TORPEDO FAQ

What is TORPEDO?

TORPEDO is a Testbed of Object Relational Products for Enterprise Distributed Objects. It is designed to reveal the sophistication of O-R mapping software. TORPEDO defines a set of realistic application level operations that detect a significant set of database access optimizations. TORPEDO supports two standard Java APIs for O-R mapping, namely, Container Managed Persistence (CMP 2.x) and Java Data Objects (JDO). TORPEDO also supports the Hibernate API. There are dozens of commercial and open-source O-R mapping products supporting these APIs. Results from running TORPEDO on different O-R mapping systems are comparable.

Is TORPEDO a benchmark?

TORPEDO is not a traditional performance benchmark in the sense that it does not measure throughput and response time in absolute terms. Such benchmarks are dependent on hardware, network, application server and database configuration. We wanted a logical measure of performance, rather than one that depends on the environment in which the test runs.

How does TORPEDO measure peformance?

TORPEDO measures the number of times the database is accessed by the O-R mapping software for each application level operation. The SQL that was executed by the O-R mapping software is captured by TORPEDO and returned to the TORPEDO clients. O-R mapping software products with sophisticated caching algorithms are going to shine because TORPEDO will reveal less database access.

Does TORPEDO compare features of O-R mapping software?

TORPEDO focuses on the runtime sophistication of the O-R mapping software. Other features, such as the quality of the development tools for the O-R mapping software, are important considerations when selecting an O-R mapping product but TORPEDO does not measure those features.

How does TORPEDO compare CMP, JDO and other solutions?

Prior to running the TORPEDO reference implementation, you select the Java O-R mapping API you want it to use by modifying a configuration file. The reference implementation was designed to access the application's persistent object model through five Java interfaces. Implementations of those Java interfaces are provided for EJB CMP entity beans, JDO and Hibernate. Implementations of those interfaces for other Java O-R mapping solutions could be added to the reference implementation.

What about comparing non-Java solutions, such as O-R mapping solutions for .Net?

This is possible by writing an implementation of TORPEDO for the non-J2EE platform. The functional specification describes the rules that alternate implementations must follow in order to ensure that the results are comparable with the reference implementation.

Does TORPEDO test O-R mapping solutions in a clustered environment?

Yes. The specification says that TORPEDO should be run in a single server and, if supported by the O-R mapping software, in a clustered environment.

What happened to The Middleware Company?

As of November, 2004, The Middleware Company and related research and consulting businesses have been discontinued. TheServerSide.com, TheServerSide.NET and related conferences are continuing operation as part of the TechTarget network.

Without The Middleware Company will TORPEDO continue?

Yes. TechTarget has been very generous in insuring that TORPEDO lives on. The Torpedo Group was formed and TechTarget has transfered TORPEDO assets to the Torpedo Group.

What is the importance of getting results verified?

The Torpedo Group will post the results of any submission in the non-verified results column. Verified results are those configurations (tuned or non-tuned) that have been run by The Torpedo Group in the same configuration and have been verified to produce the results listed. Verified results give readers a greater sense of confidence and credibility in the results generated.