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DL180 G5 + P400 RAID Issues

 
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SittingDuck
New Member

DL180 G5 + P400 RAID Issues

Hi folks,

We've recently purchased a DL180 G5 to use as a domain controller and file server in a branch office and are having real troubles with it.

We have the OS (Win 2008 x64) installed on a pair of mirrored drives, and 4 1TB SATA drives in RAID5 config for storing user files. The performance when read and writing is currently very poor, I've read a few other topics and it seems other people are having similar problems.

I want to try and improve the performance if I can, but I just wanted a few pointers first.

We only have the one server currently in the office and not 100% of the data on the 4TB RAID is backed up, one of the suggestions I've seen is to move the P400 to another PCIe slot, can I do this without ruining the RAID config/losing data? My first thought was that it would be fine but confirmation would be appreciated.

We've also purchased a BBWC to add to the P400 since the standard configuration didn't come with one, once this is installed would we see a vast improvement? or does adding the BBWC only offer a limited improvement?

Any help or suggestions you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
3 REPLIES 3
Patrick Terlisten
Honored Contributor
Solution

Re: DL180 G5 + P400 RAID Issues

Hello,

the RAID configuration is saved on the disks, not on the controller. You can change the PCIe slot without losing the config.

A BBWC will speedup the write performance noticeable. Without a BBWC the write cache won't be activated.

Best regards,
Patrick
Best regards,
Patrick
SittingDuck
New Member

Re: DL180 G5 + P400 RAID Issues

Thanks Patrick,

I haven't moved the P400 to another PCIe slot yet but installing the BBWC has improved things a fair bit.
Patrick Terlisten
Honored Contributor

Re: DL180 G5 + P400 RAID Issues

Hello,

performence depends on many factors. MB/s is nothing more then "IOs per Second x IO size". If you have many small IOs, and only three disks, you won't get much MB/s. If you have big IOs and many disks, you will get a lot of MB/s. You have written that you have 4x 1 TB drives in a RAID 5. On 1 TB disks will get round about 100 IOPS. So you will not get more then 300 IOPS while reading from the array. If you're average IO has a size of 16 KB, you will get only round about 4,5 MB/s. Not much for 4 disks in a RAID 5.

Missing performance must not be a problem of the controller. It's often a problem of to few disks and to small IOs.

Best regards,
Patrick
Best regards,
Patrick