September 1999
Project No. 0276-0999-A
Prepared by Storage Products Division
Compaq Computer Corporation
Contents
Upgrading to the Smart Array 4200 Controller Increases Performance and Capacity...3 When to Upgrade to the
Smart Array 4200 Controller...4 The Smart Array 4200
Controller Demonstrates
Performance Leadership ...5 Steps for Upgrading to the Smart Array 4200 Controller...6 Conclusion ...6
Increasing Server Storage and
Capacity
:
Upgrading the
SMART-2DH Controller to the
Smart Array 4200 Controller
Abstract:The purpose of this paper is to communicate the benefits of upgrading from the Compaq SMART-2DH Array Controller to the new Compaq Smart Array 4200 Controller.
Today’s storage customers depend on storage systems to accommodate their accelerating performance, availability, and capacity requirements. The upgradable family of Compaq Smart Array controllers is a significant component in meeting these customer requirements.
With the new Smart Array 4200 Controller, Compaq offers today’s server storage customers increased performance, greater capacity, consistent software tools, and data compatibility within the Compaq Array Controller family. Upgrading to the Smart Array 4200
provides these distinct advantages over the SMART-2DH Controller to meet current growing storage requirements.
Notice
The information in this publication is subject to change without notice and is provided “AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. THE ENTIRE RISK ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
INFORMATION REMAINS WITH RECIPIENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL COMPAQ BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE OR OTHER DAMAGES WHATSOEVER (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION OR LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION), EVEN IF COMPAQ HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
The limited warranties for Compaq products are exclusively set forth in the documentation accompanying such products. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting a further or additional warranty. This publication does not constitute an endorsement of the product or products that were tested. The configuration or configurations tested or described may or may not be the only available solution. This test is not a determination or product quality or correctness, nor does it ensure compliance with any federal state or local requirements.
Product names mentioned herein may be trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Compaq, Contura, Deskpro, Fastart, Compaq Insight Manager, LTE, PageMarq, Systempro, Systempro/LT, ProLiant, TwinTray, ROMPaq, LicensePaq, QVision, SLT, ProLinea, SmartStart, NetFlex, DirectPlus, QuickFind, RemotePaq, BackPaq, TechPaq, SpeedPaq, QuickBack, PaqFax, Presario, SilentCool, CompaqCare (design), Aero, SmartStation, MiniStation, and PaqRap, registered United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Netelligent, Armada, Cruiser, Concerto, QuickChoice, ProSignia, Systempro/XL, Net1, LTE Elite, Vocalyst, PageMate, SoftPaq, FirstPaq, SolutionPaq, EasyPoint, EZ Help, MaxLight, MultiLock, QuickBlank, QuickLock, UltraView, Innovate logo, Wonder Tools logo in black/white and color, and Compaq PC Card Solution logo are trademarks and/or service marks of Compaq Computer Corporation. Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, Windows NT Server and Workstation, Microsoft SQL Server for Windows NT are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
NetWare and Novell are registered trademarks and intraNetWare, NDS, and Novell Directory Services are trademarks of Novell, Inc.
Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation.
Copyright ©1999 Compaq Computer Corporation. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A. Increasing Server Storage and Capacity:
White Paper prepared by Storage Products Division First Edition (September 1999)
Upgrading to the Smart Array 4200 Controller
Increases Performance and Capacity
Today’s storage customers face accelerating storage performance and capacity requirements. With significant investments in their server storage solutions, enterprises want to manage storage resources in such a way that they maximize current storage resources, reduce unnecessary cost, and minimize server downtime.
Compaq offers the Smart Array 4200 Controller for enterprises requiring high performance data storage with scalable capacity. The Smart Array 4200 is an ideal solution for upgrading server storage performance and increasing capacity for servers with SMART-2DH Array Controllers. This controller upgrade provides SMART-2DH Array Controller customers the following benefits: 1) higher
performance; 2) increased capacity; 3) storage resource protection; and 4) easy upgradability. Increased performance is achieved through the new 64-bit architecture featuring a super-scalar PowerPC processor with a 64-bit data path, 64-bit PCI, and four Ultra2 SCSI channels offering 320Mb/s bandwidth. With four SCSI channels, customers can now attach up to 1.16TB of storage to a single PCI slot. In addition, as customers add storage to the Smart Array 4200 Controller, they will realize an increase in performance from the gain in hard drive spindles and utilization of additional SCSI channels. These benefits will occur without requiring the upgrade of any additional storage resources such as hard drives or storage enclosures.
