Want To Slash Your Database License Costs? Huawei Shows You How

Huawei researchers have demonstrated how the latest generation of its all-flash storage arrays cab deliver blistering performance on database workloads and drastically slash database license fees by delivering better CPU utilisation.

The 5G and AI data explosions have increased performance and cost challenges. Typical IOPS demands on enterprise core systems exceed 200,000 IOPS and demand latency of around 1ms.

Researchers at Huawei set up a best practice verification test of the Oracle Database 18c Enterprise Edition with a four controller OceanStor Dorado 18000 all flash system, running 40 900GB SSDs. The researchers used 12 hosts to deliver IO to the storage array, for a stable 500 microsecond latency. The database servers were Huawei RH2288H V6s, each with a total of 28 cores, and 256GB of RAM.

Test conditions

The researchers hit the systems with the SwingBench online transaction simulation. The OceanStor Dorado delivered 840,000 IOPS with latency of 0.5ms. This is estimated to be 50 times the performance achievable with traditional storage systems.

Latency was tested using the SLOB tool. This resulted in a 75 per cent cache hit ratio, with 220,000 IOPS, and less than 100 microsecond latency in the 25 per cent update and 8:2 read/write ratio scenario (the most typical database I/O model).

The massive reduction in Oracle license fees came as a result of reduced I/O waiting time, and increased host CPU utilisation. The CPU utilisation of the OceanStor-powered setup came in at 38.7 per cent when service pressure was 800 TPS. The comparable figure for legacy storage was 60 per cent. This meant fewer CPU host resources were needed to carry the same services. At the 800 TPS level, this means a 31.3 per cent reduction in Oracle license fees, the researchers calculated. It also means reduced host purchasing costs.

The system also uses the vendor’s HyperCDP technology for data snapshotting. In tests the OceanStor Dorado supported a minimum snapshot interval of two seconds, while snapshots were created and activated in less than five seconds.

The OceanStor Dorado 18000 v6 features intelligent acceleration hardware and a multitude of algorithms that combine to deliver that crucial 100 microsecond latency. The platform recently took top slot in the Storage Performance Council’s SPC-1 benchmark table, turning in 21 million IOPS. For more details about OceanStor Dorado, please check here. Get free POC about OceanStor Dorado, please check here.