Benchmark Testing Results:

Teamcenter Running on SQL Server 2012 and

Servers Based on Intel Xeon Processors
Running Teamcenter from Siemens PLM Software on Microsoft SQL Server 2012 and servers based on
Intel Xeon processors provides unmatched performance and scalability

Technical White Paper

Published: March 2012
Applies to: Microsoft SQL Server 2012

Abstract
In today’s highly competitive global marketplace, industry-leading companies need to develop and deliver
world-class products quickly and efficiently. Product lifecycle management (PLM) can help companies achieve
these objectives by driving product and process innovation and helping companies to build the right product
and build the product right.

Teamcenter, from Siemens PLM Software, is the world’s most widely used PLM system, with more licenses
deployed at more companies in more industries than any other PLM software. Proven Teamcenter solutions
support the best practices and standards-based processes that help companies increase productivity, improve
global teamwork, control a product’s lifecycle, and speed their return on investment (ROI).

This white paper presents benchmark testing data that validates the performance and scalability of Microsoft
SQL Server 2012 as an enterprise-class database management system for Teamcenter. The tests confirm that
when running on SQL Server 2012, Teamcenter can easily scale to 10,000 concurrent users while maintaining
excellent performance.

This paper also describes some of the additional benefits that SQL Server 2012 brings to Teamcenter,
demonstrating that together, SQL Server 2012 and Teamcenter running on servers based on Intel Xeon
processors 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.

Benchmark Testing Results: Siemens PLM Software Teamcenter and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 i
 ©2012 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This document is provided “as-is.” Information and views
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You may copy and use this document for your internal, reference purposes.

Benchmark Testing Results: Siemens PLM Software Teamcenter and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 ii
 Table of Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 1
Introducing Teamcenter ................................................................................................................................... 2
Benefits of SQL Server 2012.............................................................................................................................. 5
Benefits of Servers Based on Intel Xeon Processors ......................................................................................... 7

Benchmark Testing Overview ........................................................................................................................ 7

Test Environment.............................................................................................................................................. 8
Network ........................................................................................................................................................ 8
Software ....................................................................................................................................................... 8
Hardware ...................................................................................................................................................... 9
Storage ....................................................................................................................................................... 11
Benchmark Test Procedure ............................................................................................................................. 13

Benchmark Testing Results .......................................................................................................................... 15

Horizontal Scalability ...................................................................................................................................... 15
SQL Server 2012 Performance ........................................................................................................................ 15
User Experience .............................................................................................................................................. 17

Summary ..................................................................................................................................................... 17

Additional Information ................................................................................................................................ 18

About Siemens PLM Software ........................................................................................................................ 18
About Microsoft.............................................................................................................................................. 18
About Intel ...................................................................................................................................................... 18

Benchmark Testing Results: Siemens PLM Software Teamcenter and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 iii
Introduction
In today’s fiercely competitive environment, manufacturers need to quickly capitalize on new
market opportunities so they can get to market ahead of their competitors. But bringing a new
product to market—from concept to launch—requires a coordinated effort among many company
departments, from design to manufacturing to distribution. This effort can be particularly
challenging when these departments are geographically dispersed, a common reality in today’s
global economy. Compressed timelines, complex products, and intense global competition all make
managing a product’s life cycle a daunting task.

Companies know that it is innovation that sets them apart from their competitors, especially in
challenging market and economic conditions. To effectively develop new offerings, companies need
to facilitate collaboration among their stakeholders worldwide. They need to foster the exchange of
ideas, and they need to encourage the reuse of proven parts, equipment, and processes to reduce
costs. Capturing knowledge and expertise for continuous
improvement helps innovative companies succeed, as does
“Microsoft and Siemens PLM Software are
tracking regulatory compliance and integrating design transforming how manufacturers manage
information with manufacturing best practices. Product life product data from concept to retirement
cycle management (PLM) is the strategic business approach by delivering a powerful, low-cost set of
tools to help employees and external
that encompasses all of these endeavors.
creative teams collaborate on innovative
products that meet the demands of their
PLM is the process of managing all phases of product customers.”
development—from initial conception through end of life.
Effective PLM combines product information, business Steve Ballmer
CEO, Microsoft
processes, and people and capital 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 the organization. The hallmark of a world-class PLM
strategy is to increase the enterprise’s flexibility and agility to respond swiftly and effectively to new
changes, new markets, and competitors.

