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Benchmark Testing Results: CSC’s Integral Group Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server i
Benchmark Testing Results: CSC’s Integral Group
Insurance Software Running on SQL Server
Running CSC’s Integral group insurance solution on Microsoft SQL Server and Windows Server provides
unmatched performance and scalability
Technical White Paper Published: January 2013 Applies to: Microsoft SQL Server 2012
Abstract
In June through August of 2012, CSC and Microsoft conducted performance and scalability testing on CSC’s
Integral1 group insurance component running on Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Enterprise data management
software and the Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise operating system.
The benchmark testing was very successful, scaling to 330 concurrent users running against a 50,000-member
database with a complex policy structure while maintaining excellent performance. These results confirm
that SQL Server is an excellent choice for CSC’s Integral licensees.
1 Integral is a trademark of CSC, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide.
Benchmark Testing Results: CSC’s Integral Group Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server ii
©2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. This document is provided “as-is.” Information and views
expressed in this document, including URL and other Internet Web site references, may change without notice.
You bear the risk of using it.
This document does not provide you with any legal rights to any intellectual property in any Microsoft product.
You may copy and use this document for your internal, reference purposes.
Benchmark Testing Results: CSC’s Integral Group Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server iii
Table of Contents
Introduction............................................................................................................................................... 1
Introducing CSC’s Integral ................................................................................................................................ 1
Microsoft and CSC Team Up for Insurance ....................................................................................................... 2
Benefits of SQL Server....................................................................................................................................... 3
Benchmark Testing Overview ..................................................................................................................... 4
Test Environment.............................................................................................................................................. 4 Application and Load Generation Servers .................................................................................................... 5 Database Server ........................................................................................................................................... 5 Storage ......................................................................................................................................................... 6
Test Scenarios ................................................................................................................................................... 6
Benchmark Testing Results......................................................................................................................... 8
Single Application Server .................................................................................................................................. 8 Application Server Metric for Single Server Tests ...................................................................................... 10 Database Metrics for Single Server Tests ................................................................................................... 11
Multiple Application Servers ........................................................................................................................... 12 Application Server Metrics for Multiple Server Tests ................................................................................ 15 Database Server Metrics for Multiple Server Tests .................................................................................... 15
Summary ................................................................................................................................................. 17
Additional Information ............................................................................................................................ 18
About CSC ....................................................................................................................................................... 18
About Microsoft ............................................................................................................................................. 18
Benchmark Testing Results: CSC’s Integral Group Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server 1
“We are thrilled to see insurance carriers increasingly deploy mission-critical applications on the Microsoft platform. CSC’s commitment to offering Integral on Windows Server and SQL Server will provide a more modern, configurable core system with the performance and stability that insurers require and a TCO that is second to none.”
Karen T. Cone General Manager
Worldwide Financial Services Microsoft Corporation
“To give insurers more choices, we have enhanced some of our most widely used software for platform portability and reuse globally. CSC remains committed to delivering the right solutions to the right markets at the right time on a choice of platforms to help our clients boost customer service, create efficiencies, and meet their growth objectives.”
Ray August President
Financial Services Group CSC
Introduction The flattening of the global market provides a world of
opportunities and challenges for insurers. Companies need
flexible, dependable technology that helps them respond
quickly to changing conditions and meet the local needs of
diverse markets.
CSC’s Integral insurance software suite helps insurance carriers
meet these challenges with a comprehensive solution that is
ideally suited for many scenarios, such as:
Multi-national firms seeking a single platform for regional or international operations.
Domestic insurance firms wanting to launch new products quickly without disrupting their
existing processing.
Insurers needing a self-contained insurance administration solution for quick start-up of
new ventures.
Multi-line insurers looking for a complete, low-maintenance processing capability for a
secondary line of business.
The underlying core of an insurance solution is the data collected;
this data is maintained in an enterprise database such as
Microsoft SQL Server. Running on the Windows Server operating
system, SQL Server provides a reliable, high performing, and
scalable foundation for CSC’s Integral software.
This white paper begins with an introduction to CSC’s Integral
insurance software suite. Next, the paper provides an overview
of SQL Server, a proven database platform for enterprise
deployments of Integral. The many advantages SQL Server brings
to Integral software are highlighted, including manageability,
scalability, reliability, and affordability.
The white paper then presents benchmark test results that confirm that SQL Server scales to meet
the needs of even the largest deployments of CSC’s Integral group insurance software. Enterprise
customers can be confident in the choice of SQL Server and Windows Server as a foundation for
CSC’s Integral group insurance solution.
