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I just bought a HP DL360G6 server with a P410i RAID card with 256mb cache. I am using Windows server 2012

I use Intel 520 series 240GB SSDs in raid 1+0, but the speed is very slow.

I checked the speed with crystal disk mark:

read =450mb / write=70mb/s

read 4k=29mb/ write 4k=0.7mb

I updated the firmware to 6.64 which is the newest version

I installed the smart array driver in Windows

I compared it to a 72GB SAS disk which has no problem:

read 120mb/ write=120mb

read 4k=1.2mb / write 4k=1.2mb

When creating a RAID5 with 4 Intel SSDs I get better speeds:

read 890mb /write 460mb

read 4k = 32mb/ write 4k=29mb

I want to use RAID1 for my disk, but can't fix this problem, the write speeds are very slow.

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pvd276
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    I suggest to destroy the array and test drive performance one by one. LSI hardware raid controllers tend to hide SSD drive problems. I had similiar issue with almost dead SSD drive that hanged on any write-operation, but was reported by raid-controller as healthy, though write speed was dropping to kilobytes/sec. – anx Feb 20 '16 at 15:33
  • test one by one, speed like raid 1, but i test on other machine (microserver 6016tt , speed good, read =450mb / write=240mb/s, read 4k=28mb/ write 4k=19mb ) i think problemt is raid controllers p410i – pvd276 Feb 21 '16 at 05:13
  • The problem may be related with some other part of hardware in your server: cables, backplane, etc. I recommend to test drives one by one on the same DL360G6 and compare speeds. – anx Feb 21 '16 at 12:00
  • i test with all server hp use P410i, i test on DL380 G6, same problemt, i test on DL180 G6 witd P410i card in pci-e 8x, it better (read =440mb / write=160mb/s, read 4k=27mb/ write 4k=10mb ) – pvd276 Feb 22 '16 at 04:36

1 Answers1

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The P410i comes with a write cache and a battery. The battery keeps the data in the cache for a few days, even if the server is powered off - so that it can flush the cache should the power be restored in time.

If the battery is flat, the write cache is disabled by default. In the RAID Array Configuration BIOS (Ctrl+F8 when booting up) you can override this setting and force the write cache to on. You might also be able to do the same from the Raid Array Configuration Utility from Linux or Windows.

Alternately you can replace the battery.

Update: My tests showed that the battery powers the disk, but most people disagree.

Dagelf
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    Sorry but the battery does NOT supply any power to the disks - it does however supply enough power to keep the cache alive for a period of time. This is exactly why the cache is disabled when the battery is dead/depleted - either way overriding this setting would be silly as in the event of a power failure you'd essentially be guaranteeing filesystem corruption - much better to get the battery fixed. – Chopper3 Dec 13 '22 at 12:54
  • Think about what you just said... what's the point of a cache if it can't be written? The battery provides 12V, for a split second, enough to write back the cache. This is why it's disabled and writes go directly to disk, if there's no battery, but at a great performance penalty. – Dagelf Dec 15 '22 at 11:30
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    I not only thought about what I said but personally know several of the developers of those adapters at HP - the cache is written once power is fully restore to the server and its disks - and once again the battery does not provide any form of power to the disks themselves - remember that one of the P8xx cards could support 200+ disks, do you think a tiny battery would be able to power them, even for a millisecond. – Chopper3 Dec 15 '22 at 12:05
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    This is inaccurate @Dagelf - See: https://serverfault.com/questions/581524/bbwc-in-theory-a-good-idea-but-has-one-ever-saved-your-data/581543#581543 – ewwhite Dec 15 '22 at 21:51
  • I tested it on my P410i controllers and I never got messages on boot-up, and the data was there. Also, why would the battery board have a boost converter to provide 12V when the memory only requires 1.5V? A design like that doesn't make sense... are we talking about the same controller here? – Dagelf Dec 19 '22 at 13:00
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    A battery that small cannot power the disk drives. Also it would be completely unnecessary to do so, as it is *only a battery for the array cache*. It is not a battery for the huge bank of disk drives that are connected to it. – Greg Askew Dec 19 '22 at 13:42
  • "Update: My tests showed that the battery powers the disk, but most people disagree" - please show us your tests - genuinely interested. – Chopper3 Dec 19 '22 at 14:58