Intel SSDSC2BB600G401, SSDSC1NB240G401 User Manual

Intel SSD DC S3500 Series Workload
Characterization in RAID Configurations

White Paper

December 2013

329903-001US

Intel SSD DC S3500 Workload Characterization in RAID Configurations

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Intel SSD DC S3500 Workload Characterization in RAID Configurations

Contents

1.0 Revision Histor y ................................................................................................... 5

2.0 Supporting Documentation ................................................................................... 5

3.0 About This Guide .................................................................................................. 5

4.0 Overview .............................................................................................................. 5

4.1 What Impacts SSD IO Performance................................................................. 6

4.2 Queue Depth and Latency ............................................................................. 7

4.3 Why Mixed Workload Is Importan t .................................................................. 7

4.4 Drive Endurance ........................................................................................... 8

4.5 Selection of RAID Controller........................................................................... 8

5.0 RAID 1 .................................................................................................................. 9

5.1 Test System Specifications ............................................................................ 9

5.2 Intel SSD DC S3500 Series in RAID 1 Perform a nce Characterization Data ........... 10

5.3 RAID 1 Consistency ..................................................................................... 13

5.4 RAID 1 Performance Conclusions ................................................................... 13

6.0 RAID 5 ................................................................................................................ 14

6.1 Test System Specifications ........................................................................... 14

6.2 Intel SSD DC S3500 Series in RAID 5 Performance Characterization Data ........... 14

6.3 RAID 5 Performance Consistency ................................................................... 16

RAID 5 Performance Conclusions ................................................................... 17

6.4

7.0 Summary ............................................................................................................ 18

8.0 Appendix ............................................................................................................ 19

8.1 RAID Levels ................................................................................................ 19

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Intel SSD DC S3500 Workload Characterization in RAID Configurations

Tables

Table 1 Typical Mixed Workloads in Data Center Application s ....................................... 7

Figures

Figure 1 RAID 1 Random 100% Write @ 4KB T r a nsfer Size with Average Latency ............ 11

Figure 2 RAID 1 Random 70% Read @ 4KB Transfer Size with Average Latency ............. 11

Figure 3 RAID 1 Random 90% Read @ 4KB Transfer Size with Average Latency ............. 12

Figure 4 RAID 1 Random 100% Read @ 4KB Transfer Size with Average Latency ........... 12

Figure 5 RAID 1 Maximum Latency for 2-drive and 8-drive Configurations ...................... 13

Figure 6 RAID 5 Random 100% Write @ 4KB Transfer Size with A verage Latency ........... 15

Figure 7 RAID 5 Random 70% Read @ 4KB Transfer Size with Average Latency ............. 15

Figure 8 RAID 5 Random 90% Read @ 4KB Transfer Size with Average L a ten c y ............. 16

Figure 9 RAID 5 Random 100% Read @ 4KB Transfer Size with Avera ge La tency ........... 16

Figure 10 RAID 5 Maximum Latency for 3-drive and 8-drive Configuration s ...................... 17

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1.0 Revision History

Document

Number

329903 001

Revision

Number

Description Revision Date

Initial release

2.0 Supporting Documentation

For more information on Intel SSDs, see the correspon ding documentation.

Document Document No./Location

®

Intel

Solid-State Drive DC S3500 Series Product Specification 328860

December 2013

3.0 About This Guide

This guide describes Intel® SSD DC S3500 Series performan c e characteristics in RAID
configurations across multiple workloads, an d provides analysis to help optimize
performance.

The audience is technical IT professionals: Systems, Storage, Database, and Application
Engineers.

4.0 Overview

The Intel SSD DC S3500 Series provides high random read and write storage
Input/Outpu t Operations per Second ( IOPS) across mixed read and wr ite workloads. This
high random performance and the consistency of IOPS under workload deliver robust
and scalable operation when used behind a RAID controller. Data centers can benefit in
both performance and TC O by using the Intel SSD DC S3500 Series in the appropriate
applications.

Compared to the approximately 200-300 random IOPS that a single 15K SAS hard disk
drive (HDD) can provide, an Intel SSD DC S3500 Series operates at much higher IOPS;
up to 75,000 IOPS for random 4KB reads and up to 11,500 I O P S for random 4KB writes,
over the entire span of the SSD. The Intel SSD performance nu m ber s a r e ba s ed on the
Intel product specification sheet, a s d er ived from internal Intel testing. With r e a l-world
workloads, the IOPS that any particular device c an produce will va r y depending on
several factors: the application’s ability to produce IOPS, the ratio of random to
sequential access, the block tra nsfer size, the queue depth, the read/write mix of the
workload, and ov e r a ll resource utilization in the server running the workload.

This guide presents data for RAID 1 and RAID 5 configurations due to their prom inence
in the datacenter. Additional RA ID levels are currently being tested and will be
presented in future revision s , or as separate papers.

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Intel SSD DC S3500 Workload Characterization in RAID Configurations

A selection of work loads that represent both bes t-case performance and real-world
performance are presented in this white paper. These scenarios give th e IT professional
a better understanding of the capabilities of the Intel

®

SSD DC S3500 Series drive w hen
used in conjunction with a hardware RAID controller. More imp or ta ntly, it helps the IT
professional un d er stand a variety of workloads and circumstances in which Intel SSD
technologies will accelerate those workloads and provide business value for their
organization.

4.1 What Impacts SSD IO Performance

Although Intel SSDs excel in delivering random read and write IOPS, it is important to
remember that more IO ac tivity at the application level results in higher CPU utilization
in the applications’ host. In addition to the abilities of the SSD, IO performance in any
particular situation is dictated by how the particular applica tion scales, and the IO profile
of the workload produced by the application.

The following wor kload-specific characteristics have a direct impact on the ability of the
SSD to produce IO:

• Read/Write Mix – NAND programming (writes) and read timing (reads) differ
significantly a t the hardware level. Because of the higher controller overhead
required for processing writes, the number of read IOPS are often higher th a n
write IOPS. Real world workloads are most often a mix of read and write.

• Random/Sequen tia l Mix – IOPS can vary depending on the ratio of sequ ential
versus random accesses. With higher random write workloads, more data
movement and greater data management activity occurs in the drive. A s random
write activity increases, the IOPS serviceable to the host typically decreases.

• Queue Depth - Higher queue depths typically allow the SS D to gen er a te higher
IOPS through concurrent processing of commands. However, as the queue size
increases, latency will be negatively impacted.

• Random Transfer/Block Size - With a smaller transfer size, the S SD controller has
to work harder to ma intain the logical-to-physical address mappings. In addition,
the smaller the transfer size, the larger the logical space needed for its mapping.
Once logical space constraint is reached, background re-mapping will take place.
These frequent events s low IOPS.

• Available Spare Area – A larger spare area directly impacts random write and
mixed read/write performance by minimizing the frequency of reclaim activ ities
and freeing up processor cy c les to support more host read/write requests. You can
increase the spare area by ov er-provisioning the SSD. See the Intel® High

Performance SATA Solid-State Drive Over-Provisioning an Intel® SS D White Paper

for more information.

In summary, th e following principles of storage are often true concerning queu e depth ,
block size, randomness, a nd per-IO transactional latency:

• As queue depth increases, IOPS increase, and latency increases.

• As block size increases, throughput increases, and latency increases.

• As randomness increases, IOPS decreases, and latency increases.

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