HP Hewlett Packard Server BL35P User Manual

Scalability and performance of HP ProLiant BL35p server  
blades with AMD Opteron Model 250 (2.4 GHz/1 MB)  
processors in an HP SBC environment  
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Executive summary  
The new HP ProLiant BL35p two-way server blade delivers uncompromising manageability, maximum  
computing density, and breakthrough power efficiencies to the high-performance data center. Offering  
customers a modular, space-saving design, the HP ProLiant BL35p server blade consumes less power,  
enabling denser rack architectures.  
The HP ProLiant BL35p shares the same infrastructure components as all BL p-Class server blades, allowing  
customers to enjoy additional benefits from the HP BladeSystem p-Class rack-centralized power sub-system  
and network interconnect options.  
A two-way HP ProLiant BL35p server blade with 2.4 GHz/1 MB processors can provide optimal  
support for up to 123 users1 in an HP SBC environment.  
Introduction  
HP offers a broad range of HP ProLiant servers that are ideal for particular HP SBC environments. To  
help customers select the appropriate server for their environment, HP publishes a series of  
performance briefs that characterize individual server performance and scalability. Each performance  
brief includes the following information:  
An outline of the benefits and features introduced with the new server  
A description of the test environment and test scenarios used to determine the optimal number of  
users supported by the particular server in an HP SBC environment  
HP also publishes a companion white paper that serves as a high-level summary of overall HP  
ProLiant server performance and scalability in an HP SBC environment.  
This performance brief  
This performance brief focuses on the two-way HP ProLiant BL35p server blade with 2.4 GHz/1 MB  
processors, providing information on the following topics:  
Overview – Summarizes the benefits and key features of the HP ProLiant BL35p server blade  
Performance testing – Outlines the test tools and scripts implemented by HP to simulate an HP SBC  
environment; describes the Heavy, Medium, and Light User profiles used to create the appropriate  
workloads  
Tested environment – Provides more information on the HP SBC environment used to test this server  
Performance test results – Provides sample test results; summarizes the optimal numbers of users  
supported  
Note:  
HP refers to an application server in an HP SBC environment as an  
HP SBC server. Microsoft refers to this server as a Terminal Server;  
Citrix as a MetaFrame Presentation Server.  
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Heavy Users, as defined later in this Performance Brief  
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Overview  
This section outlines the benefits and key features of the HP ProLiant BL35p server blade, shown in  
Figure 1.  
Figure 1: HP ProLiant BL35p server blade, showing a single blade and two blades in an HP BladeSystem p-Class  
Blade Sleeve  
Benefits  
HP introduces the new HP ProLiant BL35p server blade, which delivers maximum computing density  
and breakthrough power efficiencies to the enterprise data center or high-performance technical  
computing environments. Benefits include:  
Price/performance  
Up to two AMD Opteron™ 200 Series processors running at 2.4GHz, each with 1 MB L2 cache  
Up to 8 GB of PC3200 DDR (400 MHz) memory  
Density and power efficiency  
Ultra-dense design supports up to 96 servers in an industry-standard rack  
Lower power consumption per server (68 W per processor)  
Management  
HP Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) Advanced standard  
Support for HP ProLiant Essentials Rapid Deployment Pack (RDP)  
Options  
Fibre Channel support for SAN implementations and clustering  
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Ideal environment  
Medium to large enterprise data center customers requiring dense two-way server performance  
Maximum 32-bit or 64-bit two-way performance for load-balanced or front-end applications  
Ultra-dense design supports up to 96 servers (192 processors) in a standard rack  
Lower power consumption per server (68 W per processor) enables denser rack architectures  
High Performance Technical Computing (HPC) environments  
Support for up to two Opteron 200 Series processors with on-board memory controllers running at  
processor speed  
Optimal solution for applications that require high bandwidth and low-latency access to system  
memory  
Typical applications: financial, life and materials sciences, mechanical engineering/virtual  
prototyping, electronic design automation, and high-end film and video  
Enterprise data center or HPC environments that optimize external storage architectures  
Dual-port Fibre Channel connectivity option with no trade-offs on other features  
Support for HP and third-party SANs  
Support for boot from SAN  
Features  
Table 1 summarizes key features of the HP ProLiant BL35p server blade.  
