MKS Integrity Client 2009 SP5: linux vx Solaris performance comparision

[ptc-4669037]

Hi

I'm migrating my MKS Integrity Client 2009 SP5 on Solaris zoned server to a VMWARE ESX hosted Linux Debian 7 machine.

Suprise during testing performance beetwen the 2 machine using "si viewRevision command" (no I/O activity, only tcp connections to the same server) test cicle: Linux client is 8 time slower than Solarix box!

Any suggestion to improve Linux deployment?

Thanks

Carlo

[KaelLizak]

Hello Carlo,

My first suggestion would be to check your virtual machine configuration. In particular, check to make sure you have not overprovisioned the machine, as this seems to be a common issue we encounter when dealing with virtual machines.

After that is done, could you confirm that these are the configurations you are migrating from and to?

From:

Solaris OS on physical machine

Integrity Client 2009 SP5

To:

Linux Debian 7 hosted on VMWARE ESX

Integrity Client 2009 SP5

Both:

Connecting to Integrity 2009 SP5 Server

Note: Debian is not an officially supported platform. I do not expect that this is a problem, but be aware that the officially supported Linux distributions are SuSE Linux and RedHat Enterprise Linux.

Regards,
Kael

[ptc-4669037]

Thanks Kael for your suggestions.

We create a new virtual box RHE 5.8, installed the MKS Integrity client 2009 SP5, but are getting the same execution time as on the debian machine.

Please clear to me "not overprovisioned the machine": the virtual server (always on VMWAR ESX 5.1) is configured with 2 core (XEON E5620 2.4GHZ), 2GB RAM, 60GB (scsi LSI Logic Parallel), network 1Gbs (VMXNET3) on the same flat network topology as Solarix box.

Here the test case we are using is a loop of 20 command like this one, on different sandboxes/prokject on the same server:

si viewrevision --batch --revision=$REVISION --project=${SUBPROJECTFOLDER} ${OBJECT}"

On the Solarix 10 box the server was a zoned configuration, a paravirtualization architecture, but the performance difference campared to VMWARE ESX is really big: 8 time more on linux!

One big difference is the MKS Integrity client architecture: 32 bit on Linux and 64 bit on Solaris. There is any linux 64 bit versiona available? There is not on the download page.

Thanks again

Carlo

PS: MKS Integrity Server 2009 SP5 is deployed on a Solaris 10 Zoned server.

[KaelLizak]

Hi Carlo,

Carlo Reggiani wrote:

We create a new virtual box RHE 5.8, installed the MKS Integrity client 2009 SP5, but are getting the same execution time as on the debian machine.

Please clear to me "not overprovisioned the machine": the virtual server (always on VMWAR ESX 5.1) is configured with 2 core (XEON E5620 2.4GHZ), 2GB RAM, 60GB (scsi LSI Logic Parallel), network 1Gbs (VMXNET3) on the same flat network topology as Solarix box.

I suspect you know more about virtual machine configuration than I do. By "overprovisioned", I mean a VM that has been configured to have access to more resources than the host OS can actually provide (e.g. specifying access to 4 GB RAM on four VMs, when the underlying host OS has only 4 GB RAM total, and each guest OS consumes ~700 MB: the real amount of available RAM for all four virtual machines is only ~2GB in that case).

Carlo Reggiani wrote:

Here the test case we are using is a loop of 20 command like this one, on different sandboxes/prokject on the same server:

si viewrevision --batch --revision=$REVISION --project=${SUBPROJECTFOLDER} ${OBJECT}"

On the Solarix 10 box the server was a zoned configuration, a paravirtualization architecture, but the performance difference campared to VMWARE ESX is really big: 8 time more on linux!

That seems extreme.

Carlo Reggiani wrote:

One big difference is the MKS Integrity client architecture: 32 bit on Linux and 64 bit on Solaris. There is any linux 64 bit versiona available? There is not on the download page.

Unforunately, there is not currently a 64-bit Linux client. I am unsure of how much of an impact the client bit-width will have.

If you would like to attach your organization to a feature request for a 64-bit Integrity client on Linux, please open a case with Integrity Support and have yourself added to RFC 149813. Please state this business case in your ticket.

Regards,
Kael

[ptc-4669037]

Hi Kael

As ou suggested, I openend a case to the support. I'll update here, I hope with the solution!

I'm still seekeing how to add to the RFC 149813: could you provide a link?

Thanks again

Carlo

[KaelLizak]

Hi Carlo,

Just explain to the Technical Support Engineer working on your case that you would also like to be added to RFC 149813.

Regards,

Kael

[ptc-4669037]

Hi againg

After weeks of testing activity also with PTC support people to better investigate the MKS Integrity Client performance issue on linux, the final PTC support response is again: "SOLARIS (Sparc) IS FASTER"!

Considering that the 64-bit linux porting never started and also it is not an option in the future (support people confirmed me), we are planning to quit MKS Integrity: it is no more acceptable this level of support for a core business layer as MKS for us.

We are very disappointed about quitting MKS Integrity: it is driving our software factory without any problem in the last 10 years!

Regards

Carlo