PLM systems have been adopted by industries as diverse as aerospace, high tech and electronics,
consumer packaged goods, life sciences, and automotive. These industries use PLM to connect and
integrate people and processes involved in the design and manufacture of their products. PLM
systems and their related methodologies continue to mature, resulting in integrated processes that
now span the full product lifecycle.

Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of the Siemens Industry Automation Division, offers
Teamcenter, the most widely used PLM system in the world. Teamcenter focuses on individual,
application, and IT productivity, supporting enterprise-level companies with a suite of digital
lifecycle management solutions that target different business initiatives. With Teamcenter as a
single source of product and process knowledge, individuals and teams can be more productive
around-the-clock and from anywhere in the world.

Benchmark Testing Results: Siemens PLM Software Teamcenter and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 1
 For more than 15 years, Siemens has worked with Microsoft, integrating the Siemens PLM Software
family of PLM software with Microsoft products and technologies. The result: powerful PLM
solutions that help companies accelerate innovation, optimize resources, ensure quality, and
compress time-to-market.

For more information about the Siemens and Microsoft alliance, visit
www.microsoft.com/siemensplm or www.siemens.com/plm/microsoft.

This white paper provides guidance to technical decision makers and IT professionals who are
evaluating database platforms for Teamcenter.

The paper begins with an introduction to Teamcenter, to Intel Xeon processors, and to Microsoft
SQL Server 2012, a proven database platform for enterprise Teamcenter deployments. The paper
discusses the many advantages SQL Server 2012 brings to Teamcenter, including manageability,
scalability, reliability, and affordability.

The white paper then presents benchmark test data that confirms that SQL Server 2012 running on
Intel Xeon-based processors scales to meet the needs of even large Teamcenter deployments.
Enterprise customers can be confident in the choice of SQL Server 2012 as a database platform for
Teamcenter.

Introducing Teamcenter
Teamcenter is a comprehensive portfolio of digital lifecycle management solutions built on an open
PLM foundation, and designed to provide users with secure, global access to a single source of
product knowledge. With a unified architecture and a robust set of applications, Teamcenter helps
companies implement end-to-end PLM by delivering a broad and deep portfolio of seamlessly
integrated modules to improve efficiency at each stage of a product’s lifecycle.

Teamcenter solutions support a wide variety of PLM initiatives—new product development and
introduction (NPDI); systems engineering; global product development; global manufacturing;
technical publishing; maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO); strategic sourcing and regulatory
compliance, and many other business functions. Table 1 summarizes these critical business tasks.

Benchmark Testing Results: Siemens PLM Software Teamcenter and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 2
 Table 1. Critical business tasks addressed by Teamcenter

Critical business initiatives targeted by Teamcenter

 New product development and introduction
Improve innovation by facilitating real-time global collaboration among all lifecycle participants
and processes.

 Systems engineering
Define product functions from a system-level approach, managing the system requirements and
how they interact with sub-systems and components to ensure that the product is designed
correctly from a functional point of view.

 Value-chain synchronization
Excel globally by optimizing the exchange of ideas and information between all value-chain
participants.

 Enterprise data management

Improve competitiveness by providing secure access to an enterprise’s product and process
knowledge.

 Commonization and reuse

Reuse proven parts, equipment, and processes to create cost-efficiency and foster best practices.

 Technical publishing
Deliver documentation for a product—assembly, operation, and maintenance—in time for product
launch, taking advantage of configured design data that is presented in appropriate industry-
standard formats.

 Knowledge/intellectual property management

Capture the knowledge and expertise of lifecycle participants to continuously improve innovation.

