Microsoft SQL Server 2008: A Proven Database

Platform for Dassault Systmes ENOVIA

We continue to develop our
long-standing relationship with
Dassault Systmes, as we share
the common goal of reaching
more users in an organization.
By offering customers
applications that are easy to
implement and use, we will
ultimately improve productivity
while also lowering total cost
of ownership. This partnership
will enable customers to stay
ahead of the competition with
unparalleled integration and
seamless collaboration across
the enterprise.
Don Richardson,
Director of global PLM strategy,
Microsoft Corporation

Benchmark Tests Confirm the Enterprise-Class Performance

and Scalability of ENOVIA V6 on SQL Server 2008

ABSTRACT
Enterprises have come to rely on increasingly robust product life-cycle
management (PLM) systems to streamline their business processes and
to keep costs down. PLM systems, in turn, rely on high-performance
databases. When the database system underlying the PLM software is
unreliable or slow, the PLM software cannot work efficiently and the value
of the system is eroded. Therefore, selecting a PLM systemand selecting
a database on which to build itare important business decisions.
Dassault Systmes ENOVIA V6 is a standards-based, scalable PLM system
that can support the largest, most complex PLM deployments. It provides
the flexibility administrators need to easily configure business processes,
user interfaces, and infrastructure options to help meet an organizations
needs.
This white paper presents benchmark testing data that validates the
performance and scalability of Microsoft SQL Server 2008 as an
enterprise-class database management system for ENOVIA V6 that
can scale to 5,000 collaborative users while maintaining performance
and meeting user requirements. This paper also describes some of the
additional benefits that SQL Server 2008 brings to an ENOVIA V6 PLM
system, demonstrating that together, SQL Server 2008 and ENOVIA
V6 provide a reliable and cost-effective PLM system that can help
an enterprise improve time to market and profitability by reducing
development time and costs.
Published: January, 2010

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION: DASSAULT SYSTMES ENOVIA V6 AND SQL SERVER 2008 FOR
PRODUCT LIFE-CYCLE MANAGEMENT
INTRODUCING DASSAULT SYSTMES ENOVIA V6

3
3

ENOVIA V6 Architecture

Integration with Microsoft Office

Cost Savings

INTRODUCING SQL SERVER 2008

WHY CHOOSE SQL SERVER 2008 FOR ENOVIA V6?

A Scalable, Enterprise-Class Platform with Powerful Features

A Cost-Effective Database Platform

A Secure Database Platform for Applications

BENCHMARK TESTING DATA CONFIRMS SQL SERVER 2008 AS A SOLID CHOICE

FOR ENOVIA V6

TEST METHODOLOGY

HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE SETUP

Database Server

Load Generators

10

Application Servers

10

TEST RESULTS

10

CONCLUSION

11

SUMMARY

12

LINKS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

12

APPENDIX 1: BEST PRACTICES

13

TEMPDB

13

READ-COMMITTED SNAPSHOT

13

DISK I/O

14

APPENDIX 2: HARDWARE DETAILS

14

INTRODUCTION: DASSAULT SYSTMES ENOVIA V6 AND SQL SERVER 2008 FOR

PRODUCT LIFE-CYCLE MANAGEMENT
The main goals of a world-class enterprise are to build superior products and to maintain a healthy bottom line.
Companies want to be able to do more with their resources; they want to know how to make innovation cheaper,
better, and faster, while differentiating themselves from their competitors. Companies are finding that they
must create a collaborative environment that brings together all of the key functions of product development
including engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and salesto stay ahead of global competition.
Product life-cycle management (PLM) is a strategic business approach that can help an enterprise achieve these
goals while continuing to reduce costs, enhance and protect intellectual property, improve quality, and shorten
the time to market for its products.
PLM is the process of managing all phases of a product, from initial conception through end of life. Effective
PLM combines information, methodology, and available resources to streamline each phase of the life cycle; it
provides an environment for managing processes, data, and resources across the extended enterprise without the
need to overhaul the fabric and infrastructure of an organization. Increasing an enterprises flexibility and agility
to respond swiftly and effectively to new changes, new markets, and competitors is the hallmark of a world-class
PLM strategy. Dassault Systmes ENOVIA V6 provides such a PLM solution for businesses of all sizes.

