Troubleshooting poor disk performance with LSI-SAS-9207-8e

[mbalsam]

Im attempting to perform a full backup before i migrate my nexenta san to freenas.

I added a LSI-SAS-9207-8e to a C6100 48G CPU, to access an external cage. Cage has 4 x WD Red - 4T in Raidz1

I started doing zfs sends to the new machine. i see that all of the data is sitting in ram and is very slowly getting written to disk.

The controller and drives think there operating at 6G

Code:

[nexenta458@freenas4582] /root% sudo smartctl -i /dev/da3
Password:
smartctl 6.3 2014-07-26 r3976 [FreeBSD 9.3-RELEASE-p25 amd64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-14, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Western Digital Red (AF)
Device Model:     WDC WD40EFRX-68WT0N0
Serial Number:    WD-WCC4E6JFCDFK
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0014ee 2b73f1b35
Firmware Version: 82.00A82
User Capacity:    4,000,787,030,016 bytes [4.00 TB]
Sector Sizes:     512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate:    5400 rpm
Device is:        In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is:   ACS-2 (minor revision not indicated)
SATA Version is:  SATA 3.0, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is:    Mon Dec  7 11:12:15 2015 PST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

This is how the partitions are aligned. Not sure if this is wrong or right?

Code:

[nexenta458@freenas4582] /root% gpart show da3
=>        34  7814037101  da3  GPT  (3.7T)
          34          94       - free -  (47k)
         128     4194304    1  freebsd-swap  (2.0G)
     4194432  7809842696    2  freebsd-zfs  (3.7T)
  7814037128           7       - free -  (3.5k)

FreeNas Alert shows this:

Code:

 WARNING: Firmware version 14 does not match driver version 20 for /dev/mps0
OK: There is a new update available! Apply it in System -> Update tab.

I attempted to add a system update on a different test machine and the USB stick got corrupted.



Any Ideas?

 

[zambanini]

is the part with the red alert and firmware really so hard to understand?

I give you a clue. Use the forum search, you will find what you need. And it will help you.

 

[HoneyBadger]

Partition layout is good. Have you performed any other testing of the new FreeNAS box to ensure that it's working fine?

Also be careful with the zfs send/recv between revisions. I think Nexenta's ZFS is v28 so it should be readable by FreeNAS but just something to pay attention to.

The alert is for a firmware mismatch - you need to update to the LSI/Avago P20 firmware on your HBA. I'd do that before you put any data on the drives attached to it, just in case.

Welcome to the forums. We're not all jerks, I promise.

Edit: Also, I know what your system is, OP, but can you post the full specs for those who aren't familiar with the Dell Cloud Servers?

 

[mbalsam]

My server is a Dell c6100 with all four blades populated with 2x L5520's and 48gb of ram in each.
Controler: LSI-SAS-9207-8e
Drives: 4 x WD Red - 4T

Other host:
Nexenta 3.1.4.1
Poweredge 1950 - 32Gb Ram -
Controler: LSI SAS 9260-16
Drives in Supermicro Cage Model??
8 x 2T WD Black - Raidz1 - 1 spare drive.
160G SSD ARC
40G SSD l2ARC

 

[mbalsam]

I attempted to apply the updates last week and it corrupted the boot image. Not sure why? Limited space on the USB Drive. This time i installed a 4G USB.

I was reluctant to upgrade considering these postings

!SOLVED! - Lots of trouble with LSI 9207-8e HBAs - Issue caused by LSI P20 92XX HBA Firmware
https://community.nexenta.com/thread/1053

But i hear that's old news and the P20 firmware is now stable.

 

[mbalsam]

Questions:

1) Is this the correct firmware:

http://www.avagotech.com/products/server-storage/host-bus-adapters/sas-9207-8i#downloads

09/18/2014 - FreeBSD Installer Version:20.00.00.00 File Size: 565 KB Language:English

This looks very old?

2) I see people saying: Dont install the updated firmware if installer is on a drive used by controller!! Should i put it on a second usb drive?

3) When i goto System > Update i see:

Apply all of these??

 

[rsquared]

I attempted to apply the updates last week and it corrupted the boot image. Not sure why? Limited space on the USB Drive. This time i installed a 4G USB.

You were using smaller than 4 GB previously? I believe 8 GB is the recommended minimum.

 

[HoneyBadger]

On a mobile right now so pardon the brevity:

That 4GB stick is too small. Minimum is 8GB and I'd highly suggest a 16GB. Sandisk is the popular brand, quite reliable.

1. That's the 8i model, but I think the firmware is the same between 8i and 8e. Should be correct. You want the actual firmware itself, not just the FreeBSD installer.

2. You'll want to put the installer onto a second stick or transfer it via ssh to your root partition. Either that or make a bootable disk with the firmware and reboot the server from it.

3. Those are updates to FreeNAS itself, you probably do want to apply them all. But if you're able to, just get the latest image and a larger stick.

Re: your current Nexenta box, I think you've got a mistake with the SSD setup, one of them will be L2ARC (120gb) and the other an SLOG device.

 

[mbalsam]

HoneyBadger,

I need to get SanDisk 16G.. Thanks

I'm traveling this week. will pick this up again when i return in 7 days..

Many thanks for your prompt, jerk-less suggestions!!

Talk with you soon.

 

[mbalsam]

HoneyBadger,

I abandoned this approach and just inserted more drives info the nexenta cage for a drive to drive backup.

However, I might pick this up again in the future.

Thanks for the help.