0

We (a client) are considering [insisting on] using consumer grade SSDs (to keep the cost down) in some Dell R710 and HP Proliant D380 G5 servers.

I've looked about and people report the P400 cards on the HP will not recognize the SSDs (Intel 530/Curucial BX), although a P400i might; reports are the PERC6/i and PERC 700 in the Dell should.

A quick question please- would the use of the drives in a RAID configuration have any bearing on these users' experience - i.e. is it possible I may be more successful if the drives are not in a hardware RAID (which is the current setup of the client)?

questions
  • 45
  • 1
  • 8

2 Answers2

3

Interesting question from a customer/end user perspective.

My advice is not to use the HP DL380 G5 systems for anything today, if you can avoid it? They are unfavorable for power, performance, support and compatibility reasons. A few examples:

  • RAM is very limited on this model.
  • Any SATA SSD used on a Smart Array P400-era controller (2005-2008) will be stepped-down to run at 1.5Gbps speeds (187.5 Megabytes/second). You'll lose any sequential IO performance of the SSD in this situation.

The Dell R710 has a few better options, as it's a generation newer than the HP G5 system. Being Perc/LSI controllers, you have access to more compatible SSDs, and can also augment the selection with newer RAID controllers.

More of this is going to depend on your actual performance goal, OS, application and budget. I wouldn't recommend enterprise SSDs for the servers you've described either. I rarely use disk form-factor SSDs on current-generation servers, instead opting for PCIe-based solutions. That removes the hardware RAID controller complexity and potential bottlenecks. They fit my use case, but also mean that software RAID and monitoring become more important.

Can you describe more about your environment?

ewwhite
  • 201,205
1

Keep in mind that most all Enterprise RAID controllers still don't support SATA TRIM / SCSI UNMAP (give it another couple years and they likely will). That means you will need an SSD with built-in garbage collection. Most Dell-branded MLC SSDs today tend to be made by Intel, with a SandForce controller on the SSD to cover the garbage collection. Without garbage collection, you'd see performance go downhill very quickly after a short period of normal use.

As for the effect of RAID configuration with SSDs on user experience, I'd say you should expect mixed results. This blog post mentions testing with newer-generation PERC controllers where single-SSD configurations actually outperformed testing on multiple drives, due to bottlenecking at the controller. This question on SF covers a lot of relevant detail too: You may want to consider Intel DC / S series drives since they provide power-loss protection; although they're targeted at enterprise markets, you'll still spend far less than you would for vendor-branded drives.

In the end, you'll probably need to get familiar with what performance various configurations can provide with different workloads, and choose based on each individual system/client's needs.

Community
  • 1
JimNim
  • 2,806