This white paper provides guidance to technical decision makers

and IT professionals who are evaluating database platforms for
Dassault Systmes ENOVIA V6.
This white paper begins with an introduction to ENOVIA V6 and
to Microsoft SQL Server 2008, a proven database platform for
ENOVIA V6. The paper discusses the many advantages SQL Server
2008 brings to ENOVIA V6, including manageability, scalability,
reliability, and affordability.
The paper then presents benchmark test data that confirms that
SQL Server 2008 scales to meet the needs of even large enterprise
customers. Tests measured the transaction times for typical PLM
tasks on user loads ranging from 200 to 500 concurrent users
(equivalent to 2,000 to 5,000 collaborative users). SQL Server 2008
maintained consistent application performance as the user loads
increased. Enterprise customers can be confident in the choice of
SQL Server 2008 as a database platform for ENOVIA V6.

Introducing Dassault Systmes ENOVIA V6

ENOVIA delivers a collaborative PLM solution to customers in a
diverse set of industries, including aerospace, automotive, energy,
high technology, computer graphics, consumer packaging goods,

life sciences, and industrial equipment. ENOVIA V6, the latest

version of the ENOVIA software, is the first proven service-oriented
architecture (SOA)based system in the PLM market. It delivers a
single PLM platform for intellectual property management that
makes global collaboration possible via an HTTP connection.

ENOVIA V6 Architecture
The ENOVIA V6 SOA architecture is composed of a centralized
database architecture with distributed file stores. The database is
accessible to all users, regardless of their location. The remote sites
use a local file server to load large representation files, eliminating
time-consuming network transmissions. In addition, the V6
architecture helps improve Internet communication by reducing
the number of server round trips to minimize latency in wide area
networks (WANs).
The ENOVIA V6 architecture uses an HTTP connection. For security,
all the communication between sites supports proxy and reverseproxy implementations and encryption capabilities through the
HTTP protocol. In addition to the IT security schemas, the ENOVIA
V6 applications deliver specific security schemas on data usage and
user roles.

ENOVIA V6 applications run in the ENOVIA Live Collaboration

environment, which includes ENOVIA Studio Modeling Platform,
the ENOVIA Live Collaboration Server, and the ENOVIA Live
Collaboration Business Process Services. These components, along
with the required database server and application servers, make up
the ENOVIA PLM solution.

Integration with Microsoft Office

ENOVIA V6 integrates with the 2007 Microsoft Office system
so that users do not have to leave Microsoft Office applications
to access the PLM system, and the bidirectional data flow in
ENOVIA V6 makes it possible for users to save data directly into
Microsoft Office applications. ENOVIA V6 features drag-and-drop
functionality, and PLM-based e-mail messages can appear in
Microsoft Office Outlook as tasks. Users can sign, approve, or
check off tasks in the Outlook to-do list and have that status
display as PLM milestones for others to see. ENOVIA V6 menus are
embedded in popular electronic computer-aided design (CAD) and
electronic design automation tools. Users can access these menus
for such tasks as check-in and check-out.

Cost Savings
ENOVIA V6 provides a quicker ramp-up time through a single
server and database for all applications, which can dramatically
reduce total cost of ownership (TCO). ENOVIA V6 is SOA standards
compliant so integration with existing systems is simple, and users
can create models of business processes with no programming
skills, which helps support an adaptable business model.
Organizations can further reduce TCO through the judicious
selection of a cost-efficient database.