Introducing CSC’s Integral
CSC’s Integral is a comprehensive administration suite for life insurance and annuities/pensions,
Property and casualty (P&C)/general insurance, and group insurance that provides end-to-end
policy/group management, product configuration, and business-analytics capabilities. Its portable
Benchmark Testing Results: CSC’s Integral Group Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server 2
architecture lets companies implement Integral quickly and operate cost-effectively, either in-house
or through CSC’s business process services.
For more information about Integral, visit www.csc.com.
Microsoft and CSC Team Up for Insurance
Microsoft and CSC have formed an alliance to support CSC’s Integral on Microsoft software.
Because Integral interoperates seamlessly with Windows Server and SQL Server, insurance carriers
who deploy the joint CSC/Microsoft solution obtain a modern, easy-to-manage solution for
improving processes, customer service, and overall productivity. The Windows Server operating
system delivers the power and reliability that businesses require to thrive and grow, while SQL
Server provides the performance, availability, and security to manage large volumes of data
intelligently and eliminate silos of information. The result is a streamlined solution with global reach
that lets carriers operate regionally and internationally with ease.
Figure 1 shows CSC’s Integral on Microsoft software.
Figure 1. CSC's Integral on Microsoft software
For more information about how CSC and Microsoft are working together, visit
http://www.microsoft.com/enterprise/partners/csc.aspx.
Benchmark Testing Results: CSC’s Integral Group Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server 3
Benefits of SQL Server
SQL Server is a comprehensive, integrated, and enterprise-ready data-management software
solution. It provides a reliable, cost-effective, low-maintenance database framework for CSC’s
Integral that can support the largest and most process-intensive deployments. Hundreds of
enterprises are currently running 10 terabyte and larger transactional databases on SQL Server.
Running CSC’s Integral on SQL Server provides customers with many benefits:
Scalability and performance features
SQL Server includes features that can help CSC customers scale and maintain performance
as their businesses grow.
Six nines (99.9999 percent) uptime availability
CSC customers can protect their mission-critical databases from downtime and data loss
with six nines uptime availability.2,3
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.4
Lower hardware cost
SQL Server can run on standard commodity server hardware, which can dramatically lower
the total cost of ownership (TCO) for customers.
Lower software costs
The list price of SQL Server is a third of the largest competitors;5 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.6
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.7
2 http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/product-info/why-sql-server.aspx 3 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 4 http://www.alinean.com/PDFs/Microsoft_SQL_Server_and_Oracle-Alinean_TCA_Study_2010.pdf 5 http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/tools/cost-savings-calclator.aspx 6 http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/product-info/competitor-compare.aspx 7 http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/product-info/why-sql-server.aspx
Benchmark Testing Results: CSC’s Integral Group Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server 4
Fewer security vulnerabilities
Since 2002, SQL Server has recorded the fewest reported vulnerabilities of any of the major
database platforms as compiled by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.8
With SQL Server, CSC 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, visit www.microsoft.com/sql.
Benchmark Testing Overview As part of their strategic alliance, CSC and Microsoft ran real-world benchmarking tests at the
Microsoft Platform Adoption Center (PAC) in Redmond, Washington, to evaluate and optimize the
performance and scalability of CSC’s Integral group insurance component running on SQL Server
2012 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise.
The benchmarking tests aimed to simulate the daily activities of agents at typical insurance firm,
with up to 330 concurrent users running against a 50,000-member database with complex policy
structures. The results were achieved on two application servers and a database server, all industry-
standard with a total list price of less than $28,000,9 and industry-standard storage with a list price
of $140,00010—a compelling scenario for customers.
A variety of tests were performed, including:
Single server tests
These tests investigated the performance of Integral on a single application server with
various numbers of virtual users. Note that based on the test methodology, 125 virtual
users are equivalent to 165 actual concurrent users.
Multiple server tests
These tests looked at the horizontal scalability of the solution by testing one application
server with 125 virtual users (equivalent to 165 concurrent users), and then testing two
application servers with 250 virtual users (equivalent to 330 concurrent users).
