HDD Transfer rate - 150MB/s instead of 300MB/s

[sandstheman]

Been having a mooch around the logs, and had a look at my messages log in /var/log

as some background, i'm running 5x2TB WD20EARS on an Asrock 939A790GMH motherboard with Opteron 146 and 3GB Ram

I noticed that when my disks are detected it recognises 4 of my disks as being able to support 300MB/s transfer and NCQ however my fifth disk which is identical to the other 4 is being detected as only being able to support 150MB/s and no NCQ. Anyone know of why this might be? Is it a detection issue with Freenas and can it be forced to detect it correctly or could it possibly be my motherboard?

Code:

Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada0 at ahcich0 bus 0 scbus0 target 0 lun 0
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada0: <WDC WD20EARS-00MVWB0 51.0AB51> ATA-8da0 at umass-sim0 bus 0 scbus6 target 0 lun 0
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: da0: <hp c485w 1.00> Removable Direct Access SCSI-2 device
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: da0: 40.000MB/s transfers
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: da0: 3819MB (7823296 512 byte sectors: 255H 63S/T 486C)
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: SATA 2.x device
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada0: 300.000MB/s transfers (SATA 2.x, UDMA6, PIO 8192bytes)
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada0: Command Queueing enabled
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada0: 1907729MB (3907029168 512 byte sectors: 16H 63S/T 16383C)
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada1 at ahcich1 bus 0 scbus1 target 0 lun 0
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada1: <WDC WD20EARS-00MVWB0 51.0AB51> ATA-8 SATA 2.x device
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada1: 300.000MB/s transfers (SATA 2.x, UDMA6, PIO 8192bytes)
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada1: Command Queueing enabled
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada1: 1907729MB (3907029168 512 byte sectors: 16H 63S/T 16383C)
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada2 at ahcich2 bus 0 scbus2 target 0 lun 0
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada2: <WDC WD20EARS-00MVWB0 51.0AB51> ATA-8 SATA 2.x device
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada2: 300.000MB/s transfers (SATA 2.x, UDMA6, PIO 8192bytes)
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada2: Command Queueing enabled
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada2: 1907729MB (3907029168 512 byte sectors: 16H 63S/T 16383C)
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada3 at ahcich3 bus 0 scbus3 target 0 lun 0
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada3: <WDC WD20EARS-00MVWB0 51.0AB51> ATA-8 SATA 2.x device
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada3: 300.000MB/s transfers (SATA 2.x, UDMA6, PIO 8192bytes)
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada3: Command Queueing enabled
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada3: 1907729MB (3907029168 512 byte sectors: 16H 63S/T 16383C)
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada4 at ata0 bus 0 scbus4 target 0 lun 0
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada4: <WDC WD20EARS-00MVWB0 51.0AB51> ATA-8 SATA 2.x device
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada4: 150.000MB/s transfers (SATA, UDMA6, PIO 8192bytes)
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada4: 1907729MB (3907029168 512 byte sectors: 16H 63S/T 16383C)
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: GEOM: da0s1: geometry does not match label (16h,63s != 255h,63s).
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: Trying to mount root from ufs:/dev/ufs/FreeNASs1a
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ZFS NOTICE: Prefetch is disabled by default on i386 -- to enable,
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: add "vfs.zfs.prefetch_disable=0" to /boot/loader.conf.
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ZFS WARNING: Recommended minimum kmem_size is 512MB; expect unstable behavior.
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: Consider tuning vm.kmem_size and vm.kmem_size_max
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: in /boot/loader.conf.
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ZFS filesystem version 4
Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ZFS storage pool version 15
Jun 22 15:32:23 freenas root: /etc/rc: WARNING: failed precmd routine for vmware_guestd
Jun 22 15:32:26 freenas kernel: fuse4bsd: version 0.3.9-pre1, FUSE ABI 7.8
Jun 22 15:32:26 freenas ntpd[1362]: ntpd 4.2.4p5-a (1)

Also noticed that the drives are being aligned with 512 byte sectors instead of 4Kb, think i'll need to try 8 BETA2 with the 4Kb option to see if it improves performance...

 

[Tekkie]

Might be because ada5 is on a port not supporting 300?

 

[Bohs Hansen]

Was my first thought too Tekkie, but i checked the MB's specs, all ports are sata2. Then i had no more ideas so i didn't reply :)

 

[sandstheman]

Looks like it might be an MB issue :-(

Have swapped around the drives, and any drive connected to port 5 is picked up as a SATA 1 disk. I think some corners may have been cut and the bandwidth has been split between port 5 and the esata port.

