Dell PowerEdge R720xd Scalability for SQL Server 2008 R2 Databases update from October 2012

Dell launched the 12th Generation PowerEdge servers, with support for Intel Xeon Sandy Bridge processors for small, medium and enterprise portfolios. The PowerEdge R720xd is a dense storage 2 socket (2S) 2U rack server with emphasis on capacity and performance for entry level customer environments. It was designed to provide an ideal single-platform for the application deployments that need a huge processing power and massive internal storage on a single server. The intent of this paper is to show how R720xd can be efficiently and effectively scaled up from storage and processor point of view.

This white paper focuses on the following aspects for Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) workloads:
•    The R720xd components that make it ideal platform for hosting Microsoft® SQL Server® databases.
•    How the R720xd can be scaled up from the storage point of view by comparing the performance results of half-populated and fully-populated server configurations.
•    How the R720xd can be scaled up from the processor point of view by comparing the performance results of single socket and dual socket processor systems.