 Regulatory compliance
Achieve market compliance by integrating safety, environmental, and government requirements
early in the design stage.

 Production efficiency
Integrate product and process design with manufacturing best practices to increase production
quality and performance.

 Mechatronics
Improve your customers’ value experience by integrating mechanical, electrical, and software
subsystems, relationships, and components.

Benchmark Testing Results: Siemens PLM Software Teamcenter and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 3
 The Platform Extensibility Services in Teamcenter include configuration services so that Teamcenter
can be easily tailored to an individual business without developing costly custom software. They
also include connection services so that Teamcenter can be seamlessly integrated with other
enterprise applications (including enterprise resource planning *ERP+ and other Teamcenter
installations) to enable enterprise-wide business processes. Customization services mean
Teamcenter can be extended with maintainable and upgradeable custom software to meet
specialized business needs.

With its flexible, four-tier, service-oriented architecture (SOA), Teamcenter can be deployed as
effectively in small businesses as it can in the largest global enterprises. Because each tier plays a
specific role in the Teamcenter configuration, each has different resource needs. These four
functional tiers include:
 Client tier
Hosts client applications and secure file caches, and provides user interface input and
output processing. In the benchmark testing, this tier provided the load generation.

 Web tier
Provides web-enabled access to Teamcenter services and enforces network security. In the
benchmark testing, Internet Information Services (IIS) 7.5 was installed on this tier. The web
tier communicates with the enterprise tier.
 Enterprise (or business logic) tier
Hosts business logic, applies security rules, and serves dynamic content to clients. This tier
is computationally intensive and requires a large amount of random access memory (RAM)
for efficient performance.

 Resource tier
Stores persistent metadata in tables and persistent bulk data as files. This tier is the second
most resource-intensive because it includes the database server. Unlike the business logic
tier, the database depends heavily on an efficient input/output (I/O) configuration rather
than large amounts of RAM. In the benchmark testing, the database server was connected
to a storage area network (SAN) to meet the I/O requirements.

The four tiers are shown in Figure 1.

Benchmark Testing Results: Siemens PLM Software Teamcenter and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 4
 Figure 1. Four-tier architecture

Benefits of SQL Server 2012

The underlying core of a PLM system is the data collected throughout the product lifecycle; this
data is maintained in an enterprise database such as SQL Server 2012. Because PLM is at the heart
of a manufacturing business, and because the data that is collected is so critical, the choice of
underlying database is extremely important to ensure that the PLM solution keeps a company’s
business running.

SQL Server 2012 is a comprehensive, integrated, and enterprise-ready data-management software

solution. It provides a reliable, cost-effective, low-maintenance database framework for Teamcenter
that can support the largest and most process-intensive deployments. Hundreds of enterprises are
currently running 10 terabyte (TB) and larger transactional databases on SQL Server.

Running Teamcenter on SQL Server 2012 provides customers with many benefits:
 Six nines (99.9999 percent) uptime availability
Teamcenter customers can protect their mission-critical databases from downtime and data
loss with six nines uptime availability.1,2

 Faster to deploy
On average, SQL Server database administrators (DBAs) can install and configure new
database servers in 1.5 hours, while the largest competitor’s DBAs can take 6 hours.3

1
http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/product-info/why-sql-server.aspx
2
http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Microsoft-SQL-Server-2008-R2-Enterprise/Stratus-Technologies/Protect-your-
mission-critical-databases-from-downtime-and-data-loss-with-six-nines-uptime-availability/4000007136
3
http://www.alinean.com/PDFs/Microsoft_SQL_Server_and_Oracle-Alinean_TCA_Study_2010.pdf

Benchmark Testing Results: Siemens PLM Software Teamcenter and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 5
  Lower hardware cost
SQL Server can run on standard commodity server hardware, which can dramatically lower
the TCO for customers.