Like other Compaq controllers, the Smart Array 4200 has data compatibility with previous generation Smart Array and SMART-2 controllers. Data compatibility provides customers the means to upgrade an older controller simply, with minimal server downtime. Specifically, Smart Array controllers automatically transfer array configuration information to the new controller and preserve the data layout so that restoring data from secondary storage is not necessary.
Features and benefits of the SMART-2DH Controller and the Smart Array 4200 Controller are illustrated in the following comparison table:
Table 1. Comparison of the SMART-2DH Array Controller and the Smart Array 4200 Controller
SMART-2DH Array Controller
Smart Array 4200 Controller
Benefits of upgrading to the Smart Array 4200 Controller
64-bit Architecture
ü
Higher performanceChannels 2 4 Higher capacity, higher bandwidth
SCSI ports (external/internal) 1/2 4/2 Higher capacity, higher bandwidth
Wide Ultra2 SCSI Support
ü
Higher performanceWide-Ultra SCSI Support
ü
ü
CompatibilityChannel transfer rate 40 MB/s 80 MB/s Faster file transfer rates, higher bandwidth
Total Bandwidth 80 MB/s 320 MB/s Faster file transfer rates, higher bandwidth
Number of drives supported 281 561 Higher capacity
Read/Write Cache 16MB 64MB Higher performance
Battery-backed,
removable cache
ü
ü
Data protection
Maximum IO/s RAID 12 3,797 18,950 Higher performance
Maximum IO/s Raid 52 3,702 18,573 Higher performance
1 To achieve maximum capacities, requires use of StorageWorks Enclosure Model 4214R or 4214T (Maximum: (14) 1” drives per
When to Upgrade to the Smart Array 4200
Controller
Compaq recommends an upgrade to the Smart Array 4200 Controller for SMART-2DH Controller customers who have the following needs:
• Increased performance from Wide-Ultra or Wide Ultra2 hard drives
• Increased capacity for storage growth
The following example illustrates one company’s growing storage requirement challenge and the Compaq upgrade recommendation:
Storage Solution
The company upgrades from its current server storage array controller, the SMART-2DH, to the new Smart Array 4200 and adds an additional StorageWorks Enclosure 4214T and fourteen 18.2GB Wide Ultra2 hard drives. This leaves one channel open for future growth.
This company realized the following benefits:
1) Increased performance with current Wide-Ultra SCSI drives due to higher performance of the Smart Array 4200— up to 4x I/O processing increase
2) Two additional channels to support new storage enclosures and drives— up to an additional 509GB of storage
3) Added support for new Ultra2 Enclosure and Ultra2 Hard Drives for maximum performance
Business I.T. Problem
1) A medium-to-large business departmental server has outgrown its file and print sharing storage capacity due to more network users and users with greater storage needs.
2) To improve important departmental productivity operations, server storage performance must be improved.
3) This department’s IT budget is limited and needs to maximize current resources.
Figure 1. Upgrading from the SMART-2DH Controller to the Smart Array 4200 Controller
ProLiant 3000 w/ SMART-2DH Controller
Application: Workgroup File and Print Sharing (MS Windows NT 4.0, Novell NetWare 4.0) Users: 200
6 x 4.3GB Wide-Ultra HDD 12.9GB usable capacity
Internal Storage
OS & Applications
12 x 4.3GB Wide-Ultra HDD 43GB usable capacity
Online Spare
External Storage
Network Drives (Workgroup & User Folders)
RAID 5 RAID 1
SMART-2DH
Upgraded Configuration
ProLiant 3000 w/ Smart Array 4200
Internal Storage 6 x 4.3GB Wide-Ultra HDD
Legacy External Storage ProLiant Storage System U2 12 x 4.3GB Wide-Ultra HDD
NEW External Storage StorageWorks Enclosure 4214T 14 x 18.2GB Ultra2 HDD
Future Storage Up to an additional 258GB
Performance Leadership
Many factors including the array controller, RAID level, array configuration, disk drives, server processor speed, and data transaction type (e-mail/web server, tape back-up, OLTP, file & print sharing, etc.) influence storage performance. Due to the latest Compaq Array Controller architecture advances, the single most important factor for improving data transaction performance on a server is the array controller.
