VMWARE AND INTEL | SOLUTION BRIEF

New Power for Data Center Virtualization

VMware vSphereTM 4 and Intel® Xeon® Processor 7500 Series-based Servers

Intel and VMware are delivering the performance, scalability and availability needed
to virtualize mission-critical applications and to increase consolidation ratios across
the data center.
The value of data center virtualization continues to grow. Not long ago, VMware vSphere™ 4 running on the
Intel® Xeon® processor 5500 series (based on the Intel® Microarchitecture Nehalem) delivered world-record
results for two-socket servers on the VMmark benchmark, with a remarkable increase of up to 160 percent versus
previous-generation solutions.1 The Intel® Xeon® processor 7500 series extends that high performance to a new
family of enterprise-class servers that provide the capacity and reliability needed to virtualize even the most
demanding enterprise workloads.

The Foundation of Virtualization

SOLUTION BRIEF | VMWARE AND INTEL

Enjoy Near-Native Performance in a

Virtualized Environment
The Intel Xeon processor 7500 series has been shown to increase
performance by up to three times versus its predecessor,2 with
comparable gains across a wide range of workloads. Next-
generation Intel® Virtualization Technology◊ (Intel® VT) helps to
extend this exceptional performance into virtual environments by
providing comprehensive hardware assists for core virtualization
functions.
In tandem with software optimizations in VMware vSphere, Intel VT:
• Delivers up to 3.7x better virtual machine performance than
previous generations.3
• Reduces performance overhead to as low as 2 percent (typically
2-10 percent).4
• Enables near-native I/O performance through direct assignment
of I/O devices to meet the demanding throughput requirements of
large databases and transactional applications.
In combination with VMware vSphere, Intel Xeon processor 7500
This enterprise-class virtualization platform provides the scalability
series-based servers can help you achieve:
you need to host heavy workloads. With VMware vSphere, a single
• Dramatically higher consolidation ratios to drive down data virtual machine can be configured with up to eight virtual CPUs
center space, power and cooling requirements, reduce related and 255 GB of memory, and it can support up to 30 GB/s of network
maintenance costs and use available local area network (LAN) bandwidth and more than 300,000 I/O operations per second. With
and storage area network (SAN) ports more efficiently. these resources, all but the most extreme enterprise workloads can
• Near-native application performance in a virtual environ- be successfully virtualized. If you are moving applications from older
ment, with the scalability to support the full range of enterprise dedicated servers, you can expect to see dramatic improvements in
applications, including large databases and high-volume application throughput and response times.
transactional and productivity applications.
• Rock-solid support for mission-critical computing needs with
Magnify Your Cost Savings through Higher
more than 20 new high availability features, plus dial-up control Consolidation Ratios
of service levels through automated virtual machine failover Intel Xeon processor 7500 series-based servers and VMware vSphere
across LANs and WANs. provide the scalable capacity to consolidate large numbers of
applications per server. Individual processors have up to eight high-
VMware vSphere is the leading platform for building cloud infra-
performance cores and 24 MB of cache. They also support Intel®
structures that give IT organizations simple and comprehensive
Hyper-Threading Technology† and Intel® Turbo Boost Technology.§
control of systems, workloads and service levels. With scalable
The first doubles the number of execution threads per server and
servers based on the Intel Xeon processor 7500 series, IT organiza-
the second delivers higher performance on demand for peak
tions can now extend these benefits into the highest reaches of
workloads. These processors also provide a eight times increase
the enterprise data center to drive down total costs and improve
in memory bandwidth and four times the memory capacity of
business and IT agility. They can also magnify the cost benefits of
the previous-generation 4-socket system based on Intel® Xeon®
virtualization by achieving consolidation ratios that have never
processor 7400 series.
before been possible on affordable, industry-standard servers.
With these advancements, a single four-socket server now provides
up to 32 high-performance cores, 64 execution threads and a full
terabyte of memory. These systems provide enormous capacity
 VMWARE AND INTEL | SOLUTION BRIEF

