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Hi --
I have a server built on a Supermicro X7DB8 board (Intel 5000P chipset) with two 3-Ghz Xeon processors and 16 GB of RAM. It has two RAID1 sets using two pairs of identical Seagate drives, running under IRST 10.1.0.1008. It is running Windows Small Business Server 2011 SP1. This server is painfully slow. The simplest requests take inordinately long times to resolve. I have looked high and low for the reason for this, and the problem seems to come down to really, REALLY slow drives.
This same server had been running SBS 2003 on 2 GB of RAM and two different RAID1 sets (also Seagates) on an earlier rev of IRST, and the machine hummed along beautifully. When the SBS 2003 was decommissioned, I rebuilt this machine with new RAM and four new, faster hard drives and installed SBS 2011 clean. So far, about the only thing the machine is running is the server base and SBS software set, albeit with all the updates from Microsoft. It currently has only one user in AD and doesn't even have a PC attached to the domain yet. I don't even have an antivirus program running on it. But response times on this machine are dismal.
A Passmark Performance Test on the two RAID volumes gives me consistently low results:
Drive C: (SYSVOL)
Sequential read: 34.4 MB/sec
Sequential write: 41.0 MB/sec
Random seek+RW: 8.6 MB/sec
Drive D: (DATAVOL)
Sequential read: 70.2 MB/sec
Sequential write: 45.4 MB/sec
Random seek+RW: 11.2 MB/sec
The results never vary much from the numbers above. These are from SATA-3 drives.
The IRST System Report follows. As far as I know, version 10.1.0.1008 is the latest version of RST that supports the ESB2 controller. The server has the latest available BIOS. I also installed the latest Intel chipset INF files.
What could be causing this horrible disk response?
Thanks,
CL
System Report
System Information
OS name: Microsoft Windows® Small Business Server 2011 Standard
OS version: 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 7601
System name: OBELIX
System manufacturer: Supermicro
System model: X7DB8
Processor: GenuineIntel Intel64 Family 15 Model 6 Stepping 4 3 GHz
Processor: GenuineIntel Intel64 Family 15 Model 6 Stepping 4 3 GHz
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies LTD, 2.1c
Intel® Rapid Storage Technology
Kit installed: 10.1.0.1008
User interface version: 10.1.0.1008
Language: English (United States)
Intel RAID controller: Intel(R) ESB2 SATA RAID Controller
Number of SATA ports: 6
RAID option ROM version: 5.6.4.1002
Driver version: 10.1.0.1008
ISDI version: 10.1.0.1008
Device Information
Name: Array_0000
Size: 932 GB
Available space: 0 GB
Disk data cache: Disabled
Number of volumes: 2
Volume member: SysVol
Volume member: ScratchVol
Number of disks: 2
Array disk: W2A9FML6
Array disk: W2A8Y3FN
Name: Array_0001
Size: 2,795 GB
Available space: 0 GB
Disk data cache: Enabled
Number of volumes: 1
Volume member: DataVol
Number of disks: 2
Array disk: 9VS09EMW
Array disk: 9VS039L3
Name: SysVol
Status: Normal
Type: RAID 1
Size: 373 GB
Data strip size: 64 KB
Write-back cache: Disabled
System volume: Yes
Initialized: Yes
Verification errors found: 0
Blocks with media errors: 0
Physical sector size: 4096 Bytes
Logical sector size: 512 Bytes
Parent array: Array_0000
Number of disks: 2
Array disk: W2A9FML6
Array disk: W2A8Y3FN
Name: ScratchVol
Status: Normal
Type: RAID 0
Size: 186 GB
Data strip size: 128 KB
Write-back cache: Disabled
System volume: No
Initialized: Yes
Verification errors found: 0
Blocks with media errors: 0
Physical sector size: 4096 Bytes
Logical sector size: 512 Bytes
Parent array: Array_0000
Number of disks: 2
Array disk: W2A9FML6
Array disk: W2A8Y3FN
Name: DataVol
Status: Normal
Type: RAID 1
Size: 1,397 GB
Data strip size: 64 KB
Write-back cache: Enabled
System volume: No
Initialized: Yes
Verification errors found: 0
Blocks with media errors: 0
Physical sector size: 512 Bytes
Logical sector size: 512 Bytes
Parent array: Array_0001
Number of disks: 2
Array disk: 9VS09EMW
Array disk: 9VS039L3
Disk on port 0
Port location: Internal
Status: Normal
Usage: Array disk
Size: 466 GB
Serial number: W2A9FML6
Model: ST500DM002-1BD142
Firmware: KC45
System disk: No
Password protected: No
Disk data cache: Disabled
Native command queuing: Yes
SATA transfer rate: 3 Gb/s
Physical sector size: 4096 Bytes
Logical sector size: 512 Bytes
Disk on port 1
Port location: Internal
Status: Normal
Usage: Array disk
Size: 466 GB
Serial number: W2A8Y3FN
Model: ST500DM002-1BD142
Firmware: KC45
System disk: No
Password protected: No
Disk data cache: Disabled
Native command queuing: Yes
SATA transfer rate: 3 Gb/s
Physical sector size: 4096 Bytes
Logical sector size: 512 Bytes
Disk on port 2
Port location: Internal
Status: Normal
Usage: Array disk
Size: 1,397 GB
Serial number: 9VS09EMW
Model: ST31500341AS
Firmware: SD17
System disk: No
Password protected: No
Disk data cache: Enabled
Native command queuing: Yes
SATA transfer rate: 3 Gb/s
Physical sector size: 512 Bytes
Logical sector size: 512 Bytes
Disk on port 3
Port location: Internal
Status: Normal
Usage: Array disk
Size: 1,397 GB
Serial number: 9VS039L3
Model: ST31500341AS
Firmware: SD17
System disk: No
Password protected: No
Disk data cache: Enabled
Native command queuing: Yes
SATA transfer rate: 3 Gb/s
Physical sector size: 512 Bytes
Logical sector size: 512 Bytes
Empty port
Port: 4
Port location: Internal
Empty port
Port: 5
Port location: Internal
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