Test 3: Warm Server Spool Up
The Warm Server Spool Up test was meant to simulate a user accessing the web service after it had been idle on the
server for some period of time. The RS’s reliance on IIS means it is subject to that system's control of
system cache and application pool resource management. After periods of inactivity it is common for a host to wind
down. Still, a user request on this host may not take as long as a cold spool up. To simulate this, the application pool
controlling the web service in IIS Manager was recycled.
There was little reason to test the SQL 2008 machine as IIS was absent, so presumably that same refresh should never
occur. As there is no IIS control, the author predicted that this service would never actually stop except due to
error or server reboot. Just for fun, the author wound down the Windows service controlling the SQL Server 2008
Report Server anyway. Even with this imposed handicap, Katmai was still a little over 1 second faster, an improvement
of about 11.5 percent. The real story here is the nearly complete elimination of the time lag due to application pool
reset (see Table 3 and Figure 3).
Warm Server Spool Up Test |
| SQL 2005 | SQL 2008 |
Trial 1 | 9.85s | 8.42s |
Trial 2 | 7.69s | 8.25s |
Trial 3 | 10.55s | 8.17s |
Avg | 9.36s | 8.28s |
Table 3. Warm Server Spool-up Test: This table shows the results for the Warm Server Spool-Up. |
|
|

Figure 3. (Warm) Service Reset: SQL Server 2008 Wins the Warm Server Spool Up Test. |
Test Performance Conclusion
Overall, the clear winner here is Katmai, SQL Server 2008. If performance, scalability, or IIS security held you back from SQL Server in the past, now is the time to begin testing with Katmai SSRS.