hphp-prolianthp-smart-arrayssd
We have a HP Proliant Dl360 Gen8 server with the 420i 2Gg disk controller. (646905-421)
we have a couple of the HP Gen8 200GB 6G SAS SLC SSDs (653078-B21), (they run in RAID1)
We run Debian6 on this server, and HP says that the "trim" command is not supported on this controller.
-How will this affect the speed and lifetime of the SSD?
-Does anyone know any controller that might do a better job?
-has anyone run similar configuration, can you say anything on the lifetime of disks?
I've covered SSD interoperability and compatibility issues with HP servers several times here.
Check these posts:
HP D2700 enclosure and SSDs. Will any SSD work?
Are there any SAN vendors that allow third party drives?
So, the move from G6 and G7 HP ProLiants to the Gen8 variants forced a disk carrier form-factor change. HP went to the SmartDrive carrier with the Gen8 product, and that's created a whole set of issues that impact SSD compatibility.
I like the idea of choosing the most appropriate options for my environments and applications, within reason. With G7's, I could use HP's SanDisk/Pliant SAS enterprise SSDs when needed, but also Intel or other low-cost SandForce-based SSDs where it made sense. If using an external enclosure like a D2700 or D2600, I could also use sTec SSDs (which offer another quality SAS SSD option). Drive carriers for the old form-factor were easily obtained.
With Gen8 servers, much of this isn't possible. From the difficult access to the SmartDrive carriers to restrictive firmware and disk validation techniques to the obscenely high price of the HP-branded SSDs ($2500+ per drive), I think HP have priced themselves out of the market.
Their rebranded drives aren't stellar performers, but have tremendous endurance. That's not needed in every environment. Getting the best performance out of HP SSDs on current HP Smart Array controller also requires tuning or even additional HP SmartPath licensing. Previous controllers like the Smart Array P410 were limited by IOPS and other constraints.
A good development that may affect your application on Gen8 servers is the HP SmartCache SSD tiering. Much like LSI's Cachecade, this allows you to add SSD read caching and benefit from lower latencies where it matters. Also see: How effective is LSI CacheCade SSD storage tiering?
In general, I'm not concerned about SSD reliability in RAID setups with disk form-factors. PCIe-based SSDs introduce other concerns. I haven't had any endurance problems, but check: Are SSD drives as reliable as mechanical drives (2013)?
So what can you do?
The D2700 external enclosure may be key here. It uses the older G7 disk carriers. It's also a very solid unit and compatible with old and new generation controllers. You can stuff Intel/sTec/cheapo disks in it all day and be fine. Connect that to the adapter in your hosts, and that will give you the flexibility you require. Use a DL360p instead of a DL380p to save a rack unit.
Intel disks inside of the Gen8 server... I wouldn't do it, if for any reason than to avoid the POST 1709 errors. Plus you'll be self-supporting in a way that impacts the main server unit. I just had a customer try to fill a 25-bay DL380p Gen8 with Intel SSDs and eBay drive carriers. He had to return the Intel drives and use low-end HP SATA disks for the system to even work.
The HP ProLiant DL380p Gen8 is offered in 8-bay, 12-bay15, 16-bay and 25-bay units.
The 8-bay has been fine. It's a good platform, especially if you add external storage.
The 16-bay Gen8 has no SAS expander card (and is incompatible with the excellent HP SAS Expander), so you need two internal RAID controllers to use it. As a result, your logical drives cannot span the two 8-bay drive cages. This is a departure from the G7s, where 16-bays/disks in one array was no problem.
The 25-bay unit has a concerning design flaw. The SAS expander is embedded on the 25-drive backplane. This backplane requires a P420i controller with FBWC cache to function. Fine. I had three RAID controller DIMMs die in a 60-day period, though. On the 8-bay units, this just disables write cache. On the 25-bay server, a cache failure makes the Smart Array a "zero-memory" controller and disables all access to the disks!! Avoid this model unless you can accept that risk. My failure rate on 2GB cache modules is far higher than 1GB modules, so I downgrade to the 1GB modules for this specific platform.
1746-Slot z Drive Array - Unsupported Storage Connection Detected - SAS connection via expander is not supported on this controller model. Access to all storage has been disabled.
Okay. This is an interesting question, as there are a number of options available to you.