Test Environment
The test infrastructure included five major components:
Database server
Application servers
Load-generation servers
Domain controller/Active Directory Domain Services
Storage
8 http://itic-corp.com/blog/2010/09/sql-server-most-secure-database-oracle-least-secure-database-since-2002 9 Manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) in April 2012 10 Manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) in April 2012
Benchmark Testing Results: CSC’s Integral Group Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server 5
Details of the servers used are shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Servers used in benchmark testing
Server Number
of servers Make/model Cache
Number of cores
CPU RAM
Database server 1 Intel four socket 24 MB 32
Four Intel Xeon
X7550 processors
(2.0 GHz)
128 GB
Application servers 2 HP ProLiant
DL380 G7 12 MB 12
Two Intel Xeon
X5650 processors
(2.80 GHz)
64 GB
Load-generation servers
3 HP ProLiant
DL380 G7 12 MB 12
Two Intel Xeon
X5650 processors
(2.80 GHz)
64 GB
1 IBM System
x3850 X5 24 MB 32
Four Intel Xeon
X7560 processors
(2.26 GHz)
256 GB
Domain controller/ Active Directory Domain Services
1 Dell PowerEdge
1850 2 MB 2
Two Intel Xeon
processors
(3.40 GHz)
4 GB
Storage X-IO Hyper ISE
Two Datapacs (10 solid-state drives [SSD] and 10 serial-
attached SCSI [SAS] drives each), capable of 30K-60K
IOPS
Application and Load Generation Servers
The tests used two HP ProLiant DL380 G7 application servers and up to load-generation servers
(one IBM System x3850 X5 and up to three HP ProLiant DL380 G7 servers). This ensured that the
tests were carried out at full throttle, and that the tests provided an accurate measurement of the
scalability of the system.
Database Server
The tests used a single Intel four-socket database server, taking advantage of the latest generation
of the Intel Xeon processor E7 family.
The configuration was as follows:
SQL Server 2012 Enterprise
Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise with Service Pack 1 (SP1)
Four Intel Xeon X7550 processors, for a total of 32 cores
128 GB of random access memory (RAM)
Benchmark Testing Results: CSC’s Integral Group Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server 6
Storage
X-IO Hyper ISE storage modules provided 19.5 terabytes of storage for the database tables and
indices. However, less than 1 terabyte of the total capacity of the storage was used for the tests.
Figure 2 shows a schematic of the infrastructure used in the benchmark testing.
Back-End Tier(Database)
Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise with SP1
ISE
Front-End Tier(Application/Load Generation)
Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise with SP1
PowerEdge 1950
0
1
2
3
Dell PowerEdge 18502 x 3.40 GHz—4 GB RAM
Active Directory Domain Services/Domain Name System
Windows Server 2008 R2 EnterpriseESD
0
3
1
4
2
5
System x3850
IBM System x3850 X532 x 2.26 GHz—256 GB RAM
X-IO storageHyper ISE
Pool 2 10 x 10K SAS
10 x SSD
Intel Xeon 4-socket32 x 2.0 GHz—128 GB RAM
SQL Server 2012 Enterprise
HPProLiant
DL380 G6
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SQL2 DBDrive E600 GB
8765432187654321
UID21
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SQL1 TempDBDrive F500 GB
SQL1 LogsDrive G400 GB
SQL2 ScratchDrive S
1 TB
Pool 1 10 x 10K SAS
10 x SSD
SQL1 DBDrive E600 GB
SQL2 TempDBDrive F500 GB
SQL2 LogsDrive G400 GB
SQL1 ScratchDrive S
1 TB
Dlin
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Figure 2. Benchmark testing equipment
Test Scenarios
The benchmark testing used 19 automated test scenarios that represent more than 90 percent of
the transaction types that are performed daily at a typical insurance firm, including inquiries,
modifications, and additions. Each test scenario involved between 3 and 28 user steps, with a “think
time” of 10 seconds between steps. Completion times varied between test scenarios.
The 19 tests scenarios and the number of steps in each are listed in Table 2.
Benchmark Testing Results: CSC’s Integral Group Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server 7
Table 2. Test scenarios
Test number Test scenarios Number of steps
Test 1 Create personal client 3
Test 2 Modify personal client 3
Test 3 Modify bank branch 3
Test 4 Direct credit bank account inquiry 3
Test 5 Branch inquiry 5
Test 6 High-level client inquiry 3
Test 7 Chart structure inquiry 3
Test 8 Help lines inquiry 3
Test 9 Create account 3
Test 10 Payment inquiry 3
Test 11 Table inquiry 6
Test 12 Policy inquiry 15
Test 13 Client roles inquiry 3
Test 14 Claim maintenance 10
Test 15 Claim inquiry 5
Test 16 Major alteration, add member 8
Test 17 Work with bank guarantee 5
Test 18 New business group term life 24
Test 19 New business group health cover 28
For the benchmarking tests, the average throughput of a mix of the 19 test scenarios was
measured.