for consolidation. An internal Intel study quantified the potential

benefits. Compared with widely deployed systems based on single-
core processors, the newer servers supported up to a 20x increase
in consolidation ratios, which resulted in:5
• Up to 90 percent lower operating costs.6
• Approximately 91 percent lower estimated annual energy costs.7
• Estimated full payback in as little as one year.8
With eight-socket and larger servers in development by leading
vendors, IT organizations will be able to implement even higher
consolidation ratios.
VMware vSphere plays a critical role in delivering these high consoli-
dation ratios. In most cases, system memory management is the
dominant factor in determining the number of virtual machines that
can run on a physical host. VMware ESX® and EXSi™ fully support
memory over-commit, with unique features such as transparent
memory page sharing and memory swap prioritization to reclaim
idle physical memory. Available memory is used more efficiently,
which enables higher virtual machine densities along with the VMware vSphere complements these hardware capabilities by
consistent performance required in production data centers. providing fully automated control over workloads and service levels.
VMware Enhanced VMotion™ and Intel® Virtualization Technology
FlexMigration provide a provide a proven, enterprise-ready live
VMware vSphere and the latest Intel Xeon processor-based migration solution for moving workloads without downtime among
servers support more than twice the virtual machine current and future Intel Xeon processor-based servers. This capabil-
density of previous generations, enabling higher ity has been extensively tested with diverse systems and demand-
ing workloads, both in laboratory settings and across thousands
consolidation ratios
of production deployments in mission-critical customer environ-
ments. It lets you grow a unified pool of virtualized resources as
Achieve High Availability and Disaster Recovery you continue to add new Intel Xeon processor-based servers. It also
provides the foundation for a complete array of high availability and
Cost Effectively disaster-recovery solutions.
As you virtualize and consolidate heavier workloads and more criti-
• VMware High Availability automatically monitors and restarts
cal applications per server, you need systems and solutions you can
virtual machines on servers that have spare capacity. It minimizes
count on to maintain uninterrupted service. The Intel Xeon proces-
downtime and IT service disruption, while eliminating the need for
sor 7500 series provides more than 20 new reliability, availability and
dedicated stand-by hardware.
serviceability (RAS) features to enable levels of system resilience and
data integrity never before seen in high-volume, industry-standard • VMware Fault Tolerance takes high availability to the next level,
servers. These new RAS features provide or enable: by providing fully mirrored operation with continuous availability
to eliminate even the smallest IT service disruption or data loss.
• Advanced error detection, correction and containment across all
major components and communication pathways • VMware vCenter™ Site Recovery Manager allows you to auto-
mate failover for an entire data center. It is not only far simpler and
• Dynamic addition and replacement of components in running
more cost effective than traditional disaster-recovery solutions,
systems to prevent downtime and to scale resources to support
but also more reliable, since it eliminates error-prone manual
growth and unexpected workload spikes
processes and is easily tested without disrupting the production
• Static Hard Partitioning to provide advanced workload isolation environment.
and to enable maintenance without bringing down the system
 SOLUTION BRIEF | VMWARE AND INTEL

Lower Costs through Higher Virtual Machine Density Higher Value through Comprehensive
and Automated Power Management Data Center Virtualization
VMware vSphere and the latest Intel Xeon processor-based servers Virtualization on industry-standard servers has transformed IT
support more than twice the virtual machine density of previous service delivery, enabling companies to dramatically consolidate
generations, enabling higher consolidation ratios to drive down infrastructure and reduce costs, while implementing high availability
space, power and cooling requirements in your data center. They and disaster-recovery more cost effectively and across a wider range
of applications. VMware vSphere and Intel Xeon processor 7500
also increase your savings by intelligently tailoring energy consump-
series-based servers take these benefits to new heights by furnish-
tion to match workloads. Intel® Intelligent Power Technology∂
ing an enterprise-class virtualization platform that rivals the scalabil-
can reduce power consumption up to 18 percent per server by
ity and availability of high-end RISC systems, but at a fraction of the
independently optimizing the power consumption of each core. cost and with better performance and energy efficiency.
VMware® Distributed Power Management (DPM) extends power
management across the entire data center, by automatically redis- There is no better platform for optimizing your consolidation ratios,
extending virtualization across your entire data center, and maxi-
tributing virtual machines onto a smaller number of servers when
mizing value at all points through leading-edge cloud computing
workloads are light and shutting down the unneeded systems.
functionality.