To illustrate this assertion, Compaq engineers conducted several tests demonstrating performance increases to be gained by simply upgrading the SMART-2DH to the Smart Array 4200. For testing purposes, both Ultra2 SCSI controllers were installed into a ProLiant 7000 loaded with 6 Wide-Ultra hard drives per channel (12 drives total). The Smart Array 4200 had two additional channels of 6 Ultra2 SCSI drives. The server, application, and RAID level remained the same. The “Maximum IO/second” results below show the maximum performance potential for each controller by RAID level configuration. The Smart Array 4200 Controller will operate at up to 5.0X higher performance than the SMART-2DH Controller. In a Web Server simulation, the Smart Array 4200 Controller showed a 3.9X performance increase in a simulated environment. In addition, OLTP tests yielded a 4.3X performance result, and System Back-up yielded a 2.1X performance increase.
These tests clearly demonstrate a significant performance gain moving from the SMART-2DH to the Smart Array 4200.
Figure 2. Smart Array 4200 Controller vs. SMART-2DH Array Controller Performance Results
Note: Performance test methods and configuration
These performance tests were conducted with a ProLiant 7000 (Processor: 4 Pentium Xeon 400 MHz, Memory: 512MB RAM), Operating System: MS Windows NT 4.0 SR 3.
The Smart-2DH (firmware v.4.10) test was configured with 2 channels and 2 logical drives. The first channel is internal to the server and included 6 x 4.3GB Wide-Ultra SCSI 10K Drives. The second channel is an external ProLiant Storage System UE loaded with 6 x 4.3GB Wide-Ultra SCSI 10K Drives.
The Smart Array 4200 (firmware v.1.06) test was configured 4 channels and 4 logical drives. The first channel is internal to the server and included 6 x 4.3GB Wide-Ultra SCSI 10K Drives. Thesecond channel is an external ProLiant Storage System UE loaded with 6 x 4.3GB Wide-Ultra SCSI 10K Drives. The third and fourth channels are attached to an external StorageWorks Enclosure 4200 loaded with 6 x 4.3GB Ultra2 SCSI Drives.
Maximum IO/second
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000 20000
RAID 5 RAID 1 RAID 0
SMART 2DH Smart Array 4200
Web Server Simulation
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000
RAID 5 RAID 1 RAID 0
Steps for Upgrading to the Smart Array
4200 Controller
The SMART-2DH Controller can easily be upgraded to the Smart Array 4200 Controller and should take, under normal circumstances, 30 minutes to one hour.3 For this upgrade, you are not required to back up and restore the server data as many competitive controller solutions may require. The upgrade is simple and requires only minimal server downtime.4
Easy steps to replacing the SMART-2DH Controller:
1. Upgrade your operating system device driver to the new Smart Array 4200 driver. 2. Upgrade your System ROM to the most current version using the Compaq System
ROMPaq.
3. Perform a normal shutdown and turn OFF the server.
4. Replace the SMART-2DH Controller board with the new Smart Array 4200 controller. 5. Attach the SCSI cable to the new Controller in the same port position (internal port 1 or
external port 1) where it was attached on the previous controller.5 6. Reboot the server and data will seamlessly be recognized.
Conclusion
Today’s storage customers depend on storage systems to accommodate their accelerating
performance and capacity requirements. Once again, Compaq provides the solution with the new Smart Array 4200 Controller, a powerful, intelligent, I/O solution for today’s most demanding network data storage requirements. Combining an advanced feature set and full-spectrum hardware-based fault management with exceptional performance characteristics, this controller represents Compaq patented technology, which is unmatched in the industry.
The Smart Array 4200 Controller continues the Compaq traditional and unique Smart Array advantages that include software consistency, compatibility, and the unique advantage of upgradability from generation to generation. And customers who upgrade to the Smart Array 4200 Controller from the SMART-2DH Array Controller for unbeatable performance, superior capacity, and data availability will find no better solution.
3
Estimated time based on Compaq lab studies which calculated time of upgrade from start to finish. See www.compaq.com/storageworks for Compaq Smart Array TCO study white paper
4 Backup of data is recommended but, not necessary, prior to migrating to another controller
5 Note: It is important to understand the difference between SCSI cable connector layouts for the SMART-2DH Controllers and the
