Hardware Evaluation - A review of our current hardware, looking for ways to improve..

O

oeginc

Member
Mar 21, 2009
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Here is the hardware I'm reviewing:

Server 1 & 2:
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AMD Phenom 9850 Quad Core CPU
Gigabyte Motherboard w/8GB RAM
Highpoint 2640x4 RAID Controller Card
1 x Seagate 7,200 SATA 2 Boot Drive (500GB)
1 x Western Digital Black 7,200 SATA 2 Backup Drive (2TB)
4 x Seagate 7,200 SATA 2 drives in RAID-10 config for VM's
​
Server #1 has:
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2 x Webserving VM's
1 x Database VM
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Server #2 has:
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2 x Nameserver VM's
1 x Incoming Mail Server
1 x Outgoing Mail Server
​
I've been graphing server information with Cacti for quite some time trying to figure out where our performance bottle neck is. I've suspected the hard drives/RAID controller card for a while now because we regularly see 85%+ I/O Wait times. I recently wrote a small script to monitor the Transactions per Second as well as MB/sec throughput to/from the hard drives. This is what I'm seeing:

Server 1:
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Avg. CPU Usage: 16.72% / Max: 67.42%
Load Average: 11.11
Ethernet Inbound Avg: 19.64 Mbit/sec / Max: 77.63 Mbit/sec
Ethernet Outbound Avg: 6.79 Mbit/sec / Max: 79.86 Mbit/sec
Ethernet 95th Percentile: 53.1 Mbit/sec

Root drive:
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Read Avg: 252.99 KiB/sec / Max: 459.10 KiB/sec
Write Avg: 28.98 MiB/sec / Max: 57.85 MiB/sec
Transactions Avg: 82.09/sec / Max: 138.05/sec
​
VM Drive (RAID-10 Array):
=========================
Read Avg: 30.02 MiB/sec / Max: 30.18 MiB/sec
Write Avg: 21.82 MiB/sec / Max: 39.30 MiB/sec
Transactions Avg: 3,460/sec / Max: 4,600/sec
​
Backup Drive:
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Read Avg: 55.61 MiB/sec / Max: 74.36 MiB/sec
Write Avg: 15.07 MiB/sec / Max: 35.06 MiB/sec
Transactions Avg: 7,980/sec / Max: 8,230/sec
​
Server 2:
=========
Avg. CPU Usage: 18.87% / Max: 100%
Load Average: 2.30
Ethernet Inbound Avg: 6.01 Mbit/sec / Max: 79.92 Mbit/sec
Ethernet Outbound Avg: 20.84 Mbit/sec / Max: 80.00 Mbit/sec
Ethernet 95th Percentile: 55.13 Mbit/sec

Root drive:
===========
Read Avg: 7.82 MiB/sec / Max: 7.82 MiB/sec
Write Avg: 2.59 MiB/sec / Max: 2.59 MiB/sec
Transactions Avg: 679.22 / Max: 679.22
​
VM Drive (RAID-10 Array):
=========================
Read Avg: 22.83 MiB/sec / Max: 22.83 MiB/sec
Write Avg: 10.84 MiB/sec / Max: 10.81 MiB/sec
Transactions Avg: 2,640/sec / Max: 2,900/sec
​
Backup Drive:
=============
Read Avg: 49.69 MiB/sec / Max: 111.47 MiB/sec
Write Avg: 29.56 MiB/sec / Max: 33.39 MiB/sec
Transactions Avg: 7,250/sec / Max: 8,380/sec
​
Server #2 has only been collecting data for about 36 hours now, so that's probably why it's numbers look a little skewed. Server #1 has only been collecting data for about 72 hours now, so take that into account...

The first thing that jumps out at me is that the average read/write speeds appear to be below the average for these drives (as I measured before), however the Transactions per Second far exceed what I expected let alone what I thought was possible for these drives. From the data above, it looks like my backup drives are getting hit the hardest with approximately 8,000 transactions per second (which makes sense), but it's only a single drive - while my raid array is only getting hit with ~3,000 transactions per second but seems to be max'd out...

Does this make sense? Is it just because Highpoint 2640x4 is such a lame RAID card? I'd like your input on my current situation, what you would do different, and what type of hardware/setup you'd recommend to make the situation better.

I'm looking to go HA when it because available (if not rolling my own sooner than that), so I was thinking of building some sort of home-brew SAN and storing the VM's and backups on there, but I'm not sure the network could withstand the kind of throughput I would need..

Thanks!
 
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Re: Hardware Evaluation - A review of our current hardware, looking for ways to impro

Hi,
i have a similiar configuration (cpu) but with asus-boards, because of supported DDR-3 ECC-Ram.
I use a raid1 with 2*2TB Sata Hitachi for system and backup and a raid10 with 4*Hitachi SAS-Drives for local vm-storage and drbd-storage.

The speed is good (local vm-storage very good) and i think this is an advantage of the Raid-controller (Areca 1222 with BBU). Only the drbd-storage is not so fast - a 1GB-connection is not enough.

Udo
 
Re: Hardware Evaluation - A review of our current hardware, looking for ways to impro

I'm looking for the best appropriate Dell server configuration to fit and make a test for :
[ ] virtualize 5 XP PRO workstations (max. 8 in the future) for common VDI-Virtual Desktop Infrastructure to obtain a use and a render of near native performance for users
​
[ ] knowing that today a new workstation would cost between 300-500 € , the budget allocated to this server should not exceed 3500 €
​
If anyone can help, I remain available ;)

Thx

++
 
Re: Hardware Evaluation - A review of our current hardware, looking for ways to impro

first, do not post the same in several threads, one post is enough.

I do not use Dell but it would help if you tell what form factor you prefer (server type). also, search the forum for 'dell'
 
Re: Hardware Evaluation - A review of our current hardware, looking for ways to impro

first, do not post the same in several threads, one post is enough.
Click to expand...
Oki doki, it was my first try : my baptism of fire

Could it be possible to open a new Forum category for VDI - Virtual Desktop Infrastructure ?


search the forum for 'dell'
Click to expand...
I did it, and not much relevant information for VDI were avalaible :(


tell what form factor you prefer (server type)
Click to expand...
Actually, the need is expressed as :
[ ] virtualize 5 XP PRO workstations (max. 8 in the future) for common VDI-Virtual Desktop Infrastructure to obtain a use and a render of near native performance for users

[ ] knowing that today a new workstation would cost between 300-500 € , the budget allocated to this server should not exceed 3500 €

​
So it doesn't really matter if its tower / rack, PowerEdge Txxx, PowerEdge Rxxx, etc.

The most important is a well desisgned config (+ explanation and justification why) ?



Thanking you in advance



+ +
 
Re: Hardware Evaluation - A review of our current hardware, looking for ways to impro

you need to go for the best raid controller with BBU and the fastest available hard disks - we recommend raid10 so you need at least 4 disks. if you choose cheap processors you should be fine with your budget.
 
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