Why does our server sometimes works so slow?

0

For years, my team was developing applications for embedded systems using server with below detail :

cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 30
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           X3430  @ 2.40GHz
stepping        : 5
cpu MHz         : 1197.000
cache size      : 8192 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 4
core id         : 0
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 0
initial apicid  : 0
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm ida tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid
bogomips        : 4800.78
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor       : 1
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 30
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           X3430  @ 2.40GHz
stepping        : 5
cpu MHz         : 1197.000
cache size      : 8192 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 4
core id         : 1
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 2
initial apicid  : 2
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm ida tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid
bogomips        : 4799.26
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor       : 2
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 30
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           X3430  @ 2.40GHz
stepping        : 5
cpu MHz         : 1197.000
cache size      : 8192 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 4
core id         : 2
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 4
initial apicid  : 4
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm ida tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid
bogomips        : 4799.27
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor       : 3
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 30
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           X3430  @ 2.40GHz
stepping        : 5
cpu MHz         : 1197.000
cache size      : 8192 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 4
core id         : 3
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 6
initial apicid  : 6
fdiv_bug        : no
hlt_bug         : no
f00f_bug        : no
coma_bug        : no
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm ida tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid
bogomips        : 4799.26
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 36 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

Then this year, we bought a new high end server from IBM. But after a few months of usage, we feel that the performance of the new server is not better at all.

Here are the cpuinfo for our new server :

[root@BD-Server-2 BDP_Generic]uname -a
Linux BD-Server-2 2.6.43.8-1.fc15.x86_64 #1 SMP Mon Jun 4 20:33:44 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
[root@BD-Server-2 BDP_Generic]# head -n1 /etc/issue
Fedora release 15 (Lovelock)
[root@BD-Server-2 BDP_Generic]# cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5606  @ 2.13GHz
stepping        : 2
microcode       : 0x15
cpu MHz         : 2133.237
cache size      : 8192 KB
physical id     : 1
siblings        : 4
core id         : 0
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 32
initial apicid  : 32
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid dca sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm arat epb dts tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid
bogomips        : 4266.47
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor       : 1
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5606  @ 2.13GHz
stepping        : 2
microcode       : 0x15
cpu MHz         : 2133.237
cache size      : 8192 KB
physical id     : 1
siblings        : 4
core id         : 1
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 34
initial apicid  : 34
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid dca sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm arat epb dts tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid
bogomips        : 4266.47
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor       : 2
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5606  @ 2.13GHz
stepping        : 2
microcode       : 0x15
cpu MHz         : 2133.237
cache size      : 8192 KB
physical id     : 1
siblings        : 4
core id         : 9
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 50
initial apicid  : 50
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid dca sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm arat epb dts tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid
bogomips        : 4266.47
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

processor       : 3
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 44
model name      : Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU           E5606  @ 2.13GHz
stepping        : 2
microcode       : 0x15
cpu MHz         : 2133.237
cache size      : 8192 KB
physical id     : 1
siblings        : 4
core id         : 10
cpu cores       : 4
apicid          : 52
initial apicid  : 52
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 11
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid dca sse4_1 sse4_2 popcnt lahf_lm arat epb dts tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid
bogomips        : 4266.47
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management:

Why is this happen? The users is still the same - 10 people. Is there any hints to improve the server performance? Sometimes, when compiling the sourcecode, the server is running very slowly, print the compile message per row very slow.

kalingga

Posted 2013-07-01T05:03:45.577

Reputation: 101

Answers

1

The reason is because the performance of the CPU's are in the same order of magnitude - Passmark for an E5606 is 3353 units while the X3430 is actually slower at 3210, so the new system is arguably fractionally SLOWER then the old one cpu wise. The logical solution might be to get a system with a faster cpu, for example a E3-1230 V2 or v3 will be about 3 times the speed (assuming you dont need more then 32 gigs ram)

davidgo

Posted 2013-07-01T05:03:45.577

Reputation: 49 152

i'm sorry i still don't understand exacly. What do you mean by 3353 and 3210? – kalingga – 2013-07-01T07:09:34.220

There is a useful site - http://www.cpubenchmark.com which attempts to provide an overall guide to the speed of processors. While no single number can fully explain the differences between CPU's due to architecture differences, this gives a good guide of relative performance - even more so when, like your CPU's, they have the same number of cores. The higher the number the faster the performance. 3353 and 3210 are the "passmark" speed scores of each of your processors. (A Pentium 4 scores about 500, and very high end processors - generally with more cores - score over 12000).

– davidgo – 2013-07-01T07:39:50.700

Another thing to look at is the IO performance of your system - depending on your application you may find the system is disk ram constrained (IO Bound). Its difficult to provide info on how to troubleshoot this without knowing the OS (and I can't even help if you are using Windows, but others might be able to) – davidgo – 2013-07-01T07:44:44.283

Asked: 2013-07-01T05:03:45.577

Viewed: 277 times

Active: 2013-07-01T06:22:52.933