1.
x86-less ScyllaDB:
Exploring an All-Arm
Cluster
Mike Bennett, Ampere
Keith McKay, ScaleFlux

2.
Mike Bennett
■ Solution Architect
■ 18 years experience in IT, 9 in solution development
■ Enjoys servers with many cores
■ Reverse migrated from Texas to California in 2022

3.
Keith McKay
■ Responsible for applications engineering at ScaleFlux
■ Loves non-volatile memory and storage
■ Born in Mountain View, CA (long before Google).

4.
■ Cluster Configuration
■ Introduction to Ampere & ScaleFlux
■ Benchmark Setup & Results
■ Call to Action
Agenda

5.
Cluster Configuration

6.
A ScyllaDB Cluster Without x86
8x Embedded
ARM Cores
Per SSD
128x Arm Cores
Per node
256GB DDR4-3200
Mt. Collins
Single Socket
NICs: Mellanox
ConnectX-6
Client Client Client
CSD-3000 Series NVMe
(PCIe Gen4 x4)
ZERO data processed, moved, or stored using x86 instructions
x4
x4
x4
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 SP4 (kernel 5.14.21-150400.24.38-default) | 256GiB DRAM | Ampere Altra Max @ 3.0GHz
ScyllaDB Enterprise: 2022.1.3-0.20220922.539a55e35 | 100Gb Ethernet

7.
Why Is This Important?
■ Low Power
■ High CPU Density
■ High Performance
Higher Efficiency → Lower TCO

8.
Introduction to
Ampere Computing® &
ScaleFlux®

9.
Ampere® Altra® is the World’s First
Cloud-Native Processor
Ampere® Altra® Max
Ampere® Altra®
7nm
80 Cores
7nm
128 Cores
Predictable High
Performance
Elastic and
Scalable
Power Efficient
and Sustainable Larger Low Latency
Private Caches
Single-Threaded Cloud Core
Consistent Operating Frequency
Maximum Core Counts
Power and Area-Efficient
Smaller Private Caches
Multi-Threaded Client Core
Inconsistent Operating Frequency
Limited Core Counts
Power and Area-Inefficient
Legacy
Architectures
Ampere
Architecture
Arm Native
Cloud Native Video Services
Web Services Data Services AI

10.
ScaleFlux: A Better SSD
Datacenter
Class NVMe
SSD
Compute
Engines
● U.2 and E1.S Form Factors
● 3.84TB to 16TB+ capacity
● Enterprise feature set
○ TCG Opal, SR-IOV, etc.
Compute Capabilities:
● Transparent compression
● Data filtering
● Security acceleration

11.
Benchmark Results

12.
Test Scenarios
cassandra-stress write no-warmup
n=1342177280
cl=local_quorum
-schema "replication(factor=3)"
-mode native cql3
-pop seq=1.. 10214748364
-col size=gaussian(214..748,364.80)
…
~6x
Updates
~1TB
Shard-aware driver
Incremental Compaction
(Default for Enterprise)
Varied column data size
Scenario 1: 100% Read with Gaussian Distribution
Scenario 2: 75% Read / 25% Write with Gaussian Distribution
Scenario 3: 50% Read / 50% Write, Dataset in Memory
Load Phase:

13.
Cluster Limits: 100% Read
100% Read over 10B Records
Gaussian Access Pattern
cassandra-stress read
n=1000000000
cl=ONE
-pop dist=GAUSSIAN(1.. 10214748364)
-schema keyspace="keyspace1"
-mode native cql3
…
Sub-millisecond P99 @ 1.4 Mops/sec

14.
Cluster Limits: 75/25 Mixed R/W
75/25 Read-Write over 10B Records
Gaussian Access Pattern
cassandra-stress mixed
ratio(write=1,read=3)
n=1000000000
cl=ONE
-pop dist=GAUSSIAN(1.. 10214748364)
-schema keyspace="keyspace1"
-mode native cql3
…
1.1 Mops/sec with ~100 running
compactions

15.
Cluster Limits: 50/50 Read/Write
50/50 Read-Write over 1M Records
cassandra-stress mixed
ratio(write=1,read=1)
n=1000000000
cl=ONE
-pop dist=UNIFORM(1..1000000)
-schema keyspace="keyspace1"
-mode native cql3
…
1.4 Mops/sec with a uniform distribution.

16.
Call to Action

17.
Why Is This Important?
■ Low Power
■ Benchmarks used under 4W per CPU core (410 - 490W per server)
■ Rack Math
■ Including platform, memory, network IO, and storage IO power
■ High CPU Density
■ Fewer database nodes required, lower CapEx & OpEx
■ Ideally suited to ScyllaDB shard-per-core architecture
■ High Performance
■ Better performance & economics compared to cloud deployments
■ Unmatched ops/sec and latency performance

18.
Ampere Developer Access Program
■ Get access to hardware
■ Remote access to bare metal servers
■ Trial systems shipped to you
■ Partner cloud programs
■ Solution architects available to help you get up and running!
https://solutions.amperecomputing.com/where-to-try

19.
ScaleFlux PoC Program
■ Request sample units at info@scaleflux.com
■ Be sure to mention that you saw us at the ScyllaDB Summit!
■ Learn more about ScaleFlux and “A Better SSD” at our website
■ https://www.scaleflux.com
■ Feel free to reach out to me directly using the contacts at the end
of this presentation (fair warning: I love talking about storage!)

20.
Thank You
Stay in Touch
Mike Bennett
mbennett@amperecomputing.com
https://github.com/mikebatwork
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mbamike1/
Keith McKay
keith.mckay@scaleflux.com
@keefmck
https://github.com/kpmckay
www.linkedin.com/in/kpmckay