Supermicro Boards vs. Adaptec SCSI RAID

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.supermicro (More info?)

Hi!

We have several Supermicro Server Barebones (PIV, XEON) and we are wondering
about the poor SCSI performance of the RAID-Arrays controlles by the Adaptec
zero channel RAID cards.
Some servers use the 2010S, some the 2015S, some RAID1, some RAID5 arrays,
all equipped with up-to-date drives (10k rpm U320). Reading performance of a
RAID1 is about 35 MB/s seq, of a RAID5 (64k) below 30 MB/s, regardless of
the use of Linux or W2k server. Single drive performance must be twice as
that.
Has anybody a solution for this?


Regards,
Steffen Bruns

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.supermicro (More info?)

Steffen,
That performance is pretty typical of the ZCR cards. They are low
power, small (48MB) cache, inexpensive cards. Single drive performance
on a "good" RAID card will be much better than that, as will RAID 5
performance. The only solution that I'm aware of is to use a "real"
RAID card. ZCR cards that cost ~$250 (US) should not be expected to
perform at the same level as ~$500-$100 (US) full strength SCSI RAID Cards.


Ed Jamison
MBX - http://www.mbx.com/
888-440-1414 X307
ed.jamison-at-mbx-dot-com
AIM - MBXEdJamison

Steffen Bruns wrote:
> Hi!
>
> We have several Supermicro Server Barebones (PIV, XEON) and we are wondering
> about the poor SCSI performance of the RAID-Arrays controlles by the Adaptec
> zero channel RAID cards.
> Some servers use the 2010S, some the 2015S, some RAID1, some RAID5 arrays,
> all equipped with up-to-date drives (10k rpm U320). Reading performance of a
> RAID1 is about 35 MB/s seq, of a RAID5 (64k) below 30 MB/s, regardless of
> the use of Linux or W2k server. Single drive performance must be twice as
> that.
> Has anybody a solution for this?
>
>
> Regards,
> Steffen Bruns
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.supermicro (More info?)

Not a solution, but an idea. I assume that your Adaptec RAID cards are
being plugged into PCI slots. There may be your issue, the PCI bus. I have
long felt that RAID controllers built-in to a Mobo had the advantage of not
being on the PCI bus and therefore could be much faster as a result. I
don't have the equipment nor desire to test this out, so it's only a hunch.
DER

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.supermicro (More info?)

DER@Southbeach.net wrote:
> Not a solution, but an idea. I assume that your Adaptec RAID cards
> are being plugged into PCI slots. There may be your issue, the PCI
> bus.

In most of the servers there is a 533 MHz PCI-Bus.

> I have long felt that RAID controllers built-in to a Mobo had
> the advantage of not being on the PCI bus and therefore could be much
> faster as a result.

Most RAID controllers built on a Mainboard use the PCI bus, there are only a
few versions (IDE) which directly use the Southbridge.


Steffen

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.supermicro (More info?)

Yea, you're right. As I said, it was only an idea!

DER

 

[Chris]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.supermicro (More info?)

I'm sure Ive read somewhere in a Supermicro manual that the built in SCSI
controller bypases some of the PCI bus which speeds things up. I think that
was on a P6DBS or DGU or similar - maybe not relevant in later server
solutions though.

Chris

<DER@Southbeach.net> wrote in message
news:iT9Mc.12006$eM2.10673@attbi_s51...
> Yea, you're right. As I said, it was only an idea!
>
> DER

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.supermicro (More info?)

Steffen Bruns wrote:
> Hi!
>
> We have several Supermicro Server Barebones (PIV, XEON) and we are wondering
> about the poor SCSI performance of the RAID-Arrays controlles by the Adaptec
> zero channel RAID cards.
> Some servers use the 2010S, some the 2015S, some RAID1, some RAID5 arrays,
> all equipped with up-to-date drives (10k rpm U320). Reading performance of a
> RAID1 is about 35 MB/s seq, of a RAID5 (64k) below 30 MB/s, regardless of
> the use of Linux or W2k server. Single drive performance must be twice as
> that.
> Has anybody a solution for this?
>
>
> Regards,
> Steffen Bruns
>
>

Adaptec cards - either 0 channel or more - are generally stable, and that's about all.
You might also check your cables and termininators to make sure they are all 160 or 320 spec.

You should also try your question at storagereview.com.
Later