I don't think the SAS expander is that picky. I would try it in an AMD server board for you, but mine is a dual 1207 board, so a bit different and wouldn't be a good way of judging compatibility. Even with the NF200 chip there, it still worked in my X58 board (Asus P6T6) however. Unfortunately single socket AMD server boards have never been that popular, so finding one is a bit more difficult. I'm not sure how well the CK13601 is going to work for you. I had 2 and they were problematic with my 1680ix-24, but the integrated expander on the card could be to blame for that. I don't have them anymore to test, so I can't tell you if they work well with the 1680i.
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WHS Upgrade Plan - Feedback Needed
- Thread starter pirivan
- Start date
I'm in a little bit different situation than you, not too far off, however. Not to hijack but I still want to utilize the folder duplication WHS offers. I like it becuase it handles dup at the folder level. Some folders I need duplication, others, I have backup already.
I just built this system in a test bench before I migrate my data:
Gigabyte 880GMA
AMD 1055T 6-core
8GB of memory
3 x 500 WD RE Edition in a RAID 5
Windows Server 2008 R2 w/Hyper-V Role
I have all my data backed up so i'm not concerned about migrating to the latest Vail release right now so I installed Vail in a Hyper-V, however I have some questions regarding presenting the storage to the VM. I was just going to present Physical Disks to the VM, however, I start losing some functionality like Snapshotting..etc. Going back to my first point I want to keep using the WHS Folder Duplication so I figure this is my only option, or is it?
I'll be migrating two AOC-SASLP-MV8's from my current system and about 15 Disks so i'm hoping there isn't going to be an issue here.
I just built this system in a test bench before I migrate my data:
Gigabyte 880GMA
AMD 1055T 6-core
8GB of memory
3 x 500 WD RE Edition in a RAID 5
Windows Server 2008 R2 w/Hyper-V Role
I have all my data backed up so i'm not concerned about migrating to the latest Vail release right now so I installed Vail in a Hyper-V, however I have some questions regarding presenting the storage to the VM. I was just going to present Physical Disks to the VM, however, I start losing some functionality like Snapshotting..etc. Going back to my first point I want to keep using the WHS Folder Duplication so I figure this is my only option, or is it?
I'll be migrating two AOC-SASLP-MV8's from my current system and about 15 Disks so i'm hoping there isn't going to be an issue here.
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@Vader
Unfortunately having not gotten that far in my migration I can't offer much help. It is my understanding that you need to pass through disks to the VM if you have a large volume; you don't have any other choices. Anyhow, hopefully someone else who has some experience with it can offer more assistance.
Unfortunately having not gotten that far in my migration I can't offer much help. It is my understanding that you need to pass through disks to the VM if you have a large volume; you don't have any other choices. Anyhow, hopefully someone else who has some experience with it can offer more assistance.
Thanks for the reply Blue Fox! That's a pretty sweet motherboard you have there. Out of curiosity, does the SAS expander work in ANY port on your X58 board or only the 1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 slot (at x4 mode)?
I am thinking more that avoiding the CK13601 is probably a good idea and figuring out what to buy/fix to make the HP SAS expander work is probably a better route.
I see what you mean about single socket AMD server boards; I am not really finding anything that could even use the current Phenom II X4 proc I have. Also, server motherboards for some reason (AMD and Intel) that are on newegg have really sparse amounts of PCI-E slots; it's a bit disappointing. I'm considering rolling the dice on just getting a 'new' AMD or Intel consumer board that has a plethora of ports/features like this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130274
That has a port that runs at x4, but I am concerned that it would ONLY work/run at x4 and allow the sas expander to work if I populated the other slots PCI-E slots.
I wish there was a better compatible motherboard listing for the HP SAS expander, I feel like pretty much whatever motherboard I choose (intel/AMD/server style/consumer) it's not for sure that it will work.
Well I have read back through all 48 pages of the SAS expander thread to gather information about motherboard compatibility. I think my problem is basically this:
"If your top most LED (closest to the external connector) is not blinking steadily, then the SAS expanders processor is not working and hence you will not be able to see any drives. This is caused by the power good signal on the PCIe slot."
That pretty much encapsulates my exact issue. My top most LED is ALWAYS solid and I have an ASUS motherboard as several people who had this issue did.
So, the bottom line is that I need to move to a different motherboard to use the HP SAS expander unless I am an electrical engineer like treadstone. Disappointing but that appears to be the case. So far here is the list of motherboards I have compiled (based on the SAS expander thread) that people report as working and a few notes:
Asus P5BV-C/4L - Blue_Fox - RAID card in x16, SAS expander in x8 + Q6600 CPU
Asrock H55M Pro - Izx - in the BOTTOM slot on his motherboard that is 'electronically x4'
SuperMicro X8ST3-F - Pjkenned
Intel S3420GPLX - Danman
SuperMicro motherboards: X7DWE, X7DWN, X8SIL - All work - According to odditory
Asus P7P55-WS-SC - Treadstone could ONLY get it to work in the 'white' PCI-E slot with I believe the other slots filled. Great board specs but sounds hard to get working with the expander
Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H - Bellaireroad - Appears to at least be bootable BUT he was getting some BSOD's, potentially unrelated to the board/SAS expander.
GA-EP45-DS6 - Xon - SAS expander works correctly in one of the open-ended PCIE 4x slots 1680lp works in either 16x slot
SuperMicro X8SIL-F Kettchxxii - Works with int13h disabled on the SASLP's
I am going to start checking prices/features on these boards and see what the most feature rich option is. I have to say that I am initially really disappointed with most of the 'server' style motherboard specifications. By in large you pay more and get less PCI-E slots (you may not get ANY x16 slots), no SATA 6GBps, no USB 3.0 , pickier memory options etc etc. Yeah yeah I know you get to use registered memory, iPMI and sometimes you get 4 Ethernet ports but I don't really care for either of those features. I suppose you could make the argument that they are more 'stable' but I am not sure I have 'proof' of that. It's tempting to go with something like the:
MSI 890FXA-GD70 AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
I can throw my current CPU into that board AND it has a host of nice new features. The only two downsides are really that it doesn't have onboard video and that, obviously, there is no way of knowing if it will be able to supply power properly to the HP SAS expander.
So far the strongest looking motherboard I have seen among those listed as working in terms of a feature set is the:
Intel S3420GPLX LGA 1156 Intel 3420 chipset with IDT PCI Express 2.0 switch ATX Intel Xeon 3400 series Server Motherboard
But again, no x16 slot even.
Overall it looks like if I want to go with something that is 'known' to be working with the HP SAS expander I need to switch to an Intel based platform and probably a 'server' motherboard. Ideally I would like 3-4 PCI-E slots (at least 1 x16), 2 NIC's, support for 'regular' RAM (not only ECC), onboard video, socket 1156 (support for a quad core i5), 4 SATA ports and $250 (or less) would be nice. I will have to continue my 'research' and see what my best choices are.