Table 1: Key features  
Component  
Description  
Processor  
Opteron Model 250 (2.4 GHz)  
Support for one-way and two-way server configurations  
1 MB L2 cache per processor  
AMD HyperTransport™ (HT) speed: 800 MHz  
Up to 192 processors in a 42U rack  
Chipset  
Opteron 8000 Series  
Memory  
ECC PC3200 (400 MHz) DDR  
Expandable to 8 GB  
Network  
Two NC7781 PCI-X Gigabit NICs (deployed on a Mezzanine card)  
One 10/100 NIC dedicated to remote management  
Integrated storage controller  
Internal storage  
SAN connectivity  
Maximum 120 GB (2 x 60 GB ATA 5,400 rpm drive)  
Optional Dual Port Fibre Channel Adapter (2 Gb)  
Remote  
management  
Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) Advanced  
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Performance testing  
HP continues to upgrade existing HP ProLiant servers and introduce new servers to meet particular  
business needs. To help customers select the appropriate server for their particular HP SBC  
environment, HP publishes this and other performance briefs to characterize individual server  
performance and scalability.  
This section describes the test environment and test scenarios used to determine the optimal number of  
users supported by an HP ProLiant BL35p server blade in an HP SBC environment.  
Note:  
HP makes a distinction between the optimal number of users that  
can be supported on a particular server configuration and the  
maximum number. The optimal number is a more practical metric  
that reflects the number of users that can be supported without  
impacting user response times.  
Historically, HP has defined the optimal value as the number of  
users that are active when processor utilization reaches 80%. After  
processor utilization passes 80%, additional users are supported;  
however, response times may become unacceptable.  
Scalability metrics specified in this Performance Brief reflect the  
optimal number of users.  
Test tools and scripts  
HP used a range of test tools and scripts to simulate typical HP SBC user workloads.  
Tools  
Terminal Services Scalability Planning Tools (TSScaling), a suite of tools developed by Microsoft®,  
helps organizations with Microsoft Windows® Server 2003 Terminal Server capacity planning. These  
tools facilitate the placement and management of simulated loads on an HP SBC server.  
Table 2 outlines the components of the TSScaling suite.  
Table 2: Components of TSScaling  
TSScaling suite component  
Description  
Automation tools  
Robosrv.exe  
Drives the server-side of the load simulation  
Robocli.exe  
Qidle.exe  
Helps drive the client-side of the load simulation  
Test tools  
Determines if any scripts have failed and require operator  
intervention  
Tbscript.exe  
A script interpreter that helps drive the client-side load  
simulation  
Help files  
TBScript.doc  
Terminal Server bench scripting documentation  
A scalability test environment set-up guide  
A testing guide  
TSScalingSetup.doc  
TSScalingTesting.doc  
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More information on the test tools  
Roboserver (Robosrv.exe) and Roboclient (Robocli.exe): Terminal Server capacity planning  
Test scripts  
HP used test scripts that simulated the activities of three types of users (Heavy, Medium, and Light).  
Table 3 describes these users and their simulated activities.  
Table 3: Simulated user activities  
User Type  
Activities  
Heavy User  
Heavy Users (also known as Structured Task Workers) tend to open multiple applications  
simultaneously and remain active for long periods. Heavy Users often leave applications  
open when not in use.  
Heavy users have an average typing speed of 40 – 50 words per minute.  
The Heavy User script included the following activities:  
Creating, saving and printing documents using Microsoft Word  
Browsing web pages, and sending and receiving e-mail using Microsoft Outlook  
Performing extensive Microsoft Excel activity (using PivotTable dynamic views, graphing  
and charting data, and so on)  
Medium User  
Medium Users (also known as Knowledge Workers) are defined as users who gather,  
add value to, and communicate information in a decision-support process. Cost of  
downtime is variable but highly visible. These resources are driven by projects and ad-  
hoc needs towards flexible tasks. These workers make their own decisions on what to  
work on and how to accomplish the task.  
Sample tasks include: marketing, project management, sales, desktop publishing,  
decision support, data mining, financial analysis, executive and supervisory  
management, design, and authoring.  
Medium Users tend to open and close applications more quickly than Heavy Users. These  
users typically do not leave applications open when not in use; they have an average  
typing speed of 35 – 40 words per minute.  
The Medium User script included the following activities:  
Creating small documents with Microsoft Word  
Performing simple data entry with Microsoft Excel  
Sending and receiving e-mail with Microsoft Outlook  
Engaging in minimal browsing of an intranet site using Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0  
Light User  
Light Users (also known as Data Entry Workers) input data into computer systems.  
