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Category: Benchmarking

The CloudXPRT v1.2 update package is now available!

Justin Greene
By Justin Greene
on October 27, 2022

We’re happy to announce that the CloudXPRT v1.2 update package is now available! The update prevents potential installation failures on Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure, and ensures that the web microservices workload works on Ubuntu 22.04. The update uses updated software components such as Kubernetes v1.23.7, Kubespray v2.18.1, and Kubernetes Metrics Server v1, and incorporates some additional minor script changes.

The CloudXPRT v1.2 web microservices workload installation package is available at the CloudXPRT.com download page and the BenchmarkXPRT GitHub repository.

Before you get started with v1.2, please note the following updated system requirements:

  • Ubuntu 20.04.2 or 22.04 for on-premises testing
  • Ubuntu 18.04, 20.04.2, or 22.04 for CSP (AWS/Azure/GCP) testing

Because CloudXPRT is designed to run on high-end servers, physical nodes or VMs under test must meet the following minimum specifications:

  • 16 logical or virtual CPUs
  • 8 GB of RAM
  • 10 GB of available disk space (50 GB for the data analytics workload)

The update package includes only the updated v1.2 test harness and the updated web microservices workload. It does not include the data analytics workload. As we stated in the blog, now that we’ve published the web microservices package, we will assess the level of interest users express about a possible refresh of the v1.1 data analytics workload. For now, the v1.1 data analytics workload will continue to be available via CloudXPRT.com for some time to serve as a reference resource for users who have worked with the package in the past.

Please let us know if you have any questions about the CloudXPRT v1.2 test package. Happy testing!

Justin

Posted in Amazon Web Services, benchmark, Benchmark metrics, Cloud, CloudXPRT, Cross-platform benchmarks, CSP, data analytics, Datacenter, Google Cloud Platform, Kubernetes, microservices, Microsoft Azure, On-premise, Performance benchmarking, Servers, Ubuntu, web microservices | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , |

We have a new XPRTs around the world infographic!

Justin Greene
By Justin Greene
on October 20, 2022

If you’ve followed the XPRT blog for a while, you know that we occasionally update the community on some of the reach metrics we track by publishing a new version of the “XPRTs around the world” infographic. The metrics we track include completed test runs, benchmark downloads, and mentions of the XPRTs in advertisements, articles, and tech reviews. Gathering this information gives us insight into how many people are using the XPRT tools, and updating the infographic helps readers and community members see the impact the XPRTs are having around the world.

This week, we published a new infographic, which includes the following highlights:

  • The XPRTs have been mentioned more than 19,500 times on over 4,000 unique sites.
  • Those mentions include more than 12,300 articles and reviews.
  • Users have tested gear with the XPRTs in over 924 cities located in 81 countries on six continents. New cities of note include Dhaka, Bangladesh; Zagreb, Croatia; Hamilton, New Zealand; and Medina, Saudi Arabia.

In addition to the reach metrics we mention above, the XPRTs have now delivered more than 1,330,000 real-world results! We’re grateful for everyone who’s helped us get this far. Your participation is vital to our achieving our goal: to provide benchmark tools that are reliable, relevant, and easy to use.

Justin

Posted in benchmark, Benchmarking, BenchmarkXPRT, BenchmarkXPRT development community, results, tech press | Tagged , , , , , |

The versatility of XPRT benchmarks

Justin Greene
By Justin Greene
on October 13, 2022

We’ve designed each of the XPRT benchmarks to assess the performance of specific types of devices in scenarios that mirror the ways consumers typically use those devices. While most XPRT benchmark users are interested in producing official overall scores, some members of the tech press have been using the XPRTs in unconventional, creative ways.

One example is the use of WebXPRT by Tweakers, a popular tech review site based in The Netherlands. (The site is in Dutch, so the Google Translate extension in Chrome was helpful for me.) As Tweakers uses WebXPRT to evaluate all kinds of consumer hardware, they also measure the sound output of each device. Tweakers then publishes the LAeq metric for each device, giving readers a sense of how loud a system may be, on average, while it performs common browser tasks.

If you’re interested in seeing Tweakers’ use of WebXPRT for sound output testing firsthand, check out their Apple MacBook Pro M2, HP Envy 34 All-in-One, and Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro reviews.

Other labs and tech publications have also used the XPRTs in unusual ways such as automating the benchmarks to run during screen burn-in tests or custom battery-life rundowns. If you’ve used any of the XPRT benchmarks in creative ways, please let us know! We are interested in learning more about your tests, and your experiences may provide helpful information that we can share with other XPRT users.