As an example, Table 3 lists the steps in three typical test scenarios: Claim maintenance (test 14),
Major alteration, add member (test 16), and Table inquiry (test 11). Note that some steps are
performed more than once.
Benchmark Testing Results: CSC’s Integral Group Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server 8
Table 3. Examples of steps in test scenarios
Claim maintenance Major alterations 1―add
member Table inquiry
1. Claims sub-menu 1. Major alterations
sub-menu
1. Tables and codes
maintenance submenu
2. Claim header 2. Work with members 2. Table item scroll inquiry
3. Claim payable screen―
non-medical 3. Group member entry 3. Table item maintenance
4. Unrealized check 4. Client scroll 4. Policy type parameters
5. Claim payable screen―
non-medical 5. Client maintain―personal 5. Table item scroll inquiry
6. Claims exit screen 6. Group member entry 6. Tables and codes
maintenance submenu
7. Claim payee details 7. Work with members
8. Claims exit screen 8. Major alterations sub-menu
9. Claims exit screen
10. Claims sub-menu
Benchmark Testing Results The following sections provide detailed results of the benchmark tests.
Single Application Server
The team from CSC and Microsoft performed a series of single application server benchmarking
tests with the goal of identifying the optimal number of users that can be served by a single entry-
level application server.
These tests were performed on one application server (HP ProLiant DL380 G7 with 12 cores and 64
GB RAM) and one database server (Intel Xeon four-socket), using the IBM System x3850 X5 server
to generate the test workload.
For these single application server tests, the team added virtual users up to a maximum of 200
virtual users, which is equivalent to 266 concurrent users. The team ran each scenario several
times, and calculated an average of these test runs.
Benchmark Testing Results: CSC’s Integral Group Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server 9
Table 4 lists the response times, or average time to complete each test scenario, for the various
numbers of concurrent users on a single server.
Table 4. Results of single application server tests with various numbers of concurrent users
Test scenarios Response time (seconds)
133 users 166 users 200 users 230 users 266 users
Create personal client 1.33 1.43 1.40 1.40 1.46
Modify personal client 1.29 1.30 1.31 1.33 1.46
Modify bank branch 1.15 1.14 1.21 1.29 1.30
Direct credit bank
account inquiry 1.17 1.11 1.20 1.18 1.26
Branch inquiry 1.47 1.50 1.56 1.63 1.68
High-level client inquiry 1.12 1.11 1.13 1.18 1.18
Chart structure inquiry 1.25 1.24 1.27 1.29 1.36
Help lines inquiry 1.20 1.20 1.24 1.32 1.34
Create account 1.45 1.42 1.52 1.52 1.63
Payment inquiry 1.47 1.52 1.59 1.53 1.71
Table inquiry 1.81 1.97 1.91 1.99 2.15
Policy inquiry 5.60 5.79 5.77 5.92 6.45
Client roles inquiry 1.34 1.42 1.43 1.43 1.50
Claim maintenance 3.95 4.14 4.11 4.28 4.55
Claim inquiry 1.90 1.90 1.99 2.05 2.22
Major alteration, add
member 5.42 5.47 5.64 5.75 5.90
Work with bank
guarantee 1.79 1.79 1.87 1.90 2.03
New business group
term life 10.69 11.15 11.18 11.66 12.21
New business group
health cover 15.07 15.38 15.65 16.16 16.96
Benchmark Testing Results: CSC’s Integral Group Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server 10
Figure 3 visualizes the transaction processing times for the test scenarios for a single server with
varying numbers of concurrent users.
Figure 3. Single server user test results, transaction processing time per test scenario
Application Server Metric for Single Server Tests
Table 5 shows total throughput and the average and maximum application server memory and CPU
utilizations in the single server tests.
Table 5. Application server metrics for single server tests
Application server metrics 133
users 166
users 200
users 230
users 266
users
Average application server memory utilization 7.8% 8.7% 9.2% 10.2% 10.9%
Maximum application server memory
utilization 8.7% 9.3% 10.0% 11.3% 12.0%
Average application server CPU utilization 21.8% 25.4% 30.5% 36.8% 40.6%
Maximum application server CPU utilization 42.3% 40.3% 51.0% 53.0% 73.0%
Total throughput (business transactions per minute)
355 426 483 550 605
Figure 4 shows the application server CPU and memory utilization and the total number of business
transactions processed per minute for the various numbers of virtual users. Note that the average
application server CPU utilization remained below 41 percent, which is considered acceptable.
