Windows 2008 R2 file copy issue

[Tim Gowen]

I've noticed that on a new DL380e Gen8 file copies are slowing down the server and making it practically unusable. I've tried this with iSCSI drives on the machine, and with the local drive; I've used file copy utilities like robocopy and windows tools like FreeFileSync.

This link describes my issue:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/3f8a80fd-914b-4fe7-8c93-b06787b03662/windows-2008-r2-large-file-copy-uses-all-available-memory-and-then-tranfer-rate-decreases?forum=winservergen

Although it's not a Hyper-V issue in my case.

I've got a 366i network adapter and a Smart Array P420 storage controller. I can't find the setting for write cash policy in any of the settings. Can anyone help?

[Sbrown]

Write cache policy is in the Array Configuration Utility for P420. I'll assume you have 512 to 2gb (flash/Battery back write cache).

If I were you I would fire up a live CD (linux) or hypervisor (Esxi) and try it again.

AntiVirus software (windows defender!) etc can cause huge slowdowns.

FWIW I do not see the problem with windows 2012 on the same server. Not using ISCSI, Not using P420/1gb FBWC.

Since I have protected power and program to shutdown on power loss. I enable DRIVE WRITE CACHE (default disabled P420), and set Cache to 10% read, 90% write with RAID-10. I enable the cache accelerator on all machines.

Since the P420 can use any SSD to accelerate reads, I usually enable that feature and throw 1TB of SSD to speed up frequently read files.

But even without that, I've never seen that problem.

10% read ratio/90% write ratio cache accelerated enabled.

Physical Drive Write Cache Enabled.

Make sure all power settings on the server are MAX MAX MAX, and inside windows you set the hardware power profile to MAX performance!

Check your NIC (IPV6 setting), and NIC Flow Control settings, if these do not match your switch/network.

If you do not have a battery or Flash capacitor - you did not configure the server correctly.