N4000 disk bottlenecks

[ian_60]

We have a N4000 server running 11.0 hosting Informix databases. We have added more users over the past couple of months and the server is subsequently struggling with the increase in demand.

I have been monitoring the server via GlancePlus and the cause of the problems seem to come down to disk bottlenecks, hitting 100% at peak times. We have four 18.2Gb 10k rpm disks in a SureStore E SC10 disk system, which are mirrored. CPU and memory seem to be coping OK. I have recently had to increase the nfile and nflocks kernel parameters.

I am looking to purchase disks with a faster read/write speed, but would appreciate any advice before doing this.

Many Thanks

Ian

[Luk Vandenbussche]

Hi,

Off course it depends on your budget.

I can advise the following

1) SCSI based : MSA30
2) Entry level Fiber : MSA1000
3) High Level Fiber : EVA3000 or EVA4000

More info on

http://h18006.www1.hp.com/storage/entrystorage.html

[Jesse Dougherty]

Hi Ian, if your looking for faster then your 18GB SC10 10k drives you might want to look into these SC10 15k drives:

A6273A - 18GB 15k RPM hot swap Ultra3 SCSI hard drive
A6275A - 36GB 15k RPM hot swap Ultra3 SCSI hard drive
A6280A - 73GB 15k RPM hot swap Ultra3 SCSI hard drive

http://h20141.www2.hp.com/hpparts/Search_Results.asp?mscssid=1P02LWCAU1548GWGVPREGP9JTJP37XJ7

There are also third party 73GB 15k drives that will work in the SC10 for around 450 in the used market.

Hope this helps

Jesse
Cypress Technology Inc