Platform Performance (CPT Demos) 36th Edition

Selecting the right hardware will improve user performance, reduce overall system cost, and establish a foundation for building effective GIS operations. Selecting the wrong hardware can contribute to implementation failure - spending money on a system that will not support your business needs. Figure A-8.1 shows the changes in platform performance over the past 10 years.

This section will introduce the CPT Hardware tab, use the CPT to evaluate hardware platform best buy decision, and use the CPT Platform Capacity Calculator and CPT Calculator for platform sizing.



CPT Hardware tab
Figure A-8.2 shows the CPT Hardware tab that includes a list of Desktop and Server SPEC CPU platform benchmark baseline values used as a lookup table by the CPT Calculator, Design, Test, and Favorites tabs. The SPEC benchmark values are used to adjust baseline service times to selected platform service times for capacity planning analysis.

Published vendor benchmark values are used to identify relative throughput and performance for selected hardware platforms. Platforms are arranged by vendor and year in two lookup lists. Desktop candidates are located at the top of the list. Server candidates are located at the bottom of the list. Project platform candidates are located in the middle of the list and included with the Desktop and Server list selections.

Primary platform values are entered in the WHITE cells (Processor, # of Cores, Core/Chip, MHz, SPECint_rate2006 baseline). COLORED cell values are generated from the WHITE cell entries (Hardware Platform Selection, Per core SPECint_rate2006 value, Total chips). Additional columns include vendor and WATTs information.

The SPEC Web site is the primary source for the platform performance metrics. Information from the SPEC Web site is entered into the CPT Hardware tab for capacity planning. Copy of the SPEC benchmark information is provided in a HardwareSPEC Excel workbook for easy access. 

HardwareSPEC Excel Workbook
Figure A-8.3 provides a view of the HardwareSPEC workbook. The Esri Capacity Planning Tool release site shares a HardwareSPEC workbook with an Excel table of platform relative performance values from the published SPECrate_integer benchmarks.

The HardwareSPEC workbook contains a SRint2006 tab and an Amazon machine tab. All the new platform benchmarks are now published on the SPECrate_integer2006 site (SRint2006 tab). The last date the benchmark tab was updated is shown on the SPEC2006 tab. A hot link to the SPEC site is included on the top of the Capacity Planning Tool (CPT) hardware tab in column A.

The HardwareSPEC workbook tabs include an additional column (baseline/core) that I add to the table. This column identifies the processing performance of an individual core, a value that is used to estimate relative platform processing performance for a single sequential display (estimate of the relative platform speed). The relative processing performance per core values will be used in this chapter to comparing user display performance. 

Adding a new platform to the CPT Hardware tab
New hardware platform benchmark values are published on the SPEC Web site each month throughout the year, so the platform you need for your design analysis may not be included in your version of the CPT. You can locate the new benchmark values on the SPEC Web site and then add them to your CPT Hardware tab.

Figure A-8.4 highlights the entries you will need to make to the CPT Hardware tab.

To add a new Server to the CPT Hardware tab, first create a new row template by copying one of the existing Platform rows and Insert Copied Cells to create a new row in the Project Platform Candidate section. Enter the processor name, # of Cores, Core/Chip, MHz, and the SPECint_rate2006 baseline value for the new server (Type new entries in the white cells only). The colored cells include formulas and will be completed as you enter the new values in the white cells.

Once you have completed your entries, the new server will be available for selection in all CPT Platform Selection dropdown lists. 

CPT used to evaluate best buy
CPT is designed to automate the system architecture design analysis. The system architecture design analysis translates user business requirements to appropriate hardware platform solutions. Once you know your business requirements, the CPT can be used to identify your optimum platform selection.

Establishing business needs
Proper hardware selection depends on a clear understanding of your business needs. Figure A-8.5 will show how to select the optimum platform for publishing ArcGIS 10.3 REST mapping services.



Business workflow requirements
 * ArcGIS for Server 10.3 REST MSD 100% dynamic Medium complexity map service with 1366x768 map resolution and PNG24 output.
 * Peak throughput loads estimated at 75,000 map requests per hour (TPH).
 * Single server direct connect platform architecture for evaluation purposes.
 * Large remote site with peak of 5 concurrent users, 6 Mbps network connection with 10 milliseconds latency.
 * Small remote site with peak of 1 concurrent user, 3 Mbps network connection.

