) 2.5 inch Samsung 19nm toggle 3-bit MLC NAND Performance Host transfer : 600 MB/s Sequential read : Up to 530 MB/s Sequential write : Up to 410 MB/s (480 GB, 960 GB) Up to 270 MB/s (240 GB) Random read : Max. 87,000 IOPS (4 KB, QD 32) Random write : Max. 15,000 IOPS (960 GB) Max. 13,000 IOPS (480 GB) Max. 12,000 IOPS (240 GB) Quality of service (99.9%) 4 KB, QD = 1 Read : 0.2 ms / Write : 4 ms 4 KB, QD = 32 Read : 0.6 ms / Write : 7 ms Latency Reliability Read (4 KB) Write (4 KB) 1,500,000 hours Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) 115 us (240 GB. 480 GB), 110 us (960 GB) 65 us (240 GB), 55 us (480 GB), 50 us (960 GB) Terabytes written (Best / Worst) 240 GB : 695 TB / 165 TB 480 GB : 1,390 TB / 330 TB 960 GB : 2,780 TB / 665 TB Power consumption Temperature Humidity Vibration Shock Certification Active read / write : 2.6 Watt / 3.4 Watt Idle : 1.1 Watt Operating : 0 C to 70 C (32 F to 158 F) Non-operating : -55 C to 95 C (-67 F to 203 F) 5% to 95%, non-condensing 7 ~ 800 Hz, 3.08 Grms, 30 min / axis (X,Y,Z) 1,500 G, duration 0.5 m sec, Half Shin Wave BSMI, KCC, VCCI, C-Tick, FCC, IC, UL, TUV, and CV

8 Legal and additional information Postmark is a trademark of Wildbit, LLC. 1. Postmark Tool, http://www.filesystems.org/docs/auto-pilot/postmark. html ; Postmark Tool Instructions, http://www.dartmouth.edu/~davidg/ postmark_instructions.html 2. SSD Cost http://www.samsung.com/us/business/computing/solidstate-drives/mz-7ge960ew 3. HDD Cost, http://www.seagate.com/products/enterprise- servers-storage/nearline-storage/enterprise-capacity-2-5- hdd/?sku=st91000640ns 4. Server Cost, http://shopping1.hp.com/is-bin/intershop.enfinity/ WFS/WW-USSMBPublicStore-Site/en_US/-/USD/ViewProductDetail-Star t;pgid=jdjwlvlq2w9sr0yk2ko1yuen0000zj4hdwxm;sid=tc2lsvxpl8um sqhf1gi5oi3mz8odwjcitms=?productuuid=aqiq7en5wfgaaafgmvk TA48g&CatalogCategoryID=.o8Q7hacfswAAAE1A3ITSTR8 5. HP D2700 Disk Enclosure Cost, http://shopping1.hp.com/is-bin/ INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/WW-USSMBPublicStore-Site/en_US/-/USD/ ViewProductDetail-Start?ProductUUID=aVcQ7EN5m9EAAAEtBhJVIOI9& CatalogCategoryID=jPEQ7habWNcAAAEyqIE8nozl&JumpTo=OfferList 6. External HBA Controller Cost, http://shopping1.hp.com/is-bin/ INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/WW-USSMBPublicStore-Site/en_US/-/USD/ ViewProductDetail-Start?ProductUUID=zS0Q7EN5DC0AAAEy6yFLuIs_& CatalogCategoryID= 7. HDD Power Management, Data Sheet Design Small and Deliver BIG 2.5-Inch, Eco-Friendly Nearline Drive http://www.seagate.com/wwwcontent/product-content/constellation-fam/constellation/constellation-2/ en-us/docs/constellation2-fips-ds1719-4-1207us.pdf 8. SSD Power Management, SAMSUNG SSD 845DC EVO OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE AND RELIABILITY SPECIFICALLY ENGINEERED FOR DATA CENTER USE, in Specifications Page-6 http:// www.samsung.com/us/system/consumer/product/mz/7g/e9 9. SynJet: Low-Power Green Cooling in Data Center Cooling costs Page-2 http://www.nuventix.com/files/uploaded_files/low%20 Power%20Cooling.pdf About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies, redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, cameras, digital appliances, printers, medical equipment, network systems and semiconductors. We are also leading in the Internet of Things space through, among others, our Digital Health and Smart Home initiatives. We employ 307,000 people across 84 countries. To discover more, please visit our official website at www.samsung.com and our official blog at global.samsungtomorrow.com. For more information For more information about Samsung SSD PM853T for mail servers, visit www.samsung.com/business/ssd or www.samsungssd.com Copyright 2015 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. All rights reserved. Samsung is a registered trademark of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Specifications and designs are subject to change without notice. Nonmetric weights and measurements are approximate. All data were deemed correct at time of creation. Samsung is not liable for errors or omissions. All brand, product, service names and logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners and are hereby recognized and acknowledged. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 416, Maetan 3-dong, Yeongtong-gu Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do 443-772, Korea www.samsung.com 2015-07