Results: Enterprise Workload Performance
Our next set of tests simulates different enterprise-oriented workloads, including database, file server, Web server, and workstation configurations.
The database workload (also categorized as transaction processing) involves purely random I/O. Its profile consists of 67% reads and 33% writes using 8 KB transfers.
The P420m holds its own at lower queue depths, but can't keep up with Micron's flagship at higher queue depths. It does best Intel's SSD 910 though, eventually doubling its effort. The P420m owes a lot of its performance at lower queue depths to the flat random write performance across all queue depths.
In the file server workload, which consists of 80% random reads of varying transfer sizes, we see the same basic results. Micron's P420m once again runs out of steam against the P320h and the Z-Drive at higher queue depths, but nearly doubles the SSD 910.
Our Web server workload (100% read, varying transfer size), gives us a curious result. The P420m comes out on top across the board. We're going to chalk this up to our P320h not quite living up to its read specification on our test bench. In practice, both Micron drives should be about equal.
Finally, the workstation benchmark (80% reads, 80% random), shows the same general trend. Since the P320h and Z-Drive are not direct competitors, it's easy to write off any perceived shortcomings when comparing them to the P420h. The massive edge in read performance over Intel's SSD 910 shows up in our mixed workload tests, allowing the P420m to nearly double its performance.
