Poor performance HP P400 controller

[Jeroentjuhh]

Hi!

I use the HP P400 controller on a Asus P5M2/SAS motherboard with ESX 3.5. The diskperformance is really slow, only 8MB/SEC.. As you can see in the following configuation, I've got a backup battery attached and it's enabled.

Any ideas why the performance is that bad?

=> controller slot=1 show config detail

Smart Array P400 in Slot 1
Bus Interface: PCI
Slot: 1
Serial Number: PAFGK0M9VWJ3DJ
Cache Serial Number: PA2270J9VWH0I9
RAID 6 (ADG) Status: Enabled
Controller Status: OK
Chassis Slot:
Hardware Revision: Rev E
Firmware Version: 5.26
Rebuild Priority: High
Expand Priority: High
Surface Scan Delay: 15 sec
Cache Board Present: True
Cache Status: OK
Accelerator Ratio: 50% Read / 50% Write
Drive Write Cache: Enabled
Total Cache Size: 512 MB
Battery Pack Count: 1
Battery Status: OK
SATA NCQ Supported: True

Array: A
Interface Type: SATA
Unused Space: 0 MB
Status: OK
MultiDomain Status: OK

Logical Drive: 1
Size: 931.5 GB
Fault Tolerance: RAID 1+0
Heads: 255
Sectors Per Track: 32
Cylinders: 65535
Stripe Size: 128 KB
Status: OK
MultiDomain Status: OK
Array Accelerator: Enabled
Unique Identifier: 600508B100104D3956574A33444A0002
Disk Name: /dev/cciss/c0d0
Mount Points: None
Logical Drive Label: A0100588PAFGK0M9VWJ3DJ15E7

physicaldrive 0:0
Box: 0
Bay: 0
Active Path:
Port: 2I Box: 0 Bay: 0
Status: OK
Drive Type: Data Drive
Interface Type: SATA
Size: 1000.2 GB
Firmware Revision: 1AA01113
Serial Number: S13PJ1MS200883
Model: ATA SAMSUNG HD103UJ
SATA NCQ Capable: True
SATA NCQ Enabled: True
PHY Count: 1
PHY Transfer Rate: 1.5GBPS
physicaldrive 0:0
Box: 0
Bay: 0
Active Path:
Port: 2I Box: 0 Bay: 0
Status: OK
Drive Type: Data Drive
Interface Type: SATA
Size: 1000.2 GB
Firmware Revision: 1AA01113
Serial Number: S13PJ1MS200883
Model: ATA SAMSUNG HD103UJ
SATA NCQ Capable: True
SATA NCQ Enabled: True
PHY Count: 1
PHY Transfer Rate: 1.5GBPS

Array: B
Interface Type: SATA
Unused Space: 305213 MB
Status: OK
MultiDomain Status: OK

Logical Drive: 2
Size: 298.1 GB
Fault Tolerance: RAID 0
Heads: 255
Sectors Per Track: 32
Cylinders: 65535
Stripe Size: 64 KB
Status: OK
MultiDomain Status: OK
Array Accelerator: Enabled
Unique Identifier: 600508B100104D3956574A33444A0005
Disk Name: /dev/cciss/c0d1
Mount Points: None
Logical Drive Label: A359814EPAFGK0M9VWJ3DJDD38

physicaldrive 0:0
Box: 0
Bay: 0
Active Path:
Port: 2I Box: 0 Bay: 0
Status: OK
Drive Type: Data Drive
Interface Type: SATA
Size: 320.0 GB
Firmware Revision: 21.00M21
Serial Number: WD-WCAPD4215865
Model: ATA WDC WD3200YS-01P
SATA NCQ Capable: True
SATA NCQ Enabled: True
PHY Count: 1
PHY Transfer Rate: 1.5GBPS
physicaldrive 0:0
Box: 0
Bay: 0
Active Path:
Port: 2I Box: 0 Bay: 0
Status: OK
Drive Type: Data Drive
Interface Type: SATA
Size: 320.0 GB
Firmware Revision: 21.00M21
Serial Number: WD-WCAPD4215865
Model: ATA WDC WD3200YS-01P
SATA NCQ Capable: True
SATA NCQ Enabled: True
PHY Count: 1
PHY Transfer Rate: 1.5GBPS

[Prokopets]

As i can see (correct me if i'm wrong) you are trying to use P400 controller on unsupported server and even with unsupported disks. In this configuration no one can guarantee you even that it will just work - disregard performance.

[Jeroentjuhh]

True..

But there are many people who are running the same configuration with a proper performance.

[Patrick Terlisten]

Hello,

for example who? I knew some guys who tried such a config, and all of them have performance problems like yours.

Best regards,
Patrick

[TTr]

> But there are many people
Where?

Did you install all the drivers for this motherboard, specifically for the MB chipset and the P400? Not all drivers are available for ESX (linux) or even if they install they may not be the most appropriate ones for the hardware.

I tried an E200 once in a home winXP desktop and had poor performance too.

[Jeroentjuhh]

Like:

http://virtualfuture.info/2009/02/esx-whitebox-local-storage-perfomance-tip/

https://forums.openfiler.com/viewtopic.php?pid=17349#p17349

http://www.vmprofessional.com/index.php?content=about (Personal System)

etc etc..

[Prokopets]

Well... I can say only one thing - the behavior of unsupported hardware configuration is absolutely unpredictable because of too many points of indefiniteness. Sad but true.

[Jeroentjuhh]

Indeed sad.. But are there other options re. this controller and drives?