"If your top most LED (closest to the external connector) is not blinking steadily, then the SAS expanders processor is not working and hence you will not be able to see any drives. This is caused by the power good signal on the PCIe slot."
That pretty much encapsulates my exact issue. My top most LED is ALWAYS solid and I have an ASUS motherboard as several people who had this issue did.
So, the bottom line is that I need to move to a different motherboard to use the HP SAS expander unless I am an electrical engineer like treadstone. Disappointing but that appears to be the case. So far here is the list of motherboards I have compiled (based on the SAS expander thread) that people report as working and a few notes:
Asus P5BV-C/4L - Blue_Fox - RAID card in x16, SAS expander in x8 + Q6600 CPU
Asrock H55M Pro - Izx - in the BOTTOM slot on his motherboard that is 'electronically x4'
SuperMicro X8ST3-F - Pjkenned
Intel S3420GPLX - Danman
SuperMicro motherboards: X7DWE, X7DWN, X8SIL - All work - According to odditory
Asus P7P55-WS-SC - Treadstone could ONLY get it to work in the 'white' PCI-E slot with I believe the other slots filled. Great board specs but sounds hard to get working with the expander
Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H - Bellaireroad - Appears to at least be bootable BUT he was getting some BSOD's, potentially unrelated to the board/SAS expander.
GA-EP45-DS6 - Xon - SAS expander works correctly in one of the open-ended PCIE 4x slots 1680lp works in either 16x slot
SuperMicro X8SIL-F Kettchxxii - Works with int13h disabled on the SASLP's
I am going to start checking prices/features on these boards and see what the most feature rich option is. I have to say that I am initially really disappointed with most of the 'server' style motherboard specifications. By in large you pay more and get less PCI-E slots (you may not get ANY x16 slots), no SATA 6GBps, no USB 3.0 , pickier memory options etc etc. Yeah yeah I know you get to use registered memory, iPMI and sometimes you get 4 Ethernet ports but I don't really care for either of those features. I suppose you could make the argument that they are more 'stable' but I am not sure I have 'proof' of that. It's tempting to go with something like the:
MSI 890FXA-GD70 AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
I can throw my current CPU into that board AND it has a host of nice new features. The only two downsides are really that it doesn't have onboard video and that, obviously, there is no way of knowing if it will be able to supply power properly to the HP SAS expander.
So far the strongest looking motherboard I have seen among those listed as working in terms of a feature set is the:
Intel S3420GPLX LGA 1156 Intel 3420 chipset with IDT PCI Express 2.0 switch ATX Intel Xeon 3400 series Server Motherboard
But again, no x16 slot even.
Overall it looks like if I want to go with something that is 'known' to be working with the HP SAS expander I need to switch to an Intel based platform and probably a 'server' motherboard. Ideally I would like 3-4 PCI-E slots (at least 1 x16), 2 NIC's, support for 'regular' RAM (not only ECC), onboard video, socket 1156 (support for a quad core i5), 4 SATA ports and $250 (or less) would be nice. I will have to continue my 'research' and see what my best choices are.
Here are my thoughts thus far on my options. I am not sure if anyone will REALLY be interested but it helps me 'think through' my decisions to write it out so I thought I may as well update my thread with it and if anyone has comments/thoughts, all the better!
Asus P5BV-C/4L - $169. This could be a really nice value option as I can use a 'value' Intel quad core Q6600 and DDR2 800. Nice that it has onboard video and quad LAN ports. The primary disadvantage here is that it's not a very 'forward thinking' platform for me. Not many PCI-E ports and it's using an older socket and memory standard
Intel S3420GPLX - $264. A bit on the high end of what I would realistically like to spend. Nice that it has Core i5/i3 support, DDR3, numerous PCI-E ports (2 x8 ports, 1 is x16 mechanical, 2 x4 ports and 1 x1 port) and 2 LAN ports. Much more 'forward looking' motherboard (though no USB3 or SATA6GBps of course) with lots of PCI-E ports for a server motherboard
Asrock H55M Pro - $89. Great price; that's what you get for a consumer micro ATX motherboard. Core i5/i3 support, DDR3 and about the bare minimum of PCI-E ports I would want (1x16, 1 x4, 1 x1). For a small, cheap motherboard it does pack in the features. It does look like it has onboard video, of what kind I am not sure. Not much or any room to 'grow' with additional devices and I am stuck with 1 LAN port. I don't really have NEED for a micro ATX board but it is a pretty modern and cost effective option
Supermicro X8ST3-F - $330. Way more than I want to spend for this realistically. I hadn't planned to upgrade my motherboard as part of the project so this puts it pretty far out of the planned budget. Core i7 support, PCI-E slots in abundance (3 x8, 1x 4, NO x1!), DDR3. Given that it has socket 1366 and would require an expensive CPU as well I just really think that this isn't even a real option worth considering.
Supermicro MBD-X7DWE-O - $350. Similar analysis to the X8ST3-F. Too expensive, requires an expensive Xeon CPU despite having a great supply of PCI-E slots (4 x8 1 x4 and again no x1 slot, which I need for my external enclosure)
Supermicro MBD-X8SIL-F-O - $189. Much more realistic price for me for a server board but again, it's micro ATX. Version 1.02 works with Core i5 CPU's but 1.01 has some issues. Decent amount of PCI-E slots (2 x8, 1 x4 but no x1 so I would have to use the x4 for my external enclosure), dual NIC's, onboard video and DDR3 support (though it sounds like it might be picky about memory). Nice price but again a bit limited on expandability as a micro ATX and it sounds like I would really need version 1.02 of the board.
Supermicro MBD-X7DWN+O - $450. At $450 I'm not even going to analyze the specs.
GA-EP45-DQ6 - $230 from some bizarre online retailer. The DS6 doesn't appear to exist so I can only guess that this was a typo and Xon meant DQ6. Decent price and an interesting choice. A ton of SATA ports I would never need, a number of PCI-E slots (1 x16, 1 x8, 2 x4, 1 x1) and quad LAN. Again it's an older chipset which would mean using an older style CPU (socket 775) and DDR2 memory. I'm just not sure this is enough of a 'value' option for an 'older' motherboard to be a good choice.
Gigabyte GA-890PA-UD3H - $134. Great price for a modern motherboard that should support the CPU I already have and wouldn't require me to purchase a new CPU. DDR3 support, 6 SATA 6Gbps ports, 2x USB 3.0 ports and onboard video. The downside is that it has only 1 LAN port, only 2 x16 ports (or x8 x8) and 1 x1. Despite being reported as drives being usable when connected, the user (bellaireroad) was having some BSOD issues that are concerning. I feel like I should keep this option in the mix due to the low cost, forward looking features and importantly support for the new CPU I already have.
MSI 890FXA-GD70 - $199. I am putting in this option because it sounds awesome. No idea if it would work with the SAS expander, I just like it. It would work with my current AM3 CPU, really nice price, DDR3, PCI-E slots abound! (2 x16 2 x8 1 x4 1 x1), 6 x SATA 6GBps, dual NIC, 2 x USB 3.0. Realistically the only technical drawback is that it has no onboard LAN but I do have a PCI video card I can use for that. Why doesn't someone purchase it for me and then just let me know if it works with the HP SAS expander?