Activities include transcription, typing, order entry, clerical work and manufacturing.  
The Light User script simulated simple Microsoft Excel data entry, entering 10 rows of  
data.  
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Test scenarios  
HP deployed the configuration shown in Figure 2 to simulate an HP SBC environment. To simulate  
typical HP SBC workloads, HP ran a series of performance tests based on the Heavy, Medium, and  
Light User scripts described in Table 3.  
For each test scenario, HP began by running the appropriate script with a group of ten simulated  
users. Start times were staggered to eliminate authentication overhead. After the sessions finished, HP  
added ten more users, then repeated the testing.  
Monitoring processor utilization  
Primarily, HP monitored processor utilization to establish the optimal number of users supported by the  
HP SBC server. By definition, the optimal number of users is active when processor utilization reaches  
80%2.  
To obtain this key performance metric, HP used the Windows Performance Monitor (Perfmon) analysis  
tool to monitor % Processor Time values.  
Validation using a canary script  
To validate the scalability metrics obtained using % Processor Time, HP also ran canary scripts to  
characterize Heavy User response times for discrete activities (such as the time taken for an  
application to be invoked or for a modal box to appear).  
By monitoring these response times as more and more users logged on, HP was able to obtain further  
scalability metrics.  
Note:  
When using canary scripts, HP considers optimal user scalability to  
be reached when response times increase markedly over a  
baseline measurement.  
2 Historically, HP has defined the optimal number of users as the number of users that are active when processor utilization (%  
Processor Time) reaches 80%. Additional users are supported but response times may become unacceptable.  
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Tested environment  
Figure 2 illustrates the HP SBC test environment.  
Figure 2: The tested environment  
Note:  
Test environments such as that shown in Figure 2 are available to  
customers at HP Solution Centers to help solve a wide variety of  
business problems.  
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Guidelines  
HP followed these guidelines when configuring servers for the test environment:  
Memory  
Since all applications reside and are executed on the HP SBC server, memory resources on this  
server must be sufficient in order to optimize system performance. HP offers the following  
recommendations based on user type:  
– 5 – 6 MB for each active Light User  
– 8 – 10 MB for each active Medium User  
– 12 – 15 MB for each active Heavy User  
For more information on these user types, refer to the section on Test Scripts.  
NIC speed  
Since network traffic is light (only keystrokes, mouse clicks and display updates), HP set all server  
NICs to 100 Mbps.  
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Configurations  
Table 4 summarizes the configurations of systems used in the test environment.  
Table 4: System configurations  
Server  
Configuration  
HP SBC server  
Two-way HP ProLiant BL35p server blade with:  
2.4 GHz/1 MB AMD Opteron processors  
1 MB L2 cache  
4096 MB RAM  
One 60.0 GB 5,400 rpm ATA hard drive  
Microsoft Windows Server 2003  
Enterprise Edition, Terminal Services enabled  
Microsoft Office XP  
Exchange Server/  
Internet Information  
Services  
HP ProLiant DL380 G2 server with:  
Two-way 1.4 GHz Intel® Pentium® III processor  
512 KB L2 cache  
2304 MB RAM  
Two hot plug 36.4 GB 15,000 rpm Ultra3 SCSI hard drives  
Integrated Smart Array 5i controller with RAID 1  
NC3163 10/100 Fast Ethernet NIC  
Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server  
Microsoft Exchange Server 2000  
Microsoft Internet Information Services 5.0  
Domain Controller  
HP ProLiant DL380 G2 server with:  
Two-way 1.4 GHz Pentium III processor  
512 KB L2 cache  
2304 MB RAM  
Two hot plug 36.4 GB 15,000 rpm Ultra3 SCSI hard drives  
Integrated Smart Array 5i controller with RAID 0  
NC3163 10/100 Fast Ethernet NIC  
Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server  
Client  
Variety of Pentium-based 600 MHz – 2.533 GHz  
Compaq Evo workstations, each with:  
At least 128 MB of memory  
640×480/256-color resolution  
100 Mbps NIC  
Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional  
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System summary  
Table 5 summarizes the configuration of the HP SBC server.  
