Proliant 8000 & Ultra320 drives

[maybeimaleo]

Can I use Ultra320 drives in a Proliant 8000?

I had 3 -18.2GB Ultra3's that were replaced by 3 72GB ultra320's. The controller in the 8000 is a SA 4250ES.

 

[ntinlin]

Should be able to.
All LVD SCSI drives are backwards compatible with each other. As long as they use the same caddy you'll be fine.

They will top out at whatever the 4250ES runs at, presumably Ultra3.

 

[maybeimaleo]

Ok. I have already installed them and they seem to be working fine. They are working at Ultra3 speeds? That is fine because that is what the old drivers were working at.

But why, after "upgrading" this array, would a SQL restore - which worked with the old array set, run slower with the new array? I am thinking it may be something with the performance of the drives....

 

[ntinlin]

Hmm.

Could be a mismatch between the firmware on the SA and the drives themselves.

Check the firmware revisions and update as necessary.

Check the operating speed using the Insight agents. Won't say Ultra3 but should give you the speed.

Are these 3 drives forming their own array? i.e. they aren't part of another one

When you reboot do you get any messages about the array working in 'some mode or other' i.e. a message saying that the array is still being set up?

Never really understood why but a new RAID array on a Compaq can take a little while to settle down.

 

[maybeimaleo]

No - I have never seen any message stating that it is working in some other mode. These three drives are in their own array. No other drives have been added.

 

[maybeimaleo]

Any reason why a SQL backup job going to this new array (same as the old in every aspect except for array size, was 52GB, now 140GB) is now running one hour slower than before?