Now that I have analyzed some of the 'known' choices I saw in the SAS expander thread I am going to compare and contrast them a bit and see which are worth seriously considering as well as look at the 8 listed SuperMicro socket 1156 motherboards on newegg and see if I should consider any of those (I think they are worth considering as the HP SAS expander tends to play nice with SM boards).
Asus P5BV-C/4L - $169. This could be a really nice value option as I can use a 'value' Intel quad core Q6600 and DDR2 800. Nice that it has onboard video and quad LAN ports. The primary disadvantage here is that it's not a very 'forward thinking' platform for me. Not many PCI-E ports and it's using an older socket and memory standard
Intel S3420GPLX - $264. A bit on the high end of what I would realistically like to spend. Nice that it has Core i5/i3 support, DDR3, numerous PCI-E ports (2 x8 ports, 1 is x16 mechanical, 2 x4 ports and 1 x1 port) and 2 LAN ports. Much more 'forward looking' motherboard (though no USB3 or SATA6GBps of course) with lots of PCI-E ports for a server motherboard
Asrock H55M Pro - $89. Great price; that's what you get for a consumer micro ATX motherboard. Core i5/i3 support, DDR3 and about the bare minimum of PCI-E ports I would want (1x16, 1 x4, 1 x1). For a small, cheap motherboard it does pack in the features. It does look like it has onboard video, of what kind I am not sure. Not much or any room to 'grow' with additional devices and I am stuck with 1 LAN port. I don't really have NEED for a micro ATX board but it is a pretty modern and cost effective option
Supermicro X8ST3-F - $330. Way more than I want to spend for this realistically. I hadn't planned to upgrade my motherboard as part of the project so this puts it pretty far out of the planned budget. Core i7 support, PCI-E slots in abundance (3 x8, 1x 4, NO x1!), DDR3. Given that it has socket 1366 and would require an expensive CPU as well I just really think that this isn't even a real option worth considering.
Supermicro MBD-X7DWE-O - $350. Similar analysis to the X8ST3-F. Too expensive, requires an expensive Xeon CPU despite having a great supply of PCI-E slots (4 x8 1 x4 and again no x1 slot, which I need for my external enclosure)
Supermicro MBD-X8SIL-F-O - $189. Much more realistic price for me for a server board but again, it's micro ATX. Version 1.02 works with Core i5 CPU's but 1.01 has some issues. Decent amount of PCI-E slots (2 x8, 1 x4 but no x1 so I would have to use the x4 for my external enclosure), dual NIC's, onboard video and DDR3 support (though it sounds like it might be picky about memory). Nice price but again a bit limited on expandability as a micro ATX and it sounds like I would really need version 1.02 of the board.
Supermicro MBD-X7DWN+O - $450. At $450 I'm not even going to analyze the specs.
GA-EP45-DQ6 - $230 from some bizarre online retailer. The DS6 doesn't appear to exist so I can only guess that this was a typo and Xon meant DQ6. Decent price and an interesting choice. A ton of SATA ports I would never need, a number of PCI-E slots (1 x16, 1 x8, 2 x4, 1 x1) and quad LAN. Again it's an older chipset which would mean using an older style CPU (socket 775) and DDR2 memory. I'm just not sure this is enough of a 'value' option for an 'older' motherboard to be a good choice.
Gigabyte GA-890PA-UD3H - $134. Great price for a modern motherboard that should support the CPU I already have and wouldn't require me to purchase a new CPU. DDR3 support, 6 SATA 6Gbps ports, 2x USB 3.0 ports and onboard video. The downside is that it has only 1 LAN port, only 2 x16 ports (or x8 x8) and 1 x1. Despite being reported as drives being usable when connected, the user (bellaireroad) was having some BSOD issues that are concerning. I feel like I should keep this option in the mix due to the low cost, forward looking features and importantly support for the new CPU I already have.
MSI 890FXA-GD70 - $199. I am putting in this option because it sounds awesome. No idea if it would work with the SAS expander, I just like it. It would work with my current AM3 CPU, really nice price, DDR3, PCI-E slots abound! (2 x16 2 x8 1 x4 1 x1), 6 x SATA 6GBps, dual NIC, 2 x USB 3.0. Realistically the only technical drawback is that it has no onboard LAN but I do have a PCI video card I can use for that. Why doesn't someone purchase it for me and then just let me know if it works with the HP SAS expander?
Now that I have analyzed some of the 'known' choices I saw in the SAS expander thread I am going to compare and contrast them a bit and see which are worth seriously considering as well as look at the 8 listed SuperMicro socket 1156 motherboards on newegg and see if I should consider any of those (I think they are worth considering as the HP SAS expander tends to play nice with SM boards).
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There are a bunch of nice 1156 server boards right around $200. Asus has an updated version of the board I'm using there are plenty of Supermicro offerings around the same price. I imagine they should all work as well. If you really want to be adventurous, there is a G34 board under $300 too.
epimetheus
Gawd
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2004
- Messages
- 815
pirivan - couple of thoughts for you
FWIW, I've got an HP expander working in my Asus P5BV/SAS, so I can confirm that combination works.
Also, you seem to require a PCIe x1 slot for your external enclosure. You can put a x1 card in any other PCIe slot (x4, x8, or x16) and it will function exactly the same. Just a heads up; I couldn't tell from your posts whether you were aware of that or not.
As soon as my credit card stops smoking I'm moving my WHS over to a SM X8SIL-F with an i3-540 and an HP expander. I haven't decided on my HBA yet, but it will hopefully be Areca (looking towards the 1320 series).
FWIW, I've got an HP expander working in my Asus P5BV/SAS, so I can confirm that combination works.
Also, you seem to require a PCIe x1 slot for your external enclosure. You can put a x1 card in any other PCIe slot (x4, x8, or x16) and it will function exactly the same. Just a heads up; I couldn't tell from your posts whether you were aware of that or not.
As soon as my credit card stops smoking I'm moving my WHS over to a SM X8SIL-F with an i3-540 and an HP expander. I haven't decided on my HBA yet, but it will hopefully be Areca (looking towards the 1320 series).
@Blue Fox
Yeah there are a few decent SM options. It's interesting that there is really only one worth considering (X8SIE) that has a PCI-E x16 slot. I also find it odd that the other SM motherboards with the best PCI-E port selection for a decent price are Micro ATX boards (2 x8, 1 x4 slots) but NONE of them have an x1 slot. I will take a look at some of the other ASUS/Intel server motherboards and see if there is anything that sounds more appealing.
