Database servers are the computer workhorses of many organizations. Whether you're running an order-entry application in a manufacturing facility or trying to do inventory control for a supermarket, you need disk storage that's big, fast, and reliable.
We analyzed
our benchmark scores
to determine which of the 16 products tested perform best when connected to a database server. Our benchmark recorded the minimum, maximum, and average time it took to perform random and sequential reads and writes at various points in the array. Using the average times, we calculated scores that reflect how fast the disk arrays performed relative to one another. Our tests simulate two types of environments: single-thread and multithread, which approximate single- and multiuser workloads. When c
alculating scores, we gave more weight to sequential operations than to random ones to reflect the importance of such tasks as reading in a large data file or loading an executable file.
Digital Equipment's StorageWorks RAID Array 230 Subsystem
had the best overall performance and the best single-thread performance in this category. Storage Solutions' Raca-Ray and the Mega Drive Enterprise came in second and third, respectively. On nearly every multithread task, the Raca-Ray's score was the fastest. As in its overall score, the Enterprise handled single-thread tasks much better than multithread ones.
In fourth place was the Nordique Open Storage Facility by StorageTek Distributed Systems. The Nordique is sold as a stand-alone or as a component of the Nordique 9100, a modular RAID 5 system for users downsizing from a mainframe to a Unix or PC network. The Nordique was the slowest and most expensive subsystem of the top five, but its features and usability allowed it to ed
ge out the faster Winchester FlaskDisk SCSI. Data is protected by redundant and hot-swappable drives, power supplies, fans, and controllers. The Nordique also offers battery backup and support for a hot spare.
The Digital StorageWorks RAID Array 230 Subsystem was fastest in
tests that simulate a database environment. The StorageWorks'
performance was the best of the arrays in our single-task tests and
second-best in our multitasking tests. The Raca-Ray CM2+ from Storage
Solutions was the fastest array at handling multiple processes, but
it ranked fifth in single-task speed.
OVERALL
EVALUATION
PRICE SCORE FEATURES USABILITY
============================================================================
DEC StorageWorks RAID Array 230 $12,183 8.62 ****
****
Storage Solutions Raca-Ray CM2+ $13,595 7.36 ** ***
Mega Drive Enterprise E-8 PCI $11,900 7.34 *** ****
StorageTek Nordique Open Storage Facility $27,000 6.82 **** ****
Winchester Systems FlashDisk SCSI $19,737 6.81 *** **
PERFORMANCE INDEX
----------------------
SINGLE- MULTI-
OVERALL THREAD THREAD
=================================================================
DEC StorageWorks RAID Array 230 8.91 8.76 9.06
Storage Solutions Raca-Ray CM2+ 7.78 5.91 9.66
Mega Drive Enterprise E-8 PCI 6.83 8.41 5.26
StorageTek Nordique Open Storage Facility 5.17 4.78 5.56
Winchester Systems FlashDisk SCSI 6.72 6.64 6.79
Key:
Ratings from 1 to 4: * is the lowest; *
*** is the highest.
photo_link (11 Kbytes)
Best for Database Servers
