| Author |
Topic |
|
steveo
Starting Member
16 Posts |
 Posted - 2002-07-08 : 12:51:36
|
| What's better for a SQL Server Enterprise machineDual PIII - 1.4 GHzor Single XEON 2.2 GhzWould the speed be about the same?I've seen some reports that the SQL on XEON was slow. Is this true?Due to the licensing of SQL enterprise and budget limitations, I am leaning toward the single XEON and a single 1-processor Enterprise license and possiblly upgrading to a second xeon later. |
|
|
MichaelP
Jedi Yak
2489 Posts |
Posted - 2002-07-08 : 12:56:39
|
| Watch out for HyperThreaded Xeon processors. I think that the 2.2Ghz models are Hyperthreaded. HyperThreading makes a single CPU act like a dual processor. There's a debate if you need 2 Per Processor licenses for the Single "HyperThreaded" CPU.Do some looking into that issue.Michael<Yoda>Use the Search page you must. Find answer you will. |
 |
|
|
steveo
Starting Member
16 Posts |
Posted - 2002-07-08 : 13:25:48
|
| From what I read on microsoft...we should be ok. Any performance issues with XEON?Microsoft wants to clarify existing licensing policies given that one physical processor may look like two logical processors to the OS and to other server applications. For the purposes of this policy, the following definitions apply:Logical processor: The architectural state within a physical processor that tracks execution of a software program thread/task.Physical processor: A package that houses one set of shared execution resources and any number of architectural states.Per Processor LicensingFor currently available Microsoft servers products licensed on a per processor basis (e.g., Microsoft SQL Server™, Microsoft BizTalk Server™, Microsoft Content Management Server™, etc.), one processor license for each physical processor on the server is required. Therefore, customers only need to acquire one processor license for each physical HTT even though the software may count one HTT as two logical processors. |
|
|
|
MichaelP
Jedi Yak
2489 Posts |
Posted - 2002-07-08 : 13:49:50
|
| Sounds good. It is good to see research :)I know we run Dual 700Mhz Xeons, and have not had any performance issues. One thing folks will tell you though is with SQL Server, your Disk Subsystem and lots of RAM are where the performance is.Get AT LEAST 1GB of memory. Depending on your usage, size of database(s), etc you may need more.What do you plan to get as far as a Disk SubSystem?Type and Speed of Drives?RAID Configuration?# Of Channels on your RAID controller?Michael<Yoda>Use the Search page you must. Find answer you will. |
|
|
|
graz
Chief SQLTeam Crack Dealer
4149 Posts |
Posted - 2002-07-08 : 14:00:11
|
| We linked to this article that benchmarked hyperthreading on SQL Server (http://www.anandtech.com/IT/showdoc.html?i=1606).===============================================Creating tomorrow's legacy systems today.One crisis at a time. |
|
|
|
steveo
Starting Member
16 Posts |
Posted - 2002-07-08 : 14:09:12
|
| 1GB ram for now.Internal RAID-1 for OS drive.We're using an external SCSI drive array (all U160 10K) with a PERC3/DC card (2 external channels).for each server...1 x RAID1 arrays for logs1 x RAID1 or 10 array for datafor the cluster...1 x RAID1 array for the quorum drive |
|
|
|
chadmat
The Chadinator
1974 Posts |
Posted - 2002-07-08 : 14:38:41
|
| Steve,That is a pretty Kick A** setup. Do you mind me asking what application this is the backend for (Just curious)?You typically won't see CPU as your bottleneck, but in the case of performance problems, perfmon should show you your bottlenecks.I like that you did it right and put the Quorum on it's own mirror. I find people always try to slap that on with the SQL logs, and they hate when I tell them they should use a seperate drive (Much less 2 for a mirror).-Chad |
|
|
|
steveo
Starting Member
16 Posts |
Posted - 2002-07-08 : 15:46:08
|
| SO...any ideas?Is it generally a no-no to go with a single processor on a database server or is it OK with XEON's that have the 2 logical processors within them and the higher bus speed.STEVE |
|
|
|
setbasedisthetruepath
Used SQL Salesman
992 Posts |
Posted - 2002-07-08 : 16:25:06
|
Database servers, unlike application servers, do not generally use large amounts of CPU, so the choice of a single fast processor vs two slower processors is largely academic. Of the four subsystems affecting performance - CPU, memory, disk subsystem, network - database servers use memory and the disk subsystem the most. From your description of your disk subsystemquote:
1 x RAID1 arrays for logs 1 x RAID1 or 10 array for data
it appears you are on the right track. I would like to see a description of disk sizes and how many spindles are in each array, though, as well as your typical database sizes. You should definitely use RAID 10 vice RAID 1 for the data if you have enough spindles.1GB RAM is light. More the better w/ RAM, especially with prices so cheap right now.Jonathan Boott, MCDBA |
|
|
|
woodman
Starting Member
1 Post |
Posted - 2002-07-08 : 21:55:40
|
| Hi all,How about if the database server will be used for report generation by VB program as well ?Should CPU be considered as the major issue that affect performance ?For instance, my application will generate daily summary report based on daily event audit log. It seems that when the report is wake up, the whole system will not response normally. Will it be escalated to table lock instead of row lock in SQL7 for reading large amount of records ? Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks! |
|
|
|
MichaelP
Jedi Yak
2489 Posts |
Posted - 2002-07-08 : 23:43:19
|
| I'd go with the XEON jsut for the sake of upgrading down the road.Think about 6-12 months from now. How hard is it going to be to find that P3 vs how hard it's going to be to find that Xeon.Michael<Yoda>Use the Search page you must. Find the answer you will. |
|
|
|
|
Single or Dual CPU ??