 Lower software costs

The list price of SQL Server is a third of the largest competitors;4 in addition, SQL Server
includes major database-related features, such as high availability, remote disaster
recovery, partitioning, data compression, transparent data encryption, spatial, master data
management, complex event processing, extract, transform, and load (ETL), online
analytical processing (OLAP), data mining, reporting services, and self-service business
intelligence (BI) tools. Competitors’ licensing models add costs for options and add-ins.5

 Simpler systems management and lower staffing costs

SQL Server database administrators can typically manage four times as many physical
databases as a competitor’s DBAs, leading to an estimated annual savings of $5,779 in
administrative costs per database, a 460 percent difference in annual cost of administration
per database.6,7
 Most secure of any of the major database platforms
Since 2002, SQL Server has recorded the fewest reported vulnerabilities as compiled by the
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).8

With SQL Server, Teamcenter customers can save with reduced licensing, hardware, administration,
and support fees, which translate into substantially lower costs over the life of the system.

For more information about SQL Server 2012, visit www.microsoft.com/sql.

Additionally, Teamcenter is tightly integrated with the Microsoft Office system and Office
SharePoint Server, providing a familiar, easy-to-use user interface and extending the power of PLM
far beyond engineering and manufacturing departments to deliver:

 Expanded, secure access to information across the company, using industry-standard

software for reporting and analysis.
 Real-time, global collaboration across your extended value chain through both Teamcenter
and Microsoft Unified Communications—an enterprise-wide solution that combines e-mail
and instant messages, audio, video, web conferencing, and voice mail.

4
http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/tools/cost-savings-calclator.aspx
5
http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/product-info/competitor-compare.aspx
6
http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/2008/en/us/compare-oracle.aspx
7
http://www.alinean.com/PDFs/Microsoft_SQL_Server_and_Oracle-Alinean_TCA_Study_2010.pdf
8
http://itic-corp.com/blog/2010/09/sql-server-most-secure-database-oracle-least-secure-database-since-2002

Benchmark Testing Results: Siemens PLM Software Teamcenter and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 6
Benefits of Servers Based on Intel Xeon Processors
Servers based on Intel Xeon processors are well suited to the demands of mission-critical PLM
solutions and provide dramatic cost savings in comparison with proprietary reduced instruction set
computers (RISCs) and mainframe systems.

As demonstrated by the benchmark testing environment, servers based on the Intel Xeon processor
E5 family are ideal for web and application servers in the front and middle tiers of a PLM solution.
They are often deployed in distributed architectures that are highly resilient and easily scaled
through the addition of servers.

Servers based on the Intel Xeon processor E7 family provide the high-end scalability and availability
needed to support large, transaction-intensive databases. These larger and more robust servers
include integrated support for all of the following:

 Scalable performance
A single eight-socket server based on the Intel Xeon processor E7 family provides up to 80
processing cores, 160 threads, and 4 TB of memory for high-volume, transaction-intensive
T24 workloads. Large cache configurations (up to 30 MB per processor) keep frequently
used data close to the processor cores to reduce latency and increase throughput.
 Data protection
Advanced circuitry detects and corrects errors across all major subsystems and
communication pathways and isolates uncorrectable errors so they can’t poison other data.
 High availability
Built-in failover and automatic reconfiguration capabilities help to maintain uninterrupted
operation. Intel Machine Check Architecture-Recovery works in tandem with Microsoft
Windows Server to enable automated system recovery in complex error scenarios.

 Serviceability
Built-in support for predictive failure analysis and partitioning enables problematic
components to be identified and replaced before they impact performance and without
bringing down the system for maintenance.

For more information about Intel Xeon processors, visit http://www.intel.com/xeon.

Benchmark Testing Overview

As part of their strategic alliance, Siemens PLM Software and Microsoft ran benchmarking tests to
evaluate the performance and scalability of current versions of Teamcenter and SQL Server running
on servers based on Intel Xeon processors.

