Re: Benchmark: Dell/Perc 6, 8 disk RAID 10 - Mailing list pgsql-performance

Justin Graf wrote:
> I recent just got a new server also from dell 2 weeks ago
> went with more memory slower CPU, and smaller harddrives
>  have not run pgbench
>
> Dell PE 2950 III
> 2 Quad Core 1.866 Ghz
> 16 gigs of ram.
> 8 hard drives 73Gig 10k RPM SAS
> 2 drives in Mirrored for OS, Binaries, and WAL
> 6 in a raid 10
> Dual Gig Ethernet
> OS Ubuntu 7.10
> -----------------------------------------------
>
> Version 1.03
>                      ------Sequential Output------ --Sequential Input-
> --Random-
>                        -Per Chr- --Block-- -Rewrite- -Per Chr- --Block--
> --Seeks--
> Machine Size        K/sec %CP  K/sec   %CP    K/sec %CP   K/sec %CP
> K/sec    %CP /sec %CP
> PriData 70000M  51030   90   107488    29      50666 10     38464 65
> 102931     9    268.2 0
>
> ------Sequential Create------ --------Random Create--------
> -Create-- --Read--- -Delete-- -Create-- --Read--- -Delete--
> files /sec %CP /sec %CP /sec %CP /sec %CP /sec %CP /sec %CP
> 16 +++++ +++ +++++ +++ +++++ +++ +++++ +++ +++++ +++ +++++ +++
> PriData,70000M,51030,90,107488,29,50666,10,38464,65,102931,9,268.2,0,16,
> +++++,+++,+++++,+++,+++++,+++,+++++,+++,+++++,+++,+++++,+++
>
> the difference in our results are interesting.
>
> What are the setting on the RAID card .  I have the cache turned on with
> Read Ahead

First, did you get the Perc 6i with battery-backed cache?  Not all versions have it.  I found this really confusing
whentrying to order -- we had to work pretty hard to figure out exactly what to order to be sure we got this feature.
(Doesanyone at Dell follow these discussions?) 

Second, Dell ships a Linux driver with this hardware, and we installed it.  I have no idea what the driver does,
becauseI think you can run the system without it, but my guess is that without the Dell driver, it's using the Perc6
cardin some "normal" mode that doesn't take advantage of its capabilities. 

With a 6-disk RAID 10, you should get numbers at least in the same ballpark as my numbers.

Craig

>
>
> ---- Message from Craig James <craig_james@emolecules.com>
> <mailto:craig_james@emolecules.com> at 03-12-2008 09:55:18 PM ------
>
>     I just received a new server and thought benchmarks would be
>     interesting.  I think this looks pretty good, but maybe there are
>     some suggestions about the configuration file.  This is a web app, a
>     mix of read/write, where writes tend to be "insert into ... (select
>     ...)" where the resulting insert is on the order of 100 to 10K rows
>     of two integers.  An external process also uses a LOT of CPU power
>     along with each query.
>
>     Thanks,
>     Craig
>
>
>     Configuration:
>       Dell 2950
>       8 CPU (Intel 2GHz Xeon)
>       8 GB memory
>       Dell Perc 6i with battery-backed cache
>       RAID 10 of 8x 146GB SAS 10K 2.5" disks
>
>     Everything (OS, WAL and databases) are on the one RAID array.
>
>     Diffs from original configuration:
>
>     max_connections = 1000
>     shared_buffers = 400MB
>     work_mem = 256MB
>     max_fsm_pages = 1000000
>     max_fsm_relations = 5000
>     wal_buffers = 256kB
>     effective_cache_size = 4GB
>
>     Bonnie output (slightly reformatted)
>
>     ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>     Delete files in random order...done.
>     Version  1.03
>              ------Sequential Output------       --Sequential Input-
>          --Random-
>           -Per Chr-   --Block--    -Rewrite-     -Per Chr-   --Block--
>        --Seeks--
>      Size K/sec %CP   K/sec  %CP   K/sec  %CP    K/sec %CP   K/sec  %CP
>        /sec %CP
>       16G 64205  99   234252  38   112924  26    65275  98   293852  24
>       940.3   1
>
>              ------Sequential Create------    --------Random Create--------
>           -Create--   --Read---   -Delete--   -Create--   --Read---
>       -Delete--
>     files  /sec %CP    /sec %CP    /sec %CP    /sec %CP    /sec %CP
>        /sec %CP
>        16 12203  95   +++++ +++   19469  94   12297  95   +++++ +++
>       15578  82
>
>
www.xxx.com,16G,64205,99,234252,38,112924,26,65275,98,293852,24,940.3,1,16,12203,95,+++++,+++,19469,94,12297,95,+++++,+++,15578,82
>
>     ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>     $ pgbench -c 10 -t 10000 -v test -U test
>     starting vacuum...end.
>     starting vacuum accounts...end.
>     transaction type: TPC-B (sort of)
>     scaling factor: 1
>     number of clients: 10
>     number of transactions per client: 10000
>     number of transactions actually processed: 100000/100000
>     tps = 2786.377933 (including connections establishing)
>     tps = 2787.888209 (excluding connections establishing)