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SAS vs SATA performance (DL180 G6 vs DL380 G6)

 
d3vnul
Frequent Advisor

SAS vs SATA performance (DL180 G6 vs DL380 G6)

Hello to everyone,

Out of curiosity i made a small test today and i was kinda shocked to see the results:

2 servers :

 

1) DL180 G6 (P410/w battery - 4 x 1TB SATA RAID10 - hp esxi 5.0U1):
Guest: Centos 6.3 (noop elevator) (solo machine/guest on Array): 

dd if=/dev/zero of=test bs=64k count=64k conv=fdatasync && rm -f test
65536+0 records in
65536+0 records out
4294967296 bytes (4.3 GB) copied, 17.4948 s, 245 MB/s

 2) DL380 G6 (P410i/w battery and 512mb cache - 4 x 300GB SAS 10K RAID10 - hp esxi 4.1U3):
Guest: Centos 6.3 (noop elevator) (solo machine/guest on Array3):

dd if=/dev/zero of=test bs=64k count=64k conv=fdatasync && rm -rf test
65536+0 records in
65536+0 records out
4294967296 bytes (4.3 GB) copied, 24.7054 s, 174 MB/s

 This small test was performed during no activity on the servers.
The DL380 G6 has the following storage configration:
- P410i with battery and 512mb cache (75% read / 25% write)

- HP SAS Expander / Second 8SFF drive cage
- 13 x 300GB 10K SAS :
Array1 (slot 1-4) RAID10
Array2 (slot 5-8) RAID10
Array3 (slot 9-12) RAID10
Slot 13 not configured.

I was expecting the results to be the contrary (better performance on the DL380G6) , but i guess i was wrong ....
Anyone has any ideas ? Thank you in advance.

5 REPLIES 5
Jan Soska
Honored Contributor

Re: SAS vs SATA performance (DL180 G6 vs DL380 G6)

Hello,

I agree your results are unxepected. But - there are differences in your config - different ESX version - preventing to results be trully comparable. Your test as well shows sequential capabilities during read/write. Sometimes it is possible big sata drive will outperform smaller sas disk (different record density). Is it supposed to test only sequential performance? Better is to test random perf, for example with iometer.

 

Jan

d3vnul
Frequent Advisor

Re: SAS vs SATA performance (DL180 G6 vs DL380 G6)

DL180 G6 (Ioping tests):

Disk Schedulers & Read Ahead (Queue Size x 2):
***************************************************
[/dev/sda] - Read Ahead: 256
[noop] anticipatory deadline cfq
----------------------------------
***************************************************

**********************************
dd (sequential disk speed test)...
**********************************
dd if=/dev/zero of=testfilex bs=64k count=16k conv=fdatasync
16384+0 records in
16384+0 records out
1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB) copied, 4.17417 s, 257 MB/s

************************
starting ioping tests...
***************************************************
ioping disk I/O test (default 1MB working set)
***************************************************
disk I/O: /dev/sda
--- /dev/sda (device 60.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
5 requests completed in 4025.3 ms, 204 iops, 0.8 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 0.1/4.9/14.8/6.0 ms

**********************************************
seek rate test (default 1MB working set)
**********************************************
seek rate: /dev/sda
--- /dev/sda (device 60.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
2425 requests completed in 3001.5 ms, 870 iops, 3.4 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 0.0/1.1/20.4/2.7 ms

**********************************************
sequential test (default 1MB working set)
**********************************************
-----------------------
sequential: /dev/sda
--- /dev/sda (device 60.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
3409 requests completed in 3001.0 ms, 1263 iops, 315.7 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 0.3/0.8/26.3/1.0 ms
-----------------------
sequential cached I/O: /dev/sda
--- /dev/sda (device 60.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
8849 requests completed in 3000.2 ms, 4003 iops, 1000.9 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 0.1/0.2/13.3/0.4 ms



################################
ioping disk I/O test
(custom 4 32 64 256 (KB) request size)
################################

***************************************
[/dev/sda] ioping disk I/O test: 4K test
***************************************
--- /dev/sda (device 60.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
5 requests completed in 4013.2 ms, 403 iops, 1.6 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 0.1/2.5/8.7/3.4 ms

***************************************
[/dev/sda] ioping disk I/O test: 32K test
***************************************
--- /dev/sda (device 60.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
5 requests completed in 4001.9 ms, 4638 iops, 144.9 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 0.1/0.2/0.5/0.1 ms

***************************************
[/dev/sda] ioping disk I/O test: 64K test
***************************************
--- /dev/sda (device 60.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
5 requests completed in 4023.4 ms, 220 iops, 13.8 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 0.2/4.5/21.7/8.6 ms

***************************************
[/dev/sda] ioping disk I/O test: 256K test
***************************************
--- /dev/sda (device 60.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
5 requests completed in 4021.5 ms, 244 iops, 60.9 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 0.4/4.1/19.0/7.4 ms

################################
ioping seek rate test
(custom 4 32 64 256 (KB) request size)
################################

***************************************
[/dev/sda] ioping seek rate test: 4K test
***************************************
--- /dev/sda (device 60.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
2099 requests completed in 3009.2 ms, 744 iops, 2.9 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 0.0/1.3/29.5/2.9 ms

***************************************
[/dev/sda] ioping seek rate test: 32K test
***************************************
--- /dev/sda (device 60.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
2136 requests completed in 3006.8 ms, 762 iops, 23.8 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 0.1/1.3/23.0/2.9 ms

