A test commissioned by Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) shows that its recently released Windows Server 2003 far outshines Windows 2000 and NT 4.0 on file server performance -- and is even faster using Alacritech Inc.'s TCP offload engine (TOE) cards (see Alacritech Boosts Win2003 File Serving and Windows Soaks Up Storage).
The tests -- which Microsoft commissioned from VeriTest, a division of Lionbridge Technologies Inc. -- showed a Windows Server 2003 with Alacritech cards was 26 percent faster than the same server configured with Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC) cards. Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) servers configured with Alacritech Gigabit Ethernet storage accelerator cards and running Windows Server 2003 achieved throughput of 1,370 Mbit/s. The same servers configured with Intel network adapters and running Windows NT 4.0 hit 439 Mbit/s; running Windows 2000 they hit 591 Mbit/s.
The testing firm didn't conduct tests using Alacritech adapters on either the Windows 2000 or NT 4.0 platforms.
"We found that regardless of the server employed or the number of processors, Windows Server 2003 generated significantly better peak file-serving performance compared to Windows 2000 Advanced Server and NT 4.0 Server Enterprise Edition," says the VeriTest test report summary. "Additionally, we found that using the Alacritech network adapters resulted in a performance improvement of approximately 26 percent compared to using the Intel PRO/1000 MF Server Adapters." The authors of the report could not be reached for comment by press time.
For the tests, VeriTest ran Windows Server 2003 on an HP ProLiant DL760G2 server configured with eight Alacritech cards. A summary of the results is available at www.veritest.com/clients/reports/microsoft/ms_performance.pdf
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