slow datastore transfer speeds HP HBA H240

[nettech1]

We are experiencing a very slow local datastore to datastore transfer speeds on a brand new ProLiant DL20 Gen server running VMware-ESXi-6.0.0-2494585-HP-600.9.3.30.2

There are currently 2 drives attached to Smart HBA H240 controller (146GB SAS and 500GB SATA). Transferring a 10GB file from DS on SAS drive to a DS on SATA drives take somewhere around 30 min. H20 is running FW 3.56.

Has anyone seen this problem on any other hp servers with the same HBA?

[douglasarcidino]

Any write or read cache? Is the cache configured to 10% read and 90% write like it is out of the box? If the cache has not been changed, go into the smart storage administrator and set it to 75% read and 25% write and then try again. Also, you appear to be using the GA version of ESXi 6. I would suggest updating to 1b and making sure all of your firmware is up to date.

[douglasarcidino · Accepted solution]

I just looked it up and this controller does not support any cache modules. I would chuck it and use a P series Smart Array with a cache module. This appears to really be a bare step up to an AHCI controller.

[nettech1]

i hear what you saying, but they are showing bandwidth up to 12Gb/s per physical link in the card specs.

http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/getpdf.aspx/c04346303.pdf?ver=1.0

Don't see any firmware updates for the card.

http://h20566.www2.hpe.com/hpsc/swd/public/readIndex?sp4ts.oid=1008556819&swLangOid=8&swEnvOid=4183

[nettech1]

found someone else with a similar problem

http://serverfault.com/questions/728562/slow-write-performance-with-hp-h240-hba-using-internal-stora...

[douglasarcidino]

They are 12Gbps controllers but what you have to know about controllers like this is that when you put a SATA drive on them, they generally drop to 3Gb speeds. As well that would be when you are doing RAID arrays. A single drive has limits.

[nettech1]

One more.

http://www.techezone.com/question/hp-proliant-ml150-gen9-with-hba-h240-slow-local-datastore/

Looks like I have no other chose but to switch to p440

Thanks for your help