Lately, reader email has kept me thinking about scalability of both Windows
NT 5.0 and hardware. I recently received an email from a reader asking about
available software for a MIPS-based Windows NT Server. Apparently, this reader
had seen Joel Sloss' October 1995 review of the NEC RISCServer 2200 and wondered
whether it was worth the current asking price of $250 (the price when we
reviewed it was $11,500). Before I could respond, the reader wrote back saying
that his supervisor had decided not to buy the system.
At the same time, Digital Equipment announced it was selling the
manufacturing rights for its Alpha and StrongARM chips to Intel. I started
imagining future readers asking me whether a $250 dual-Alpha server was a good
deal.
Before I let my mind wander too far, I did a little analysis and concluded
that the Digital and Intel deal is OK for Alpha users. First, Intel joins
Mitsubishi and Samsung as a Digital outsourcing partner for manufacturing the
Alpha and StrongARM chips. This partnership lets Digital focus on design, while
its partners focus on manufacturing. As a result, Digital can reduce its
development costs and can start pricing its Alpha-based servers more like its
Intel-based servers for NT.
Also, Digital, Intel, and Microsoft have agreed to cooperate on source code
compatibility of NT 64-bit APIs across Intel's IA-64 (code-named Merced) and
Digital's Alpha. This cooperation means software developers will be able to
write code once and compile it to run on either Alpha or IA-64.
In past editorials, I mentioned 64-bit NT 5.0. Technically, that term is
incorrect. NT 5.0 is still a 32-bit operating system, but NT 5.0 will
incorporate a 64-bit Very Large Memory (VLM) model capability, initially for
Alpha only. By using Microsoft's 64-bit APIs to take advantage of this VLM,
enterprise-level versions of SQL Server, Oracle, and other applications can
increase performance when a server has more than 4GB of memory (although the
additional memory addressable through the 64-bit APIs is not pageable or
swapable). NT 4.0 applications are limited to 2GB of RAM, and NT 4.0 Enterprise
Edition applications are limited to 3GB of RAM. VLM uses 4GB to 32GB of RAM.
By addressing more memory, applications can keep more data in the
computer's memory simultaneously, reducing the need for swapping data to and
from a disk. Digital claims that Oracle running on VLM can run 50 times as fast
as a similarly configured system without VLM.
Getting back to my previous editorials that deal with 64-bit NT 5.0: My
point was that the Alpha-based systems will have a significant head start on
providing a platform for applications to take advantage of these VLM APIs. For
companies that are bumping up against the performance ceiling, the 64-bit VLM
capability is welcome news.
Scaling the Performance Wall
Scalability, performance, server consolidation, and application distribution
have been issues as long as I've been working in MIS. For example, when I
started with Duke Communications International, I remember having to buy an
additional IBM System/38 because the existing system hit a performance wall.
That addition meant all kinds of fancy programming and application distribution
as my MIS department tried to make the two systems work as one. Eventually, we
were able to consolidate everything into a much larger AS/400--scrapping all the
programming we did to tie the S/38s together. Now, 10 years later, the NT
community is reliving the struggle with all of those issues.
In the December 1997 WebDev column, "Testing Your Web Environment,"
Windows NT Magazine's Web master, T.J. Harty, concluded that running a
Web server on two dual-Pentium servers provided better performance than running
a Web server on one 4-way system. On the 4-way system, SQL Server and Internet
Information Server (IIS) were competing with each other for resources. IIS
bandwidth maxed out on the 4-way long before the CPU reached its performance
ceiling. So now T.J. runs SQL Server on one system, IIS on another system, and
Cold Fusion-based forums on yet another server. Even though the Web site has a
4-way system, T.J. chooses to use multiple servers.
How should you feel about the introduction of 8-way NT-based systems?
Before you buy one of these systems, do yourself a favor and test it thoroughly.
The Windows NT Magazine Lab has scheduled several tests of 8-way
NT-based systems. The Lab will test SQL Server Enterprise Edition on an 8-way,
Oracle Enterprise Edition on an 8-way, and Oracle VLM and SQL 7.0 on an Alpha
system with lots of RAM. Finally, the lab will test the difference
between running multiple BackOffice products on an 8-way system versus running
them on separate NT servers. These projects are big, but I know many of you are
already trying to scale the performance wall and need answers. If you want to
suggest performance and scalability tests you would like to see in Windows
NT Magazine, drop me an email.
End of Article
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