Introducing SQL Server 2008

The fuel that powers a PLM system is the data collected
throughout the product life cycle; this data is maintained in an
enterprise database, such as SQL Server 2008. The database
must reliably make it possible for the PLM solution to perform
as it should so that business can continue. Because PLM is at the
heart of a manufacturing business, and because PLM system data
is so critical, the choice of the underlying database is extremely
important.
SQL Server 2008 provides a scalable, high-performance database
engine for ENOVIA V6, enabling the highest levels of availability
and security. SQL Server 2008 also:
Supports structured and semi-structured data, including digital
media formats for pictures, audio, video, and other multimedia
data.

Provides a secure, reliable, and scalable platform for businesscritical applications with transparent encryption, comprehensive
auditing, and enhanced mirroring.
Provides enterprise-wide policies that help reduce the time and
cost of managing data.
Simplifies development of data-driven applications with
integration of the Microsoft Visual Studio development
system and the Microsoft .NET Framework, support for a wide
variety of data types, and consistent storage from the device to
the data center.
Delivers information to all users with advanced visualizations,
powerful reports, and integrated analysis.
Most organizations today need to collaborate
cross-functionally, bringing together marketing,
product planning, customers, and outside
suppliers to develop high-quality, winning product
designs and doing so in a manner that helps
products get out to market faster. By working
together, Dassault Systmes and Microsoft are
able to offer an affordable alternative to more
expensive, complex database solutionsgiving
companies both large and small the power to
easily collaborate using the familiar Microsoft
tools that are ubiquitous in business.
Rob Shinno,
Global Director,
Hi-Tech Strategy & Solutions
ENOVIA R&D Dassault Systmes

Why Choose SQL Server 2008 for ENOVIA V6?

As a mission-critical PLM solution, ENOVIA V6 requires an
underlying database that meets enterprise performance,
manageability, and security requirements in a cost-effective
way. SQL Server 2008 meets these requirements, and its tight
integration with the Windows Server 2008 operating system
provides a truly comprehensive environment.
The strategic relationship between Dassault Systmes and
Microsoft provides users with many benefits, including:
Ease of use through integration with the common Microsoft
tools and programs that are universal in the business community.
Microsoft Office Excel for extracting, charting, and
presenting data.

 Microsoft Office Word for documentation of design updates.

Microsoft Unified Communications for video conferencing
and instant messaging.
Fewer critical errors and reduced costs associated with poor
collaboration through synchronized development between
packaging, product, operations, and research and development.
Faster deployment and shorter time to return on investment
(ROI) when you take advantage of industry-specific PLM best
practices and capabilities off the shelf.

Data compression, which reduces the storage requirements for

data so that you can store it more efficiently. It also provides
significant performance improvements for large I/O bound
workloads like data warehousing.
Support for multiple SQL Server Database Engine instances
and Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services instances on a
single server, which lets users optimize hardware usage. SQL
Server 2008 Enterprise supports up to 50 instances on a single
computer running a Windows Server operating system.

A Cost-Effective Database Platform

A solution that can grow as your business grows, with

technologies that integrate easily with existing software and can
be used by employees who do not have programming skills.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 has a lower TCO than its competitors
database software offerings. Independent studies have
demonstrated cost savings in two main TCO categories: 1

Additional information can be found in the Links for Further

Information section of this white paper.

A 24-percent reduction in IT labor costs

A Scalable, Enterprise-Class Platform with Powerful

Features
SQL Server 2008 lets users run business-critical data management
applications with enterprise-class scalability, high availability, and
security. Users can manage online transaction processing (OLTP)
on a very large scale and perform advanced analytics on large
amounts of data in data warehouses. SQL Server 2008 provides
built-in scalability features, with no need to purchase costly addons. These features include:
The Resource Governor, which lets administrators control
and allocate CPU and memory resources to high-priority
applications. This makes predictable application performance
possible, and it helps prevent resource-intense applications or
processes from negatively affecting performance.
Hot Add Memory, which lets users add physical memory without
restarting the server.
Unlimited virtualization on Hyper-V in Microsoft SQL Server
2008 Enterprise, which lets users run any number of software
instances on one physical server and any number of virtual
operating system environments on the server.
Hot Add CPU, which lets users dynamically scale a database
on demand by adding CPU resources to SQL Server 2008 on
supported hardware platforms without forcing any downtime on
applications.

