Factors affecting direct attached storage device performance in the application layer

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Figure 1: Each type of application has unique needs for throughput and I/O workload.
Table 3: Applications that place heavy demands on storage
Choosing an HDD or SSD solution for your application
To meet the demands for virtualized and data intensive workloads, we optimized the storage architecture of
ProLiant Gen8 servers for solid-state storage performance, energy efficiency, and high density. The criteria
for choosing SSD solutions are very strict. For example, we look at how well the NAND flash manages bad
blocks of memory, wear leveling, and write amplification. These characteristics greatly affect SSD
endurance.
We optimized ProLiant Gen8 servers to provide 6x the storage performance of previous generations of
ProLiant servers while using 1/6 the number of HDDs. In internal testing, we replaced twenty-five 146 GB
SFF HDDs with four 400 GB SFF SSDs. These four SSDs produced a 6x performance improvement: 16,000
IOPS versus 2,600 IOPS. Pricing actions in 2012 also reduced cost per IOPS making SSDs a likely choice
if cost per IOPS is a priority.
Classification
Application Types
Online Transaction Processing (OLTP)
Transaction processing
eCommerce
Business Intelligence
Data warehousing
Online analysis processing (OLAP)
High Performance Computing (HPC)
Analytics
Imaging
Streaming Services (Web 2.0)
Audio
Video on demand