The tests, designed to reflect “real-world” conditions, were run at the Microsoft Enterprise
Engineering Center (EEC) lab in Redmond, Washington. The main goal was to successfully

Benchmark Testing Results: Siemens PLM Software Teamcenter and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 7
 benchmark Teamcenter 8.3 in a horizontal server configuration9 with SQL Server 2012 and IIS 7.5 to
10,000 concurrent users using IBM Rational Performance Tester (RPT).

Test Environment
In the benchmark tests, Teamcenter was run in a four-tier thin-client configuration, SQL Server was
used for the database software, and RPT 8.2, a user-simulation tool, was used for load generation.
This section provides detail about the test environment.

Network
The benchmark testing used two separate networks (from two network ports per computer): a
private network for benchmark data only and a public network for maintenance and monitoring.
Figure 2 shows the networks used.

Figure 2. Network overview

Software
The following software was used in the benchmark testing:
 SQL Server 2012 RC0
 Teamcenter 8.3
 Windows Server 2008 R2
 IIS 7.5
 FlexNet Publisher (Flexlm v11.9)
 RPT 8.2

9
Horizontal scaling is scaling by additional servers. Vertical scaling is scaling with processor power on a single, multi-
processor server.

Benchmark Testing Results: Siemens PLM Software Teamcenter and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 8
Hardware
Separate computers were used in the four tiers so that the resource usage could be accurately
measured during the benchmark testing.
Client Tier
The client tier consists of six identical computers: five RPT agents (the load generators) and a single
RPT workbench (the controller). Table 2 lists details of the client-tier hardware.

Table 2. Client-tier hardware

Client-tier hardware

Number of servers Six

Server model HP ProLiant DL380-G5

Processor type Intel Xeon 5150

Number of processors/cores per server Two with 2 cores (4 cores total)

Processor speed 2.66 GHz

Server RAM 16 GB

Web Tier
IIS 7.5 was installed and configured in the web tier. Three IIS web servers were used, and an F5
network load balancer (F5 BIG0IP 6800, 2 CPU) was added to the configuration. Table 3 shows
details of the web-tier hardware.
Table 3. Web -tier hardware

Web-tier hardware

Number of servers Three

Server model HP ProLiant DL380-G6

Processor type Intel Xeon X5650

Number of processors/cores per server Two with 6 cores (12 cores total)

Processor speed 2.66 GHz

Server RAM 72 GB

Benchmark Testing Results: Siemens PLM Software Teamcenter and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 9
 Enterprise Tier
The enterprise tier, where the Teamcenter processes execute, is the most resource intensive tier; it
requires a large amount of RAM for efficient performance. To scale to 10,000 users, 10 identically
configured servers were added to a server pool in the enterprise tier, each supporting 1,000 users.
Table 4 lists details of the enterprise-tier hardware.
Table 4. Enterprise-tier hardware

Enterprise-tier hardware

Number of servers 10

Server model HP ProLiant DL380-G7

Processor type Intel Xeon X5670

Number of processors/cores per server Two with 6 cores (12 cores total)

Processor speed 2.93 GHz

Server RAM 72 GB

Resource Tier
The resource tier is the second most resource intensive tier because it contains the database server.
In addition, this tier also contains a file management systems (FMS) server and a Flexlm server for
license management. Unlike the enterprise tier, the resource tier depends on an efficient I/O
configuration rather than on large amounts of RAM. In the benchmark testing, the database server
was connected to SAN to address the I/O requirements. Table 5 lists details of the resource-tier
hardware.
Table 5. Resource-tier hardware

Resource-tier hardware

Database server FMS server Flexlm server

Number of servers One One Two

NEC Express HP ProLiant DL380- HP ProLiant DL380-

Server model
5800/A1080a G6 G6

Processor type Intel Xeon E7-8870 Intel Xeon X5650 Intel Xeon X5650

Number of Eight with 10 cores (80 Two with 6 cores Two with 6 cores
processors/cores per server cores total) (12 cores total) (12 cores total)

Processor speed 2.4 GHz 2.66 GHz 2.66 GHz

Server RAM 512 GB 72 GB 72 GB

Benchmark Testing Results: Siemens PLM Software Teamcenter and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 10
Storage
Two types of storage were used in the tests: network-attached storage (NAS) and SAN.

