Performance Effects Of Tuning; Performance Effects Of Hyper-Threading - HP ML570 - ProLiant - G2 Tuning Manual

Novell NetWare 6 performance tuning guidelines for ProLiant servers
performance effects
of tuning
performance effects
of hyper-threading
Results: With a workload of 60 clients, the ProLiant ML570 G2 server provided an
average of 37% more throughput when using Novell's Traditional File System compared to
NSS.
Although NetWare 6.0 is optimized out-of-the-box for file I/O applications, minor tuning
of the set parameter values was found to be beneficial to NetBench results as shown in
figure 6. Refer to the autoexec.ncf and the startup.ncf for the changes made to the setup.
figure 6. performance effects of tuning
1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
1 4 8
Results: With a workload of 60 clients, the ProLiant ML570 G2 server provided an
average of 8% more throughput as a result of tuning compared to using the default SET
parameter values.
Hyper-threading is a relatively new technology introduced by Intel on their Xeon based
processor family of servers in the first quarter of 2002. The ProLiant ML570 G2 server
supports this technology and can be enabled through the system BIOS. In order to
leverage this technology in a multithreaded application environment, the operating system
must support the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI). The ACPI is an
open industry specification co-developed by HP, Intel, Microsoft, Phoenix, and Toshiba.
For more information about ACPI, visit: www.acpi.info/index.html.
When enabled, the technology presents (to the operating system) a single physical
processor as two logical processors. The two logical processors, however, still share the
same execution units, caches, and buses. In theory this technique can be beneficial in
multithreading applications since multiple threads can be executed simultaneously with
less overhead. However, preliminary results collected thus far under NetWare 6.0 (SP2)
running Ziff-Davis NetBench and WebBench show unexpected degradation in
performance.
HP has contacted the Novell Performance lab for further investigation. In the meantime,
Novell provided the following reasons for the performance degradation when hyper-
threading is enabled under NetWare 6 pending the outcome of their investigation:
Effects of Tuning on Netbench Test
(Higher is Better)
12 16 20 24 28 32
Number of Clients
36 40 44 48 52 56
Default
Tun
60
36