To learn how your company can take advantage

of VMware virtualization running on Intel Xeon
processor-based servers to improve energy-efficiency
The Foundation of Virtualization performance visit www.vmware.com/go/intel

◊
Intel® Virtualization Technology requires a computer system with an enabled Intel® processor, BIOS, virtual machine monitor (VMM) and, for some uses, certain platform software enabled for it. Functionality, performance
or other benefits will vary depending on hardware and software configurations and may require a BIOS update. Software applications may not be compatible with all operating systems. Please check with your application
vendor.
Hyper-Threading Technology requires a computer system with an Intel processor supporting Hyper-Threading Technology and an HT Technology enabled chipset, BIOS and operating system. Performance will vary
†

depending on the specific hardware and software you use. See http://www.intel.com/info/hyperthreading/ for more information including details on which processors support HT Technology.
Intel® Turbo Boost Technology requires a platform with a processor with Intel Turbo Boost Technology capability. Intel Turbo Boost Technology performance varies depending on hardware, software and overall system
§

configuration. Check with your platform manufacturer on whether your system delivers Intel Turbo Boost Technology. For more information, see http://www.intel.com/technology/turboboost.
∂
Intel® Intelligent Power Technology requires a computer system with an enabled Intel® processor, chipset, BIOS and for some features, an operating system enabled for it. Functionality or other benefits may vary depending
on hardware implementation and may require a BIOS and/or operating system update. Please check with your system vendor for details.
1
For a description of the VMmark benchmark and for complete test configurations and results, visit: http://www.vmware.com/products/vmmark/overview.html
2
Comparison based on Intel internally estimated/measured/historical results as of 12 February 2010. Intel® Xeon® processor X7460 based platform details Hewlett-Packard* ProLiant* DL580 G5 server platform with four Intel®
Xeon® processors X7460 (16 MB cache, 2.66 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB), 256 GB memory, ISV Database, Enterprise LINUX. 4S Intel® Xeon® processor X7560 based platform details Intel® 7500 Chipset-based reference server platform
with four Intel® Xeon® Processor X7560 (8-Core, 2.26 GHz, 24 MB L3 cache, 6.4 GT/s QPI), EIST Enabled, Turbo Boost Enabled, Hyper-Threading Enabled, NUMA Enabled, Prefetchers Disabled, Early Data Return enabled, 256 GB
(32x 8 GB QR DDR3-1066) memory scaled to estimate 512 GB installed, ISV Database, 7x LSI 9200-8e SAS HBAs using 504x X-25 SSD (JBOD) + 144 x 36 GB FC 15K RPM disk storage system, Red Hat* Enterprise Linux 5.4 w/ 5.5
kernel. Source: Intel internal testing as of January 2010 referenced as measured score of 1,958K transactions.
3
Intel comparison replacing one X7460 based server with one new X7560 processor based server. Consolidation Performance on VMmark* benchmark Comparison based on Intel internally measured as of 12 February
2010. 4S Intel® Xeon® processor X7460 based platform details IBM System x* 3850M2 server system with four Intel Xeon processors X7460 (16 M cache, 2.66 GHz, 6.4 GT/s Intel QPI, 6C), 128 GB (32x 4 GB PC2-5300 667 MHz
Registered ECC DDR2 DIMMs, VMware ESX* 3.5.0 U3 GA. Referenced as published at 20.2 @ 14 tiles. For more information, see: http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vmmark/VMmark-IBM-2009-03-24-x3850M2.pdf. 4S Intel®
Xeon® processor X7560 based platform details Intel® 7500 Chipset-based reference server platform with four Intel® Xeon® Processor X7560 (8-Core, 2.26 GHz, 24 MB L3 cache, 6.4 GT/s QPI), Intel EIST enabled, Turbo Boost
enabled, Hyper-Threading enabled, NUMA enabled, Prefetchers enabled, 512GB (64x 8 GB DDR3-1066) memory, VMware* ESX 4.0 Update 1 patch X, 2x Intel® 10 Gb CX4 Dual-Port Server Adapter, FC SAN 2x QLogic QLA2462,
16x 32GB SSD disk storage system. Source: Intel internal testing as of February 2010 referenced as estimated score of 75 @ 50 tiles.
Source: VMware Capacity Planner assessments.
4