Table 5: HP SBC server configuration  
Component  
Description  
Operating system  
Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition  
Version  
5.2.3790 Build 3790  
System name  
System manufacturer  
System model  
System type  
BL35p  
HP  
ProLiant BL35p G1  
x86-based PC  
Processor (each)  
BIOS version/date  
SMBIOS version  
Windows directory  
System directory  
Boot device  
x86 Family 15 Model 5 Stepping 10 AuthenticAMD ~2405 MHz  
HP A03, 2/15/2005  
2.3  
C:\WINDOWS  
C:\WINDOWS\system32  
\Device\HarddiskVolume1  
United States  
Locale  
Hardware abstraction  
layer version  
5.2.3790.0 (srv03_rtm.030324-2048)  
User name  
Not available  
Time zone  
Central Standard Time  
4,096.00 MB  
Total physical memory  
Available physical  
memory  
3.54 GB  
Total virtual memory  
16.50 GB  
16.08 GB  
Available virtual  
memory  
Page file space  
Page file  
12.66 GB  
C:\pagefile.sys  
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Performance test results  
HP tested a two-way HP ProLiant BL35p server blade with 2.4 GHz/1 MB Opteron processors to  
determine the optimal number of users supported in an HP SBC environment.  
This section provides information on the following topics:  
% Processor Time – Shows % Processor Time values for a typical test scenario – the Heavy User  
scenario in this example  
Canary script response times – Shows response times for a sample canary script that used Excel  
charting functions  
Summary – Summarizes test results for Heavy, Medium, and Light Users  
Note:  
HP determined that there were no disk, memory, or network  
bottlenecks in the test environment.  
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% Processor Time  
Figure 3 shows % Processor Time values for Heavy Users.  
Figure 3: % Processor Time values for Heavy Users – showing an optimal level of 123 users  
Figure 3 indicates that an HP ProLiant BL35p server blade can support 123 Heavy Users before the  
% Processor Time value reaches 80%.  
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Canary time  
Figures 4 shows sample results for an HP ProLiant BL35p server blade running a typical canary script.  
Individual user response times are shown in blue, with a yellow line depicting average response  
times.  
HP analyzed Figure 4 to determine when response times began to increase markedly and consistently  
over a baseline level, providing an indication of optimal scalability.  
Figure 4: Canary time values – showing an optimal level of 141 Heavy Users  
Figure 4 indicates that an HP ProLiant BL35p server blade can support 141 Heavy Users before  
response times start to increase significantly, validating the value of 123 Heavy Users derived  
using % Processor Time.  
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Results summary  
Figure 5 summarizes the optimal numbers of users supported by an HP ProLiant BL35p server blade  
(based on % Processor Time values).  
Figure 5: Optimal numbers of users supported  
IMPORTANT:  
As with any laboratory benchmark, the performance metrics  
quoted in this performance brief are idealized. In a production  
environment these metrics may be impacted by a variety of factors.  
For more information, refer to Appendix B – SBC solution sizing.  
Summary  
To characterize the performance of the HP ProLiant BL35p server blade, HP selected a metric that  
relates directly to the user experience – the number of Heavy Users that can be supported before  
response times start to become unacceptable. Test results show that a two-way HP ProLiant BL35p  
server blade with Opteron 2.4 GHz/1 MB processors can support 123 Heavy Users, making this  
system ideal for an enterprise HP SBC environment.  
Customers can take advantage of test environments like the one described in this Performance Brief –  
and solve many other business problems – at over 80 strategically-located HP Solution Centers.  
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Appendix A – AMD Opteron processors  
The AMD Opteron processors deployed in the latest HP ProLiant servers help advance the future of  
industry-standard servers. Key benefits include:  
Improving the performance of existing 32-bit applications  
Supporting 64-bit addressing – breaking the 4 GB limit inherent in earlier x86 processor  
implementations  
By supporting simultaneous 32- and 64-bit processing, the Opteron processor provides a bridge to  
full 64-bit computing.  
Features  
Figure A-1 illustrates key features of the Opteron architecture  
Figure A-1: Key features of the Opteron architecture  
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Benefits  
Table A-1 outlines key benefits of the Opteron processor.  
Table A-1: Key benefits of the Opteron processor  
Feature  
Benefit  
Simultaneous 32- and 64-bit computing  
capabilities  
Users can run 32-bit and/or 64-bit applications and  
operating systems – without sacrificing performance.  
Direct Connect Architecture helps reduce  
performance bottlenecks  
Direct Connect Architecture can reduce memory latency,  
provide better balance for throughput, and support more  
linear symmetrical multiprocessing.  
Support for up to three coherent  
HyperTransport links, providing up to 19.2  
GB/s peak bandwidth per processor  
HyperTransport links provide substantial I/O bandwidth for  
current and future application needs.  
