SPECpower_ssj2008

07/24/2008: SPEC announces the release of SPECpower_ssj2008 V1.01.
This release adds usability upgrades as well as updates to the Run and Reporting Rules, the Design documentation and SPEC's Power and Performance Methodology; it will be provided on CD at no charge to existing licensees of the software. For a detailed description of changes in this release, please see the README file.

Results from V1.00 are comparable to those from V1.01. Beginning September 10, 2008 all SPECpower_ssj2008 submissions will require the use of version 1.01.

SPECpower_ssj2008 is the first industry-standard SPEC benchmark that evaluates the power and performance characteristics of volume server class computers.  With SPECpower_ssj2008, SPEC is defining server power measurement standards in the same way we have done for performance.

The drive to create the power and performance benchmark comes from the recognition that the IT industry, computer manufacturers, and governments are increasingly concerned with the energy use of servers.  Currently, many vendors report some energy efficiency figures, but these are often not directly comparable due to differences in workload, configuration, test environment, etc.  Development of this benchmark provides a means to measure power (at the AC input) in conjunction with a performance metric.  This should help IT managers to consider power characteristics along with other selection criteria to increase the efficiency of data centers.

The initial benchmark addresses only one subset of server workloads: the performance of server side Java.  It exercises the CPUs, caches, memory hierarchy and the scalability of shared memory processors (SMPs) as well as the implementations of the JVM (Java Virtual Machine), JIT (Just-In-Time) compiler, garbage collection, threads and some aspects of the operating system.  The benchmark runs on a wide variety of operating systems and hardware architectures and should not require extensive client or storage infrastructure.  Additional workloads are planned.

Since this is the first power-performance benchmark, a general methodology (PDF) for power measurement has been documented to assist other benchmark developers interested in measuring power and in the hopes of establishing a common set of practices in this new area of benchmarking.

Results

Submitted Results
Text and HTML reports for the SPEC power_ssj2008 metrics; includes all of the results submitted to SPEC from the SPEC member companies and other licensees of the benchmark. 

Information

SPEC power_ssj2008 Benchmark Press Releases
Press release material, documents, and announcements:  

• SPEC ships power_ssj2008 v1.00   (PDF) (12/11/2007)
• SPEC's Response on the First Draft of the EPA's Energy Star for Servers Specification (03/20/2008)

SPEC power_ssj2008 Benchmark Documentation
SPEC power_ssj2008 technical and support documents, run and reporting rules, etc.
All documentation available on the CD is also available here.

Quick Start Guide  (PDF)
User Guide  (PDF)
Hardware Setup Guide  (PDF)
Frequently Asked Questions - FAQ  (PDF)
Run and Reporting Rules  (PDF)
Result File Field descriptions 
Technical Design Documents:   
          Design Overview  (PDF)
          CCS Design  (PDF)
          PTD Design  (PDF)
          SSJ Design  (PDF)
Power and Performance Methodology  (PDF)

Accepted Measurement Devices

Related Publications 

    Coming Soon.

Support

Frequently Asked Questions - FAQ - Installation, build, and runtime issues raised by users of SPEC power_ssj2008.
Hardware Setup Guide  (PDF)
Errata list

Ordering

You can purchase this or any other SPEC benchmark by using the online order form.