Today’s SQL Server Situation
Microsoft SQL Server continues to be dominant within the established relational database management market. And traditional RDBMS is still a leading database approach in terms of familiarity, installed based, and spending. Closer to home, we see SQL Server as our #1 workload on both the HPE 3PAR Storage and HPE Nimble Storage installed bases after only VMware VMs. On HPE Nimble Storage, SQL Server alone occupies more storage arrays than Oracle, Citrix, DB2, SAS, MySQL and Splunk combined!
The newest version of the database system, SQL Server 2019, presents new opportunities for savings with features like ‘Big Data Clusters’. But also new areas of complexity for some IT teams including running within containers, Kubernetes container management, having built-in Apache Spark, the PolyBase feature, and the potential to use it within a data lake or platform for AI/ML.
The implication for customers is that new deployments can vary widely by usage (e.g. OLTP vs. OLAP) and there’s a need for the underlying Infrastructure to be optimized based on the use objective (Performance, Capacity, Availability, Cost…) Customers should seek out guidance related to the targeted solution to ensure deployment success.
What makes HPE stand out in the SQL Server Infrastructure market
First of all, HPE ensures SQL Server workload availability. It’s the only vendor with an unmatched 100% availability guarantee on enterprise-class data storage. This is coupled with the unique HPE InfoSight that uses Predictive Analytics to ensure uptime. In addition, HPE Storage provides hybrid cloud data protection and mobility features that span on-premises and cloud.
Secondly, HPE makes SQL Server faster with leading all-flash, Storage Class Memory, NVMe media, and now All-NVMe storage arrays. This helps databases and applications run faster, lets users work faster, and enables businesses to create value and innovate faster.
Finally, and maybe more importantly, HPE has a breadth of platform solutions for SQL Server. This complete line of storage solutions for SQL Server broadly meet customer needs from mission-critical to entry level, with gradients for levels of performance, availability, usability, scale, and economics.
Breadth of solutions for the range of Database challenges
Don’t take my word for it – here’s the rundown of the industry’s broadest range of SQL Server infrastructure solutions – from the most mission-critical, scale-up environment to mid-market and departmental offerings:
- SQL Server 2019 on HPE Alletra 9000 and HPE Primera Storage – Large enterprise business-critical SQL Server. Provides 100% guaranteed availability, highest levels of performance
- SQL Server 2019 on HPE Alletra 6000 and HPE Nimble Storage – Enterprise/mid-market SQL Server. Provides six 9s availability guaranteed, easier data mobility and protection
- SQL Server 2019 Big Data Clusters on HPE Storage – Scale-out SQL Server environment, serves as platform for a data lake. Manage relational and Big Data together, from across the organization
- SQL Server 2019 on HPE Nimble Storage with Storage Class Memory – Acceleration for demanding online transaction processing (OLTP), powered by Intel Optane SSDs. High-performance read cache for faster queries. Testing shows more than a 50% decrease in latency
- SQL Server 2019 on HPE SimpliVity – Enterprise-grade hyperconverged speeds up application performance, improves efficiency, resiliency, and restores VMs in seconds.
- SQL Server 2019 on HPE MSA Gen6 – Entry-level/departmental SQL Server. Simplicity, speed, affordability, and enterprise-class reliability.
Testing the new All-NVMe Storage
HPE is bringing to market all new, All-NVMe storage platforms, and we were fortunate to get early access to run performance tests with our SQL Server test tools. First, about the environment.
We conducted our own internal testing using the Microsoft Data Warehouse Fast Track (DWFT) tool in a couple separate runs during March and April, 2021 in Ft Collins, CO and Houston, TX.
For compute we had the ProLiant DL380 Gen10, and on it was Windows Server 2019 along with SQL Server 2019. The server had four 32Gb Fibre Channel connections to the storage.
The storage array was the new HPE Alletra 6070. On it was the database (10 volumes) and tempDB (4 volumes).
A little about the DWFT tool – our motivation behind using this tool was to maintain consistency with performance tests we’ve been running now for almost the last decade. It’s a familiar tool for customers and partners. However, we’re seeing how it’s become dated in its ability to provide useful results because its been outpaced by the workload itself as well as the surrounding technology. A specific issue is regarding the new SQL Server 2019 feature, Memory optimized tempDB. We saw the same thing happen with the JetStress tool which had been used for many years on Microsoft Exchange, yet with the latest version of the application, the tool can’t report on the MetaCache database.
So, we ran our originally planned DWFT tests of the HPE Alletra 6070 vs. the same stack on the HPE Nimble AF80. However, based on the results I’m about to share, we recognized the need, as well as the opportunity, to re-do some testing which will better portray the benefits of the new platform.
SQL Server on HPE Alletra 6000 All-NVMe Flash Storage
Initial testing proved increased levels of enterprise database performance of the HPE Alletra 6000 All-NVMe Flash Storage system. We demonstrated greater lab-verified app performance vs. earlier generation All-Flash system using the traditional Microsoft Data Warehouse Fast Track tool. However, as addressed earlier, you can expect even greater real-world performance gains, which we’ll show in future, follow-up testing.
Proven performance gains:
- +30.4% Measured Query throughput (Queries/Hr/TB)
- +29.4% Relative throughput
- +28.3% Measured Scan rate Physical (MB/Sec)
These are all Column Store measures, and indicate enhanced performance when working with large volumes of data as found in a data warehouse deployment. We saw less compelling results in the Row Store metrics, but we feel this was more an issue with the test tool than the product being tested. The DWFT results under-report the enhancements of the new Alletra platform, thus our plan to re-do the test with contemporary tools such as HammerDB, VDBench and TPC benchmarks. We expect to show significant performance gains with all-NVMe storage for data warehouses, transactional data processing and all types of business-critical databases.
3X Improved Database Price/Performance
Despite the muted performance data, we did get a compelling result when it comes to the Price/Performance of the new platform. We first looked at the cost of the old vs. new systems.
The original HPE Nimble AF80 system that we tested has a list price of $682,500. In contrast, the new HPE Nimble Storage All NVME Flash 6070 was only slightly more, with an estimated list price of $748,187, and note, this includes the related Data Services Cloud Console subscription. The new system cost was only up 9.6%.
Going back to our performance testing, we know we saw an over 30% gain. Specifically this came from the HPE Nimble AF80 system performance of 1,927 queries/Hour/TB vs. the HPE Nimble Storage All NVME Flash 6070 performance of 2,512 queries/Hour/TB, resulting in that 30.4% improvement.
So putting that together, for only a 10% additional investment, you’ll realize 30% increased performance, or a 3X Price/Performance gain with All-NVMe!
Make your move now to SQL Server on HPE Alletra 6000 Storage
HPE offers a broad range of Database Consolidation and Migration Services through HPE Pointnext professional services. They can provide the initial advice to help ensure a successful SQL Server deployment, as well as a HPE Database Migration service to deliver a smooth migration or fast database consolidation. Finally, HPE Pointnext provides support and ongoing training and readiness services to keep your Microsoft SQL Server environment operating efficiently and effectively.
Also on the way are new SQL Server “as a Service” offerings through HPE GreenLake.
Be aware of important upcoming dates:
- SQL Server 2016 reaches the end of Mainstream support in July 2021
- SQL Server 2012 reaches end of Extended support July 2022
- SQL Server 2017 reaches end of Mainstream support Oct 2022
Regardless of your version of SQL Server, you will realize new levels of performance with the latest SQL Server on our newest HPE All-NVMe Storage.
Check out the new webpage for the HPE Alletra storage systems. The page is now live and loaded with information and resources on this exciting new storage platform. <Link to HPE Alletra on the web>
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