Hardware Platform candidates include the following:
 * Xeon E5-2637v2 4-core server
 * Xeon E5-2637v2 8-core server
 * Xeon E5-2643v2 12-core server
 * Xeon E5-2667v2 16-core server

Platform pricing analysis
Figure A-8.6 provides an overview of the platform pricing analysis.



Hardware and Software pricing analysis
 * Hardware/virtual server pricing based on configured server provided by hardware vendor.
 * Software pricing based on number of cores provided by software vendor.
 * Total cost per core was computed to normalize pricing values.

Xeon E5-2667v2 platform has the lowest hardware cost per core without considering software pricing.

Warning: Selecting a server platform without evaluated what you need to satisfy your business requirements can lead to the wrong hardware selection.

Completing the capacity planning analysis
Figure A-8.7 shows the best buy CPT Calculator sizing evaluation of the Xeon E5-2637v2 4-core and 8-core platform configurations.

Business workflow requirements are used to identify the required server cores for each analysis.

Xeon Xeon E5-2637v2 4-core platform
 * Total of three 2-core VMs (6-core) required to support peak throughput loads, with VM loads expected to peak at 76.8 percent vCPU utilization.
 * Total of two 4-core host platforms required to support peak throughput loads, with host platform loads expected to peak at 57.6 percent utilization.
 * Business cost for deploying on this server is $45,150.

Xeon E5-2637v2 8-core platform
 * Total of three 2-core VMs (6-core) required to support peak throughput loads, with VM loads expected to peak at 78.7 percent vCPU utilization.
 * Total of one 8-core host platform required to support peak throughput loads, with host platform loads expected to peak at 59.0 percent utilization.
 * Business cost for deploying on this server is $39,450.

Figure A-8.8 shows the CPT Calculator evaluation of the Xeon E5-2643v2 12-core and E5-2667v2 16-core platforms.

Business workflow requirements are used to identify the required server cores for each analysis.

Xeon E5-2643v2 12-core platform
 * Total of three 2-core VMs (6-core) required to support peak throughput loads, with VM loads expected to peak at 78.8 percent vCPU utilization.
 * Total of one 12-core host platform required to support peak throughput loads, with host platform loads expected to peak at 39.4 percent utilization.
 * Business cost for deploying on this server is $37,000.

Xeon E5-2667v2 16-core platform
 * Total of four 2-core VMs (8-core) required to support peak throughput loads, with VM loads expected to peak at 61.9 percent vCPU utilization.
 * Total of one 16-core host platform required to support peak throughput loads, with host platform loads expected to peak at 31.0 percent utilization.
 * Business cost for deploying on this server is $47,450.

Best Buy: 
 * Marginal performance difference between platform selections.
 * Xeon E5-2643v2 12-core platform has the lowest cost.

CPT Design platform analysis summary report
Figure A-8.9 shows how the CPT Design tab can be used to evaluate all servers in a single report.

CPT Design is configured to represent the four different platform environments.
 * Complete business workflow is installed on each platform tier (4 single-tier configurations).
 * Different candidate platform is selected for each platform tier.
 * Results show relative display performance and total server cores for each platform selection.

Complete your system design analysis before making your hardware selection. 

Platform Capacity Calculator platform sizing
CPT Platform Capacity Calculator can be used for a simple platform sizing analysis as shown in Figure A-8.10.

Select the platform for evaluation on the Platform Capacity Calculator located at the bottom of the CPT Hardware tab. Select if you want results in peak users or transactions per hour in column C. Peak throughput estimate for light and medium complexity workflows is provided for the workflows selected for the workflow display. The Platform Capacity Calculator provides a quick rough platform sizing estimate for a single workflow load. 

CPT for Windows Terminal Server platform sizing
CPT Calculator tab can be used for Windows Terminal Server platform sizing as shown in Figure A-8.11.

Select the workflow description that represents your Citrix server performance targets. AGD103 Citrix software profile with MXD Map Document is used for ArcGIS for Desktop Windows Terminal Server platform sizing. Select appropriate density, %DataCache, Complexity, and display Resolution for your average workflow use case. Selecting the right software technology performance factors to represent your business workflow is discussed in [Software Performance chapter].

Identify your peak user requirements and most common data source. Identify your planned platform architecture (2 tier, minimum or high availability, DC), and Select your hardware platform choice.

