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Category: Benchmark metrics

A first look at the upcoming AIXPRT learning tool

Last month, we announced that we’re working on a new AIXPRT learning tool. Because we want tech journalists, OEM lab engineers, and everyone who is interested in AIXPRT to be able to find the answers they need in as little time as possible, we’re designing this tool to serve as an information hub for common AIXPRT topics and questions.

We’re still finalizing aspects of the tool’s content and design, so some details may change, but we can now share a sneak peak of the main landing page. In the screenshot below, you can see that the tool will feature four primary areas of content:

  • The FAQ section will provide quick answers to the questions we receive most from testers and the tech press.
  • The AIXPRT basics section will describe specific topics such as the benchmark’s toolkits, networks, workloads, and hardware and software requirements.
  • The testing and results section will cover the testing process, the metrics the benchmark produces, and how to publish results.
  • The AI/ML primer will provide brief, easy-to-understand definitions of key AI and ML terms and concepts for those who want to learn more about the subject.

We’re excited about the new AIXPRT learning tool, and will share more information here in the blog as we get closer to a release date. If you have any questions about the tool, please let us know!

Justin

Next up: a white paper about the CloudXPRT data analytics workload

Soon, we’ll be publishing a CloudXPRT white paper that focuses on the benchmark’s data analytics workload. We summarized the workload in the Introduction to CloudXPRT white paper, but in the same way that the Overview of the CloudXPRT Web Microservices Workload paper did, the new paper will discuss the workload in much greater detail.

In addition to providing practical information about the installation package and minimum system requirements for the data analytics workload, the paper will describe test configuration variables, structural components, task workflows, and test metrics. It will also include guidance on interpreting test results and submitting them for publication.

As we’ve noted, CloudXPRT is one of the more complex tools in the XPRT family, with no shortage of topics to explore. Possible future topics include the impact of adjusting specific test configuration options, recommendations for results reporting, and methods for results analysis. If there are specific topics that you’d like us to address in future white papers, please feel free to send us your ideas!

We hope that the upcoming Overview of the CloudXPRT Data Analytics Workload paper will serve as a go-to resource for CloudXPRT testers, and will answer any questions you have about the workload. Once it goes live, we’ll provide links in the Helpful Info box on CloudXPRT.com and the CloudXPRT section of our XPRT white papers page.

If you have any questions, please let us know!

Justin

Coming soon: a white paper about the CloudXPRT web microservices workload

Soon, we’ll be expanding our portfolio of CloudXPRT resources with a white paper that focuses on the benchmark’s web microservices workload. While we summarized the workload in the Introduction to CloudXPRT white paper, the new paper will discuss the workload in much greater detail.

In addition to providing practical information about the web microservices installation packages and minimum system requirements, the paper describes the workload’s test configuration variables, structural components, task workflows, and test metrics. It also discusses interpreting test results and the process for submitting results for publication.

As we’ve noted, CloudXPRT is one of the more complex tools in the XPRT family, with no shortage of topics to explore further. We plan to publish a companion overview for the data analytics workload, and possible future topics include the impact of adjusting specific test configuration options, recommendations for results reporting, and methods for analysis.

We hope that the upcoming Overview of the CloudXPRT Web Microservices Workload paper will serve as a go-to resource for CloudXPRT testers, and will answer any questions you have about the workload. Once it goes live, we’ll provide links in the Helpful Info box on CloudXPRT.com and the CloudXPRT section of our XPRT white papers page.

If you have any questions, please let us know!

Justin

CloudXPRT version 1.0 is here!

The CloudXPRT Preview period has ended, and CloudXPRT version 1.0 installation packages are now available on CloudXPRT.com and the BenchmarkXPRT GitHub repository! Like the Preview build, CloudXPRT version 1.0 includes two workloads: web microservices and data analytics (you can find more details about the workloads here). Testers can use metrics from the workloads to compare IaaS stack (both hardware and software) performance and to evaluate whether any given stack is capable of meeting SLA thresholds. You can configure CloudXPRT to run on local datacenter, Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, or Microsoft Azure deployments.

Several different test packages are available for download from the CloudXPRT download page. For detailed installation instructions and hardware and software requirements for each, click the package’s readme link. On CloudXPRT.com, the Helpful Info box contains resources such as links to the Introduction to CloudXPRT white paper, the CloudXPRT master readme, and the CloudXPRT GitHub repository.

The GitHub repository also contains the CloudXPRT source code. The source code is freely available for testers to download and review.

Performance results from this release are comparable to performance results from the CloudXPRT Preview build. Testers who wish to publish results on CloudXPRT.com can find more information about the results submission and review process in the blog. We post the monthly results cycle schedule on the results submission page.

We’re thankful for all the input we received during the CloudXPRT development process and Preview period. If you have any questions about CloudXPRT, please let us know.

Justin

Improving the CloudXPRT results viewer

This week, we made some changes to the CloudXPRT results viewer that we think will simplify the results-browsing experience and allow visitors to more quickly and easily find important data.

The first set of changes involves how we present test system information in the main results table and on the individual results details pages. We realized that there was potential for confusion around the “CPU” and “Number of nodes” categories. We removed those and created the following new fields: “Cluster components,” “Nodes (work + control plane),”  and “vCPUs (work + control plane).” These new categories better describe test configurations and clarify how many CPUs engage with the workload.

The second set of changes involves the number of data points that we list in the table for each web microservices test run. For example, previously, we published a unique entry for each level of concurrency a test run records. If a run scaled to 32 concurrent instances, we presented the data for each instance in its own row. This helped to show the performance curve during a single test as the workload scaled up, but it made it more difficult for visitors to identify the best throughput results from an individual run. We decided to consolidate the results from a complete test run on a single row, highlighting only the maximum number of successful requests (throughout). All the raw data from each run remains available for download on the details page for each result, but visitors don’t have to wade through all that data to find the configuration’s main “score.”

We view the development of the CloudXPRT results viewer as an ongoing process. As we add results and receive feedback from testers about the data presentation formats that work best for them, we’ll continue to add more features and tweak existing ones to make them as useful as possible. If you have any questions about CloudXPRT results or the results viewer, please let us know!

Justin

The CloudXPRT results viewer is live

We’re happy to announce that the CloudXPRT results viewer is now live with results from the first few rounds of CloudXPRT Preview testing we conducted in our lab. Here are some tips to help you to navigate the viewer more efficiently:

  • Click the tabs at the top of the table to switch from Data analytics workload results to Web microservices workload results.
  • Click the header of any column to sort the data on that variable. Single click to sort A to Z and double-click to sort Z to A.
  • Click the link in the Source/details column to visit a detailed page for that result, where you’ll find additional test configuration and system hardware information and the option to download results files.
  • By default, the viewer displays eight results per page, which you can change to 16, 48, or Show all.
  • The free-form search field above the table lets you filter for variables such as cloud service or processor.

We’ll be adding more features, including expanded filtering and sorting mechanisms, to the results viewer in the near future. We’re also investigating ways to present multiple data points in a graph format, which will allow visitors to examine performance behavior curves in conjunction with factors such as concurrency and resource utilization.

We welcome your CloudXPRT results submissions! To learn about the new submission and review process we’ll be using, take a look at last week’s blog.

If you have any questions or suggestions for ways that we can improve the results viewer, please let us know!

Justin

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