@epimetheus
Thanks for the update, I had seen your post in the SAS expander thread but I wasn't positive if you had gotten it working or not so I didn't add it to my 'working list'. Thanks for the heads up on the x1 slot; yes I was aware of that. It's just that with most of the server motherboards they have maybe 2-3 PCI-E slots on them and I hate to 'waste' an x8 or x4 slot on my lame E-SATA port multiplier x1 card. Sounds like a cool migration plan; I would be interested to hear how that motherboard works out. Just make sure you get version 1.02 of the board, it sounds like the earlier revision has some issues.
Yeah there are a few decent SM options. It's interesting that there is really only one worth considering (X8SIE) that has a PCI-E x16 slot. I also find it odd that the other SM motherboards with the best PCI-E port selection for a decent price are Micro ATX boards (2 x8, 1 x4 slots) but NONE of them have an x1 slot. I will take a look at some of the other ASUS/Intel server motherboards and see if there is anything that sounds more appealing.
@epimetheus
Thanks for the update, I had seen your post in the SAS expander thread but I wasn't positive if you had gotten it working or not so I didn't add it to my 'working list'. Thanks for the heads up on the x1 slot; yes I was aware of that. It's just that with most of the server motherboards they have maybe 2-3 PCI-E slots on them and I hate to 'waste' an x8 or x4 slot on my lame E-SATA port multiplier x1 card. Sounds like a cool migration plan; I would be interested to hear how that motherboard works out. Just make sure you get version 1.02 of the board, it sounds like the earlier revision has some issues.
epimetheus
Gawd
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- Jun 20, 2004
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- 815
I hear that on wasting the PCIe slot on a port multiplier. I moved my desktop from an Antec 1200 to an Antec ISK300 mini-ITX and am using a port mulitplier enclosure for my optical drives and hot-swap HDD bays. I wish Intel would get up to speed and support multipliers on the chipset SATA ports. My DH57JG board has an eSATA, but it's based off the chipset so no multiplier support. I had to get a cheapo silicon image eSATA card and waste my only PCIe slot.
treadstone
Gawd
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- 567
@pirivan: Before you run out an spend money on another motherboard, put some tape (like scotch tape) over pin A11 (PWRGD). You can wrap the tape over to the B side to make sure the tape stays in place when you insert the card into the PCIe socket. As far as I can remember, the WAKE signal (Pin B11) is not used by the HP SAS Expander.
Have a look at this diagram for the Pin A11 location. Your problem is that your motherboard does not release the PWRGD signal for the PCIe slot the HP SAS Expander card is plugged into. Once you isolate the signal, your expander should work in your motherboard.
This is NOT a power issue, it's a signal (in this case the processors reset line) issue!
Hope this helps.
Have a look at this diagram for the Pin A11 location. Your problem is that your motherboard does not release the PWRGD signal for the PCIe slot the HP SAS Expander card is plugged into. Once you isolate the signal, your expander should work in your motherboard.
This is NOT a power issue, it's a signal (in this case the processors reset line) issue!
Hope this helps.
treadstone
Gawd
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- 567
Sorry, I forgot to mention that the A11 pin is on the shorter part of the expanders PCIe connector and is right next to the key notch. When you do apply the scotch tape, make sure you ONLY cover the A11 (and B11 pin on the opposite side) and do NOT cover the adjacent pin since these are power pins!
@treadstone
Well, the results were pretty much exactly as I think you would have expected! I covered up the A11 pin on the HP SAS Expander with scotch tape and then connected all of the 8087 -> x4 SATA cables to the SAS expander and an 8087 -> 8087 cable from the SAS expander. As soon as I did this, the top light on the SAS expander started flashing when I powered on the Norco 4020. I was able to see 8 drives in the SASLP controller BIOS as expected. On booting into WHS, I was able to login and had the EXACT symptoms that someone else in the SAS Expander thread had:
1. Windows pops up with a found new driver wizard for a device called "HP HP SAS EXP Card SCSI enclosure"
2. WHS reported some 'conflicts' with some files it couldn't access. Hopefully this won't cause any issues when I hook everything up properly. The good news is I just created backups last night
3. All 16 drives showed up properly in device manager. So you can only see 8 in the SASLP BIOS as expected but they do all show up.
4. When I shut down I got a BSOD with I believe some error code about a driver, again just like someone in the SAS expander thread when connected to an SASLP
5. When I started the system back up just connected to the SASLP's as usual the network showed up as 'healthy' with no file conflicts reported.
So it looks like I have the documented issue with the PWRGD signal on my motherboard. Is there anything I can do besides buying a new motherboard that doesn't involve modifications to the board (that I am not capable nor qualified to make)?
Well, the results were pretty much exactly as I think you would have expected! I covered up the A11 pin on the HP SAS Expander with scotch tape and then connected all of the 8087 -> x4 SATA cables to the SAS expander and an 8087 -> 8087 cable from the SAS expander. As soon as I did this, the top light on the SAS expander started flashing when I powered on the Norco 4020. I was able to see 8 drives in the SASLP controller BIOS as expected. On booting into WHS, I was able to login and had the EXACT symptoms that someone else in the SAS Expander thread had:
1. Windows pops up with a found new driver wizard for a device called "HP HP SAS EXP Card SCSI enclosure"
2. WHS reported some 'conflicts' with some files it couldn't access. Hopefully this won't cause any issues when I hook everything up properly. The good news is I just created backups last night
3. All 16 drives showed up properly in device manager. So you can only see 8 in the SASLP BIOS as expected but they do all show up.
4. When I shut down I got a BSOD with I believe some error code about a driver, again just like someone in the SAS expander thread when connected to an SASLP
5. When I started the system back up just connected to the SASLP's as usual the network showed up as 'healthy' with no file conflicts reported.
So it looks like I have the documented issue with the PWRGD signal on my motherboard. Is there anything I can do besides buying a new motherboard that doesn't involve modifications to the board (that I am not capable nor qualified to make)?
No isssues so far.. presented the Storage as passthrough disks..I supposed I can live without snapshots for Vail.
The part i'm worried about will be happening this weekend when I migrate my AOC-SASLP-MV8 cards and the remainder of my storage to the new server. Updates to follow.
I know this is not completely in line with your original post but it should give you some idea of what's expected.
The part i'm worried about will be happening this weekend when I migrate my AOC-SASLP-MV8 cards and the remainder of my storage to the new server. Updates to follow.
I know this is not completely in line with your original post but it should give you some idea of what's expected.
Interesting. But just to be clear you aren't using RAID in any way? You are just passing through individual physical disks in 08 R2 to the Vail VM? It will be interesting to hear how it goes for you. I know I am going to wait until they fix the data corruption bugs to even consider it, but more power to you for playing with it now.
As a side note I am actually considering not using WHS v2 to a large extent in my new build. I am just really not excited about losing 10% of my storage without even using duplication. I may just use 08 R2 and share out files on the large RAID6 volume and run WHS v2 in a VM and ONLY use it for client PC backups. I can just have the VHD live on the 640GB OS drive (that 08 R2 will be installed on). Even with client PC backups the VM won't grow to be that large. If I go this route I could almost move forward with my plan as soon as I get a 1680x or 1680i and use WHS v1 as a VM until v2 releases, just using it for client PC backups. I haven't decided but I am really considering it just due to the 10% overhead.
