Exchange Performance Result

Full Disclosure Report

Exchange MAPI Messaging Benchmark 3 (MMB3)

Category: Single Server

Hardware: / PowerEdge™ 6650
Software: / Exchange Server 2003
Test Profile: / MAPI Messaging Benchmark 3
Date Accepted: / 6/07/04

Revision History

6/07/04 – original submission

Executive Summary

PowerEdge 6650 – Single Server
Test results
MMB3 score / 7,200
Response time / 254 milliseconds (ms)
CPU utilization / 59%
Avg. queue / 32
Messages submitted / 310,331 (4-hour steady state period)
Messages delivered / 772,872 (4-hour steady state period)
Messages sent / 310,336 (4-hour steady state period)
Server configuration
CPU / 2.8 gigahertz (GHz) XeonTM
CPU count / Four, with Hyper-Threading enabled
RAM / 4 gigabytes (GB)
L1 cache / Instruction: 12 kilobytes (KB) mops
Data: 8 kilobytes (KB)
L2 cache / 512 kilobytes (KB)
L3 cache / 2 megabytes (MB)
Operating system / Microsoft® Windows® 2003 Server Enterprise Edition
Storage / 5 x 36GB disks for operating system, Active Directory, page file, and Exchange Server system files
230 x 36GB disks for Exchange Information Store & transaction log files
Controller / Dell™ PERC4/DC RAID controller (operating system, Active Directory, & Exchange Server system files)
Dell™/EMC® CX600 SAN (Exchange Information Store & transaction log files)
NIC / One integrated Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit1 Ethernet Controller

Results based on 4 hours of steady state running.

Results should be interpreted as a benchmark for messaging throughput and should not be confused with deployment recommendations. Factors such as backup/restore, topology and other issues should be considered when planning a deployment. For information on how MMB3 results differ from deployment and configuration information refer to Benchmark vs. Production Configuration Disclosure Note.

Test conducted by Dell Performance Analysis Lab using Microsoft Exchange Load Simulator Tool in June 2004.

Dell PowerEdge 6650

Performance

The Dell PowerEdge 6650 server is designed to offer you best-in-class quad-processor performance, expandability and availability along with outstanding serviceability. The PowerEdge 6650 incorporates the latest server technology into a rack-dense 4U form factor.

Designed for business-critical applications that need scalable performance with multi-processors, large on-die cache, great, excellent, or outstanding (outstanding) memory and robust I/O bandwidth, this server features Intel® Xeon™ processor MPs on the bus architecture and up to 4.8GB/s of I/O throughput. And the processors offer Hyper-Threading support, which can result in improved performance on your multi-threaded applications.

Furthermore, the PowerEdge 6650 is designed to support multiple generations of Intel Xeon MP processors, which allows you to take advantage of advances made by Intel in processing technology.

Availability

The Dell PowerEdge 6650 server features memory technology that is designed to provide the latest in enterprise-level availability. Spare Bank, Memory Mirroring, and Error Correcting Code (ECC) SDRAM memory with support for Chipkill™ technology help enable the servers to withstand errors that could crash a system that does not support this technology.

The PowerEdge 6650 server also includes hot-plug redundant power supplies, SCSI hard drives, fans, and PCI slots so that you can replace components without powering the server down. Plus, the dual embedded Gigabit1 Network Interface Cards (NICs) provide failover support to help maximize I/O throughput for increased availability and reliability.

Expandability

This system is designed to meet the growing needs of demanding server environments. It provides up to 32GB of double data rate (DDR) SDRAM and supports four-way memory interleaving for higher SDRAM bandwidth. Consequently, you can scale your server memory as application demands increase.

Additionally, the PowerEdge 6650 provides up to five hard drives with a maximum internal storage capacity of 365GB. Further expandibility is provided with eight I/O slots.

Serviceability

The PowerEdge 6650 offers a unique modular chassis design to provide day-in, day-out, reliability and serviceability which can help lower your total cost of ownership (TCO). Both server models feature tool-less access to internal components, and the number of cables inside the servers is minimized for further simplicity. Moreover, the Dell logo on the bezel changes from a blue to an amber caution light if the system encounters a failure. And to help accelerate diagnosis and repair failure, the LCD panel behind the system bezel displays error codes and text messages further detailing the problem.

