Pure Power @ 4k Random with 9211

[Tiltevros]

device manager shows 2 ssds unallocated and 2 basic disks.. one basic disk is a usb drive (my backup) and the other my bootup device....
even i use dynamic disk on those 2 SSDs... the performance is no where near 250k IO/s .......
The raid configuration is set to Raid 0... WITH 6 drives....
Now if it impassible to belive it and u only belive in PCmarkVantage or only in AS SSD benchmark ok then "NUMA" is the only word that i will say
Everybody knows that pcmark has a very best friend called Cache its common secret.
but ok the time will tell. Some ppl have seen the performance through livestreaming so no problem for me for others " No hard feelings im in NDA "

[alfaunits]

I am not skeptical in any way, I am just puzzled and want to know what drives/volumes (RAID volumes) achieved what.
So we are talking 6 SSDs in RAID0 on the 9211? (I thought 9211 is a pass-through only, so just checking)

[Tiltevros]

currect.

[Spoiler]

@Tiltevros
I'm a little lost on your setup as well. Numbers look great, but it's a little confusing.

@alfaunits
The 9211 is an HBA, but it does have a controller that handles raid 0 or 1. It might not be the same as a 9260, but I still have the option within the 9211 bios to configure raid 0 or 1. I don't need to do anything within windows.

[Tiltevros]

@alfaunits
The 9211 is an HBA, but it does have a controller that handles raid 0 or 1. It might not be the same as a 9260, but I still have the option within the 9211 bios to configure raid 0 or 1. I don't need to do anything within windows.

[Tiltevros]

6 ssd on 9211 @ raid0 64k stripe size drivers for windows 2008 R2

[One_Hertz]

You are at the limit of your SSDs. If you had more, it would do more. Each X25-M can do 35k at the 4kb level, so 6*35 is the 210k you are seeing. 8 would be 280k .

[Tiltevros]

for some reason i let 2 ssd out of my raid0 just to see something new.
in HD tune at smart options i get average speed 635MB/s on each intel x25m this is something that we have to discuss screenshots will be posting later

[Tiltevros]

the average speed of each SSD is around 265-270 MB/s at least HD tune 4.01 and everest says....

[alfaunits]

@alfaunits
The 9211 is an HBA, but it does have a controller that handles raid 0 or 1. It might not be the same as a 9260, but I still have the option within the 9211 bios to configure raid 0 or 1. I don't need to do anything within windows.

Ah, cool. All is clear now. Thanks.

[Computurd]

these results are awesome. soon we shall see the full power of the 9260-8i once they release the new software...MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this is what i have been talking about when comparing it to the older gen controllers people!
this goes forward...1231 getting smaller in the rearview mirror people

[SteveRo]

yes, 1231 getting smaller but it will be interesting to see how enhanced 92118i and 92608i stack up against the 1880 - whenever that finally arrives.

[Ao1]

It's great to see the power of ssd's being unleashed but I'm confused. Is this hardware or software? How can software produce these results and is there a price being paid somewhere?

[alfaunits]

It's 6 X25-Ms on 9211 as "hardware" RAID0. I was puzzled as well. See posts above.

[Ao1]

Edit: ^ sorry I did not mean hard or soft raid I meant is software delivering the benefits from a hard array? It sounds very much like software applications and as below maybe one drive is being used for cache.

Tilt, spill the beans


So the drives not in the array were being used for cache?

"LSI MegaRAID CacheCade cache tiering software enables SSDs to be configured as a secondary tier of cache to maximize transactional I/O performance."

[Tiltevros]

Edit: ^ sorry I did not mean hard or soft raid I meant is software delivering the benefits from a hard array? It sounds very much like software applications and as below maybe one drive is being used for cache.

Tilt, spill the beans


So the drives not in the array were being used for cache?

"LSI MegaRAID CacheCade cache tiering software enables SSDs to be configured as a secondary tier of cache to maximize transactional I/O performance."

cachecade works only with mechanicals drives

[Ao1]

What do they mean by the statement I quoted then?

There are two forms of software? FastPath technology & cachecade?

[Computurd]

from some reading i have done the cachecade is another level of cache memory created as a sort of "buffer" between a hdd array and the controller. it uses intelligent caching algorithims to use it to effectively boost performance of commonly sought out I/o. it would really only offer performance improvements on hdd arrays.
I am more interested in fastpath. that is where the speed improvements will come about for ssd arrays.

[One_Hertz]

from some reading i have done the cachecade is another level of cache memory created as a sort of "buffer" between a hdd array and the controller. it uses intelligent caching algorithims to use it to effectively boost performance of commonly sought out I/o. it would really only offer performance improvements on hdd arrays.
I am more interested in fastpath. that is where the speed improvements will come about for ssd arrays.

Could a software ram drive be used for the cachecade? It should speed things up even for SSDs...

[Anvil]

It sounds like Caschecade is a sort of ASAP. (Auto-tuning SSD Accelerated Pools of storage)

Much like Adaptec's MaxIQ. Link to tomshardware

[Computurd]

exactly^^

[gergregg]

Awesomeness!

[keithlm]

LSI MegaRAID FastPath optimizer software provides high-performance I/O acceleration for SSDs connected to a 6Gb/s SAS/SATA MegaRAID controller. The technology is designed to dramatically boost transactional application throughput, delivering up to 150,000 I/Os per second (IOPS). The software supports full optimization of SSD and hard disk drive (HDD) virtual disk groups to deliver a 3X improvement in read and write IOPS compared to MegaRAID controllers not utilizing FastPath technology.

How much do we know about the FastPath software? (I'm sure it is windows only.) Is it something you run and leave in memory (a service) or is it some kind of optimizing software that you run periodically? (Maybe even making TRIM not needed???)

If I'm reading the info in the press release correctly it sounds like if I buy a 9240 4i then I can attach two X25-M G2, and also my two Raptor HDD's and get "fastpath" benefit for both RAID-0 arrays at this time. So for now I can make the 2x RaptorX into a nice 300Gb Raid-0 that is fast bulk storage that will benefit from the FastPath stuff. Later I might get two more X25-M G2...

BTW: I'm considering the 9240 4i since it has a PCIe x8 for about the same price as the 9211 4i which only has the PCIe x4. I'm thinking that the 9240 is probably a 9260 without the 512Mb cache memory and with the slower 533Mhz PowerPC chip.

Another question would be if I could use most of the 2xSSD as a RAID-0 and set aside a partition on those SSD's for the Cache stuff they mentioned. That might be nice also.

[Tiltevros]

9240 is a 9211 with some extra staff its not the 9260 with out cache.
9260 has RoC cpu for RAID 0,1,5,6 .
Please wait for the Public Announcement.
i have already problems with some posts.

[Tiltevros]

LSI and Kinston together
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOj7WXCvOzQ
9260 with 4 kinstons