Novell NetWare 6 performance tuning guidelines for ProLiant servers

Novell NetWare 6 performance tuning guidelines for ProLiant servers
There have been significant improvements in drive technology over the past decade. For
instance, disk drive media speeds continue to increase. HP offers a wide range of drive
spindle speeds in revolutions per minute (rpm). For instance, there are 10,000 and
15,000 rpm disk drives. The 15,000 rpm models are available in 18.2 GB and 36.4 GB
with an average seek time of 3.8 ms, while the 10,000 rpm models are available in
18.2 GB, 36.4 GB, and 72.8 GB with an average seek time of 5.5 ms. It is therefore,
advisable to choose the appropriate disk type with the highest speed your SCSI interface
and controller can support.
Similarly, as shown in table 2, HP has both Smart Array and Non Array controllers; all
with different performance and capacity. The non-arrays such as the Integrated Drive
Electronics (IDE) controllers and the low-end array controllers are typically embedded on
the system board.
table 2. Smart Array and Non Array controllers
Smart Array
controllers
channels cache
(read/write)
max drive
supported
SCSI protocol
supported
compatibility
table
Smart Array
5312
2 128 28 Ultra3
Ultra2
Smart Array
5304
4 256 128 56 Ultra3
Ultra2
Wide Ultra
support for
ADG
Smart Array
5302
2 128 64
32*
28 56** Ultra3
Ultra2
Wide Ultra
optional
support for
ADG
Smart Array
4250ES
3 64 21 Ultra2
Wide Ultra
Smart Array
532
2 32* 20 Ultra3
Ultra2
Smart Array
431
1 16 14** Ultra3
Ultra2
Wide Ultra
Smart Array
5i plus
2 64* 20 Ultra3
Ultra2
Smart Array
5i
2 32* 20 Ultra3
Ultra2
Integrated
Smart Array
1 16* *** Ultra2
Wide Ultra
*- used for code, transfer buffers, and non-battery backed cache
**- based on use of HP storageWorks 14 HDD enclosure
***- depends on server
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