Justin

Posted in Apple, Benchmark metrics, Benchmarking, Browser-based benchmarks, Cross-platform benchmarks, Google Chrome, Performance benchmarking, Web-based testing, WebXPRT, WebXPRT 3, WebXPRT 4 | Tagged , , , , , , , , , |

Let us know if you encounter this Adobe PSE 2020 issue with HDXPRT 4

Justin Greene
By Justin Greene
on October 6, 2022

Last week, a member of the tech press let us know that they encountered an error while preparing a system for HDXPRT 4 testing. Specifically, while attempting to install the trial version of Adobe Photoshop Elements (PSE) 2020, they encountered the following error:

Update Required

Your browser or operating system is no longer supported. You may need to install the latest updates to your operating system.

They were working with an MSI Sword 15 A12UE, which had all the latest Windows 11 and Microsoft Edge updates, and they were able to complete installation and testing on other Windows 11 systems in their lab. This eliminates compatibility between the Adobe PSE 2020 installer package and Windows 11 or Microsoft Edge as the issue.

We do not have the same MSI Sword system in our lab, but we tried to replicate the issue by performing the HDXPRT 4 installation and setup process on a Dell G7 15 laptop running on an up-to-date version of Windows 11 (22H2, 22621.521). We successfully installed Adobe PSE 2020 and completed several HDXPRT 4 iterations.

The error this user encountered could be specific to their system or situation. However, we would like to know if other HDXPRT 4 users have run into the same issue. If you’ve experienced this issue in your testing, please contact us. We may be able to identify and publish a solution. 

Justin

Posted in Adobe, Adobe Photoshop, benchmark, BenchmarkXPRT, HDXPRT, HDXPRT 4, Microsoft Edge, Performance benchmarking, Windows 11 | Tagged , , , , , , , |

On track for a CloudXPRT web microservices update this fall

Justin Greene
By Justin Greene
on September 29, 2022

Last month, we announced that we’re working on an updated CloudXPRT web microservices test package. The purpose of the update is to fix installation failures on Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure, and ensure that the web microservices workload works on Ubuntu 22.04, using updated software components such as Kubernetes v1.23.7, Kubespray v2.18.1, and Kubernetes Metrics Server v1. The update also incorporates some additional minor script changes.

We are still testing the updated test package with on-premises hardware and Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure configurations. So far, testing is progressing well, and we feel increasingly confident that we will be able to release the updated test package soon. We would like to share a more concrete release schedule, but because of the complexity of the workload and the CSP platforms involved, we are waiting until we are certain that everything is ready to go.

The name of the updated package will be CloudXPRT v1.2, and it will include only the updated v1.2 test harness and the updated web microservices workload. It will not include the data analytics workload. As we stated in last month’s blog, we plan to publish the updated web microservices package, and see what kind of interest we receive from users about a possible refresh of the v1.1 data analytics workload. For now, the v1.1 data analytics workload will continue to be available via CloudXPRT.com for some time to serve as a reference resource for users that have worked with the package in the past.

As soon as possible, we’ll provide more information about the CloudXPRT v1.2 release date here in the blog. If you have any questions about the update or CloudXPRT in general, please feel free to contact us!

Justin

Posted in Amazon Web Services, benchmark, Cloud, CloudXPRT, Cross-platform benchmarks, Google Cloud Platform, Hosted cloud, Hybrid cloud, IaaS, Kubernetes, Microsoft Azure, on premises, Performance benchmarking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , |

An update on Chrome OS XPRT benchmark development

Justin Greene
By Justin Greene
on September 15, 2022

In July, we discussed the Chrome OS team’s decision to end support for Chrome apps, and how that will prevent us from publishing any future fixes or updates for CrXPRT 2. We also announced our goal of beginning development of an all-new Chrome OS XPRT benchmark by the end of this year. While we are actively discussing this benchmark and researching workload technologies and scenarios, we don’t foresee releasing a preview build this year.

The good news is that, in spite of a lack of formal support from the Chrome OS team, the CrXPRT 2 performance and battery life tests currently run without any known issues. We continue to monitor the status of CrXPRT and will inform our blog readers of any significant changes.

If you have any questions about CrXPRT, or ideas about the types of features or workloads you’d like to see in a new Chrome OS benchmark, please let us know!

Justin

Posted in battery life, benchmark, Chrome OS, Chromebooks, Chromium, CrXPRT, Google Chrome, Performance benchmarking | Tagged , , , , , |

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