The recommended platform solution is generated by Excel once you enter your business requirements and make your hardware selections. You can try different platform configurations and experiment with different workflow complexities. Peak concurrent users per node for Windows Terminal Server are provided in cell J10.

The CPT Calculator tab can be used for single workflow platform sizing. The CPT Design tab should be used for more detailed enterprise design planning.

CPT for Windows Terminal Server memory guidelines
Recommended platform memory is provided in CPT Calculator cell I10 and on the CPT Design platform tier in column C. Formula used to calculate memory recommendations (rollover x SPEC throughput / 13.4) adjusts for peak concurrent user loads, workflow complexity, and selected platform configuration. Each platform tier shows the average user process size for the recommended memory guideline in Column P and includes a cell to input custom process memory requirements if needed. 

CPT for ArcSDE Geodatabase platform sizing
CPT Calculator tab can be used for ArcSDE Geodatabase platform sizing as shown in Figure A-8.121.



Select the workflow description that represents your user performance targets. AGD wkstn, AGD citrix, and a variety of AGS software profiles are available. MXD Map Document is used for ArcGIS Desktop profiles and MSD is used for most ArcGIS Server workflows. Select appropriate density, %DataCache, Complexity, and display Resolution for your average workflow use case. Selecting the right software technology performance factors to represent your business workflow is discussed in [Software Performance chapter].

Identify your peak user requirements and the SDE_DBMS data source. Select a 2 tier platform architecture and your SDE GDB hardware platform choice.

The recommended platform solution is generated by Excel once you enter your business requirements and make your hardware selections. You can try different platform configurations and experiment with different workflow complexities. Peak concurrent users per node for the SDE Geodatabase server are provided in cell J11.

The CPT Calculator tab can be used for single workflow platform sizing. The CPT Design tab should be used for more detailed enterprise design planning.

CPT for ArcSDE Geodatabase Server memory guidelines
Recommended platform memory is provided in CPT Calculator cell I11 and on the CPT Design platform tier in column C. Formula used to calculate memory recommendations (4 x rollover x SPEC throughput / 13.4) adjusts for peak concurrent DBMS connections, database complexity, and selected platform configuration. Each platform tier shows the average DBMS connection size for the recommended memory guideline in Column P and includes a cell to input custom connection memory requirements if needed. 

CPT for ArcGIS for Server platform sizing
CPT Calculator tab can be used for ArcGIS for Server platform sizing as shown in Figure A-8.13.



Select the workflow description that represents your user performance targets. AGS REST, AGS KML, AGS WMS, AGS SOAP, and AGS Imagery software profiles are available. MXD Map Document is used for most ArcGIS for Server map services. Select appropriate density, %DataCache, Complexity, and display Resolution for your average workflow use case. Selecting the right software technology performance factors to represent your business workflow is discussed in [Software Performance chapter].

Identify your peak user requirements and your selected data source. Select your platform architecture and your hardware platform choice.

The recommended platform solution is generated by Excel once you enter your business requirements and make your hardware selections. You can try different platform configurations and experiment with different workflow complexities. Peak concurrent users per node for the SOC server are provided in cell J10.

The CPT Calculator tab can be used for single workflow platform sizing. The CPT Design tab should be used for more detailed enterprise design planning.

CPT Web and ArcGIS for Server memory guidelines
Web and ArcGIS for Server memory guidelines are generated based on recommended peak active concurrent service instance (SOC) configurations supported by the selected platform configuration. The general guideline is 3 GB memory per server core. 3 GB memory would support up to 15 concurrent 100 MB active SOC service instances, well above the recommended target configuration of 3-5 active service instances per core for peak system throughput.

"Warning: Sufficient memory must be available to support the peak number of active concurrent SOC processes. Additional memory may be required for GIS Server sites that support a high number of active concurrent SOC processes (more than 15 service instances per core)"

Memory recommendations are provided on the CPT Calculator tab in cells I9 and I10, and on the CPT Design tab on each platform tier in column C. Average process size is provided on each tier in column P along with a cell to enter a custom process size if required. 

CPT virtual server host platform memory guidelines
Virtual server host platform memory guidelines are generated based on the total assigned virtual server memory requirements plus additional 1 GB per core for hypervisor memory. Minimum host platform recommended memory would be 4 GB per core. 

CPT Capacity Planning videos
Chapter 8 Capacity Planning Video shows how to complete your platform selection, how to add new servers to the CPT, how to complete a best buy analysis, and how to make the right platform selection for your system design.

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