5
Intel consolidation based on replacing 20 5-year-old single-core Intel® Xeon® processor 3.33GHz based servers with one new Intel Xeon processor X7560 based server while maintaining performance as measured by
SPECjbb2005 business operations per second. Performance tests and ratings are measured using specific computer systems and/or components and reflect the approximate performance of Intel products as measured by
those tests. Any difference in system hardware or software design or configuration may affect actual performance. Buyers should consult other sources of information to evaluate the performance of systems or compo-
nents they are considering purchasing. For more information, visit www.intel.com/performance/server.
6
Intel comparison replacing 20 5-year-old single-core Intel® Xeon® processor 3.33 GHz based servers with one new Intel Xeon processor X7560 based server. Costs have been estimated based on internal Intel analysis and are
provided for informational purposes only.
7
Based on comparison between 4S Intel® Xeon® MP CPU 3.3 GHz (Single core w/ HT, 1MB L2, 8MB L3, Potomac) and 4S Intel® Xeon® X7560 (8 core, 2.26 GHz) based servers. Calculation includes analysis based on performance,
power, cooling, electricity rates, operating system annual license costs and estimated server costs. This assumes 42U racks, $0.10 per kWh, cooling costs are 2x the server power consumption costs, operating system license
cost of $900/year per server, per server cost of $36,000 based on estimated list prices, and estimated server utilization rates. All dollar figures are approximate. SPECint_rate_base2006* performance and power results are
measured for X7560 and Xeon 3.3 GHz based servers. Platform power was measured during the steady state window of the benchmark run and at idle. Performance gain compared to baseline was 20x.
–Baseline platform (measured score of 33.8): Intel server with four MP Intel® Xeon® processor 3.33 GHz (single core w/HT, 1 MB L2, 8 MB L3), 16 GB memory (8x2GB DDR2-400), 2 hard drives, 1 power supply, using Red Hat EL
5.3 x86_64 operating system.
–New platform (measured score of 705): Intel internal reference server with four Intel® Xeon® Processor X7560 (24M Cache, 2.26 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel® QPI, Intel Hyper-Threading Technology, Intel Turbo Boost Technology), 256
GB memory (64x 4 GB QR DDR3-1333), 1 hard drive, 2 power supplies, using SuSE* LINUX 11, cpu2006.1.1.ic11.1.linux64.binaries.nov242009.tar.bz2 binaries.
8
Intel comparison replacing 20 5-year-old single-core Intel® Xeon® processor 3.33GHz servers with one new Intel Xeon processor X7560 based server. Return on investment has been estimated based on internal Intel analysis
and is provided for informational purposes only.
Performance tests and ratings are measured using specific computer systems and/or components and reflect the approximate performance of Intel products as measured by those tests. Any difference in system hardware
or software design or configuration may affect actual performance. Buyers should consult other sources of information to evaluate the performance of systems or components they are considering purchasing. For more
information on performance tests and on the performance of Intel products, visit www.intel.com/performance/resources/limits.htm.
Copyright© 2010 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel, the Intel logo, and Xeon are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.
Copyright© 2010 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. VMware, the VMware logo, vSphere, ESX, ESXi, VMotion, and vCenter are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions.
*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
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