Re: PostgreSQL and Ultrasparc T1

But yes All LWPs (processes and threads) are switched across virtual
CPUS . There is intelligence built in Solaris to understand which
strands are executing on which cores and it will balance out the cores
too so if there are only 8 threads running they will essentially run on
separate cores rather than 2 cores with 8 threads.

The biggest limitation is application scaling. pgbench shows that with
more processes trying to bottleneck on same files will probably not
perform better unless you tune your storage/file system. Those are the
issues which we typically try to solve with community partners (vendors,
open source) since that gives the biggest benefits.

Best example to verify in such multi-processes environment, do you see
greater than 60% avg CPU utilization in your dual/quad config
Xeons/Itaniums, then Sun Fire T2000 will help you a lot. However if you
are stuck below 50% (for dual) or 25% (for quad) which means you are
pretty much stuck at 1 CPU performance and/or probably have more IO
related contention then it won't help you with these systems.

I hope you get the idea on when a workload will perform better on Sun
Fire T2000 without burning hands.

I will try to test some more with PostgreSQL on these systems to kind of
highlight what can work or what will not work.

Is pgbench the workload that you prefer? (It already has issues with
pg_xlog so my guess is it probably won't scale much)
If you have other workload informations let me know.

Thanks.
Regards,
Jignesh

Richard_D_Levine(at)raytheon(dot)com wrote:

