Qlogic iSCSI Question

RSR · 23 Oct 2008 at 19:59

Hi Chaps,

I've got another question regarding a Qlogic 4050C card. Has any one used one of these cards?

The reasoning behind the question is that in our current setup, exchange in its peak hours is suffering from high latency, which then sets all the Outlook clients going nuts.

From doing tests on the card, i can only get around 28 ~ MB/sec from it. I know in the specs from Qlogic its ment to be nearer 95MB/sec. I take it if the card is bottlenecking out i am going to see high queue deths?

Or could this be a Netapp problem?

So ive ordered a HP NC370T to test out and possably solve this problem. Has any one used one of these?

The exchange is setup at the mo to boot from SAN.

Oddly enough, ive just setup a VMware using the onboard NC373i from a DL380 G5 and it seems to fly.

Thanks chaps.

Andy

datsunman · 23 Oct 2008 at 22:53

What's the server connected to, directly to SAN or switch in between?

Checked things like jumbo frames, flow control etc?

RSR · 24 Oct 2008 at 09:00

datsunman said:
What's the server connected to, directly to SAN or switch in between?

Checked things like jumbo frames, flow control etc?

There is a Cisco 3750E between the HP and Netapp.

Yup.

Andy

bigredshark · 24 Oct 2008 at 09:44

I have one of these cards lying on my desk, it's on my desk and not in a server because frankly it's rubbish. I'd buy something better or forget about HBAs for iSCSI, every test shows they offer so little advantage over software initiators. The HP cards are fairly good though.

RSR · 24 Oct 2008 at 20:01

bigredshark said:
I have one of these cards lying on my desk, it's on my desk and not in a server because frankly it's rubbish. I'd buy something better or forget about HBAs for iSCSI, every test shows they offer so little advantage over software initiators. The HP cards are fairly good though.

LOL... Ive got 6 of them in a box spare at the mo. This should make it number 7 then. It only needs to last to the next till we get a new budget, i plan to go down the FC route once we get it.

Andy