Just as an update to this issue, I am not really positive what is going on and unfortunately the two users in the HP SAS Expander thread who had the exact same issue (bellaireroad and kevchris01) never resolved their issue or if they did never replied back with what the fix was. I've sent them PM's but who knows! I have a feeling that their trouble was also motherboard related. Anyhow, the ONLY way I was able to get it to even SORT of work was by putting a piece of scotch tape over the pins which doesn't feel like a very 'safe' solution.
In terms of motherboard choices ultimately I'm only really interested in 2 options. The only server style motherboard that had a wealth of PCI-E ports for a REASONABLE price is the Intel S3420GPLX. There were some reasonably priced SM boards but none of the lower cost ones had very many PCI-E ports and some were micro-ATX. The only other choice I am considering is just a good recent AM3 desktop board like the MSI 890FXA-GD70 (or something else, I haven't seen em all). I have no way of knowing that it would work so I would just have to buy it, try it and return it if the SAS expander doesn't like it. I haven't quite decided which way I will go, the Intel way will certainly be more spendy as it will involve buying new a CPU/RAM.
Nahh..not using RAID for the DATA STORE. I am, using a RAID 5 volume for the 2k8 R2 Server and the VAIL VHD etc, is located on that volume and will be the only VM on this volume as i'm building a RAID 10 iSCSI box as well for other VM testing. The storage disks are being presented as passthrough disks to the VM. I was able to tranfer my AOC-SASLP-MV8 cards and remaining storage with no issues. Everything looks good so far. Just migrating some data at this time. When I get it going fully functional.. i'll let you know
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As I am considering going with the Intel S3420GPLX (LGA 1156) motherboard I am trying to decide which CPU I would go with. Does anyone have any thoughts on the Intel Core i5-750 vs Intel Xeon X3430? As far as I can tell online besides being more resilient to higher temperatures AND allowing you to use ECC memory the only other difference is that the i5-570 is clocked higher than the X3430. The memory I am planning to use is (I know it works with the motherboard):
Kingston ValueRAM 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 ECC Unbuffered Server Memory Model KVR1333D3E9SK2/4GI
This is all turning out to be a considerably more expensive venture than I had originally intended but at least when I find a 1680x/lp/i on sale for a decent value I will be able to pull the trigger on the new motherboard/CPU/RAM and move forward with the build. Hopefully I can recoup some costs by selling off excess older equipment!
Kingston ValueRAM 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 ECC Unbuffered Server Memory Model KVR1333D3E9SK2/4GI
This is all turning out to be a considerably more expensive venture than I had originally intended but at least when I find a 1680x/lp/i on sale for a decent value I will be able to pull the trigger on the new motherboard/CPU/RAM and move forward with the build. Hopefully I can recoup some costs by selling off excess older equipment!
Just to update the thread in case anyone is interested I believe I have decided what equipment I will purchase for the upgrade. As I mentioned before I will most likely go with the following CPU/RAM/Motherboard so that I can use/power the HP SAS expander:
Intel S3420GPLX LGA 1156 Intel 3420 chipset with IDT PCI Express 2.0 switch ATX Intel Xeon 3400 series Server Motherboard
Intel Xeon X3430 Lynnfield 2.4GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Server Processor BX80605X3430
Kingston ValueRAM 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 ECC Unbuffered Server Memory Model KVR1333D3E9SK2/4GI
I couldn't find any particular reason to go with the i5-570 or the X3430, so I decided to go with the X3430 so that I could use ECC RAM if I wanted to. It didn't seem like the small difference in clock speed would make a really big difference in terms of performance.
Based on reading the Areca Owners thread I have decided to wait on purchasing a 1680i/1680lp until someone has tested an Areca 1880i with the HP SAS expander. It is looking like used 1680's are hard to find and the price difference between a new 1680i and 1880i is completely negligible. So, if I have to buy new and the 1880i turns out to be compatible with the HP SAS Expander I might as well buy the newer controller. It's also possible that the 1880i will have better performance with multiple RAID5/6 arrays (a known issue with the 1680i) which would be nice. I was only planning to have one large RAID6 array but being able to add additional arrays with different size disks at some other point would be nice.
In case anyone wonders, I never figured out my BSOD issue with the AOC-SASLP-MV8 and the HP SAS expander and I never received replies from my PM's to the other users with the same problem. I just gave up messing with it as this isn't my 'end goal' configuration anyhow as I want to use a hardware RAID controller (I was just trying it).
Intel S3420GPLX LGA 1156 Intel 3420 chipset with IDT PCI Express 2.0 switch ATX Intel Xeon 3400 series Server Motherboard
Intel Xeon X3430 Lynnfield 2.4GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Server Processor BX80605X3430
Kingston ValueRAM 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 ECC Unbuffered Server Memory Model KVR1333D3E9SK2/4GI
I couldn't find any particular reason to go with the i5-570 or the X3430, so I decided to go with the X3430 so that I could use ECC RAM if I wanted to. It didn't seem like the small difference in clock speed would make a really big difference in terms of performance.
Based on reading the Areca Owners thread I have decided to wait on purchasing a 1680i/1680lp until someone has tested an Areca 1880i with the HP SAS expander. It is looking like used 1680's are hard to find and the price difference between a new 1680i and 1880i is completely negligible. So, if I have to buy new and the 1880i turns out to be compatible with the HP SAS Expander I might as well buy the newer controller. It's also possible that the 1880i will have better performance with multiple RAID5/6 arrays (a known issue with the 1680i) which would be nice. I was only planning to have one large RAID6 array but being able to add additional arrays with different size disks at some other point would be nice.
In case anyone wonders, I never figured out my BSOD issue with the AOC-SASLP-MV8 and the HP SAS expander and I never received replies from my PM's to the other users with the same problem. I just gave up messing with it as this isn't my 'end goal' configuration anyhow as I want to use a hardware RAID controller (I was just trying it).
Despite the long time since my last post, my upgrade plan has finally started to proceed. Others in the Areca thread confirmed that the 1880 series cards work properly with the HP SAS Expander so I decided to make a purchase. After a long waiting period, I was able to order an 1880i from provantage for a good price. It arrived today so I pulled the trigger on the other upgrade parts from newegg; the aforementioned Intel S3420GPLX motherboard, Intel Xeon X3430 2.4GHz CPU and Kingston ValueRAM 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 ECC. Hopefully I can start my data migration plan in the coming weeks.
