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Bruce Claremont, Software Migration and OpenVMS Consultant
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Migration Specialties International
recently conducted independent benchmark and stress testing of the CHARON-VAX
emulator. This article contains our findings.
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I used our MicroVAX
3100-80 as the baseline for these tests. All tests compare performance against
the MicroVAX. I ported the MicroVAX environment to the CHARON-VAX environment
using a set of image backups and restores.
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Native OpenVMS
environment testing was conducted on the MicroVAX 3100, DECsystem 3000-300X,
Digital AlphaServer 1000As, and HP Integrity RX2600. Simulated VAX testing
using CHARON-VAX was conducted on an in-house Compaq Presario R3000 equipped
with an Intel Pentium 4 Hyper-threaded processor and a SuperMicro server
equipped with dual Xeon EM64T processors. More information on the hardware
configurations is provided in the Performance Results and Testing Details
sections.
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I was interested
in two simple criteria: how fast was each system as measured by process elapsed
time and CPU utilization. Testing was conducted using our Migration RPG quality
assurance suite. The suite consists of eight interactive test sets that
primarily check compiler functionality and accuracy. Consequently, the tests
are compile-intensive, meaning they use more CPU resources than most production
applications. By the same token, they generate less I/O than most production
applications. More information on the test sets is provided in the Testing
Details section.
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The performance
results of the VAX emulator are impressive. I experienced no problems with the
emulator during all of the testing.
I tested two
versions of CHARON-VAX, XM and XL. I tested both the base and enhanced modes
within each version. Enhanced mode is indicated by the Plus
designation in the Product column. Enhanced mode deploys an accelerator that
optimizes OpenVMS instruction processing.
The following
two tables summarize the results. Each table leads off with the native OpenVMS
processors, then follows with the simulated VAX results. The first set of
columns in the table summarizes the hardware and OpenVMS version used. The
second set of columns summarizes either elapsed time or CPU utilization.
Performance and speed measurements use the MicroVAX 3100-80 as a baseline.
Important Note: The memory listed
under the emulated VAX systems is the emulated VAX memory with which the
simulated VAX was configured. It is not the physical memory present in the
server. The Compaq system was equipped with 1.28 GB of memory and the Intel
system was equipped with 2 GB of memory. Likewise, the models listed in the
emulated VAX results are the emulated VAX model, not the underlying Windows
servers.
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I would like to thank Reynolds
Technical Services and Quayle Consulting for loaning us the CHARON-VAX licenses
used in the benchmark process. Intel Corporation generously provided the
SuperMicro server hardware using in testing.
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The following sections provide more
details concerning the test hardware, system configurations, test sets, and
testing protocols.
Test Hardware |
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- DEC MicroVAX 3100-80, VAX Mariah processor (12 VUP), 72 MB memory, two RZ29L-AS disk drives.
- DECsystem 3000-300X, Alpha 21064 175 Mhz processor, 112 MB memory, two RZ28M disk drives.
- Digital AlphaServer 1000A 4/266, Alpha 21064 266 Mhz processor, 128 MB memory, two RZ29B disk drives.
- Digital AlphaServer 1000A 4/266, Alpha 21064 266 Mhz processor, 512 MB memory, two RZ29B disk drives.
- HP Integrity RX2600, dual Itanium2 1.4 Ghz processors, 2 GB memory, two Ultra320 15,000rpm disk drives.
- Compaq Presario R3000 Laptop, Intel Pentium 4HT 3.0 Ghz processor, 1.28 GB memory, single 4200 rpm disk drive.
- Supermicro SuperServer 6024H-82R, dual Intel Xeon EM64T processors, 2GB memory, single Ultra320 15,000 rpm disk drive.
Hardware Note: SRI does not officially support CHARON-VAX on single CPU systems or 64-bit
Windows systems. Hence, our test beds would not be appropriate production
systems.
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System Configurations |
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No special
tuning was done on any of the systems used in testing. The native OpenVMS
systems are maintained using AUTOGEN with feedback. No special adjustments were
made to system parameters for these tests.
The two Windows
servers were new, each running a fresh install of the Windows O/S. The systems
were configured per published CHARON-VAX recommendations, with no anti-virus,
automatic update, or anti-spyware processes running.
The CHARON-VAX
configuration on each of the Windows servers was an image copy of our MicroVAX
3100-80. All OpenVMS system parameters were identical to the MicroVAX 3100-80
from which the software was sourced.
Each of the
native OpenVMS systems uses a dedicated system drive that supports the O/S, page
file, and swap file. The DTM test suite was located on a secondary drive to
reduce I/O loads. The VAX emulation systems each contained a single disk drive.
The Windows O/S, VAX emulation software, and VAX disk container files were all
loaded on this one drive. In the case of the VAX emulator, this is not a
recommended configuration; it is simply what I had available for testing.
- MicroVAX 3100, OpenVMS 7.1, DTM version 4.0-4, dedicated system drive, DTM test suite run from second drive.
- DECsystem 3000-300X: OpenVMS 6.2, DTM version 4.0-4, dedicated system drive, DTM test suite run from second drive
- AlphaServer 1000As: OpenVMS 8.2, DTM version 4.1, dedicated system drive, DTM test suite run from second drive
- Integrity RX2600: OpenVMS 8.2, DTM version 4.2, dedicated system drive, DTM test suite run from second drive.
- Compaq Presario: Windows XP SP2. VAX emulation
software and VAX disk container files supported on single hard drive.
CHARON-VAX version 3.0.39, OpenVMS 7.1, DTM version 4.0-4, system drive emulated
as an RZ74 container file, DTM drive emulated as an RZ73 container file.
- Supermicro SuperServer: Windows Server 2003. VAX
emulation software and VAX disk container files supported on single hard drive.
CHARON-VAX version 3.0.39, OpenVMS 7.1, DTM version 4.0-4, system drive
emulated as an RZ74 container file, DTM drive emulated as an RZ73 container
file.
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Test Sets |
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Our Migration
RPG DTM test suite consists of eight automated test sets. The test sets
comprise both batch and interactive test processes. The test suites primarily
exercise the Migration RPG compiler by compiling and linking programs. Thus,
the test suites tend to be CPU intensive while placing little demand on memory
or I/O resources.
The two Alpha
1000 systems and CHARON-VAX XL tests support these observations. One Alpha 1000
is equipped with 128 MB of memory while the other is equipped with 512 MB of
memory. This had little impact on the benchmarks. Likewise, CHARON-VAX XL
permits an emulated VAX to be configured with 512 MB of memory versus the 128
MB available under XM. Again, the difference in performance is negligible.
About 10% of the
tests run production style interactive and batch processes. Test set 3 is the
most realistic from a production perspective. It consists of a series of interactive
processes that acquire, process, update, and display information from general
ledger, payroll, inventory, and similar applications.
The results from
each test set are listed in the Test Results Details section.
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Testing Protocol |
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The testing
protocol was submission of all eight test sets to a batch queue capable of
executing six jobs simultaneously. No other user processes were run on the
system during the benchmark tests.
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Bruce Claremont has a degree in Computer Science and is a
certifiable VMS bigot, having worked with OpenVMS since 1983. In addition to
OpenVMS skills, Bruce understands legacy programming languages like RPG and DIBOL
and knows how to code in Macro-32. He also knows a thing or two about software
migration. He has worked all sides of the fence, as a customer, software
engineer, system manager, support specialist, and project manager. He founded
Migration Specialties International, Inc. in 1992 and, when not dealing with
all the distractions that come with owning a business and being married,
continues to deliver OpenVMS and software migration related services.
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