I just finished benchmarking our EQ PS300 and got some confusing results. It appears that using the MS iSCSI initiator from within a VM is considerable faster than using the ESX Software initiator. How can I improve the software initiator? Also, it appears that the results from IOMeter for the third test with the ESX Software initiator are not correct.

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TABLE oF RESULTS
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SERVER TYPE: Win2k3 VM (MS iSCSI initiator in VM)
CPU TYPE / NUMBER: VCPU / 1
HOST TYPE: Dell PE2900, 24GB RAM; 2x XEON 5160, 3.00 GHz, DC
STORAGE TYPE / DISK NUMBER / RAID LEVEL: EQ PS300E x 1 / 12 Disks (SATA7.2k) / R50

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TEST NAME-------------------Av. Resp. Time ms------Av. IOs/sek-------Av. MB/sek------
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Max Throughput-100%Read........___19.72__..........___3014___.........___94.19___

RealLife-60%Rand-65%Read......___23.57__..........___1800___.........___14.06__

Max Throughput-50%Read..........___22.43__..........___2436___.........___76.14__

Random-8k-70%Read.................___26.10__..........___1645___.........___12.85___

EXCEPTIONS: CPU Util.-85,65,88,61;

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TABLE oF RESULTS
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SERVER TYPE: Win2k3 VM (ESX iSCSI initiator)
CPU TYPE / NUMBER: VCPU / 1
HOST TYPE: Dell PE2900, 24GB RAM; 2x XEON 5160, 3.00 GHz, DC
STORAGE TYPE / DISK NUMBER / RAID LEVEL: EQ PS300E x 1 / 12 Disks (SATA7.2k) / R50

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TEST NAME-------------------Av. Resp. Time ms------Av. IOs/sek-------Av. MB/sek------
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Max Throughput-100%Read........__27.56___..........___2154___.........___67.31___

RealLife-60%Rand-65%Read......___51.16__..........___1109___.........___8.66___

??Max Throughput-50%Read..........__10.65___..........___5136___.........___160.52___

Random-8k-70%Read.................___58.16__..........___982____.........___7.67____

EXCEPTIONS: CPU Util.-27,23,64,22;

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SERVER TYPE: VM
CPU TYPE / NUMBER: VCPU / 1
HOST TYPE: HP DL585, 16GB RAM, 4 x 2.4ghz Single core
STORAGE TYPE / DISK NUMBER / RAID LEVEL: DotHill FC / 12 / Raid 5 / 144gb 10krpm Disks / 10gb VMDK on 250GB vmfs LUN

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TEST NAME-------------------Av. Resp. Time ms------Av. IOs/sek-------Av. MB/sek------
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Max Throughput-100%Read........13.4877.........4350.52........135.95

RealLife-60%Rand-65%Read......50.6972..........1020.62.........7.97

Max Throughput-50%Read..........11.1034..........5192.04.........162.25

Random-8k-70%Read.................56.7146..........925.31.........7.23

CPU = 36% - 34% - 58.35% - 31.96%

@chucks0:

I know that was a pretty normal situation with ESX 3.0.1 and before, but I don't know about 3.0.2. What version are you running in those tests?

Same test as above but to a 4x50=200GB meta

SERVER TYPE: VM or PHYS. - VM ESX 3.0.1
CPU TYPE / NUMBER: VCPU / 1
HOST TYPE: DL380G4 2x3.2GH DC XEON, 24GB RAM
STORAGE TYPE / DISK NUMBER / RAID LEVEL: CX700 / 4x4+1 Disks R5 / 500g ATA

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TEST NAME-------------------Av. Resp. Time ms------Av. IOs/sek-------Av. MB/sek------
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Max Throughput-100%Read........___10.98____..........____5043__.........____157.5___

RealLife-60%Rand-65%Read......___40.59____.........._____1203__........._____9.4___

Max Throughput-50%Read..........___10.63____..........____5131__.........___160.3__

Random-8k-70%Read.................__44.70_____..........__1128____........._____8.8___