***************************************
[/dev/sda] ioping seek rate test: 64K test
***************************************
--- /dev/sda (device 60.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
2176 requests completed in 3001.0 ms, 777 iops, 48.6 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 0.1/1.3/12.1/2.7 ms

***************************************
[/dev/sda] ioping seek rate test: 256K test
***************************************
--- /dev/sda (device 60.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
1665 requests completed in 3000.5 ms, 585 iops, 146.1 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 0.2/1.7/26.0/3.5 ms

 


DL380 G6 (Ioping tests):

 

Disk Schedulers & Read Ahead (Queue Size x 2):
***************************************************
[/dev/sda] - Read Ahead: 256
[noop] anticipatory deadline cfq
----------------------------------
***************************************************

**********************************
dd (sequential disk speed test)...
**********************************
dd if=/dev/zero of=testfilex bs=64k count=16k conv=fdatasync
16384+0 records in
16384+0 records out
1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB) copied, 7.23169 s, 148 MB/s

************************
starting ioping tests...
***************************************************
ioping disk I/O test (default 1MB working set)
***************************************************
disk I/O: /dev/sda
--- /dev/sda (device 30.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
5 requests completed in 4028.3 ms, 193 iops, 0.8 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 2.6/5.2/8.5/2.0 ms

**********************************************
seek rate test (default 1MB working set)
**********************************************
seek rate: /dev/sda
--- /dev/sda (device 30.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
500 requests completed in 3002.7 ms, 177 iops, 0.7 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 0.1/5.7/35.0/3.6 ms

**********************************************
sequential test (default 1MB working set)
**********************************************
-----------------------
sequential: /dev/sda
--- /dev/sda (device 30.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
1258 requests completed in 3000.1 ms, 483 iops, 120.7 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 0.7/2.1/91.7/4.4 ms
-----------------------
sequential cached I/O: /dev/sda
--- /dev/sda (device 30.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
2323 requests completed in 3002.0 ms, 972 iops, 242.9 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 0.1/1.0/40.7/2.6 ms

-----------------------



################################
ioping disk I/O test
(custom 4 32 64 256 (KB) request size)
################################

***************************************
[/dev/sda] ioping disk I/O test: 4K test
***************************************
--- /dev/sda (device 30.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
5 requests completed in 4032.0 ms, 159 iops, 0.6 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 4.1/6.3/10.1/2.1 ms

***************************************
[/dev/sda] ioping disk I/O test: 32K test
***************************************
--- /dev/sda (device 30.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
5 requests completed in 4027.4 ms, 187 iops, 5.8 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 4.5/5.3/5.8/0.4 ms

***************************************
[/dev/sda] ioping disk I/O test: 64K test
***************************************
--- /dev/sda (device 30.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
5 requests completed in 4040.0 ms, 127 iops, 7.9 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 5.3/7.9/10.8/2.3 ms

***************************************
[/dev/sda] ioping disk I/O test: 256K test
***************************************
--- /dev/sda (device 30.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
5 requests completed in 4049.4 ms, 102 iops, 25.6 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 6.8/9.8/15.1/2.8 ms


################################
ioping seek rate test
(custom 4 32 64 256 (KB) request size)
################################

***************************************
[/dev/sda] ioping seek rate test: 4K test
***************************************
--- /dev/sda (device 30.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
533 requests completed in 3006.8 ms, 186 iops, 0.7 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 0.2/5.4/27.5/2.6 ms

***************************************
[/dev/sda] ioping seek rate test: 32K test
***************************************
--- /dev/sda (device 30.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
494 requests completed in 3000.8 ms, 172 iops, 5.4 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 0.2/5.8/35.4/3.4 ms

***************************************
[/dev/sda] ioping seek rate test: 64K test
***************************************
--- /dev/sda (device 30.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
487 requests completed in 3011.2 ms, 169 iops, 10.6 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 0.3/5.9/21.2/2.8 ms

***************************************
[/dev/sda] ioping seek rate test: 256K test
***************************************
--- /dev/sda (device 30.0 Gb) ioping statistics ---
354 requests completed in 3002.6 ms, 123 iops, 30.7 mb/s
min/avg/max/mdev = 0.7/8.2/93.1/5.3 ms

 

Jan Soska
Honored Contributor

Re: SAS vs SATA performance (DL180 G6 vs DL380 G6)

amazing, it seems you found the fastest sata disk ever. :)

is it posible to test these sata's in dl380 - ig there isn't something wrong with p400?

 

Jan

d3vnul
Frequent Advisor

Re: SAS vs SATA performance (DL180 G6 vs DL380 G6)

Unfortunately i cannot swap disk's because one server is on NL and the other one in DE.

 

One more note:
DL180 G6 ESXi 5.0U1 -> CentOS Guest configured with LSI Parallel Controller

DL380 G6 ESXi 4.1U3 -> CentOS Guest configured with LSI SAS Controller

I'm going to upgrade the DL380 G6 ESXi to the same version as the DL180 G6 and remake the tests , but i hardly believe this version change could affect performance so drastically as i never expected SATA to perform so great (as the tests say).

Jan Soska
Honored Contributor

Re: SAS vs SATA performance (DL180 G6 vs DL380 G6)

hello,

I assume LSI sas should be better than paralel one... Your results do not make sence. Come back with results after upgrading dl380 to esxi5...

We have esxi 5.1 runinng 4x 1TB seagate in r5 config at dell r415, I will test it just from curiosity and compare with older esxi 4.1 running 8x 72GB sas in r10 a dell 2970...

 

Jan