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5 Replies Last post: Mar 24, 2008 1:54 PM by asp24
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Raid 10 scaling question

Mar 23, 2008 1:42 PM

Click to view asp24's profile Enthusiast asp24 48 posts since
Oct 11, 2006
We have a 16-bay sata to scsi storage enclosure (infortrend) connected to a Open-E DSS storage server. I have just upgraded it with 16 new 750 GB drives.

My question is:


How will raid 10 scale when exeeding 8 drives? Will we be better off creating 2 separate raid 10 arrays, or will a 16-disk raid10 array handle about the same disk I/O as two separate raid 10's with halv the number of drives?


That is: 16-drive RAID 10 vs 2x 8-drive RAID 10


Number of VM's will be around 50. Medium IO VM's.


I did not find any good RAID 10 scaling charts.

If scaling is "perfect" I guess one large RAID 10 would be best as I do not have to do all the work with balancing the load between the arrays.

Reply Re: Raid 10 scaling question Mar 23, 2008 4:08 PM
Click to view mcowger's profile Master mcowger 966 posts since
Aug 22, 2007
Scaling is good, but is HIGHLY dependent on your array model...

--Matt

Reply Re: Raid 10 scaling question Mar 24, 2008 5:13 AM
Click to view christianZ's profile Virtuoso christianZ 1,825 posts since
Apr 21, 2006
If you will use R10 through Logical volume then you can't expand it later (as I can see here). I'm using R50 (e.g. 3xR5/3 disks). This R50 can be expanded later.
I tested the performance and stated only small advantage of R10 so I would prefer R50.
Check this here: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/73745?tstart=0&start=300
Reply Re: Raid 10 scaling question Mar 24, 2008 11:57 AM
in response to: christianZ
Click to view asp24's profile Enthusiast asp24 48 posts since
Oct 11, 2006
If someone have an URL to a RAID10 benchmark comparing disk I/O for 4, 8, 12, 16 + spindles I would be very happy! I have searched a lot, but I cannot find any.
Reply Re: Raid 10 scaling question Mar 24, 2008 12:17 PM
in response to: asp24
Click to view christianZ's profile Virtuoso christianZ 1,825 posts since
Apr 21, 2006
Did you see my results on this page (go down)?
Reply Re: Raid 10 scaling question Mar 24, 2008 1:54 PM
in response to: christianZ
Click to view asp24's profile Enthusiast asp24 48 posts since
Oct 11, 2006
Yes, I saw your numbers. Very impressive. I'm currently looking for someone comparing Raid 10 with 8 and 16 drives (etc)
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