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Main Authors: Fruth, Michael, Scherzinger, Stefanie, Mauerer, Wolfgang, Ramsauer, Ralf
Format: Preprint
Udgivet: 2021
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Online adgang:https://arxiv.org/abs/2107.11607
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author Fruth, Michael
Scherzinger, Stefanie
Mauerer, Wolfgang
Ramsauer, Ralf
author_facet Fruth, Michael
Scherzinger, Stefanie
Mauerer, Wolfgang
Ramsauer, Ralf
contents The performance of database systems is usually characterised by their average-case (i.e., throughput) behaviour in standardised or de-facto standard benchmarks like TPC-X or YCSB. While tails of the latency (i.e., response time) distribution receive considerably less attention, they have been identified as a threat to the overall system performance: In large-scale systems, even a fraction of requests delayed can build up into delays perceivable by end users. To eradicate large tail latencies from database systems, the ability to faithfully record them, and likewise pinpoint them to the root causes, is imminently required. In this paper, we address the challenge of measuring tail latencies using standard benchmarks, and identify subtle perils and pitfalls. In particular, we demonstrate how Java-based benchmarking approaches can substantially distort tail latency observations, and discuss how the discovery of such problems is inhibited by the common focus on throughput performance. We make a case for purposefully re-designing database benchmarking harnesses based on these observations to arrive at faithful characterisations of database performance from multiple important angles.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2107_11607
institution arXiv
publishDate 2021
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Tell-Tale Tail Latencies: Pitfalls and Perils in Database Benchmarking
Fruth, Michael
Scherzinger, Stefanie
Mauerer, Wolfgang
Ramsauer, Ralf
Databases
The performance of database systems is usually characterised by their average-case (i.e., throughput) behaviour in standardised or de-facto standard benchmarks like TPC-X or YCSB. While tails of the latency (i.e., response time) distribution receive considerably less attention, they have been identified as a threat to the overall system performance: In large-scale systems, even a fraction of requests delayed can build up into delays perceivable by end users. To eradicate large tail latencies from database systems, the ability to faithfully record them, and likewise pinpoint them to the root causes, is imminently required. In this paper, we address the challenge of measuring tail latencies using standard benchmarks, and identify subtle perils and pitfalls. In particular, we demonstrate how Java-based benchmarking approaches can substantially distort tail latency observations, and discuss how the discovery of such problems is inhibited by the common focus on throughput performance. We make a case for purposefully re-designing database benchmarking harnesses based on these observations to arrive at faithful characterisations of database performance from multiple important angles.
title Tell-Tale Tail Latencies: Pitfalls and Perils in Database Benchmarking
topic Databases
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2107.11607