What Operating System to use for Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Standard on ProLiant DL360e

[dirklehmannkg]

Dear Sir or Madam, Dear HPE Server Experts,

my boss has one license Microsoft SQL Server 2014 64 Bit and one HPE ProLiant DL360e with 16 GB RAM and B120i Controller.

Now I recommended him to buy additional 2x 32 GB RAM and two Server SSDs as well as the Microsoft Windows 2012 R2 Server ROK to install for him the Microsoft SQL 2014 Standard and copy his database of the ERP to the "new" Serverhardware.

I was wondering if I should install Microsoft Windows 2012 R2 Server with GUI or as core installation to get best performance as dedicated database server?

I am looking forward also to move from SQL Server Management Studio report the recommended tables to in memory with OLTP.

Any other recommondations from HPE server experts to get quick server for the 20 GB database (current size) running with max. possible speed on DL360e maybe by installing some other additional hardware or software?

Thinking also about to let Microsoft SQL Server run on linux based os, but Microsoft SQL Version 2014 does not support this. Maybe Update to 2015 or 2016 recommended and installation on clear OS (instead Microsoft stack) to get much better performance? Are there any public benchmark comparisons, regarding this, available?

Recommondations, datasheets, whitepapers preffered in german language, because boss is not used englisch language so good.

Seeing forward to get feedback from the HPE server experts.

Dirk

[Geo_S]

Hello Dirk,

- Unless your server has a very high resource usage for SQL server, you will probably not see a performance difference between the GUI installation and the Core installation.  The benefits to the core installation are a smaller attack surface, and smaller and less frequent updates. The core installation will not be as easy (initially) for installation, configuration, and maintenance of the OS and applications.  This will depend on your current experience with Core and using Powershell and remote consoles for configuration.

- For running SQL on linux as compared to Windows, the differences will be in hardware and configuration, and not so much in the OS difference. I have not found any benchmark testing yet, but I will update you if I find some new information.

Geo

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[MikeA1]

Hello dirklehmannkg

SQL 2014 can be ran on any of the following O/S's. see https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143506(v=sql.120).aspx:

Windows Server 2016 Datacenter
Windows Server 2016 Standard
Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter 64-bit
 Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard 64-bit
 Windows Server 2012 R2 Essentials 64-bit
 Windows Server 2012 R2 Foundation 64-bit
 Windows Server 2012 Datacenter 64-bit
 Windows Server 2012 Standard 64-bit
 Windows Server 2012 Essentials 64-bit
 Windows Server 2012 Foundation 64-bit
 Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Datacenter 64-bit
 Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Enterprise 64-bit
 Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Standard 64-bit
 Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Web 64-bit
 Windows Server 2008 SP2 Datacenter 64-bit
 Windows Server 2008 SP2 Enterprise 64-bit
 Windows Server 2008 SP2 Standard 64-bit
 Windows Server 2008 SP2 Web 64-bit

A core installation is possible with the following O/S's:

Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter 64-bit

Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard 64-bit

Windows Server 2012 Datacenter 64-bit

Windows Server 2012 Standard 64-bit

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Datacenter 64-bit

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Enterprise 64-bit

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Standard 64-bit

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Web 64-bit

The addition of extra RAM usually leads to improved performance, but the actual gains will depend on the load that is placed on the server by SQL.  SSD's also will improve boot times and operations.

A 20 GB database, along with the additional memory should allow the entire database to operate from memory, thereby limiting disk swapping dramatically.

As to using a Core installation as opposed to a GUI, the Core will indeed function faster, but at the cost of somewhat more difficult management. 

So much depends on the actual utilization of the server -- I/O load, overhead, transactions per second, etc.  It is not possible to accurately predict how a particular SQL implementation will perform, since the variability of the load will be  dependent on the customers specific environment and needs.

Here is a Microsoft article that explores some of the basics regarding memory sizing for SQL 2014:

https://support.microsoft.com/kn-in/help/2663912/memory-configuration-and-sizing-considerations-in-sql-server-2012-and

[Geo_S]

Further information:

- Microsoft SQL Server 2017 is the version needed to run on Linux.

- Here is an official benchmark I was able to find:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/sql-server-benchmarks-industry

Geo

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