$1.46/QphH@100GB in TPC-H Testing With SSDs on Database

Fusion-io announced the first TPC-H benchmark test results leveraging solid-state storage (SSS) technologies. With off-the-shelf components from Dell, Fusion-io and Microsoft, the tested system achieved 28,772 QphH (Query-per-Hour Performance Metric) on a 100 gigabyte (GB) database, at a cost of $1.47 per database transaction.

The performance results and the total cost-of-ownership (TCO) savings for this complete system dramatically improved the price/performance ratio in database transactions using readily available, industry standard components. Savings from power usage, floor space and other infrastructure costs will lead to even greater reductions in data center TCO.

Unlike TPC-H benchmarks for traditional disks, the tested configuration from Dell, Fusion-io and Microsoft required very little tuning to achieve the performance of more than 160 hard disk drives. The system demonstrated that the raw power of solid-state technologies largely eliminates the need to spend IT energy tweaking and tuning to achieve optimum database performance.

“At a cost-per-transaction, inclusive of the server, software licensing and storage, the Fusion-io solution, which used solid-state technologies, reduced the cost of database transactions by almost half,” said David Flynn, CTO, Fusion-io. “For a new storage technology using standard software and standard servers, these results are nothing short of astounding. Fusion-io’s technology completely eliminates the need for exotic solutions, which typically are integrated at a substantially greater cost.”

“These performance numbers showed that there are mainstream applications that can realize dramatic improvements in both price and performance by combining high-end, solid-state storage with the world’s best industry-standard servers and software,” said Paul Prince, CTO, Dell Enterprise Product Group. “In the past, high-performance SSDs were simply too cost-prohibitive to be taken seriously and these results confirmed that such configurations are a very real consideration for many applications in enterprise IT solutions.”

“This configuration, which used off-the-shelf software from Microsoft and Fusion-io, takes database price/performance to a whole new level,” said David Powell, director of performance for SQL Server at Microsoft Corp. “This test proved that solid-state technologies can now be used to reduce costs while providing unparalleled performance for the enterprise, in a system that’s easy to configure and maintain.”

Measurement Results:

System: Dell PowerEdge T610
Database Scale Factor 100 GB
TPC-H Power 38,550.7
TPC-H Throughput 21,475.1
TPC-H Composite Query-per-Hour Metric (QphH@100GB) 28,772.9
Total System Price Over Three Years $42,132
TPC-H Price Performance Metric ($/QphH@100GB) $1.46

These results were accomplished using a single Dell PowerEdge T610 server equipped with four Fusion-io 80GB ioDrives, running Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition x64 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Enterprise Edition x64.

To read the complete results of the benchmark