ML110 G10: write cache on integrated SATA controller is disabled

[simon73]

I'm fighting with poor storage performance with VMWare ESX v7, installed with the customized ISO file from HPE, running on HPE ML110 Gen10. I have 8 SATA SSD connected to the integrated SATA AHCI controller.

After lot of time consuming experiment, and with comparison with another PC that run the same version of ESXi and make use of staorage connected on integrated SATA AHCI Controller, I discovered the reason of slow disk transfer: it's due to the fact that HPE servers disable write cache on all disks at boot time, and there is no way to enable! Or at least I don't know how to do!

It seems that the engineering guys in HPE decided that if you run HDD or SSD on integrated SATA controller (on ML100 G10 is the one that VMware ESXi label as "Intel Lewisburg SATA AHCI Controller" ) you have to live with disabled write cache. At least in Windows you can enable it through the relevant disk property, but in VMWare ESXi it seems impossible to do! I tried also running smartctl and hdparm on ESXi, but ESXi kernel inhibit some kind of SCSI operation.

You can read the cache status with smartctl:

./smartctl -d sat /dev/disks/t10.ATA_____xXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXx_____ -g wcache
smartctl 7.3 2021-11-01 r5240 [x86_64-linux-7.0.3] (CircleCI)
Copyright (C) 2002-21, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

Write cache is: Disabled

 but this is the output if you try to change it:

./smartctl -d sat /dev/disks/t10.ATA_____xXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXxxXx_____ -s wcache,on
smartctl 7.3 2021-11-01 r5240 [x86_64-linux-7.0.3] (CircleCI)
Copyright (C) 2002-21, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF ENABLE/DISABLE COMMANDS SECTION ===
Write cache enable failed: scsi error unsupported field in scsi command

Any help on this matter, esxcluding to buy a dedicated P408i controller :-)?

If an HPE employee read this post: please pass the information to the development team to add the write cache option in BIOS setup!

[support_s]

System recommended content:

1. Advisory: HPE Smart Array - Smart Array Px3x Controllers With 4GB Cache Module May Report “Write-Back Cache Backup Previously Failed” on Reboot or During Boot After an Ungraceful Shutdown

If the above information is helpful, then please click on "Thumbs Up/Kudo" icon.

Thank you for being a HPE community member.

[simon73]

Unfortuntely above information is not helpful as the question is relevant to ssd write cache when this is cobnected on embedded sata controller in AHCI mode.

I open a case with HPE support submitting this issue...hope to be able to find a solution.