A 44-percent reduction in software costs (which includes initial

and ongoing costs for a three-year period)
In studies, customers have said that the Microsoft licensing model
is easier to understand than that of competitorsthe Microsoft
licensing model also provides more cost-effective deployment
strategies, which simplifies planning and acquisition and reduces
long-term costs.
You can deploy SQL Server 2008 across a wide spectrum of
server hardware from multiple manufacturers. Additionally, most
companies find that they can deploy SQL Server 2008 on modest
hardware and still achieve the performance necessary to support
mission-critical applications. SQL Server 2008 provides data
compression and backup compression capabilities that can be
used to reduce storage requirements, helping to further reduce
hardware costs.

A Secure Database Platform for Applications

Secure databases have few critical vulnerabilities. When comparing
the number of critical vulnerabilities from 2004 to 2008, it is
clear that SQL Server has a track record that is superior to its
competitors. The National Vulnerability Database, a product of
the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), lists
zero critical vulnerabilities for SQL Server from 2004 to 2008.
Additionally, when security patches are needed, customers indicate
that the organized and streamlined patching methods in Microsoft
products make them much easier to patch than competitors
products.2

PLM World, The Teamcenter Database Decision, http://newsletter.plmworld.org/2009-volume-iii/volume-iii-partner-corner-ii/

Microsoft Corporation, Understanding How to Choose a Database Platform for Siemens PLM Softwares Teamcenter,
http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/7/9/97994136-6FF1-4763-BD1C-DF0C0FC66FFE/ChoosingTeamcenterDB.pdf

BENCHMARK TESTING DATA CONFIRMS SQL SERVER 2008 AS A SOLID CHOICE

FOR ENOVIA V6
Engineers from Dassault Systmes and Microsoft ran benchmark tests to measure performance and scalability for
ENOVIA V6 with SQL Server 2008. The tests were designed to simulate up to 5,000 collaborative users, a typical
number for a large enterprise environment. The tests measured transaction times for typical PLM tasks, such as
running searches and editing data.
SQL Server 2008 maintained a consistent average transaction time as the number of users increased, confirming
that it is a strong choice for the database platform for ENOVIA V6. The sections that follow detail the benchmark
tests and results.

Test Methodology
Dassault Systmes designed test cases to simulate the various
activities of a design engineer using ENOVIA V6, such as logging
in to the application, running searches, and reviewing and
editing data. Each test case comprised a number of transactions
that typify tasks a design engineer performs, such as expanding
and collapsing a view of a bill of materials (BOM) composed of
computer-aided design (CAD) drawings. A test run consisted of
executing all test cases. The average of the time required for all
transactions within the test cases was measured for each test run.
Test Cases: The seven test cases (A through G) used in the tests are
described in detail in Table 1.
Each test case contained an average of 12 transactions. For
example, the transactions within test case A, a read-intensive test
that simulates a design engineer expanding a 2,000-part BOM, are
listed in Table 2 (next page). The other test cases contained similar
transactions.

BOM Template: The test cases used a BOM template consisting

of five levels, with 1,000 parts per level. Of these parts, 800 parts
had no children (or parts within a part) and 200 parts had five
children each, for a total of 5,001 parts. An Engineering Change
Order (ECO) object maintains the relationships between parts data
and the system. The test cases used a total of four million objects.
Figure 1 (next page) illustrates a simplified example of the BOM in
the database.
Test Runs: A test run consisted of executing all seven test cases.
The time required to complete all transactions within each test
case was measured, and then the average transaction time was
calculated for each test run.

