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Configuration Options for the FC60 Disk Array

 
Raghava Reddy
Occasional Advisor

Configuration Options for the FC60 Disk Array

We plan to purchase an FC60 disk array with a usable capacity of 150 GB to 200 GB, for use in a multi-user Oracle database environment. Our I-O throughput requirement is a sustained minimum of 1000 I-Os per second. The I-O profile is predominantly Random as opposed to Sequential, and the Read/Write ratio during the average workday is approximately 9:1.

Our intention is to stripe the file systems containing the database files across as many disks as possible, using a 64 KB stripe size, in order to balance the workload and achieve maximum concurrency.

I had a couple of questions regarding the configuration of the FC60.

Firstly, can the FC60 be used in a Raid 0+1 configuration ?

Secondly, when using a striped configuration (Raid 0, Raid 0+1, Raid 5), can one stripe across all the disks in the system, or is one limited to striping across disks in a single SC10 module, or is the stripe group even more restrictive ?

For instance, if I populate the FC60 system with twenty drives, I would ideally prefer to stripe each file system across all twenty drives.

I tried looking up this information in the HP-provided documents on the Web, but configuration details are woefully lacking in these documents.

Thanks for any input.

Raghav Reddy
6 REPLIES 6
Ramanand Agnihotram
Occasional Advisor

Re: Configuration Options for the FC60 Disk Array

Hi Raghav,
1. Yes, FC60 could used for RAID 0+1.
2. You could configure the SC10 in split bus or full bus mode, Accordingly the striping can be done.
Here are the steps that you could perform:
a. amdsp -i ( will show the array ID)
b. ammgr -D < array ID> ( to set a alias for the raid array)
c. ammgr -t ( to sync the time of raid and system)
d. amcfg -L : -d ,,... -r -S < array ID>
For example:
#amcfg -L A:0 -d 1:0,2:0,3:0,... -r 10 -S
e. insf -eC disk ( to install special files for disk)
f. ammgr -h ( to add hot spare disk for channels )

Hope this is clear and helps you in configuring the RAID Array.

Ram
Raghava Reddy
Occasional Advisor

Re: Configuration Options for the FC60 Disk Array

Ram,

Thank you for your response. At this point I wasn't looking for the command syntax for configuring the system, since we haven't purchased it yet. I was inquiring into the feasibility of striping across all disks in the FC60 system, not just in each SC10 module.

Your reply appears to indicate that this is feasible. As a fallback, I suppose I could configure the FC60 system for Raid-1, and use LVM striping for load balancing.

Raghav
Ramanand Agnihotram
Occasional Advisor

Re: Configuration Options for the FC60 Disk Array

Raghav,
1.Yes, you could stripe across the FC60
2.I suggest, to use FC60 for striping and mirroring as well
Ram
Jeff Kalchik
New Member

Re: Configuration Options for the FC60 Disk Array

I've got an FC60 with 2 SC10 shelves (loaded with 18gb drives) running Oracle 8.1.6 on an N4000 machine. Dual FC connections, redundant through LVM.

The Oracle dedicated storage is around 80gb. LUNS are a combination of RAID1/0 and RAID5 (no db storage on the RAID5 LUN!). Striping appears to be working gracefully.

We commit ~250,000 records daily. Our read-to-write is probably a little lower than yours; we're storing test records for manufacturing in this system.

Performance (as compared the the Model 20 Nike arrays we were using) is outstanding. Even under full system load, the drive systems are simply NOT a bottleneck.
Raghava Reddy
Occasional Advisor

Re: Configuration Options for the FC60 Disk Array

Jeff,

Thank you for your response. Your configuration is very similar to what I wish to do. You said the striping is working very well. Are you doing LVM striping in addition to Raid 0+1, or were you just referring to the the Raid 0+1 striping within the array ?

Also, have you measured your thoughput in terms of physical I-Os per second as viewed by the HP operating system ? Also the actual ratio of Reads to Writes ? I'd be very interested in knowing what these numbers were.

Regards,

Raghav
Jeff Kalchik
New Member

Re: Configuration Options for the FC60 Disk Array

I'm not doing any LVM striping within the array, that would be redundant and more time-intensive.

I haven't bothered to thoroughly bench-mark the device, as we're literally not waiting for it at all. See today's sar.....
---------------------
HP-UX mercury B.11.00 U 9000/800 07/21/00

00:00:00 %usr %sys %wio %idle
01:00:01 54 40 4 2
02:00:01 56 38 3 2
03:00:00 56 38 3 2
04:00:00 55 39 4 3
05:00:01 55 39 3 3
06:00:00 59 36 3 2
07:00:00 55 39 4 3
08:00:00 63 33 2 1
09:00:00 55 38 4 3
10:00:01 56 38 4 2
11:00:00 55 39 4 3

Average 56 38 3 2
---------------------
And today's uptime:
11:26am up 22 days, 18:24, 10 users, load average: 2.12, 2.07, 2.12

We routinely ran between 10 and 40 percent WIO on the Model 20 arrays.

HTH.

Jeff