Some concepts to clarify and understand, as they relate to this situation:
In order to get the maximum performance, we really need each logical drive to run as fast as possible.
Storage performance is not always about bandwidth!! Latency, I/O read and write patterns, queuing, application behavior, caching, etc. are all factors. Given what you've described, you're nowhere near saturating the link to your storage.
The current HP server has a fairly low-end array card
No it doesn't. The Smart Array P410i controller is the onboard controller available on the G6 and G7 ProLiant servers. It performs just fine, as long as a battery-backed (BBWC) or flash-backed (FBWC) module is installed. It's limited to the internal bays of the server and has no SAS oversubscription. There are two SAS SFF-8087 4-lane connectors linking the motherboard to the backplane, each providing 6Gbps full-duplex bandwidth.
Currently, we're looking at something like a D2600 with a high-end Smart Array card.
The other RAID controllers in HP's portfolio for that server generation perform similarly (Smart Array P411 and P812). They differ in that they provide more flexible or external connectivity. The D2600 enclosure would potentially be a step-down in raw throughput, depending on its configuration. However, it's absolutely the wrong choice for this setup, as it only accommodates large-form-factor 3.5" disks. The D2700 enclosure is the variant that houses small-form-factor 2.5" disks.
SSMS Activity Monitor and Perfmon show that most of the time the server is waiting for the disk
This is an issue with the single 120GB SATA SSD you're using. I have one sitting here. It's a low-end, slow-ass SSD. That's all. It maxes out at ~180 Megabytes/second sequential and is just an overall poor performer. HP should not sell it! It's relatively low-latency, compared to spinning disks, but is terrible for what you're trying to do. It's worse that you only have one drive. Four of them would be acceptable.
I would recommend either a pair of 400GB MLC HP Enterprise disks (made by Pliant/Sandisk) if you are not planning much growth beyond the 200GB you're using now. Otherwise, four disks would be better. Unfortunately, they are not cost-effective ($2800US+ each).
When I don't use the HP Enterprise SSDs and need to consider cost, I purchase the Sandforce-based OWC Mercury Extreme Pro drives and place them in HP drive carriers. Works great, inexpensive and is a much better deal for the generation of hardware you're using. Use RAID 1+0 and follow the P410 SSD configuration guidelines from HP. I spend a lot of time with SSDs...
array B (Solid State SATA, Unused Space: 1012121 MB)
logicaldrive 3 (400.0 GB, RAID 1+0, OK)
physicaldrive 1I:1:3 (port 1I:box 1:bay 3, Solid State SATA, 480.1 GB, OK)
physicaldrive 1I:1:4 (port 1I:box 1:bay 4, Solid State SATA, 480.1 GB, OK)
physicaldrive 2I:1:7 (port 2I:box 1:bay 7, Solid State SATA, 480.1 GB, OK)
physicaldrive 2I:1:8 (port 2I:box 1:bay 8, Solid State SATA, 480.1 GB, OK)
SEP (Vendor ID PMCSIERA, Model SRC 8x6G) 250 (WWID: 500143802335E8FF)
I have a few of these drives sitting here as I type...
Left to right: 400GB SAS MLC Enterprise SSD, 200GB SAS SLC Enterprise SSD, 120GB SATA MLC crap SSD
The rest of the items in your question are not an issue...
Further reading:
HP D2700 enclosure and SSDs. Will any SSD work?
Third-party SSD in Proliant g8?
Why are enterprise SAS disk enclosures seemingly so expensive?
Best Answer
You're using (expensive) enterprise SAS SSDs. This drive is OEM by Sandisk, an LB206S, whose specifications show that it's a write-optimized drive. There is no need for TRIM. TRIM is for cheap consumer SATA disks. In addition, your drives are heavily overprovisioned and have their own wearout indicators available.
This is visible from the controller using the Array Configuration Utility, the HP Smart Storage Administrator or the
hpacucliandhpssaclicommand-line utilities. If you have any of the HP Management Agents installed or even ILO-based monitoring, the server will email/SNMP trap on SSD failure or dwindling drive wearout indicator.An example from a similar same-OEM drive in my system (LB406M, read-optimized). Pay attention to the Usage remaining field or the field that says "Estimated Life Remaining based on workload to date":