Table 1. Details of Test Cases

Dassault Systmes uses a 10:1 collaborative to concurrent ratio

estimation. This is based on observation that in production
environments, if 100 collaborative users are logged on to the
system, then approximately 10 users will be concurrently executing
on the application tier server at peak times.
The tests analyzed loads ranging in size from 20 to 500 concurrent
users, equivalent to 200 to 5,000 collaborative users in a real-world
environment using the concurrency ratio. Since more than 90
percent of Dassault Systmes customers have fewer than 500
concurrent users, these loads well represent typical enterprise
environments.
Table 3 (next page) details the test runs. Configuration changes
were made during the test runs (see Table 1 in Appendix 2:
Hardware Details).

Hardware and Software Setup

Table 2. Transaction descriptions

The test environment consisted of a database server (with two

configurations), application servers, and load generators. Details of
the test environment are shown in Figure 2 (next page). Additional
detail can be found in Appendix 2: Hardware Details.

Figure 1. BOM template

Table 3. Test Runs

Figure 2. Server configuration

Figure 3. SAN configuration

Database Server
Two hardware configurations were used for the database server:
Configuration 1 used an 8-core processor (3.16 gigahertz [GHz])
and 32 GB of RAM, and configuration 2 used a 16-core processor
(3.4 GHz) and 20 GB of RAM.
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Enterprise Edition was installed on
Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise (no customization) on the
database server. (Note that ENOVIA currently supports Windows
Server 2003 Service Pack 2 [SP2].) Installation and configuration
took less than 45 minutes.
The database server was attached to a XioTech Magnitude
3000 storage area network (SAN) with a separate disk volume
for database files (tempdb) and logs. Figure 3 shows the SAN
configuration. For more information on the XioTech Magnitude
3000 SAN, visit the Xiotech Storage Systems Web site.

Disk Subsystem: XioTech Magnitude 3D 3000s Enterprise

Controllers: Two controllers with two 2-gigabit (Gb) fiber
channel ports each; 2-GB mirrored cache (1 GB usable)
Disks: 224 146-GB, 15k-rpm drives (32 terabytes of raw disk)
Fabric Switch: Brocade SilkWorm 3800
16 2-Gb fiber ports
Host Bus Adapter: Emulex LPe1150-E
1 4-Gb Fiber port - PCI
Table 4 shows details of the disk configuration used in the tests.
ENOVIA uses SQL Server authentication for connections to the
database; therefore, during the database engine configuration,
engineers configured the SQL Server instance in Mixed Mode (SQL
Server authentication and Windows authentication) and selected
TCP/IP as the network protocol.

Table 4. I/O Disk Configuration

During the test runs, engineers disabled the Windows Firewall on

the database server. In production, a rigorous network and firewall
design and implementation are recommended (database 1433
port should be available).
Note: Administrators can configure SQL Server 2008 to optimize
performance and scalability with ENOVIA V6. Best practices can be
found in Appendix 1: Best Practices.

Load Generators
Test engineers installed HP LoadRunner software on Windows
Server 2003 Enterprise Edition with SP2 (32-bit) to generate
a system load locally (localhost mode). Engineers added four
additional load-generation servers for the final test run to simulate
larger user loads. For more information on HP LoadRunner
software, visit the HP LoadRunner Web page.

Engineers installed the ENOVIA applications on two application

servers, each with 12 Java virtual machines (JVMs) and sufficient
memory. Each JVM was configured with a complete installation of
the ENOVIA solution. Requests were sent to all 24 JVMs, and tests
for each unique user were tied to the selected JVM (sticky session).
ENOVIAs Java-based Live Collaboration platform uses the
Microsoft SQL Server Native Client to communicate with SQL
Server; therefore, the engineers installed SQL Server Native Client
on all application servers. For more information on the Microsoft
SQL Server Native Client, visit the Microsoft SQL Server Native
Client Web page.

Application Servers

Engineers installed Apache Tomcat on each application server;

configured Apache Tomcat with its own workspace, cache, and logs
directory; and created a test user account with full administrative
capabilities. For more information on Apache Tomcat, visit the
Apache Tomcat Web page.

