Based on the latest SP2 performance benchmarks and time-adjusted pricing for competitive systems, the Oracle Corp. ZS-4-4 storage appliance displays by far the best price-performance with high overall raw performance (see chart on right). Based on this analysis, Wikibon strongly recommends that the Oracle appliance be included in any RFP for high bandwidth workloads with large sequential I/O blocks.  Relevant workloads include backups, restores, extract/transform/load (ETL), and large-scale queries.

The Hewlett-Packard Co. HP XP7, which is also marketed by Hitachi Data Systems Corp. as the VSP, and the former top price/performance system, is the highest single-system performer with 37 percent more bandwidth than the ZS4-4, writes Wikibon CTO David Floyer. However, it has a 52 percent, time-adjusted price-per-megabyte per second. The HP system should be considered, for example, when the application involves a very large database that cannot be split between two systems. For large loads that can be split, the Oracle appliance, in a two-array configuration, provides by far the best price/performance and much better raw performance than any of the other systems in large sequential loads, Floyer concludes.

Kaminario, Inc.’s K2 all flash array, formerly second in price/performance, can be the best choice in environments requiring large amounts of data sharing because of the higher data access density of flash systems. However, overall Wikibon concludes that using one or two Oracle ZS4-4 storage systems is significantly lower cost and provide better performance than either of the other two.

The full report, “Oracle ZS4-4 Storage Appliance Dominates High-bandwidth Processing”, is available on the new Wikibon Premium Web site.

Graphic © 2015 Wikibon, used with permission.