>Jignesh,
>
>Juan says the following below:
>
>"I figured the number of cores on the T1000/2000 processors would be
>utilized by the forked copies of the postgresql server. From the comments
>I have seen so far it does not look like this is the case."
>
>I think this needs to be refuted. Doesn't Solaris switch processes as well
>as threads (LWPs, whatever) equally well amongst cores? I realize the
>process context switch is more expensive than the thread switch, but
>Solaris will utilize all cores as processes or threads become ready to run,
>correct?
>
>BTW, it's great to see folks with your email address on the list. I feel
>it points to a brighter future for all involved.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Rick
>
>
>
> "Jignesh K. Shah"
> <J(dot)K(dot)Shah(at)Sun(dot)COM
> > To
> Sent by: Juan Casero <caseroj(at)comcast(dot)net>
> pgsql-performance cc
> -owner(at)postgresql pgsql-performance(at)postgresql(dot)org
> .org Subject
> Re: [PERFORM] PostgreSQL and
> Ultrasparc T1
> 12/19/2005 11:19
> PM
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>I guess it depends on what you term as your metric for measurement.
>If it is just one query execution time .. It may not be the best on
>UltraSPARC T1.
>But if you have more than 8 complex queries running simultaneously,
>UltraSPARC T1 can do well compared comparatively provided the
>application can scale also along with it.
>
>The best way to approach is to figure out your peak workload, find an
>accurate way to measure the "true" metric and then design a benchmark
>for it and run it on both servers.
>
>Regards,
>Jignesh
>
>
>Juan Casero wrote:
>
>
>
>>Ok. That is what I wanted to know. Right now this database is a
>>
>>
>PostgreSQL
>
>
>>7.4.8 system. I am using it in a sort of DSS role. I have weekly
>>
>>
>summaries
>
>
>>of the sales for our division going back three years. I have a PHP based
>>webapp that I wrote to give the managers access to this data. The webapp
>>lets them make selections for reports and then it submits a parameterized
>>query to the database for execution. The returned data rows are displayed
>>
>>
>
>
>
>>and formatted in their web browser. My largest sales table is about 13
>>million rows along with all the indexes it takes up about 20 gigabytes. I
>>
>>
>
>
>
>>need to scale this application up to nearly 100 gigabytes to handle daily
>>sales summaries. Once we start looking at daily sales figures our
>>
>>
>database
>
>
>>size could grow ten to twenty times. I use postgresql because it gives me
>>
>>
>
>
>
>>the kind of enterprise database features I need to program the complex
>>
>>
>logic
>
>
>>for the queries. I also need the transaction isolation facilities it
>>provides so I can optimize the queries in plpgsql without worrying about
>>multiple users temp tables colliding with each other. Additionally, I
>>
>>
>hope
>
>
>>to rewrite the front end application in JSP so maybe I could use the
>>multithreaded features of the Java to exploit a multicore multi-cpu
>>
>>
>system.
>
>
>>There are almost no writes to the database tables. The bulk of the
>>application is just executing parameterized queries and returning huge
>>amounts of data. I know bizgres is supposed to be better at this but I
>>
>>
>want
>
>
>>to stay away from anything that is beta. I cannot afford for this thing
>>
>>
>to
>
>
>>go wrong. My reasoning for looking at the T1000/2000 was simply the large
>>
>>
>
>
>
>>number of cores. I know postgresql uses a super server that forks copies
>>
>>
>of
>
>
>>itself to handle incoming requests on port 5432. But I figured the number
>>
>>
>of
>
>
>>cores on the T1000/2000 processors would be utilized by the forked copies
>>
>>
>of
>
>
>>the postgresql server. From the comments I have seen so far it does not
>>
>>
>look
>
>
>>like this is the case. We had originally sized up a dual processor dual
>>
>>
>core
>
>
>>AMD opteron system from HP for this but I thought I could get more bang
>>
>>
>for
>
>
>>the buck on a T1000/2000. It now seems I may have been wrong. I am
>>
>>
>stronger
>
>
>>in Linux than Solaris so I am not upset I am just trying to find the best
>>hardware for the anticipated needs of this application.
>>
>>Thanks,
>>Juan
>>
>>On Monday 19 December 2005 01:25, Scott Marlowe wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>From: pgsql-performance-owner(at)postgresql(dot)org on behalf of Juan Casero
>>>
>>>QUOTE:
>>>
>>>Hi -
>>>
>>>
>>>Can anyone tell me how well PostgreSQL 8.x performs on the new Sun
>>>Ultrasparc T1 processor and architecture on Solaris 10? I have a custom
>>>built retail sales reporting that I developed using PostgreSQL 7.48 and
>>>
>>>
>PHP
>
>
>>>on a Fedora Core 3 intel box. I want to scale this application upwards
>>>
>>>
>to
>
>
>>>handle a database that might grow to a 100 GB. Our company is green
>>>mission conscious now so I was hoping I could use that to convince
>>>management to consider a Sun Ultrasparc T1 or T2 system provided that if
>>>
>>>
>I
>
>
>>>can get the best performance out of it on PostgreSQL.
>>>
>>>ENDQUOTE:
>>>
>>>Well, generally, AMD 64 bit is going to be a better value for your
>>>
>>>
>dollar,
>
>
>>>and run faster than most Sparc based machines.
>>>
>>>Also, PostgreSQL is generally faster under either BSD or Linux than under
>>>Solaris on the same box. This might or might not hold as you crank up
>>>
>>>
>the
>
>
>>>numbers of CPUs.
>>>
>>>PostgreSQL runs one process for connection. So, to use extra CPUs, you
>>>really need to have >1 connection running against the database.
>>>
>>>Mostly, databases tend to be either I/O bound, until you give them a lot
>>>
>>>
>of
>
>
>>>I/O, then they'll be CPU bound.
>>>
>>>After that lots of memory, THEN more CPUs. Two CPUs is always useful, as
>>>one can be servicing the OS and another the database. But unless you're
>>>gonna have lots of users hooked up, more than 2 to 4 CPUs is usually a
>>>waste.
>>>
>>>So, I'd recommend a dual core or dual dual core (i.e. 4 cores) AMD64
>>>
>>>
>system
>
>
>>>with 2 or more gigs ram, and at least a pair of fast drives in a mirror
>>>with a hardare RAID controller with battery backed cache. If you'll be
>>>trundling through all 100 gigs of your data set regularly, then get all
>>>
>>>
>the
>
>
>>>memory you can put in a machine at a reasonable cost before buying lots
>>>
>>>
>of
>
>
>>>CPUs.
>>>
>>>But without knowing what you're gonna be doing we can't really make solid
>>>recommendations...
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
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