Benchmark Factory for Database 8.1 - User Guide

Scalable Hardware Benchmark

The Scalable Hardware benchmark measures relational database systems. This benchmark is a subset of the AS3AP benchmark and tests the following:

• CPU
• Disk
• Network
• Any combination of the above three entities

To learn how to create a Scalable Hardware test in Benchmark Factory, see Create Industry Standard Benchmark Test.

How the Scalable Hardware Benchmark Works

The scale factor determines the amount of information initially loaded into the benchmark tables.  For the Scalable Hardware benchmark, each scale factor represents one user accessing the system.  Two tables are created in the database, and they are loaded with a varying number of rows.  

For each virtual user, a separate set of data must be created.  Therefore the scale factor used when loading the database should be the size of the maximum user load.  For example, with user loads of 1, 5, and 10, a scale factor of 10 should be used.

 Scaling Factor

The Scalable Hardware benchmark has a scaling factor of one.

Best Practices

Load-testing against production servers

Do not load-test against a production server if possible.  Load-testing and benchmarking on a production server significantly degrades performance.  In some cases, load-testing can cause a server to fail.  However, if testing against a production server, take the following precautions:

• Perform the testing when no other users are on the system and no automated processes are running.  Users and automated processes can adversely affect testing results
• Have a recovery plan and backup all data prior to testing
• Determine how long it will take to restore a production server if it went down during load-testing
• Perform manual testing.  Manual testing ensures that no unexpected outside activity takes place during the testing process

Reinitialize the Database

To reinitialize a testing database, run a job containing a Benchmark Object node.  

There are two ways to create a Benchmark Object node:

• Run the Benchmark Object Wizard to add the Delete Benchmark objects for the Scalable Hardware node to a job as needed.  
• Run the Load Scenario Wizard to create a new script containing the Create Objects for the Benchmark, Associated Load Scenarios for the Benchmark, and Delete Objects for the Benchmark. Running the delete objects for 'Scalable Hardware" job will clean the environment.