IBM Support

Performance enhancements for ServeRAID I and II adapters - Servers

Troubleshooting


Problem

Slow performance of the ServeRAID I and II Disk subsystem. To solve this problem, performance enhancements for the ServeRAID I Adapter, ServeRAID II Adapter, and ServeRAID II Onboard Controller can be achieved.

Resolving The Problem

Symptoms
Slow performance of the ServeRAID I and II Disk subsystem.

Fix
Performance enhancements for the ServeRAID I Adapter, ServeRAID II Adapter, and ServeRAID II Onboard Controller can be achieved (and not limited to) as follows:

1- The "IBM ServeRAID and ServeRAID II BIOS Flash Diskette version 2.70 and later"* offers several performance enhancements for RAID Levels 1, and 5 on the ServeRAID II Adapter.

2- Changing the Write Policy to Write-Back Mode will improve performance for RAID Levels 0, 1, and 5 with RAID 5 yielding the greatest performance of the ServeRAID II Adapter / Controller.

Adjustment of the Write Policy will improve performance for RAID Levels 0, 1, and 5 on the ServeRAID I and ServeRAID II Controller.

3- Selecting the optimum Stripe Unit size with respect to the System I/O Request will maximize overall performance of the ServeRAID I and ServeRAID II Controller.

Note: The Users Guide that shipped with the System or Option as well as the HMM (Hardware Maintenance Manual) for the System lists existing ways (to include item 2 and 3 above) to increase performance of the ServeRAID I and ServeRAID II Adapters and the Onboard ServeRAID II Controller.

Refer to the HMM (Hardware Maintenance Manual) p/n10L9147, publication S10L-9147-00 for additional information on the ServeRAID I and ServeRAID II Controller.

*Note: The "IBM ServeRAID and ServeRAID II BIOS and Flash diskette version 2.70 or later" is available at the IBM Web Site at the following URL:

http://www.ibm.com/systems/support

- Select "Search"
- Type "BIOS 2.70" in the keywords box
- Select "Search"
- Select the Readme file associated with the "IBM ServeRAID and ServeRAID II BIOS and Flash diskette version 2.70"
- Print out the contents for directions to apply the BIOS update and Firmware Flash
- Select the "IBM ServeRAID and ServeRAID II BIOS and Flash diskette version 2.70" to download (the diskette is a self-extracting executable file that will create a bootable diskette).

SAS KEYWORDS:
PSY2, UNCLASSIFIED, D/T8638, D/T8640, D/T8641, D/T8642, D/T8650, D/T8651, D/T8644, MICROCODE, STRIPE SIZE, WRITE-BACK, BIOS, FIRMWARE, 2.70, SERVERAID, SERVERAID I, SERVERAID II, H163649

Document Location

Worldwide

Operating System

Older System x:Operating system independent / None

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Document Information

Modified date:
28 January 2019

UID

ibm1MCGN-3UFGYQ

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