From owner-freebsd-scsi@FreeBSD.ORG Wed Dec 10 12:54:54 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-scsi@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3F1A816A4CE for ; Wed, 10 Dec 2003 12:54:54 -0800 (PST) Received: from smtp.mho.com (smtp.mho.net [64.58.4.6]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 08ADC43D2F for ; Wed, 10 Dec 2003 12:54:53 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from scottl@freebsd.org) Received: (qmail 5508 invoked by uid 1002); 10 Dec 2003 20:54:52 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO ?10.4.1.5?) (64.58.1.252) by smtp.mho.net with SMTP; 10 Dec 2003 20:54:52 -0000 Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 13:54:37 -0700 (MST) From: Scott Long X-X-Sender: scottl@pooker.samsco.home To: amon@sockar.homeip.net In-Reply-To: <20031210201056.C206@ra.aabs> Message-ID: <20031210135055.T6877@pooker.samsco.home> References: <20031210173002.B206@ra.aabs> <20031210094420.D6877@pooker.samsco.home> <20031210201056.C206@ra.aabs> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE cc: freebsd-scsi@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: Performance problem with adaptec 2120S X-BeenThere: freebsd-scsi@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: SCSI subsystem List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 20:54:54 -0000 On Wed, 10 Dec 2003 amon@sockar.homeip.net wrote: > Le 10/12/2003 =E0 09:48, Scott Long a =E9crit: > > > > The 2120S has some unfortunate issues that make it a slow card. Howeve= r, > > To what extent is it slow ? Are these issues firmware related ? (ie will > upgrading when a new firmware release comes out help ?) Some hardware architecture choices were made that influence this. Better choices were made with the 2200S so it should be faster, especially in a 64/66 PCI slot. > > > it should not be nearly as slow as you claim. Do you have the 'aaccli' > > tools installed? If not, you can either install it from the FreeBSD po= rts > > collection, or use the Linux version that is found on the 2120S CD unde= r > > emulation. That should be able to tell you basic information about the > > array and if there are any problems. More advanced information can be > > gathered by using the 'diag dump text' command in aaccli. If you could > > send me the output from that, I might be able to help. > > Oops, I had forgotten to enable write caching while creating the volume > so the performance is now acceptable. > Are you talking about the write cache on the drives or on the array? You should never enable the write cache on the drives unless you are certain that you will never ever have a power failure. FOr the arrays, the optimal cache configuration is to have the read cache turned off and the write cache turned on. If this is not the case for you, I'd like to see the diagnostic output from the card. Scott