We also customized a test, which we performed three ways: with a 512-byte transfer request size and distributions set at 100 percent read and 100 percent sequential; with a 2-KB transfer request with a 67 percent read, 33 percent write distribution and 100 percent random; and with a 64-KB request set back to 100 percent read and 100 percent sequential.
Spirent WebAvalanche
We used Spirent's WebAvalanche 4.0 to measure transactions per second under Microsoft IIS, untuned (see results in chart, left). We set up this test with a 10-second ramp-up time, 100 users per second. File sizes were set at
7 KB to 10 KB. If the server blade had a 10/100/1000 network connection, a single adapter was used. With multiple 10/100 network connections, adapters were teamed under a load-balanced configuration to provide increased performance. Thus we were almost always processor-limited in our tests, rather than network I/O-limited.
As server consolidation becomes a viable option, it's likely you'll see some movement in vertical markets, as vendors take advantage of the concept and offer their own versions. The Database Area Network, or DAN, is one such technology and was recently introduced by Savantis in the form of its dbSwitch.
DAN is a concept that borrows from both server consolidation and SAN technology: It provides a reduction in the number of database servers and, ergo, a lower TCO; affords high availability where there may have been none before; and offers centralized management.
Mission-critical databases are likely to be served by a primary database server and a backup database server. This is not always the case for less critical databases, because the hardware and software costs of providing high availability to these noncritical applications is difficult, if not impossible, to justify. But by consolidating database servers into a DAN, all applications share a pool of database servers, managed by a single device--in this case, the Savantis dbSwitch.
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