It sounds like there IS some value to connecting the HP SAS Expander to the 1880i with 2 8087 cables so I will go ahead and do that for my setup. It is my plan to setup a RAID6 array with 11 x 2TB Hitachi drives (16.46TB approx. usable space) on Server 2008 R2 and use that to share out files. I will still install WHS in a VM but I will ONLY be using it for client PC backups and will replace it with WHS v2 when that releases. However, I do have some questions about RAID controller setup. If anyone could clarify/answer that would be great. So, here is my RAID settings plan/questions:
1. I plan to select 64-bit LBA when setting up the card, I assume this is appropriate.
2. What cluster size is appropriate to use for a RAID volume of 16.46TB? I was planning on going with a 32K cluster size when I format it in 2008 R2. If I want to extend the array (which I plan to at some point), should I go with 64K instead?
3. Should I enabled or disable SES2 on the Areca 1880i to work with the HP SAS Expander? Are there any firmware updates available for the Areca 1880i that I should apply first?
4. During the week my server is probably on for only 4-6 hours per day. Given that, should I just disable ALL the APM and power management functions to avoid problems with array spin down?
5. If I really need to set the APM/power management functions, I was planning on going with: HDD Power Mgmt settings: 6.0, 2, 10, disabled. (nitrobass24, working settings)
6. For testing hard-drive power management functions I was planning to follow this process I saw posted on this forum, does this sound appropriate? "With the Areca controller, for proper array spindown on RAID arrays with Hitachi 2Tb (7K2000) drives, the "Stagger Power On Control" value needs to be increased to 1.0, 1.5 or 2.0 seconds. You'll need to experiment to find the lowest setting. For testing set "Time To Spin Down Idle HDD" to 1, wait a minute for the array spindown, then access the drive with the array data and wait for it to spin back up. Watch the event log for any drive timeouts- if you see any, you'll need to hard-reboot the computer and try a higher stagger power on value (i.e. try 1.0, then 1.5, then 2.0 seconds)."
I appreciate any feedback/answers!
It sounds like there IS some value to connecting the HP SAS Expander to the 1880i with 2 8087 cables so I will go ahead and do that for my setup. It is my plan to setup a RAID6 array with 11 x 2TB Hitachi drives (16.46TB approx. usable space) on Server 2008 R2 and use that to share out files. I will still install WHS in a VM but I will ONLY be using it for client PC backups and will replace it with WHS v2 when that releases. However, I do have some questions about RAID controller setup. If anyone could clarify/answer that would be great. So, here is my RAID settings plan/questions:
1. I plan to select 64-bit LBA when setting up the card, I assume this is appropriate.
2. What cluster size is appropriate to use for a RAID volume of 16.46TB? I was planning on going with a 32K cluster size when I format it in 2008 R2. If I want to extend the array (which I plan to at some point), should I go with 64K instead?
3. Should I enabled or disable SES2 on the Areca 1880i to work with the HP SAS Expander? Are there any firmware updates available for the Areca 1880i that I should apply first?
4. During the week my server is probably on for only 4-6 hours per day. Given that, should I just disable ALL the APM and power management functions to avoid problems with array spin down?
5. If I really need to set the APM/power management functions, I was planning on going with: HDD Power Mgmt settings: 6.0, 2, 10, disabled. (nitrobass24, working settings)
6. For testing hard-drive power management functions I was planning to follow this process I saw posted on this forum, does this sound appropriate? "With the Areca controller, for proper array spindown on RAID arrays with Hitachi 2Tb (7K2000) drives, the "Stagger Power On Control" value needs to be increased to 1.0, 1.5 or 2.0 seconds. You'll need to experiment to find the lowest setting. For testing set "Time To Spin Down Idle HDD" to 1, wait a minute for the array spindown, then access the drive with the array data and wait for it to spin back up. Watch the event log for any drive timeouts- if you see any, you'll need to hard-reboot the computer and try a higher stagger power on value (i.e. try 1.0, then 1.5, then 2.0 seconds)."
I appreciate any feedback/answers!
1. Yes (its actually 48-bit LBA). that gets you around the 2.2Tb barrier and goes all the way to 144PB (144,000,000GB).
2. 16k or 32k is fine. 16k would let you keep expanding the partition up to 64TB - a point you don't want to reach with a single array of 2TB drives anyway.
3. Enable SES2 is fine. shipping firmware is latest.
4. you can take advantage of array spindown. stagger on power control is fine at default 0.7, it even works fine at lowest setting 0.4. time to spin down idle HDD i usually set at the max 60 minutes to avoid unnecessary cycling while i'm working on it but taking small breaks.
5. nitro's settings are irrelevant for the 1880, he's got a 1680 card
6. you can forget everything I said that you quoted because it was only applicable to Areca 1680 cards. 1880's don't have the timeout bug when the "stagger power on control" setting is too low. that issue also wasn't limited to Hitachi 2TB drives - i experienced it with Seagate's attached to a 1680 as well. In my testing so far with the 1880 its been impossible to freeze an array with the wrong APM settings so don't sweat it - use whatever you want.
CPU: I'd spend the few extra dollars on a Xeon X3440 (its the sweet spot price/performance Xeon - remember the diff in clockspeed is x 4 cores). The diff in cost = skipping going out to eat one time.
MEMORY: Consider the 2x4GB Kingston kits for future-proofing. I returned a bunch of 2x2GB kits I bought less than a month ago and have been buying up 2x4GB kits due to price drop - they also include a thermal sensor, and are $151 at memory4less.com, part# KVR1333D3E9SK2/8G. You talked about running VM's so you really want at least 8GB for that.
that gets you around the 2.2Tb barrier and goes all the way to 144PB (144,000,000GB). 2. 16k or 32k is fine. 16k would let you keep expanding the partition up to 64TB - a point you don't want to reach with a single array of 2TB drives anyway.
3. Enable SES2 is fine. shipping firmware is latest.
4. you can take advantage of array spindown. stagger on power control is fine at default 0.7, it even works fine at lowest setting 0.4. time to spin down idle HDD i usually set at the max 60 minutes to avoid unnecessary cycling while i'm working on it but taking small breaks.
5. nitro's settings are irrelevant for the 1880, he's got a 1680 card
6. you can forget everything I said that you quoted because it was only applicable to Areca 1680 cards. 1880's don't have the timeout bug when the "stagger power on control" setting is too low. that issue also wasn't limited to Hitachi 2TB drives - i experienced it with Seagate's attached to a 1680 as well. In my testing so far with the 1880 its been impossible to freeze an array with the wrong APM settings so don't sweat it - use whatever you want.
CPU: I'd spend the few extra dollars on a Xeon X3440 (its the sweet spot price/performance Xeon - remember the diff in clockspeed is x 4 cores). The diff in cost = skipping going out to eat one time.
MEMORY: Consider the 2x4GB Kingston kits for future-proofing. I returned a bunch of 2x2GB kits I bought less than a month ago and have been buying up 2x4GB kits due to price drop - they also include a thermal sensor, and are $151 at memory4less.com, part# KVR1333D3E9SK2/8G. You talked about running VM's so you really want at least 8GB for that.
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Thanks for the reply Odditory!