The tests used the following ENOVIA V6 applications configured to

use Microsoft SQL Server 2008:

Test Results

ENOVIA Studio Modeling Platform V6 R2010, which includes the

Business Modeler, System Manager, and Matrix Query Language
(MQL) desktop (or thick) client applications.
ENOVIA Live Collaboration Server V6 R2010.
ENOVIA Live Collaboration Business Process Services V6 R2010,
which includes capabilities from the Application Exchange
Framework, Common Components, Team Central, and Business
Process Metrics applications.
ENOVIA Engineering Central V6 R2010.
ENOVIA X-BOM Manufacturing V6 R2010.

Engineers used hardware configuration 1 (8-core CPU, 32-GB

RAM, 100-Mbps router) for test runs 1 through 4, with the user
load increasing from 20 to 500 concurrent users. The average
time required for the transactions within the seven test cases was
calculated for each test run. Dassault Systmes engineers consider
an average transaction time of less than three seconds to be
acceptable for a typical enterprise user load of 500 concurrent
users or fewer.
Because of high CPU consumption in run 4, engineers used
hardware configuration 2 (16-core CPU, 20-GB RAM, 1-Gbps
router) for runs 5 and 6. Note that engineers added four additional
load-generating servers for run 6.
Table 5 shows a summary of the test results, and Figure 4
graphically represents the test results.

Table 5. Average transaction times for test runs 1-6

10

Figure 4. Average transaction times for test runs 1-6

Hardware configuration 1: 8-core/32-GB database server, 100-Mbps router

Hardware configuration 2: 16-core/20-GB database server, 1-Gbps router

Conclusion
Scalability and stability are important to users of ENOVIA V6.
Customers want assurances that as their organizations grow and
the number of ENOVIA V6 users increases their database platform
can maintain the performance they count on.
The benchmark tests designed by Dassault Systmes simulate realworld usage patterns of ENOVIA V6 customers. The results show
that SQL Server 2008 can maintain consistent transaction times
as the number of concurrent users increases to 500. Since most
Dassault Systmes customers support fewer than 500 concurrent
users, SQL Server 2008 can scale to meet their needs.

11

SUMMARY
ENOVIA V6 provides mission-critical PLM solutions for enterprises around the globe. Given its importance,
the underlying database that supports an ENOVIA V6 implementation must satisfy enterprise performance,
manageability, and security requirements in a cost-effective manner. SQL Server 2008 meets all of these
requirements, proving to be a good choice to support ENOVIA V6.
Benchmark tests show that SQL Server 2008 maintains a consistent response time as the number of users
increasesconfirming that SQL Server 2008 can meet the scalability and performance goals of enterprises that
use ENOVIA V6. SQL Server 2008 also costs less than its competitors and uses a simpler licensing model. Hardware
costs for a typical SQL Server deployment are usually less than the hardware costs for deploying a competitors
database software, particularly when you use SQL Server data compression and backup compression to reduce
storage requirements. SQL Server 2008 also automates, streamlines, or eliminates many routine database
management tasks, reducing the costs associated with database administration.
Enterprise customers can select SQL Server 2008 as the database platform for ENOVIA V6 with confidence.

LINKS FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

Following are links for further information:
SQL Server 2008 Performance and Scalability

Advanced Database Features

SQL Server Books Online

Creating Compressed Tables and Indexes

Performance and Scale

High Availability Solutions Overview

SQL Server 2008 Benchmarks

SQL Server Optimization

Additional Product and Technical Information

SQL Server 2008 on MSDN

Optimizing Server Performance

SQL Server on TechNet

Using Snapshot Isolation

SQL Server Developer Center

Database Engine Tuning Advisor How-to Topics

Windows Server 2008 R2

SQL Server 2008 TCO

Dassault Systmes ENOVIA

Reduce Costs and Deliver Value

About ENOVIA

SQL Server Cost Saving Calculator

ENOVIA white papers

Compare SQL Server 2008 with Oracle 11G Database

ENOVIA V6 Architecture Performance Capability Scalability

News and Reports: Analyst Reports

12

APPENDIX 1: BEST PRACTICES

Database administrators can configure SQL Server 2008 to optimize ENOVIA V6 performance. The following
guidelines can help you fine-tune performance.

