ML370G3 slow during installation

[PDarmanin]

Hi there,

I have a very strange problem occurring on a ML370G3.
Basically the problem is during installation, copying of windows files is taking too long.
Iâ ve booted the system using Smart Start 7.10 and done a server setup. Copying windows files to the hdd that took about 6 to 7 mins. Thus after reboot, the server boots from the hdd it self and start coping windows files. This process takes about 9 to 10 mins. When tested on another system it only took 1 min.
I done several tests including different raid configuration like raid 5 and raid 0 and still got the same results.
The hddâ s are 73GB 15k and the raid controller is a 6400. As what regards upgrades, the whole system (including drives and raid controller) were upgraded with the latest firmware from the firmware upgrade cd 7.10.
I also tried to change the controller and still have same results.

Any clues of what can be wrong? Since write cache is disabled for now due to low batteries, can it be the cause of this?

Regards,

Pi

[JohnWRuffo · Accepted solution]

Yes... poor write performance can be due to the batteries being discharged and therefore disabled. Once the batteries charge (usually 24 - 36 hours) and the array calibrations are complete you should see good performance from the controller.

One note, the SmartArray controller will not charge the batteries if the server is not on and the disks have not been formatted. You must "do something" with the disks other than set an array up for the batteries to begin to charge. So... load up the O/S and give it some time.

G'luck! -john

[PDarmanin]

hi John,

i just finished some testing after i let the batteries charging and parity testing finished and the transfer of windows file was halfed.

thanks a lot,

Pierre

[Caster Troy]

Hi Pi
It is alsp possible that due to larger stripe size the performance is slow. I had a similar problem on a ML370G3 server. The server responded slow when smart start was used but if I used bootable windows cd with driver of RAID controller on a floppy then the response was fine.
If it is RAID5 then it would be definitely slow as compared to RAID0
good luck
regards
jk