EXCEPTIONS: CPU Util. 73,43,79,40

Test was the only thing running on the system (not yet in production)
testfilesize set to 20000000 (10 GB file)
Tests were run on a VRaid0,1 and 5 Vdisk (size Vdisk was 100 GB in all cases)

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TABLE OF RESULTS
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SERVER TYPE: VM ON ESX 3.0.2
CPU TYPE / NUMBER: VCPU / 1
HOST TYPE: HP ProLiant BL460c G1, 16GB RAM; 2x Intel XEON 5345, 2,33 GHz
STORAGE TYPE / DISK NUMBER / RAID LEVEL: HP EVA 6100 / 40 Fiber Channel 15k / Vraid1
SAN TYPE / HBAs : Fiber, Emulex LPe 1105-HP HBA

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TEST NAME-------------------Av. Resp. Time ms------Av. IOs/sek-------Av. MB/sek------
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Max Throughput-100%Read........__0,61____..........___6210___.........___194____

RealLife-60%Rand-65%Read......___6,1____..........___3667___.........____29____

Max Throughput-50%Read..........____6,2___..........___4336___.........___136____

Random-8k-70%Read.................____5,7___..........___3579___.........____28____

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SERVER TYPE: VM ON ESX 3.0.2
CPU TYPE / NUMBER: VCPU / 1
HOST TYPE: HP ProLiant BL460c G1, 16GB RAM; 2x Intel XEON 5345, 2,33 GHz
STORAGE TYPE / DISK NUMBER / RAID LEVEL: HP EVA 6100 / 40 Fiber Channel 15k / Vraid5
SAN TYPE / HBAs : Fiber, Emulex LPe 1105-HP HBA

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TEST NAME-------------------Av. Resp. Time ms------Av. IOs/sek-------Av. MB/sek------
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Max Throughput-100%Read........__0,56_____..........___8605___.........___269____

RealLife-60%Rand-65%Read......___9,3____..........___5113___.........____40____

Max Throughput-50%Read..........____38,3__..........___1374___.........___43____

Random-8k-70%Read.................____9,1___..........___5242___.........____41____

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SERVER TYPE: VM ON ESX 3.0.2
CPU TYPE / NUMBER: VCPU / 1
HOST TYPE: HP ProLiant BL460c G1, 16GB RAM; 2x Intel XEON 5345, 2,33 GHz
STORAGE TYPE / DISK NUMBER / RAID LEVEL: HP EVA 6100 / 40 Fiber Channel 15k / Vraid0
SAN TYPE / HBAs : Fiber, Emulex LPe 1105-HP HBA

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TEST NAME-------------------Av. Resp. Time ms------Av. IOs/sek-------Av. MB/sek------
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Max Throughput-100%Read........__0,54____..........__10068___.........___314____

RealLife-60%Rand-65%Read......___7,3____..........___6928___.........____54____

Max Throughput-50%Read..........____6,8___..........___5430___.........___170____

Random-8k-70%Read.................____6,8___..........___7476___.........____58____

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Anyone done any tests with IET? Curious how IET's performance compares to SanMelody. I am currently looking at both... IET is attractive for being free, but SanMelody would likely have more support.

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TABLE oF RESULTS
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SERVER TYPE: Win2K3 VM on ESX 3.0.1
CPU TYPE / NUMBER: VCPU / 1
HOST TYPE: HP DL385 G1, 16GB RAM, 2x 2.6GHz AMD Opteron Dual Core
STORAGE TYPE / DISK NUMBER / RAID LEVEL: HP MSA 1500 / MSA30 with 5 x 147G 15K SCSI / RAID5

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TEST NAME-------------------Av. Resp. Time ms------Av. IOs/sek-------Av. MB/sek------
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Max Throughput-100%Read........____12____..........___4772___.........___149____
RealLife-60%Rand-65%Read.......____59____..........____815___.........____6_____
Max Throughput-50%Read.........____22____..........____2625__.........____82____
Random-8k-70%Read..............____40____..........___1111___.........____9_____

EXCEPTIONS: CPU Util.-49-38-35-45;

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Note: about 5VM's on this same LUN, tests run during fairly low use time.