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Operating System:Windows 2003 R2 – 32 bit
Software:MCS eFMS 9.2
Benchmark software:vApus + realworld “MCS” PHP site
Typical error margin:1-2%

The modular MCS Enterprise Facility Management Software (MCS eFMS), developed by MCS, is one of the heavier web applications. We have described this application in more detail here. The objective of eFMS is to integrate the management of space usage (buildings), assets and equipment (such as furniture, beamers etc.), cabling infrastructure and others while keeping track of costs. MCS eFMS stores all information in a central Oracle database.

MCS eFMS integrates three key technologies: A web-based frontend that integrates CAD drawings and gets its information from a rather complex, ERP-like Oracle database. Building overview trees of all rooms available and their reservations in a certain building, drilling down using the CAD drawing to get more detail: MCS eFMS is one of the most demanding web applications we have encountered so far. MCS eFMS uses the following software:

- Microsoft IIS 6.0 (Windows 2003 Server Standard Edition R2)
- Php 4.4.0
- FastCGI
-Oracle 9.2

The results are below:

When we profiled the benchmark, we noticed that the php website did not scale past 8 cores. So it is an inaccurate benchmark for any system with more than 8 cores, but it does show what happens in the real world. The results clearly demonstrate the issues we talked about in the introduction of this article: many server applications do not scale well beyond 8 or 16 cores. Remember, just 4 to 5 years ago, 8 core machines were very expensive machines. In less than 5 years we have gone from 2 cores to 12 cores in a server. It is only natural that in many cases software can not use, or simply does not need all that processing power. The six-core Opteron runs at only 60% and is outperformed by its quad-core brother and of course the latest Xeon. Both the Dual Opteron 2435 and Dual Xeon X5570 (HT enabled) run at 50-60% usage. A single 8-thread Xeon X55xx is by far the best choice here.

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