1. Whoops, yes, 48-bit it is
2. I think I will go with 16K then, I don't plan to get the array up to 64TB
3. SES2 enabled is a go then!
4. I'm glad I asked! I will try these settings.
5. Gotcha, I am glad the Areca 1880 series is different
6. Badass, I love bug fixes! I am more and more glad I waited for the new card
In ways I wish I hadn't already purchased the CPU/RAM before I read your post! It's too bad the parts are already on the way. Perhaps I should have kicked out a little more for the slightly better CPU. Oh well, I think the performance should be acceptable at least.
As far as the memory goes the primary reason I purchased that was that I have heard that the motherboard I selected is very picky about memory and people had reported that those sticks work for sure. It was my plan to buy the 4GB kit (2x2GB) and then buy another set to get to 8GB if it worked well. I guess I will just stick with 4GB initially and then bump it to 8GB later if I need to but keep it in mind that I could go with 4GB sticks at some point if I need to. I could return the CPU and memory but it's a bit of a pain and I would rather not pay the restocking cost. Realistically I probably won't run more than 2 VM's at a time so I am not TOO worried about it.
1. Whoops, yes, 48-bit it is
2. I think I will go with 16K then, I don't plan to get the array up to 64TB
3. SES2 enabled is a go then!
4. I'm glad I asked! I will try these settings.
5. Gotcha, I am glad the Areca 1880 series is different
6. Badass, I love bug fixes! I am more and more glad I waited for the new card
In ways I wish I hadn't already purchased the CPU/RAM before I read your post! It's too bad the parts are already on the way. Perhaps I should have kicked out a little more for the slightly better CPU. Oh well, I think the performance should be acceptable at least.
As far as the memory goes the primary reason I purchased that was that I have heard that the motherboard I selected is very picky about memory and people had reported that those sticks work for sure. It was my plan to buy the 4GB kit (2x2GB) and then buy another set to get to 8GB if it worked well. I guess I will just stick with 4GB initially and then bump it to 8GB later if I need to but keep it in mind that I could go with 4GB sticks at some point if I need to. I could return the CPU and memory but it's a bit of a pain and I would rather not pay the restocking cost. Realistically I probably won't run more than 2 VM's at a time so I am not TOO worried about it.
In terms of the best performance what should I select for my intended 16TB RAID6:
1. What stripe size should I go with?
2. What volume cache mode should I select, write-back or write-through on my Areca 1880i?
3. Are there any other settings I should be looking at to optimize performance?
I appreciate the feedback!
1. What stripe size should I go with?
2. What volume cache mode should I select, write-back or write-through on my Areca 1880i?
3. Are there any other settings I should be looking at to optimize performance?
I appreciate the feedback!
Write through it is!
I am still not positive what stripe size I will go for. Some articles seem to indicate you should match cluster size (I am going for 16K) but others say for larger files (which is what I mostly have) you should go for a larger stripe size (256K or so).
I am still not positive what stripe size I will go for. Some articles seem to indicate you should match cluster size (I am going for 16K) but others say for larger files (which is what I mostly have) you should go for a larger stripe size (256K or so).
Well, after some odd disk error related problems I finally got the array/server up and running. After several days of copying data back over to it, re-setting up applications and backups on client machines, I finally felt like I was finished with the project. That is when I decided to start moving some new data over to the server.
Much to my dismay the copy performance I got was abysmal. Copying from the network to the array (shared folders on the array) I get 2MB - 6MB/sec. It slightly oddly caps at about 6MB/sec.
If I copy from a client machine to the C:\ drive on the server (NOT on the array) I get normal performance; 50-60MB/sec. This rules out any network related interference as far as I am am concerned. I tried disabling IPv6, swapping network ports, connecting it directly to the router, disabling jumbo frames, enabling teaming on the NIC's and just about anything else I could think of and none of the 'networking' changes made any difference. Each time it was about 6MB/sec. On the old server I had setup I would get 30-50MB/sec on a regular basis copying to the WHS shares
Unfortunately I find the RAID performance to be sorely lacking as well. Copying from the array to itself I only get 30-60MB/sec.
What is odd though is if I start the copy to the new server from another machine FROM the server and don't start it from the client, it goes at 24MB/sec instead of 2-6. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me but that does appear to be the case. Still, 24MB/sec is half of what I should be seeing (50-60MB/sec, like I get copying to the C: drive).
Could it be any of my settings? I went with RAID6, 128K stripe size, 16K clusters (for the partition in windows), write-through. I would have to check again but I believe other than that my settings are more or less defaults. Is there an easy way to spit out a text version of my configuration?
I did not upgrade the firmware on all of the Hitachi drives; some of them are on 3EA but not all of them; some are 20N or 28A. I have contacted Hitachi about getting the latest firmware to install on all the drives but sadly their support is lame and has to go through an extended process to provide me with a firmware download. I was told that I could hear back tomorrow at the earliest from a tier 2 technician as to whether or not I can get the firmware.
If my card is malfunctioning and I need to RMA it, will I lose the array or do the drives store the RAID array configuration on them?
Any thoughts or ideas would be welcomed! Just when I thought I was getting close to the finish line I unearth more issues!
Much to my dismay the copy performance I got was abysmal. Copying from the network to the array (shared folders on the array) I get 2MB - 6MB/sec. It slightly oddly caps at about 6MB/sec.
If I copy from a client machine to the C:\ drive on the server (NOT on the array) I get normal performance; 50-60MB/sec. This rules out any network related interference as far as I am am concerned. I tried disabling IPv6, swapping network ports, connecting it directly to the router, disabling jumbo frames, enabling teaming on the NIC's and just about anything else I could think of and none of the 'networking' changes made any difference. Each time it was about 6MB/sec. On the old server I had setup I would get 30-50MB/sec on a regular basis copying to the WHS shares
Unfortunately I find the RAID performance to be sorely lacking as well. Copying from the array to itself I only get 30-60MB/sec.
What is odd though is if I start the copy to the new server from another machine FROM the server and don't start it from the client, it goes at 24MB/sec instead of 2-6. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me but that does appear to be the case. Still, 24MB/sec is half of what I should be seeing (50-60MB/sec, like I get copying to the C: drive).
Could it be any of my settings? I went with RAID6, 128K stripe size, 16K clusters (for the partition in windows), write-through. I would have to check again but I believe other than that my settings are more or less defaults. Is there an easy way to spit out a text version of my configuration?
I did not upgrade the firmware on all of the Hitachi drives; some of them are on 3EA but not all of them; some are 20N or 28A. I have contacted Hitachi about getting the latest firmware to install on all the drives but sadly their support is lame and has to go through an extended process to provide me with a firmware download. I was told that I could hear back tomorrow at the earliest from a tier 2 technician as to whether or not I can get the firmware.
If my card is malfunctioning and I need to RMA it, will I lose the array or do the drives store the RAID array configuration on them?
Any thoughts or ideas would be welcomed! Just when I thought I was getting close to the finish line I unearth more issues!