Network-Attached Storage
The NAS was frequently accessed by application software, which loaded images and application
data. It was also used to store benchmark results data and setup scripts. All systems had access to
the NAS. Table 6 shows the details.
Table 6. NAS details

NAS configuration

System model NetApp FAS 6210

192 @ 300 GB serial attached SCSI (SAS) drives (57.6

Fibre Channel drives
GB raw)

Solid-state drives None

Connectivity Gbit Ethernet

Performance acceleration module (PAM) II

512 GB
memory

NetApp storage system was managed through a separate management network. A total of 32 drives
were allocated to the Teamcenter environment. Storage was accessible to all clients and servers
from the public network. Figure 3 shows the NAS configuration.

Figure 3. NAS configuration

For more information about NetApp storage systems, visit www.netapp.com.

Benchmark Testing Results: Siemens PLM Software Teamcenter and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 11
 Storage Area Network
The SAN was accessed exclusively by the database software: SQL Server was installed on local disks,
but database and log files resided on the SAN. There was also a SAN device for backup data. Table 7
shows details of the SAN.
Table 7. SAN details

SAN configuration

System model EMC CX4-480

Fibre Channel drives 140–450 GB 15K = 63.0 TB raw

SSD drives 10–100 GB = 4.0 TB raw

Connectivity 4–4 GB Fibre Channel ports

Cache 32 GB

Figure 4 shows the SAN configuration.

Figure 4. SAN configuration

For more information about EMC, visit www.emc.com.

Benchmark Testing Results: Siemens PLM Software Teamcenter and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 12
Benchmark Test Procedure
The tests were designed to simulate typical PLM users in the first three and last three hours of their
work days. The benchmarking tests were performed with the RPT 8.2 user-simulation tool according
to the following general steps, shown in Figure 5.
1. The entire environment is reset to a pristine state and checked for configuration and
operational readiness.
2. A performance engineer logs on to the workbench (the controller) as an administrator and
starts the benchmark.
3. The workbench requests an RPT license from the license server.
4. The workbench sends the tests to the agents (load generators) and continues to
communicate with them.
5. The agents simulate users and access the IIS and FMS servers.
6. The benchmark continues for six hours, and then the workbench gathers data from the
agents.
7. Response-time and server-utilization metrics are collected and charted.

Figure 5. RPT configuration

Benchmark Testing Results: Siemens PLM Software Teamcenter and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 13
 Each RPT test consisted 50 percent documentation users, 25 percent data-review users, and 25
percent data-analysis users.

Table 8 shows the activities for the three types of users. Each activity includes multiple Teamcenter
operations (transactions). In total, 53 separate Teamcenter operations were executed.
Table 8. Activities for each user type
Documentation users Data-review users Data-analysis users

Log on Log on Log on

Create form Open worklist View properties
Create dataset View image View BOM
Save as a dataset View where referenced Create folder
Edit dataset View where used Copy item
Delete form Display bill of materials (BOM) report Paste item
Revise ItemRev Save item properties Cut item
Delete ItemRev View ItemRev Delete folder
Log off Address list Expand below
Log off Log off

The database used was developed specifically for the benchmarking tests at the Siemens
Automated Performance Analysis facility in Cypress, California. The database consisted of 10 user
groups with 10,000 users each. Each group had nearly 40 GB of volume data. The first 1,000 users in
each group had their own, unique data (part files, assemblies, and user-specific data); the
remaining users had accounts with only home and inbox folders.

The user profile, shown in Figure 6, begins with a ramp-up period to mimic user behavior at a
typical company: some users arrive early, most arrive at the normal start time, and some arrive late.
As soon as they log on, users begin to perform activities such as creating and deleting folders,
viewing properties, and copying items. Figure 6 shows the user profile over the six hour simulation.

