ThinkSystem SR950 Sets World Record with New SAP BW Edition for SAP HANA (10.4B Records) Benchmark Result

Lenovo ThinkSystem SR950 4-socket server using Intel Xeon Platinum 8280 processors delivers world record performance (1) for the SAP BW edition for SAP HANA Standard Application Benchmark Version 3, with 10.4 billion (10.4B) initial records in a single-node setup. The benchmark refers to the SAP Business Warehouse application running on the SAP HANA platform.

The benchmark consists of three phases and the ThinkSystem SR950 server achieved the following performance results:

• Phase 1: Data load phase = 46908 (Runtime of last data set in seconds)
• Phase 2: Query throughput phase = 3,001 (Query executions per hour)
• Phase 3: Query runtime phase = 128 (Total runtime of complex query phase in seconds)

The result shows that the Lenovo ThinkSystem SR950 offers a significant performance advantage compared to other vendors.

The SR950 configuration was as follows:

• Lenovo ThinkSystem SR950
• 4x Intel Xeon Platinum 8280 Processors, 2.70 GHz
  • 64 KB L1 cache, 1024 KB L2 cache and 38.5 MB L3 cache per processor
  • 4 processor, 112 total cores, 224 total threads
• 1,536 GB of Lenovo TruDDR4 system memory
• 3,076 GB of Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4
• SAP HANA 2.0 rev 36
• SAP NetWeaver 7.50

Results referenced are current as of April 2, 2019. For the latest SAP BW benchmark results, visit: https://www.sap.com/about/benchmark.html.

(1) This benchmark fully complies with the SAP Benchmark Council regulations and has been audited and certified by SAP SE (certification number 2019014). Details can be obtained from Lenovo and SAP. The benchmark was performed at the Lenovo Data Center Performance Lab in Walldorf, Germany, by Lenovo engineers. Configuration: ThinkSystem SR950, 4 processor / 112 cores / 224 threads, Intel Xeon Platinum 8280 processors, 2.70 GHz, 64 KB L1 cache and 1024 KB L2 cache per core, 38.5 MB L3 cache per processor, 1,536 GB (DRAM) plus 3,072 GB (PMEM) main memory.

Lenovo ThinkSystem SR950 is designed for your most demanding, mission-critical workloads, such as in-memory databases, large transactional databases, batch and real-time analytics, ERP, CRM, and virtualized server workloads. The powerful 4U ThinkSystem SR950 can grow from two to eight second-generation Intel Xeon Scalable Family processors, and with 96 DIMM sockets, supports up to 24 TB of high-speed memory. The modular design of SR950 speeds upgrades and servicing with easy front or rear access to all major subsystems to maximize server availability. The ThinkSystem SR950 also supports Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory delivering a new, flexible tier of memory designed specifically for data center workloads that offer an unprecedented combination of high-capacity, affordability and persistence.

The SR950 packs numerous fault-tolerant and high-availability features into a high-density, 4U rack-optimized design that reduces the space needed to support massive network computing operations and simplify servicing. Lenovo XClarity Controller is an all-new hardware embedded management engine common in every ThinkSystem server. XClarity Controller features an uncluttered graphical user interface, industry standard Redfish-compliant REST APIs, and enables booting in half the time of prior generation servers, with up to 6x faster firmware updates.

Lenovo XClarity Administrator is a virtualized application that centrally manages ThinkSystem servers, storage, and networking. Via reusable patterns and policies, it ramps up and scales infrastructure provisioning and maintenance. It serves as a central integration point to extend your data center management processes to physical IT. Running XClarity Integrators in external IT applications, or integrating through REST APIs, helps you further speed services provisioning, streamline IT management, and contain costs.

ThinkShield is a comprehensive approach to security designed to secure the data center, from the foundation of your infrastructure to the network's edge and guard against a security breach. ThinkShield protects your business with each offering, from development through disposal.

The SAP BW, edition for SAP HANA Standard Application Benchmark, Version 3, is the latest addition to the list of benchmarks for SAP Business Warehouse. It utilizes the capabilities of SAP HANA to process the benchmark workload. Allowed data volumes are a multiple of 1.3 billion initial records and can be run in single-node and multi-node setups. This benchmark was released in July 2018.

The benchmark scenario represents typical mid-size customer scenario and volumes for SAP BW running on SAP HANA. The benchmark simulates a variety of users with different analytical requirements and measures the key performance indicator (KPI) relevant to each of the three benchmark phases.

The three benchmark phases are as follows:

1. Data load phase, testing data latency and load performance
2. Query throughput phase, testing query throughput with moderate complex queries
3. Query runtime phase, testing the performance of running very complex queries

For more information about the benchmark, go to https://www.sap.com/about/benchmark.html.

To learn more about business warehouse and data analytics solutions for SAP applications running on Lenovo Servers, visit https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/data-center/solutions/sap/ or contact your Lenovo Customer Representative.

For more information about SAP BW/4HANA, go to https://www.sap.com/products/technology-platform/bw4hana-data-warehousing.html.

To learn more about the Lenovo ThinkSystem SR950 server, visit the SR950 product web page.