Hi BlueFox,
Thank you for the reply as usual! At least I will be easily able to move the drives; that is some consolation. I am still waiting to hear back on firmware upgrades from Hitachi but I will probably also RMA the 1880i as well. I just have to figure out if I can get provantage (reseller) or Areca to process the RMA. Cross shipment would be great but I doubt I will be able to get them to do that.
It's possible that the HP SAS expander is playing into the issues somehow but I doubt it. I believe it is on firmware revision 2.02 so it should be all set.
It's unlikely there's an issue with the 1880i card. Before you go through the trouble of RMA'ing, what does HDTune Pro report when you do a read test? Make sure to go into Options (the gears icon) and change "Block size" to 2MB before running the test.
Also, how did you connect the 1880i to the HP expander?
Also, how did you connect the 1880i to the HP expander?
@odditory
When I do a read test (2MB blocks) with HDTune Pro I get:
516.3 MB/s min
925.4 MB/s Max
781.5 MB/s Avg
Access time: 13.4ms
Burst Rate: 969.0 MB/s
CPU Usage 2.2%
I can post a screen shot if necessary. It started at 900 or so and dropped down steadily on the graph to 500 or so by the end
I connected the HP Expander to the 1880i using two 8087 cables; one I had previously and one that came in the 1880i box. The performance test above is with just ONE cable connected (I disconnected one to see if it solved my issues, it did not). I would have to take another look at it this evening when I get home to determine for sure which slots on the SAS expander I used. I recall looking at the SAS expander thread to decide which to use.
Is there any way to run write tests with HDTune Pro without deleting the partition and/or is there another adequate benchmark tool to use?
I was using the scsiport driver, could this be causing my performance issue? I just went with the driver it automatically located on the driver disc. I have swapped the driver to storport and rebooted but it doesn't appear to be making any performance difference. 60MB/sec copying to the array from itself, 5-6MB/sec from the network, 30MB/sec or so when initiating the copy from the server with files from another computer
As a side note since you have the exact same configuration as I do (1880i + HP SAS expander with Hitachi Drives in RAID6, you have 24, I have 11) is there any way you can output your system configuration, hddPower Management, RAIDSet/Volume set settings here or to a text file etc? I wish there was a way to dump the configuration settings to a text file but I don't believe that there is. I would really like to compare your settings to mine and change mine accordingly.
Also, what FW levels are your Hitachi drives on? Are they on 3EA or on a variety of FW levels?
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With that kind of throughput your drives and array controller don't appear to be the issue.
While we're on the subject I'd say switch to STORPORT driver for the areca card. Without getting into a long explanation suffice to say its less taxing on the system and more efficient than scsiport. if you're so inclined you can google up on diffs between storport and scsiport. i've done a lot of testing and liked storport better for various reasons.
But that's not the cause of your slow throughput issues with ethernet. Can you try doing a copy over ethernet with just a direct cable between say your server and a laptop, to bypass any switches or other link switching equipment? I've often seen ethernet throughput problems caused by what turned out to be a problem a switch was causing. I realize you said you did a copy between your C-drive and something else over ethernet and got 50MB/s, but that doesn't change the recommendation.
While we're on the subject I'd say switch to STORPORT driver for the areca card. Without getting into a long explanation suffice to say its less taxing on the system and more efficient than scsiport. if you're so inclined you can google up on diffs between storport and scsiport. i've done a lot of testing and liked storport better for various reasons.
But that's not the cause of your slow throughput issues with ethernet. Can you try doing a copy over ethernet with just a direct cable between say your server and a laptop, to bypass any switches or other link switching equipment? I've often seen ethernet throughput problems caused by what turned out to be a problem a switch was causing. I realize you said you did a copy between your C-drive and something else over ethernet and got 50MB/s, but that doesn't change the recommendation.
@Odditory
Thanks for the reply Odditory!
Is it at all concerning that the drive performance starts so high and then drops way down at the end (900 - 500) or is that normal? Also, while I got this level of performance in HDTune, why is it that when I simply make a copy of a file on the RAID6 volume itself the (a copy of the same file in the same folder, 2.2GB file) teracopy performance goes to 60MB/sec and won't ever go above that (it dips between 53MB/sec and 60MB/sec)? This doesn't seem to equate to the performance I see with HDTune.
As far as drivers go I have swapped to STORPORT and I will go with that.
I will give connecting it directly to a laptop with an Ethernet cable etc a shot and see what sort of performance I get then over the network as that may be a separate issue.
----EDIT/UPDATE----
I connected my primary workstation and server directly with an Ethernet cable (both have static IP's on the same subnet) and tested a copy from the "client" to the "server". Same results, 5MB/sec copy speed.
Thanks for the reply Odditory!
Is it at all concerning that the drive performance starts so high and then drops way down at the end (900 - 500) or is that normal? Also, while I got this level of performance in HDTune, why is it that when I simply make a copy of a file on the RAID6 volume itself the (a copy of the same file in the same folder, 2.2GB file) teracopy performance goes to 60MB/sec and won't ever go above that (it dips between 53MB/sec and 60MB/sec)? This doesn't seem to equate to the performance I see with HDTune.
As far as drivers go I have swapped to STORPORT and I will go with that.
I will give connecting it directly to a laptop with an Ethernet cable etc a shot and see what sort of performance I get then over the network as that may be a separate issue.
----EDIT/UPDATE----
I connected my primary workstation and server directly with an Ethernet cable (both have static IP's on the same subnet) and tested a copy from the "client" to the "server". Same results, 5MB/sec copy speed.
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yes its normal for sequential throughput to tail downward as you move from the beginning to end of a striped array, its no different than a single drive in that regard - more data is being read per rotation on the outermost part of the platter, and decreases as the arm moves toward the the spindle.
can you take a screenshot of your Areca web GUI's "System Configuration" page and post it?
can you take a screenshot of your Areca web GUI's "System Configuration" page and post it?
that's mostly fine, my personal preference on background task priority is to set it to max (80%) so rebuilds finish quicker, and set "Disk Write Cache Mode" to Enabled at least during your testing, but of course those aren't the cause of your issues.
can you also take a screenshot of your volume parameters - click "Modify Volume Set", then select array and click Submit. take a screenshot of that.
can you also take a screenshot of your volume parameters - click "Modify Volume Set", then select array and click Submit. take a screenshot of that.
In case anyone looks back later, after screwing around with the server today for several hours my performance issues are resolved. I am now getting 60-90MB/sec on file copies via the network to the array, file copies that start out at ~600MB/sec and then level off at ~120-250MB/sec when copying from the array to itself and 60-80MB/sec when copying to the external E-SATA enclosures. Those are very rough estimates based on some limited testing I did just to confirm it was no longer performing poorly; not scientific at all. I wish I could point to something specifically that resolved my issues but as I was getting exasperated I start moving cables around, swapping ports, moving drives, moving cards around, changing settings and I made too many changes to pinpoint exactly what fixed it. Anyhow, it appears to be behaving normally now, so I can get back to focusing on testing out the VAIL beta and setting up the server with shares how I like it; woo hoo!