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Performance issues using PCI-X to PCI-express riser DL360 G4p

 
USRES ITAdmin
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Performance issues using PCI-X to PCI-express riser DL360 G4p

Here is my hardware:

HP ProLiant DL360 G4p, Single 3.2GHz Xeon, 2GB
2 x 750GB SATA 7200 Internal Drives. Single logical drives. (no RAID)
64-bit/133 MHz PCI-X to PCI-Express conversion kit

HP MSA60
Attached to Smart Array E500
256K Battery Backed Cache, 50% Read/Write
5 x 1TB SATA 7200RPM
6 x 100GB RAID0 Logical Drives with stripe sizes 8k to 256k (for testing)

HP MSL4048
Attached to HP SC44Ge PCI Express HBA
4 x LTO4 Ultrium 1760 tape drives (native speed 33-80 MBs)

Dual Gigabit NICs, Teamed for load balancing.

Software
Backup Exec 12.5
Symantec Endpoint Protection 11: DISABLED COMPLETELY

The Problem: Backups & Restores between MSA60 and Tape are slow. B&R to and from Network are very fast. Even B&R to the single, internal disk are faster than to the 5 disk RAID0 array. I've performed exhaustive benchmarks using every stripe size, and multiple file sizes.

Example:
Restores
Data set: 19k files, 4.2GB
Remote Server (Windows2003): 46.5 MB/s
Local Internal Drive: 11.3 MB/s
Local Array 64k stripe (best): 13 MB/s

Backups
Data set: 19k files, 4.2GB
Remote Server: 33.9 MB/s
Local Internal Drive: 14 MB/s
Local Array 64k stripe (best): 16.9 MB/s

Using HP Tape Tools to benchmark the RAID array, I can get read speeds of 44-67 MB/s, and write speeds of 85-105 MB/s, depending on file size, strip size, etc. Obviously the array is fast.

B&R to remote servers is also very fast, so the tape subsystem seems to be configured and working correctly.

I have come to the conclusion that the PCI-X to PCI-express Riser is somehow restricting the bandwidth between the E500 and the SC44Ge. Does this make sense? What type of bandwidth for PCI-Express cards does this option provide?

Perhaps I need to use a server with native PCI-Express slots??

Thanks