Compaq DL 380 2.4ghz G3 and HP NC7781 Nic cards...

[David Passantino]

We just recently purchased a few HP/Compaq Proliant DL 380 G3s and are experiencing some problems with data speed on 1 gig NICs. The server has two integrated 1 gig HP NC7781 NIC cards and we inserted a Intel Pro 1000 T Server adapter in one of the available PCIs slots. The servers speed is fine except when transferring data across the network. Whenever we attempt to transfer any data over the 1 gig ethercards we get transfer rates of 50 to 100 mb a minute.

However, we can use the Compaq 360s or other servers we have with 1 gig ethernet ports and transfer 600+ mb of data in 20 seconds.

The machines Compaq DL 380 2.4 G3 were created with Smart Start 6.20 and the drivers have been updated to the newest support pack.

Our switch is a Cisco 6509.

Thank you,
David

[Timur Karimov]

I think it's a speed|duplex mismatch problem.
Check speed|duplex seting on both side and for best result "hard write" it to 1GB/full-duplex.

WBR Timur Karimov

[David Passantino]

Actually we have tried 1000/full on both sides as well as auto/auto and 100/full. The performance is poor all around. However, we think it has something to do with Win2k SP4 or the newest Ethernet card drivers....we are testing now.

[Andrew Terrett]

David

Did you ever get this issue resolved? We are facing the same issue at a customer site. The server seems fine except for its ability to pass data across the network. It is currently being outperformed in tests by a Dell workstation...

Any advice?

Thanks
Andrew Terrett

[Conall]

Hi Guys,

had the same issue with performance on NC7781
and empty MAC address 380 g3 2.4Ghz etc.

empty mac address resolved by NIC f/w upgarde and the latest driver for the NIC.

The performance problem came about when using RDP 1.4 to capture a disk image. It wsa dog slow. You wont believe the resoultion as it flies in the face of all that is Holy! I set the port speed/duplex on the switch to auto/auto. Booted the server and in the PXE boot config (Ctrl S)I set the speed to 100/full !

to sum up the performance issue was solved by mismatching the link and speed.

Let me know if this helps


RGds

Conall

[David Passantino]

We were able to resolve the problem with HPs help. The problem was by default these servers did not come with the Backup Write Cache solution. We had to purchase this and everything is fine.

[Lee Lieu]

David,

This problem has also been bugging us for some time now. Would it be possible for you to go into a bit more detail of how you and HP resolved this problem or where we can look to fix this problem. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Lee

[David Passantino]

We did all types of speed tests (network, disk performance) as well as sniffing the data packets using ethereal. We found that the packets were fine and transmitting well but because of the lack of cache it could not produce the correct throughput. After installing this simple Backup Write Cache solution we are not getting amazing rates. You will also wanted to upgrade all of the drivers and firmware to the latest and greatest. As well, we found the using smart start 6.40 produced much great results than using smartstart 6.20 (which came with our servers).


-David

[Tom Lewers_1]

Is David saying that he upgraded the RAID controller to the 5i Plus which support the battery backed cache? Does anyone know?

[David Passantino]

What I am saying is that by default these machines do not come with Backup Write Cache option. We had to purchase one for each server and then then the throughput was amazing....before that it was real slow. If you call HP / compaq they can tell you about it.