Oh well, maybe i'll pick up a PCI-E sata card at some point in the future

 

[raulfg3]

Notice that ada3 is configured in BIOS in AHCI mode:

Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada3 at ahcich3 bus 0 scbus3 target 0 lun 0

and the rebel ada4 is configured in ATA mode:

Jun 22 15:32:22 freenas kernel: ada4 at ata0 bus 0 scbus4 target 0 lun 0

Please configure your BIOS to detect the disk like AHCI. and must work as SATA 300

 

[headconnect]

had the exact (well, for me it was sata3 vs. sata1) same thing happen after replacing a dead disk - though it may have occured earlier as well without my paying attention. ada4 -> 6gb/s as 1.5gb/s disk, ada0-3 6gb/s as 6gb/s

 

[joeschmuck]

I just wanted you to know that with your setup it does not adversely effect your system in any way. I like you would like to see my systems interfaces at the rated speeds but my own system only recognizes 150 vice 300 but since there is no perceivable loss, I'm focusing on other things. Your drives do not perform above something like 101MB/s with an average around 97. Getting the interface to 300 will give you peace of mind, that's about it. I just wanted you to know there was no speed loss to your system.

-Mark

 

[sandstheman]

I agree that there is probably a negligible difference if any in performance. I guess it's just for completeness sake that i'd like them all detected and setup in the same manner.

My next task is now to get the raidz setup with the 4Kb sectors instead of 512b any pointers on where i can start :D

 

[Bohs Hansen]

8.0.1 beta versions got an option to force 4k when creating new vol.

 

[sandstheman]

Thats what I thought, so i tried the 8.0.1 beta, imaged it to a new usb drive and booted, but couldn't see the 4kb option when creating the volume.

Also the Web GUI itself was just broken, a lot of the pages wouldn't work properly, not sure why, was same with both the i386 and amd64 versions. Even just the page to change the admin password, if i clicked on it, in the right side frame all i would get is the Icon for System Information and underneath 2 links to expand or collapse all and then just blank under that, like it didn't know what page to load for the option i clicked. Was very strange.

Gone back to version 8 Release and am working out how to create the volume/pool from command line and force it to use 4kb sectors.

 

[joeschmuck]

When creating the volume you must select ZFS, 4K will not show up under UDF. As for the web GUI, try FireFox, it works perfectly as far as I can tell.

 

[Bohs Hansen]

when upgrading firmware, always remember to clear the browser cache. Yea its buggy for it to show up, but once you selected zfs and some drives it should appear.

 

[sandstheman]

I was accessing the GUI through Chrome, i selected ZFS and raidz but could not see any 4kb option. I'll try again tonight as I'm remoted into my system from work at the moment.

For now i found a posting in using gnop to create a 4kb provider and using that to then create the pool, just testing it out...

http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=21644

 

[Tekkie]

The UI is very sensitive to out of date browser cache states, I've been bitten by this several times and unfortunately a CTRL-R or F5 doesn't always do the trick in any of the browsers I've tried, Opera, Chrome, IE9.

 

[joeschmuck]

I know IE9, IE8, and Chrome have all been reported as having GUI issues. FireFox is the only one I have not heard of a single GUI issue with but you may have to clear the cache too or just change the setting to always update. I've always like using IE but when IE9 came out, I didn't like the changes plus as you know there are compatibility issues and it's not just FreeNAS. Since installing FireFox, I'm using it more and more as my primary web browser and eventually I may never use IE again. I hope IE9 works better in the near future to be honest.

 

[sandstheman]

I know IE9, IE8, and Chrome have all been reported as having GUI issues. FireFox is the only one I have not heard of a single GUI issue with but you may have to clear the cache too or just change the setting to always update. I've always like using IE but when IE9 came out, I didn't like the changes plus as you know there are compatibility issues and it's not just FreeNAS. Since installing FireFox, I'm using it more and more as my primary web browser and eventually I may never use IE again. I hope IE9 works better in the near future to be honest.

Yeah i'll get firefox installed and try 8.0.1 with that, although i think i've got the 4kb working now following the details on the link i posted. Not as drastic an improvement as some people are seeing but definitely getting better sustained write speeds :D

 

[Milhouse]

FireFox is the only one I have not heard of a single GUI issue

Hate to burst this bubble, but I use Firefox and had cache problems when upgrading to 8.0-RELEASE from RC5.

 

[sandstheman]

A clean install of firefox with no cache and history worked :) got 8.0.1 amd64 up and runnning with 4kb sectors. Humming along quite nicely as well :D

Edit:
Also got all 5 drives detected at 300MB/s with NCQ, SATA Controller was in IDE mode instead of AHCI

 

[matthewowen01]

dumb question, did you chck the jumpers on the drive? i remember on some of my drives, there is a jumper that forces the drive to SATA I instead of SATA II

 

[raulfg3]

Also got all 5 drives detected at 300MB/s with NCQ, SATA Controller was in IDE mode instead of AHCI

change to AHCI and tell us if detect the drive correctly.