The PowerEdge 6650 is a state-of-the-art enterprise server that provides high levels of performance, helps maximize uptime and availability, offers expandability, and provides exceptional data protection.

Dell PowerEdge 6650

Index

Executive Summary 2

Index 3

1 Benchmark vs. Production Configuration Disclosure Note 3

2 Test Results 3

2.1 Response Times (Latencies) 3

2.2 Message Throughput 3

3 Test Configuration 3

3.1 Load Generator Configuration 3

4 Additional Configuration and Tuning 3

1 Benchmark vs. Production Configuration Disclosure Note

This test measures the messaging throughput of a single server, single site topology. Its purpose is to measure the maximum throughput of a Microsoft Exchange Server on this hardware configuration. This can provide a benchmark for comparing hardware and/or software products, but cannot be used as a deployment guide for production environments. For deployment specific information, contact a Microsoft or Dell representative.

The MMB3 benchmark does not account for:

· Usage profiles not matching that of the Load Simulator MMB3 profile;

· Per user storage, and per server backup requirements;

· Fault tolerance requirements;

· Anti-virus processes and effects on the server;

· UBE/UCE (spam) mail flow;

· Workloads other than MAPI private folder access. This includes Public Folder, NNTP, POP3 and other email interfaces;

· Multiple Exchange Server deployments, where additional resources are required to forward mail intra-site;

· Connectors, Links and Replication to remote Exchange sites;

· Network topologies, bandwidth availability, latency requirement and SLA related factors like QOS and fail-over path issues;

2 Test Results

The new MAPI Messaging Benchmark (MMB3) measures throughput in terms of a specific profile of user actions, executed over an 8 hour working day.

This benchmark is different from the ‘MMB2’ setting that was used with Exchange 2000 in that the rate of client requests is significantly greater for the MMB3 profile.

Summary
Supported Benchmark Load / 7,200 MMB3s
Benchmark Profile / MAPI Messaging Benchmark 3 (MMB3)
Protocol / Exchange MAPI
Length of Steady State / 4 Hours
Length of Test / 8 Hours
Unless otherwise noted, values listed below are averages over
entire 4 hour steady state period.
Transactions in Total
Total Messages Submitted / 310,331
Total Message Recipients Delivered / 772,872
Total Messages Sent / 310,336
Message Recipients Delivered / Messages Submitted / 2.49
Total Messages Submitted / 310,331
Transaction Load (per hour)
Messages Submitted / hour / 77,583
Message Recipients Delivered / hour / 193,218
Messages Sent / hour / 77,584
Transaction Load (per Second)
Message Opens / sec / 84
Folder Opens / sec / 28
RPC Read Bytes / sec / 237,966
RPC Write Bytes / sec / 4,297,019
Transaction Queues
MSExchangeIS Send Queue Average Length / 32
MSExchangeIS Receive Queue Average Length / 0
SMTP Local Queue / 36
SMTP Categorizer Queue / 0
Processor Utilization
System Processor Utilization (%) / 59
System Processor Interrupts/sec (Total) / 5,464
System Processor Queue Length / 2
System Context Switches/Sec / 19,932
Process % CPU Time - Store / 416
Process % CPU Time - Inetinfo / 12
Exchange server is also domain controller? (yes/no) / Yes
Process % CPU Time – LSASS (on domain controller) / 10
Memory Utilization
Available Bytes / 1.9GB
Pages / sec / 1
Process Private Bytes - Store / 415MB
Process Working Set Bytes - Store / 1.4GB
Process Virtual Bytes - Store / 2.0GB
MSExchangeIS VM Largest Block Size / 907MB
MSExchangeIS VM Total 16MB Free Blocks / 3
MSExchangeIS VM Total Free Blocks / 266
MSExchangeIS VM Large Free Block Bytes / 951MB
Disk Utilization (Aggregate for Database Logical Disks)
Logical Drive Utilization (%) / 587
Database Disk Reads/Sec / 1056
Database Disk Read Bytes/Sec / 5,487,680
Database Disk Writes/Sec / 379
Database Disk Write Bytes/Sec / 2,811,795
Database Disk Avg. Disk sec / Read / .004
Database Disk Avg. Disk sec / Write / .004
Database Average Disk Queue Length / 6
Disk Utilization (Aggregate for Transaction Log Logical Disks)
Logical Drive Utilization (%) / 27
Log Disk Reads/Sec / 0
Log Disk Read Bytes/Sec / 0
Log Disk Writes/Sec / 265
Log Disk Write Bytes/Sec / 2,480,906
Log Disk Avg. Disk sec / Read / .000
Log Disk Avg. Disk sec / Write / .001
Log Average Disk Queue Length / 0
Network Utilization
Packets Sent/sec / 2,099
Packets Received/sec / 1,760
Bytes Sent/sec / 1,873,181
Bytes Received/sec / 470,082

