Learn why HPE Superdome Flex 280 is an ideal platform for consolidating performance-intensive database applications, whether you plan to use virtualization or deploy on bare-metal servers.
In one of my recent HPE Community blogs, I detailed how organizations can choose from a range of consolidation strategies, including using virtualization to run multiple operating system and database instances on the same server, or on bare-metal servers. While virtualization is almost ubiquitous today, some organizations prefer the consistent performance and greater control that bare-metal servers can offer. A bare-metal server dedicates all of its resources to a single environment or tenant.
Whether you opt for a virtualization or bare-metal server strategy, HPE Superdome Flex 280 is an ideal consolidation platform. In this blog, we consider three reasons why.
Leading performance in VMs and on bare metal
HPE Superdome Flex 280 has set numerous performance records across key workloads, including in virtualized environments. A recent proof point is a series of benchmark tests that compared the performance of SAP Business Warehouse (SAP BW), edition for SAP HANAยฎ on two different 8-processor HPE Superdome Flex 280 systems โ the first running SAP BW in 12 TB VMware virtual machines (VMs), and the second on bare metal.
Running applications in VMs typically means a performance reduction of at least 10% compared to bare metal. This is because virtualization adds an extra software layer, the virtualization hypervisor, which uses up some of the serverโs resources. This โvirtualization taxโ or โhypervisor taxโ can also increase latency, slightly delaying responses to queries, because VMs cannot directly access physical server hardware.
On HPE Superdome Flex 280, the virtualization tax is negligible. Compared to bare metal, running a virtualized instance of SAP BW:
- Takes only 1.93% longer to load data in memory
- Provides 9.4% lower throughput in terms of measured executing queries per hour (QPH)
- Takes 8.76% longer to run complex queries
Publishing these results in its own blog, VMware commented on the value of being โwithin 10% of bare metal with our virtual SAP HANA 2.0 VM results in all benchmark phases of this specific benchmarkโ.
Bare-metal performance was also significantly better than competing servers not incorporating the latest โCooper Lakeโ Intel Xeon processors.
Architected for consolidation
The HPE Superdome Flex 280 architecture is another reason the server provides advantages in every database consolidation strategy.
With the ability to start at two and scale up to eight processors in a single system, and from 64 GB to 24 TB of shared memory, you can start as small as you need to and scale cost-efficiently to meet future growth. This is an important capability when you are dealing with databases growth.
You can also protect valuable data and database workloads with proven reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) capabilities not available on other standard platforms. For example, you can reduce human errorโa leading cause of downtimeโwith Superdome Flex 280โs best-in-class analysis engine, predicts hardware faults and initiates self-repair without operator assistance. A firmware-first approach to log analysis ensures error containment at the firmware level, including memory errors, before any interruption can occur at the OS layer. And Superdome Flex 280 delivers true mission-critical resiliency, from end-to-end implementation of processor RAS features, to redundancy of key system components, to advanced system software. You can check out all the details around the platformโs architecture and RAS capabilities in our technical whitepaper.
The only 8S "Cooper Lake" server
An additional way Superdome Flex 280 delivers differentiated performance for database consolidation is by utilizing the latest, 3rd-generation Intel Xeon Scalable processor technology, also known as โCooper Lakeโ. And whatโs more, itโs the only server on the market to offer these advanced new processors in an eight-processor configuration.
Today, some businesses are considering migrating their database applications to public cloud as part of their consolidation or modernization projects. But if performance is important to you, itโs important to remember that hyperscalers do not always have the latest chip architecture deployedโand you might miss out on performance improvements.
In the same blog post, VMware compares our SAP BW on Superdome Flex 280 benchmarks with similar benchmarks from AWS. Here we see a powerful performance advantages in HPEโs favor across every phase of the benchmark. AWS currently runs older Intel "Skylake" architecture.
Learn more
With HPE Superdome Flex you can have proven superior performance, advanced processors not available in other 8-processor servers, and unique RAS features to protect your consolidated, mission-critical database workloads โ whether you run them virtualized or on bare metal.
Click below if youโd like to learn more about database consolidation on Superdome Flex 280.
- See our performance brief
- Contact your HPE representative
- Visit the HPE Superdome Flex servers website
Diana has spent the past 24 years working with the technologies that power the worldโs most demanding IT environments and is interested in how solutions based on those technologies impact the business. A native from Colombia, Diana holds an MBA from Georgetown University and has held a variety of regional and global roles with HPE in the U.S., the U.K. and Sweden. She is based in Stockholm, Sweden.
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About the standard application benchmark for SAP Sales and Distribution
This benchmark shows a serverโs capability for processing business line items in ERP environments. The standard application benchmark for SAP Sales and Distribution models a sell-from stock scenario creating a customer order with five line items and corresponding delivery with subsequent goods movement and invoicing. Results show the number of users, response time, and the amount of fully business processed order line items per hour (SAPS). The benchmark can help to determine sizing requirements.
Configurations for HPE Superdome Flex 280 results on SAP Business Warehouse (SAP BW), edition for SAP HANA benchmark
Bare metal: HPE Superdome Flex 280 on 20.8 B initial records, Certification # 2021058; Intel Xeon Platinum 8380HL 2.90 GHz; 8 processors / 224 cores / 448 threads; 12 TB DRAM; SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15; SAP HANA 2.0; SAP NetWeaverยฎ 7.50. Scores: Runtime of last data set 14,986 seconds; Query executions per hour 5,161; Runtime of complex query 137 seconds.
Virtualized: HPE Superdome Flex on 10.4B initial records, Certification # 2022014; Intel Xeon 8380HL 2.90 GHz; 8 processors / 224 cores / 448 threads, 6 TB DRAM; SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 on VMware vSphere 7.0 U3; SAP HANA 2.0, SAP NetWeaver 7.50. Scores: Runtime of last data set 13,317 seconds; Query executions per hour 7,600; Runtime of complex query 111 seconds.
Bare metal: HPE Superdome Flex 280 on 10.4 B initial records, Certification # 2021058; Intel Xeon Platinum 8380HL 2.90 GHz; 8 processors / 224 cores / 448 threads; 12 TB DRAM; SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15; SAP HANA 2.0; SAP NetWeaverยฎ 7.50. Scores: Runtime of last data set 14,986 seconds; Query executions per hour 5,161; Runtime of complex query 137 seconds.
Cloud: Amazon EC2 u-6tb1.112xlarge on 10.4B initial records Certification # 2021042; Intel Xeon Platinum 8176M 2.10 GHz; 8 processors / 224 cores / 448 threads; 6 TB DRAM; SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 on AWS Nitro; SAP HANA 2.0; SAP NetWeaverยฎ 7.50. Scores: Runtime of last data set 16,811 seconds; Query executions per hour 5,209; Runtime of complex query 125 seconds.
The as of date is August 2, 2022. For further details, see sap.com/benchmark.
SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE (or an SAP affiliate company) in Germany and other countries. See sap.com/corporate/en/legal/trademark.html for additional trademark information and notices.
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