Best RAID for Performance? 1

[TamedTech]

Hello Chapps,

About to carry out a network install ... Its for a radio statio and the broadcast systems access all the files from the server.

I need to optimsie performance of the server for this, what are your suggestions?

I am looking to inplement a RAID system, which type offers the best read/write speeds? Redundency is not a nececity but wouold be a nice feature. I look to be using an HP ML350 server and install an array of disks running at 15,000rpm as i presume these will be faster?

Not really a hardware man and needed some advice.

Thanks,

Rob

p.s. if you have any other general performance tips i would love to hear them

 

[TamedTech]

Thanks guys ... double checked with my supplier this morning and it would apear that i had already speced the U320 card for that box.

Thanks, Rob ... will be sticking to the 10k disks ... saves me about 150 pound a disk.

Rob

 

[rvnguy]

TamedTech.

Glad you are getting such great information. Hope that you are not on overload.

As you have spec'd the U320 card, Did you notice, 1DMF's comment on Bus speed?

PCI-X slots for these cards in the HP servers are only 66mhz or 100mhz

As the card will support 133Mhz you might query HP on this limitation. See this: It is dated but has good link information.

http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/technology/pci-x-enablement.html

mrdenny's comments are gold, and go along with my initial thought that your VAR would be setting this up. Rely on them as much as they will let you. They have an interest in insuring that you are satisfied to a point.

It is just good business to know exactly (as you can) the system component compatability and limitations up front. That way you are not surprised later.

Thanks for keeping this current.

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[TamedTech]

Thanks for that RVNGuy .. another valuable post.

I will without doubt now be heading for a set of 10k disks. I will also make a point of speaking to HP about the bus speeds on those cards.

This is why i always buy HP .. in my opinion the tech support and customer service is second to none!

One question that i do have, and i'm almost a little embaraced to ask but ploped it into google and got about a million different answers; What's a VAR?

Thanks again,

Rob

 

[TamedTech]

p.s. Not feeling overloaded ... in the fmaous word of Johny 5; "more info"

Rob

 

[mrdenny]

VAR = Value Added Reseller

Denny
MCSA (2003) / MCDBA (SQL 2000)

--Anything is possible. All it takes is a little research. (Me)

http://www.mrdenny.com

(Not quite so old any more.)

 

[rvnguy]

TamedTech,

Not to worry. We are frought with acronyms, and new ones everyday. I have a problem keeping up.

VAR = Value Added Reseller.

Don't know if you are dealing with HP direct or through a firm that sells HP. If a firm, they would/might be condidered a VAR especially if they also sell other brands.


rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[TamedTech]

Ok unederstood ... i just call them a re-seller ... I use a pretty good company that are an approved HP re-seller with in house specialst and things.

Thanks,

Rob

 

[1DMF]

to add my 2 pence worth on the RPM of the HD, revolutions of the disk isn't the main issue when getting a HD, it's the seek time, as not all disks that are 10k or 15k have the same seek time.

It's like memory, it's not just the mhz speed that is important, but also the CAS Latency.



"In complete darkness we are all the same, only our knowledge and wisdom separates us, don't let your eyes deceive you.

 

[TamedTech]

Hello Chapps,

Thanks again for your help ... just thought i would bring you upto speed ... have run the hardware past HP and checked the bus speeds ... this is the SCSI contorller i am currently looking at.

Compaq Smart Array 641 Storage Controller (RAID) - Ultra320 SCSI - 320 MBps - RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 - PCI-X

The Smart Array 641 Controller (SA-641) is a 64-bit, 133-MHz PCI-X dual SCSI channel PCI array controller for entry-level hardware-based fault tolerance. Utilizing a SCSI channel (1 internal) of the SA-641 allows you to configure up to 6 internal hard drives to store up to 880.8 GB of storage. The SA-641 provides high reliability and increased performance over the LC2 controller, thus providing excellent value and lowering the total server ownership cost. In addition, the SA-641 is data compatible with all Ultra 320, Wide Ultra3 and Wide Ultra2 drives, offering an unparalleled degree of investment protection. Designed and integrated with HP entry-level and workgroup ProLiant servers, this product provides worry-free data protection.

This seems to meet the 133mhx requirements you suggested above ... i would be coupling this with a 6 disk array .. 5 for the RAID 5 and 1 for my OS to sit on.

Is that going to do the job?

Thanks again,

Rob

 

[SimonDavies]

You would have a pretty good system but I would advise going for a mirrored system disk instead of a single one (raid1), basically if the system disk fails you just have to change the ARC path in your bootdisk's boot.ini to load the system back up. You don't have to worry about rebuilding from scratch.

Another thing I would look at on your old box is running Performance Monitor on your disk access and Network access.
Have a look at where the actual bottleneck is occuring.

Good luck

 

[TamedTech]

Thanks Simon .. got another post on at the same time about performance monitoring on the current box.

Ta,

Rob

 

[technome]

Definitely go for 2 disks raid 1 for the OS, I wrote this up, bit long.

http://206.246.253.6/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=15270

........................................
Chernobyl disaster..a must see pictorial

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/default.htm

 

[ngagne]

The ML350 G4 servers have a 133mhz PCI slot. HP p/n 356005-001 will get you a ML350 G4 with a Smart Array 641 installed, a single Xeon 3.2 proc and 1GB RAM. You can add an additional processor and memory from there. You want their BBWC for SA641/642 as well (BBWC = battery backup write cache). This way, if you lose power, any information in the write cache will be flushed to disk (as opposed to just vanishing).

 

[ngagne]

I should also add that you want the SCSI Duplex Backplane to split the drive cages into two groups - 2 disks (OS in RAID1)/4 disks (RAID5).

 

[TamedTech]

Yep ... thanks for that ngagne .... i have already sorted out the chache battery as reccomended by my VAR ...

Thanks for the advice its all much appreciated!

Rob