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sec
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Create personal client
Modify personal client
Modify bank branch
Direct credit bank acct inquiry
Branch inquiry
High-level client inquiry
Chart structure inquiry
Help lines inquiry
Create account
Payment inquiry
Table inquiry
Policy inquiry
Client roles inquiry
Claim maintenance
Claim inquiry
Major alteration, add member
Work with bank guarantee
New business group term life
New business group health cover
Number of concurrent users
Test scenarios
Benchmark Testing Results: CSC’s Integral Group Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server 11
Figure 4. Single server total number of transactions and CPU and memory utilizations
Figure 3 and Figure 4 show that there is a “sweet spot” at 175 virtual users, or 230 concurrent
users, in terms of throughput, execution time, and CPU utilization.
Database Metrics for Single Server Tests
Table 6 shows the CPU utilization by SQL Server and the number of batch requests per second
processed by SQL Server in the single server tests. Note that the average database server CPU
utilization remained below 2 percent. The average number of batch requests per second processed
by SQL Server was 2,426 with 260 concurrent users, with a maximum of 2,712 batch requests per
second.
Table 6. Database server metrics for single server tests
Database server metrics 133
users 166
users 200
users 230
users 266
users
Average database server CPU utilization 0.86% 1.12% 1.32% 1.58% 1.62%
Maximum database server CPU utilization 1.07% 1.36% 1.54% 1.82% 1.87%
Average number of batch requests per second
1,203 1,522 1,839 2,120 2,426
Maximum number of batch requests per second
1,375 1,712 2,077 2,387 2,712
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Total throughput(businesstransactions/minute)
133 266 230 166 200
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Benchmark Testing Results: CSC’s Integral Group Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server 12
Figure 5 visualizes the database server metrics for the single server tests.
Figure 5. CPU utilization by SQL Server and the number of batch requests per second processed by SQL Server in the single server tests
Multiple Application Servers
To confirm the scalability of the solution, the CSC and Microsoft team performed benchmark tests
using multiple application servers in a scale-out configuration. These tests used one application
server with 165 concurrent users (equivalent to 125 virtual users) and two application servers with
330 concurrent users (equivalent to 250 virtual users).
The test results showed that as you add an application server, the throughput increases and the
average number of transactions per server remains nearly constant, demonstrating the
effectiveness of using a scale-out deployment to increase the overall throughput.
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Maximum number ofbatch requests/sec
133 166 200 230 266
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Benchmark Testing Results: CSC’s Integral Group Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server 13
Table 7 lists the response times, or average time to complete each test scenario, for the various
numbers of servers and concurrent users in the multiple user tests.
Table 7. Results of multiple application server tests with various numbers of simulated concurrent users
Test scenarios
Response time (seconds)
One app server (165 users)
Two app servers (330 users)
Create personal client 1.38 1.40
Modify personal client 1.35 1.31
Modify bank branch 1.16 1.20
Direct credit bank account inquiry 1.17 1.17
Branch inquiry 1.54 1.51
High-level client inquiry 1.13 1.10
Chart structure inquiry 1.24 1.27
Help lines inquiry 1.24 1.28
Create account 1.49 1.50
Payment inquiry 1.94 2.06
Table inquiry 1.90 1.90
Policy inquiry 5.73 5.71
Client roles inquiry 1.43 1.38
Claim maintenance 4.16 4.17
Claim inquiry 1.94 1.94
Major alteration, add member 5.69 5.59
Work with bank guarantee 1.88 1.87
New business group term life 11.20 11.02
New business group health cover 15.77 15.55
Benchmark Testing Results: CSC’s Integral Group Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server 14
Figure 6 visualizes the response times for the two test scenarios.
Figure 6. Multiple server test results, transaction processing time per test scenario
Figure 7 shows that the average number of transactions per server stays nearly constant with the
addition of a second application server.
Figure 7. Average number of transactions per server as the number of servers, and the number of concurrent users, increases
These test results demonstrate that adding an application server increases the throughput while keeping the transaction processing times constant.
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Tran
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Create personal client
Modify personal client
Modify bank branch
Direct credit bank account inquiry
Branch inquiry
High-level client inquiry
Chart structure inquiry
Help lines inquiry
Create account
Payment inquiry
Table inquiry
Policy inquiry
Client roles inquiry
Claim maintenance
Claim inquiry
Major alterations 1―add member
Work with bank guarantee
NB-GTL
NB-GHC
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rver
/min
ute
) Test scenarios
Benchmark Testing Results: CSC’s Integral Group Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server 15
Application Server Metrics for Multiple Server Tests
Table 8 shows total throughput and the average and maximum application server memory and CPU
utilizations in the multiple server tests.