2.1 Response Times (Latencies)

Client Actions / 95th Percentile Response Time (in milliseconds)
Send / 906
Read / 110
Reply / 62
Reply All / 62
Forward / 63
Move / 140
Delete / 79
Permanently Delete / 109
S+ Free/Busy / 109
Browse Calendar / 125
Make Appointment / 985
Request Meeting / 1391
Create Smart Folder / 172
Delete Smart Folder / 312
Create Rule / 110
Delete Rule / 140
Apply View/Sort / 5953
Weighted Total / 254

2.2 Message Throughput

Summary of the MMB3 profile for an 8 hour day:

Expected / Measured
Messages Submitted/MMB3/Day / 85.0 / 86.2
Messages Delivered/MMB3/Day / 210.0 / 214.7
Average Recipients per Message / 2.47 / 2.49

3 Test Configuration

Described below is the configuration of the Exchange Server system used for this test.

Hardware / Exchange Server / Domain Controller (if remote)
Vendor / Dell
Model / PowerEdge 6650
Processor / Intel Xeon 2.8GHz
# of Processors (Physical) / 4
# of Processors (Logical) / 8
Hyper-Threading enabled? / Yes
Primary Cache / Instruction: 12KB mops
Data: 8KB
Secondary Cache / 512KB
Other Cache / 2MB
Memory / 4GB
Disk Subsystem / 1) 5 x 36GB disks for operating system, Active Directory & Exchange Server system files
2) 230 x 36GB disks for Exchange Information Store & transaction log files
Disk Controllers / 1) Dell PERC4/DC RAID controller (operating system, Active Directory & Exchange Server system files)
2) Dell/EMC CX600 SAN (Exchange Server Information Store & transaction log files) – using 1 x Qlogic HBA (QLA2340)
Other Hardware / One integrated Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet Controller
Mail Software / Exchange Server / Domain Controller (if remote)
Vendor / Microsoft Corporation / n/a
Mail Server / Exchange Server / n/a
Release Version / 2003 / n/a
Operating System / Exchange Server / Domain Controller (if remote)
OS Version / Microsoft Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition
Service Pack / None
OS Hot-fixes/patches / None
File System Type / NTFS
Network / Exchange Server / Domain Controller (if remote)
Type of Network / Ethernet
Network Speed / 1 Gbit
TCP/IP Offload/Checksum / Tx/Rx TCP/IP Checksum
PCI Flow Control? / N/A
Interrupt Coalescing? / N/A

3.1 Load Generator Configuration

This section holds all the configuration parameters of the load generator machines used in the test.

# of Load Generators (LG) / 11
Total # of LG processes / 7200
Simulated Users/Process / 1 x PE1650 @ 100 users (control)
10 x PE1650 @ 710 users each
Model / PowerEdge 1650
Processor / 1.4GHz Intel Pentium III x 1
# of Processors (Physical) / 1
# of Processors (Logical) / 1
Hyper-Threading enabled? / N/A
Memory / 1GB
Network Controller / Intel PRO/1000 XT
Network Bandwidth / 1 Gbit
Operating System / Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP1
KB331320
Microsoft Office Outlook 2003

4 Additional Configuration and Tuning

All modifications made to the Exchange Server system(s) are described below. All modifications were approved by Microsoft prior to the testing and submission of the MMP3 result.

Boot.ini Modifications:

/3GB

/userva=3030

Registry Changes:
HeapDeCommitFreeBlockThreshold=0x00040000

1This term does not connote an actual operating speed of 1 Gb/sec. For high speed transmission, connection to a Gigabit Ethernet server and network infrastructure is required.

Dell, the Dell logo, and PowerEdge are trademarks of Dell Inc. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell disclaims proprietary interest in the marks and names of others.

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