Tempdb
The tempdb system database is a global resource that is
available to all users connected to the instance of SQL Server
2008. Configuring tempdb correctly is critical for optimizing
performance because there is a potential for added performance
stress on tempdb from SQL Server 2008 features such as readcommitted snapshot isolation and online indexing.

Monitor and avoid automatic file growth, as it impacts

performance. Every time SQL Server is started, the tempdb file is
recreated with the default size. While tempdb can grow, it does
take resources to perform this task. To reduce the overhead from
tempdb growth, you might want to permanently increase the
default size of tempdb after careful monitoring.

It is recommended that you isolate tempdb from other database

activity and place tempdb on its own set of physical disks. It is
especially important to use RAID 10 for tempdb.

You should also consider adding multiple data files to the tempdb
filegroup. Using multiple files reduces tempdb contention and
yields significantly better scalability. As a general rule, create one
data file for each processor core on the server. For example, a fourprocessor dual-core server would be configured with eight tempdb
data files.

Pre-sizing tempdb to a sufficiently large size is strongly

recommended. A good rule of thumb is to start with a tempdb
that is 20 percent to 30 percent of the size of the database; you
can then increase the size based on utilization for your specific
workload.
When the READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT database option is ON,
logical copies are maintained for all data modifications performed
in the database. Every time a row is modified by a specific
transaction, the instance of the database engine stores a version
of the previously committed image of the row in tempdb until
the transaction that modified the row is committed. The tempdb
database should therefore be sized to have sufficient capacity to
store these row versions, in addition to the other objects that are
usually stored in tempdb.
It is recommended that you set the file growth increment to a
reasonable size to avoid the tempdb database files from growing
by too small a value. If the file growth is too small compared to the
amount of data that is being written to tempdb, tempdb might
have to constantly expand. This expansion affects performance.
See the general guidelines in Table 6 for setting the FILEGROWTH
increment for tempdb files.

Read-Committed Snapshot
Read-committed snapshot isolation level was first introduced
in Microsoft SQL Server 2005. Using this isolation level, the
frequency of blocking and deadlocking issues caused by lock
contention is greatly reduced.
Every time a row is modified by a specific transaction, the
instance of the database engine stores a version of the previously
committed image of the row in tempdb. The read-committed
snapshot isolation level provides the following benefits:
SELECT statements do not lock data during a read operation.
Read transactions do not block write transactions and vice versa.
SELECT statements do not acquire locks in most cases, reducing
the number of locks required by a transaction and reducing the
system overhead required to manage locks.
SELECT statements can access the last committed value of the
row, while other transactions are updating the row without
getting blocked.
Fewer lock escalations occur.
For more information, refer to Using Snapshot Isolation.

Table 6. Tempdb guidelines

13

Disk I/O
For optimal performance, it is imperative that the disk subsystem
support the needs of the application. In addition to properly sizing
and locating tempdb, put database files and transaction log files
on separate physical disks or a RAID storage system.

Make sure that database files and transaction log files are large
enough so that files do not automatically grow during normal daily
operations. This is an exceedingly slow operation that requires
users to wait for the operation to complete. If performance is
still inadequate, consider other tuning options, such as adding
database and transaction log files so there are as many equally
sized files as there are CPUs on the server.

APPENDIX 2: HARDWARE DETAILS

Table 7 shows detail of the hardware that engineers from Dassault Systmes and Microsoft used for the
benchmark test runs.

Table 7. Hardware Details

The information contained in this document represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market
conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication. This white paper
is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT.
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All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

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