Prowess testing showed significantly higher and more balanced performance running virtual machines with SQL Server databases on a Dell EMC PowerEdge C6520 server, compared to an older Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420 server.
Beyond being able to run more virtual machines (VMs) per server cluster, testing conducted by Prowess Consulting uncovered that virtualized instances of Microsoft® SQL Server® databases running on the latest-generation Dell EMC™ PowerEdge™ C6520 servers also enjoyed significant performance and efficiency advantages compared to SQL Server VMs running on older Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420 servers.
Introduction
In today’s highly competitive environment, businesses expect more from their infrastructure. Analysts and line-of-business (LOB) managers want faster processing for large and growing datasets. IT managers strive to meet those needs by increasing performance for database applications and other demanding workloads, while staying within their constrained budgets and limited data center space. To better meet those needs affordably and efficiently, IT looks to maximize resource utilization and—wherever possible—increase consolidation of VMs and workloads.
For IT decision makers facing these challenges, the question is often whether to stretch more life out of existing hardware or to expend capital dollars today. However, in return for spending today, IT organizations can get levels of performance, utilization, and consolidation that help their businesses in the short term and reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) in the long term.
To help evaluate this decision, Prowess Consulting ran a series of benchmark tests comparing system utilization, VM density, and SQL Server performance between older-generation and newer-generation Dell EMC PowerEdge servers.