From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Tom Peters Subject: Re: SuSE 9.2 and 3ware 8506 card Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2006 14:55:47 -0600 Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.20060226143859.0baefeb8@localhost> References: <5.1.0.14.2.20060130164019.0ce71eb8@localhost> <5.1.0.14.2.20060130164019.0ce71eb8@localhost> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE Return-path: In-Reply-To: References: <5.1.0.14.2.20060130164019.0ce71eb8@localhost> <5.1.0.14.2.20060130164019.0ce71eb8@localhost> Sender: linux-raid-owner@vger.kernel.org To: linux-raid@vger.kernel.org List-Id: linux-raid.ids My thanks to those who responded. I have the 3ware 8506-4LP installed a= nd=20 running with a pair of Maxtor Maxline III drives. I'm out looking for t= he=20 SmartMonTools suite, per the advice given. Bonnie++ gives me results like 22034 k/s seq out, char mode, 32660 blo= ck=20 mode, 13120 rewrite. Yikes! 91 to 94% cpu utilization for character mod= e=20 output! I suppose that's pretty inefficient though. More like 35-38% fo= r=20 block, 27% for rewrites. Tweaking the background task control one step left or right of center=20 towards "Faster Task" or "Faster IO" seems to make a small but measurab= le=20 difference, but oddly, sequential reads using Bonnie++ were slightly fa= ster=20 when tweaked towards "Faster Task." I found out something else too, something which I supposed should have = been=20 obvious. I started out with ext3 on this array. I wiped it and changed = it=20 to xfs, which benchmarks faster, at least as far as Bonnie++ can tell. = I=20 guess ext3 is a journaling fs, is it not? Is there some particular filesystem that's any better than any other fo= r=20 hardware mirrored arrays? -Tom At 08:38 AM 1/31/2006 +0100, Peter Daum wrote: >tw_clin is the (binary only) command line tool for maintaining 3ware >controllers. All you can do with the web frontend can be done this >way, too. > >Performance of the 3ware 8506 is pretty reasonable (I got a data rate >of ~ 80 MB/s with RAID 10 , 55-60 with RAID 1 ) and about the same >for reading and writing. > >Unfortunately, after my experiences (see above), i have some serious >concerns regarding data integrity, though ... > >Regards, > Peter Daum > > >Tom Peters wrote: >>Hi, brand new newbie (is that redundant?) here, who soon to be the pr= oud=20 >>owner of a 3ware 8506-4 RAID card, on its way in the mail. I'm runnin= g an=20 >>old P3 on SuSE 9.2 and would like to know what to read to get up to s= peed=20 >>on setting this card up and maintaining it once I do. I'm pretty new = to=20 >>linux and get a lot of advice that is pitched just slightly above my=20 >>level of understanding, so please go slow. >>I'm currently using a Compaq SmartArray 3200 with 8 drives and I've a= bout=20 >>given up getting any kind of reasonable performance out of it. That, = plus=20 >>the outrageous cost of SCSI drives, is the reason for the switch to S= ATA.=20 >>I can borrow a pair of 300 GB drives for a while to prove the concept= =20 >>(the 3ware card wasn't that pricey) and if I can get it to work=20 >>reasonably well, buy some drives. I think there's some voodoo in the = BIOS=20 >>of a real Compaq server that makes it work properly; for me it's a do= g=20 >>and writes unbelievably slow. >>I've been reading this group for a few weeks and hear some hints and=20 >>intimations about things I should probably learn about. For example,=20 >>someone just mentioned tw_cli maint verify, is that a 3ware thing or = a=20 >>ext3 thing? And the fact that there is a 3ware knowledgebase (e.g.=20 >>http://www.3ware.com/KB/article.aspx?id=3D13247 should help. >>So what else do I need to know? >>-T >> >> >> >>[Philosophy] There is nothing that somebody, somewhere, will not >>consider immoral. --Jan.Six@uku.fi > >- >To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-raid" = in >the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org >More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html [Pop Culture] Pour me a glass of grain alcohol and rain water, and help yourself to whatever you'd like. --Gen. Jack Ripper, Dr. Strangelove --... ...-- -.. . -. ----. --.- --.- -... tpeters@nospam.mixcom.com (remove "nospam") N9QQB (amateur radio) "HEY YOU" (loud shouting) WEB ADDRESS http//www.mixweb.com/tpeters 43=B0 7' 17.2" N by 88=B0 6' 28.9" W, Elevation 815', Grid Square EN5= 3wc WAN/LAN/Telcom Analyst, Tech Writer, MCP, CCNA, Registered Linux User 3= 85531 - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-raid" i= n the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html