Degrade Performance - SC11Xe HBA to Ultrium 1840

[djenkinsnz]

Replacing our existing DL380G3 (win 2003 x32) to Ultrium 1840 backup solution (Backup Exec) with a new DL380 G7 (win 2008 R2 x64) connecting to the same Ultrium drive. We were provided with an SC11Xe HBA to interface between the server and tape drive as the new server has a PCIe riser.

The transfer speeds when running the HP LTT is appalling. 2.1MB/s and when we try to use Backup Exec disk to tape jobs never complete but instead terminate part way through the job. We've trawled forums and done things like remove the various HP insight components etc and we can get a job to complete but the transfer rate is greatly reduced, down from 1.7GB/min to 116MB/min.

Testing with the tape tools gives us the 2.1MB/s rate.

Have we been supplied with the correct HBA to interface the server and tape drive? How can we increase the transfer rate to compete with what the old G3 server was doing?

Any info appreciated. Thanks

[Torsten.]

You should do an assessment test with LTT and pull a support ticket after this to provide more information.

[djenkinsnz]

Did that. That's what gave me the info that the transfer speed was 2.1MB/s

[djenkinsnz]

Well it's now been 2 weeks of stuffing around with an HP level 2 tech re this issue. They've had me installing windows 2003 R2 and testing with other Ultrium tape drives.

What it seems to come down to is that with the DL380G7, Windows 2003 R2, the SC11Xe card and the Ultrium 1840 external SCSI drive all is good. Transfer speeds are acceptable at 40MB\s.

Install Windows 2008 R2 with the same hardware and it all goes to custard. Transfer Speeds won't get past 2.1MB\s. This is looking more and more like HP have a problem with the combination of the G7, Windows 2008 R2 and the HBA card and drive.

Will post when I know what the HP proposed next steps to solve this are.

[djenkinsnz]

Well another few days have gone by with very little action. Now approaching 3 weeks since the issue was reported!!

They now appear to be grasping at straws. Had a level 2 tech tell me today that they want to replace the SCSI cable with the 'correct' one. Even though the one we have IS the correct one as displayed on the HP compatibility list page AND was the one supplied with the drive originally AND it also functions fine with the server/HBA/Windows 2003 OS, as opposed to the problematic windows 2008 R2 setup with the same hardware.

The tech even wanted to supply me with a SAS cable for my SCSI tape drive, go figure......

If I sound a little sarcastic it's because things are now getting to the ridiculous. Seems ludicrous that I might have to revert to an 8 year old OS to get things to work.

To be continued...............