256 Terabytes (TB) of memory address space More memory space creates a significant performance benefit  
for applications where large datasets – or a large number of  
datasets – are stored in memory.  
Scales from one-way to eight-way  
The scalability of the processor helps maximize flexibility in  
the IT infrastructure.  
Integrated memory controller reduces  
latencies during memory access  
Reduced memory latency translates to increased performance  
and productivity.  
Low-power processor models are available  
HE – 55 W  
EE – 30 W  
Low-power processor models can increase server density and  
reduce the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for data centers  
with limited power budgets. For example, more servers can  
be supported at a data center with utility power constraints.  
Breaking the 4 GB address limit  
Opteron processors take advantage of the 64-bit addressing capabilities of Windows Server  
2003 to break the 4 GB direct-addressing limit inherent in earlier x86 implementations.  
Note:  
Windows Server 2003 for 64-Bit Extended Systems is required to  
extend memory space for x86 processors featuring 64-bit  
extension technologies.  
Information on the release of this operating system is available on  
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Figure A-2 shows the approximate amount of directly-addressable memory available with various  
Windows operating systems.  
Figure A-2: Memory limits with Windows operating systems  
While 32-bit Windows operating systems can address a maximum of 4 GB directly, memory space  
can be extended with certain operating systems through the use of Address Windowing Extensions  
(AWE).  
Windows Server 2003 introduced 64-bit addressing, shattering the earlier 4 GB direct-addressing  
limitation. Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition can address 512 GB directly – and up to  
256 TB indirectly.  
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Appendix B – SBC solution sizing  
As with any laboratory benchmark, the performance metrics quoted in this Performance Brief are  
idealized. In a production environment, these metrics may be impacted by a variety of factors,  
including the following:  
Overhead  
Agents and services (virus scanning, backup and restore, provisioning, security, management and  
more) automatically consume overhead. Rogue applications can consume additional overhead.  
The system architect may wish to provide a 25% – 30% buffer to accommodate this overhead.  
Future growth  
To accommodate future growth, the system architect may wish to provide an additional buffer.  
Alternatively, servers can be added as needed, taking advantage of the server farm’s inherent  
ability to scale out.  
User profiles  
The particular application in use directly impacts the number of users supported by a particular  
server. Further, user behavior can also impact scalability:  
– Increased typing rates correspond to fewer users.  
– Opening and closing applications (rather than switching between them) or moving quickly  
between tasks can place a heavier load on the server.  
– For accurate sizing, system architects must closely match their user profiles with the Heavy,  
Medium, and Light User profiles used by HP during performance testing. If the profiles do not  
match, more are available using the online sizer tool (described below); alternatively, the system  
architect can consult HP Services for more information.  
Background grammar checking  
Background grammar checking can significantly impact scalability, reducing the number of users  
supported by as much as 50%. HP disabled background grammar checking for the testing  
described in this Performance Brief.  
Online sizer tool  
To minimize risk, HP offers automated, online tools that can help the customer size an HP SBC  
solution. The algorithms and methodology used by the sizer are based on the results of customer  
surveys and thorough testing.  
Sizers are available for the following HP SBC environments:  
Figure B-1 shows a typical HP SBC sizer screen.  
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Figure B-1: The HP SBC sizer’s User Specification dialog  
Based on information provided by the customer, a sizer can provide a quick, consistent mechanism  
for identifying the “best-fit” server for a particular HP SBC environment and generate a Bill of  
Materials (BOM) for that server.  
The algorithms and methodology used by the sizers are based on the results of customer surveys and  
thorough testing.  
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For more information  
HP ProLiant BL35p server blade  
HP ProLiant Essentials  
Rapid Deployment Pack (RDP)  
HP SBC online sizer tool for enterprise  
environments  
HP SBC online sizer tool for Small and  
Medium Business (SMB) environments  
HP Services  
HP Solution Centers  
Microsoft Windows Server 2003  
Overview of Windows Server 2003  
Terminal Server  
Citrix MetaFrame Presentation Server 3.0  
AMD Opteron processors  
© 2005 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information  
contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for  
HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements  
accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed  
as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or  
editorial errors or omissions contained herein.  
Microsoft and Windows are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft  
Corporation. AMD, HyperTransport, and AMD Opteron are trademarks of  
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Intel and Pentium are trademarks or registered  
trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other  
countries.  
3/2005  
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