Dell PowerEdge R770 may cut SQL Server costs vs. AWS over 3 years

Principled Technologies found that an on-premises Dell PowerEdge R770 running SQL Server OLTP workloads could lower modeled three-year costs by nearly $400,000 versus a comparable AWS EC2 setup. The report also says the Dell server delivered stronger per-VM database performance and better value for steady workloads.

Why it matters: - Small and midsize businesses running steady SQL Server workloads face a choice between cloud flexibility and long-term infrastructure cost. - Principled Technologies modeled a case where an on-premises Dell PowerEdge R770 could reduce three-year spending while improving transactional database performance. - The findings could matter for IT teams trying to free budget for security, backup and recovery, or application modernization.

What happened: - Principled Technologies compared an on-premises Dell PowerEdge R770 powered by Intel Xeon 6 processors with AWS EC2 m8i.2xlarge instances. - The study measured Microsoft SQL Server OLTP performance using HammerDB TPROC-C. - PT used transactions per minute and new orders per minute to model the cost of supporting the same number of 24/7 SQL Server workloads over three years. - The report says the Dell PowerEdge R770 solution could cut modeled three-year costs by $390,031.03, or 75%, versus the AWS deployment.

The details: - The Dell PowerEdge R770 solution was modeled at $125,674.09 over three years. - The AWS EC2 m8i.2xlarge configuration was modeled at $515,705.12 over three years. - PT sized the cloud side at 28 AWS EC2 m8i.2xlarge instances to support the same workload. - The Dell PowerEdge R770 delivered 36% higher database performance per VM than the AWS instance. - The average VM on the Dell PowerEdge R770 posted 139,616 TPM and 60,101 NOPM. - The average VM on AWS EC2 m8i.2xlarge posted 102,576 TPM and 44,078 NOPM. - PT calculated 5.59 times more NOPM per dollar for the Dell PowerEdge R770 solution. - The Dell PowerEdge R770 supported 28 SQL Server VMs in the PT test environment. - The report says cloud and on-premises choices can look different when teams compare workload performance against multi-year costs.

Between the lines: - The report points to a common tradeoff: cloud can simplify scaling, but steady workloads can become expensive over time. - Higher on-premises throughput can improve the economics of database work when utilization stays consistent. - PT also highlights operational control as a possible advantage of keeping workloads on premises, including visibility into hardware, management tools, monitoring practices, and data placement policies.

What's next: - Organizations refreshing database infrastructure may use the PT results to recheck whether some SQL Server workloads belong on cloud instances or on-premises servers. - PT says the report could make the Dell PowerEdge R770 a strong option for SQL Server OLTP workloads. - More information is available in the full PT report.