Benchmark Testing Results: Siemens PLM Software Teamcenter and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 14
 Figure 6. User profile

Benchmark Testing Results

The benchmark tests were first run as “functional benchmarks,” with single and then multiple users
(less than 1,000 users), using SQL Server 2008 R2.10 These early tests were focused on validating the
overall benchmark environment, with more emphasis on framework and process than on
Teamcenter and SQL Server. The number of users was then increased in subsequent tests until
10,000 concurrent users were reached. SQL Server 2012 RC0 was then installed in the environment
for the remainder of the benchmark series.

Horizontal Scalability
Teamcenter scaled very well horizontally, distributing the workload evenly across multiple
application servers. This ability to scale horizontally benefits small customers, who can purchase
smaller, less-expensive hardware to expand their server pool.

SQL Server 2012 Performance

SQL Server performed remarkably well in the benchmarking tests with minimal tuning. Average CPU
utilization was essentially linear with concurrent user count, signifying a close correlation between
user count and average CPU utilization (for example, 10 times as many users implies 10 times the
average CPU utilization). This makes server hardware requirements very predictable.

10
Including Cumulative Update 7 (CU7)

Benchmark Testing Results: Siemens PLM Software Teamcenter and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 15
 Figure 7 shows the SQL Server utilization versus the number of concurrent users.

Figure 7. SQL Server CPU utilization

For SQL Server 2012, the average CPU utilization on the database server was even lower than that
for SQL Server 2008 R2, at 10.6 percent, with a peak of 29.8 percent for 10,000 concurrent users. An
average of 76.4 GB of RAM was used.

Figure 8 shows the SQL Server 2012 CPU utilization over the duration of the benchmark for 10,000
concurrent users.

Figure 8. CPU utilization for 10,000 concurrent users with SQL Server 2012

Benchmark Testing Results: Siemens PLM Software Teamcenter and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 16
User Experience
Overall, weighted average response times from the web tier were on par with some of the fastest
ever measured in the Siemens Automated Performance Analysis facility, with only a three percent
slope in the impact to response times from 1,000 to 10,000 users. Figure 9 shows the weighted
average response times for example user counts.

Figure 9. Weighted average response times from 1,000 users to 10,000 users

Increasing the load on Teamcenter to 10,000 concurrent users maintained stable transaction
response times and linear growth of system resources.

Summary
Scalability and stability are important to Teamcenter users. Customers want assurances that as their
organizations grow and the number of Teamcenter users increases, their database platform can
maintain the performance they rely on.

For more than 15 years, Siemens has worked with Microsoft to integrate the Siemens PLM family of
software with Microsoft products and technologies. Benchmark testing and product optimizations
are part of this joint effort.

The benchmark tests designed by Siemens PLM Software simulate the real-world usage patterns of
large Teamcenter customers. The results show that Teamcenter running with SQL Server 2012 and
Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise on servers based on Intel Xeon processors can support at least
10,000 concurrent users while maintaining optimal performance. The combination of software
scaled easily to 10,000 concurrent users with excellent performance. Siemens PLM Software
customers can select SQL Server as the database platform for large and complex Teamcenter
deployments with confidence.

Benchmark Testing Results: Siemens PLM Software Teamcenter and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 17
Additional Information
The following references provide more information about Siemens PLM Software and Microsoft.

About Siemens PLM Software

Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of the Siemens Industry Automation Division, is a leading
global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services with 7 million
licensed seats and more than 71,000 customers worldwide. Headquartered in Plano, Texas,
Siemens PLM Software works collaboratively with companies to deliver open solutions that help
them turn more ideas into successful products.

For more information about Siemens PLM Software products and services,
visit: www.siemens.com/plm.

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services, and
solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

For more information about Microsoft products and services,

visit: www.microsoft.com.

About Intel
Intel is a world leader in computing innovation. The company designs and builds the essential
technologies that serve as the foundation for the world’s computing devices to continually advance
how people work and live.
For more information about Intel products and services,
visit: www.intel.com.

Benchmark Testing Results: Siemens PLM Software Teamcenter and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 18