Table 8. Application server metrics for multiple server tests
Application server metrics One app server
(165 users)
Two app servers
(330 users)
Average application server memory utilization 8.6% 8.7%
Maximum application server memory utilization 21. 7% 10.0%
Average application server CPU utilization 32.1% 36.5%
Maximum application server CPU utilization 52.0% 52.0%
Average number of transactions per server, per minute 677 659
Total throughput (business transactions per minute) 677 1318
Figure 8 visualizes the application server CPU and memory utilization and the total number of
transactions. Note that the average application server CPU utilization remained below 40 percent,
which is considered acceptable.
Figure 8. Multiple application server total number of transactions and CPU and memory utilizations
Database Server Metrics for Multiple Server Tests
Table 9 shows the CPU utilization of SQL Server and the number of batch requests per second
processed by SQL Server in the multiple server tests. The results show that the average database
server CPU utilization remained below 3 percent. The average number of batch requests per second
processed by SQL Server was 3,900 for the two application servers, with a maximum of 4,307 batch
requests per second.
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1 server, 165 users 2 servers, 330 users
Average CPUutilization (%)
Maximum CPUutilization (%)
Average memoryutilization (%)
Maximum memoryutilization (%)
Total throughout(businesstransactions/minute)P
erce
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uti
lizat
ion
Tota
l th
rou
ghp
ut(
bu
sin
ess
tran
sact
ion
s/m
inu
te)
Benchmark Testing Results: CSC’s Integral Group Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server 16
Table 9. Database metrics for multiple server tests
Database server metrics One application server
(165 users)
Two application servers
(330 users)
Average database server CPU utilization 1.40% 2.87%
Maximum database server CPU utilization 1.87% 3.23%
Average number of batch requests per second 1,979 3,900
Maximum number of batch requests per second 2,215 4,307
Figure 9 visualizes the database server metrics.
Figure 9. CPU utilization by SQL Server and the number of batch requests per second processed by SQL Server
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
4000
4500
5000
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
1 app server, 165 users 2 app servers, 330 users
Average CPUutilization (%)
Maximum CPUutilization (%)
Average number ofbatch requests/sec
Maximum number ofbatch requests/sec
Nu
mb
er o
f b
atch
req
ues
ts/s
eco
nd
Per
cen
t u
tiliz
atio
n
Benchmark Testing Results: CSC’s Integral Group Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server 17
Summary Scalability, stability, and performance are important to CSC insurance customers. These customers
want assurances that as their organizations grow and the number of policies increases, their
database software can maintain the performance they rely on. CSC has worked with Microsoft to
develop insurance solutions that combine CSC software with Microsoft products and technologies.
Benchmark testing and product optimizations are part of this joint effort.
The CSC and Microsoft benchmark tests were designed to simulate the real-world usage patterns of
large insurance customers. The test results were impressive. In the single application server test
with 266 concurrent users, the measured throughput was 605 business transactions per minute. For
two application servers with 330 concurrent users, the total throughput was 1,318 business
transactions per minute.
SQL Server 2012 Enterprise performed remarkably well in the tests; for the two application servers
test with 330 concurrent users, SQL Server processed an average 3,900 batch request per second
(and a maximum of 4,307 batch request per second), with an average of less than 3 percent CPU
utilization.
These results clearly confirm that Integral’s group insurance component running on SQL Server and
Windows Server can easily support at least 330 concurrent users. The results also show that the
system is highly scalable, with near-linear scalability as the number of application servers and the
number of concurrent users increase. CSC customers can select SQL Server as the database platform
for large and complex deployments of CSC’s Integral group insurance component with confidence.
Benchmark Testing Results: CSC’s Integral Group Insurance Solution and Microsoft SQL Server 18
Additional Information The following references provide more information about CSC and Microsoft.
About CSC
CSC is a global leader in providing technology-enabled business solutions and services. For more
than 50 years, clients in industries and governments worldwide have trusted CSC with their
business process and information systems outsourcing, systems integration and consulting needs.
CSC has approximately 98,000 employees and reported revenue of $15.9 billion for the 12 months
ended March 30, 2012. The company trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol
“CSC.”
For more information about CSC, visit www.csc.com.
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.