New World Records Set with the STAC-M3 Benchmark on the ThinkSystem SR950 with Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory

The Lenovo ThinkSystem SR950 configured with Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory (DCPMM), the new second-generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors (formerly codenamed “Cascade Lake”) and the Kx Systems kdb+ database has set new performance world records with the Antuco and Kanaga suites of the STAC-M3 benchmark.

This system and its Lenovo ThinkSystem SR650 2-socket counterpart (see STAC report SUT ID KDB190320b) are the first systems containing Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory for which STAC-M3 results have been disclosed.

The STAC-M3 Benchmark suite is the industry standard for testing solutions that enable high-speed analytics on time series data, such as tick-by-tick market data, also known as tick database stacks. STAC-M3 benchmarks are grouped into suites. The base suite, code-named “Antuco”, contains a range of test cases with varying levels of CPU and storage-I/O intensity. The optional “Kanaga” suite consists of two test sequences that extend Antuco benchmarks across larger quantities of data in order to measure the volume-scalability of a database stack.

These new benchmark results were published on April 2, 2019 in a new STAC Report, SUT ID KDB190322b. These results demonstrate that the SR950 continues Lenovo’s leadership with world record breaking performance for the financial services industry.

The SR950 with DCPMM achieved leadership performance in 9 of 17 benchmark categories in the Antuco suite:

• STAC-M3.β1.100T.STATS-UI.TIME
• STAC-M3.β1.100T.VWAB-12D-NO.TIME
• STAC-M3.β1.10T.STATS-UI.TIME
• STAC-M3.β1.10T.THEOPL.TIME
• STAC-M3.β1.10T.VOLCURV.TIME
• STAC-M3.β1.1T.MOHIBID.TIME
• STAC-M3.β1.1T.STATS-UI.TIME
• STAC-M3.β1.1T.WKHIBID.TIME
• STAC-M3.β1.1T.WRITE.TIME

The SR950 with DCPMM also achieved leadership performance in 8 of 9 benchmark categories in the Kanaga suite when using a two-year data set size. The results from this stack under test (SUT) can be compared directly to results from this same system when the entire database resided in the 3DNAND drives (see SUT ID KDB190322a).

• STAC-M3.β1.100T.TRUNC.YR1VWAB-12D-HO.TIME
• STAC-M3.β1.100T.TRUNC.YR2VWAB-12D-HO.TIME
• STAC-M3.β1.10T.TRUNC.YR2-MKTSNAP.TIME
• STAC-M3.β1.1T.TRUNC.2YRHIBID.TIME
• STAC-M3.β1.1T.TRUNC.YR1VWAB-12D-HO.TIME
• STAC-M3.β1.1T.TRUNC.YR2VWAB-12D-HO.TIME
• STAC-M3.β1.50T.TRUNC.YR1VWAB-12D-HO.TIME
• STAC-M3.β1.50T.TRUNC.YR2VWAB-12D-HO.TIME

The ThinkSystem SR950 server was configured as follows for the benchmark audit:

• Lenovo ThinkSystem SR950
• 4x Intel Xeon Platinum 8280L Processors (28 cores, 2.5GHz, 38.5MB last level cache)
• 1.5TB memory (24x 64GB RDIMMs at 2933MHz)
• 24x 512GB Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory (DCPMM) modules
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 with xfs V5
• Kx Systems kdb+ 3.6
• Security patches for the full range of Spectre/Meltdown vulnerabilities including 1, 2, 3 and L1TF

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 Securities Analysis Technology Center (STAC) is a company that coordinates a community called the STAC Benchmark Council.

The STAC Benchmark Council consists of over 300 financial institutions and more than 50 vendor organizations whose purpose is to explore technical challenges and solutions in financial services and to develop technology benchmark standards that are useful to financial organizations.

User firms include the largest global banks, brokerage houses, exchanges, hedge funds, proprietary trading shops, and other market participants. Vendor firms include innovative manufacturers of processor, server, storage, and network hardware, as well as horizontal-market software providers and vertical specialists.

STAC-M3 benchmarks are governed by user firms in the STAC Benchmark Council. The STAC-M3 benchmark report for the SR950 is publicly available.

To learn more about solutions for the financial services industry, please contact your Lenovo Sales Representative.

To find out more about STAC, visit the STAC Research web site.

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