VMware Cloud Community
chucks0
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

SW iSCSI Initiator Questions w/ EQ Array

I have been doing some performance testing with our EqualLogic array. Using IOMeter in various tests, the MS initiator running in a VM to connect to the storage always outperforms the ESX initiator connected to the same storage by about 40 percent. I much prefer to let ESX manage the storage, but the performance difference is too much to ignore. Has anyone else noticed this, or is it something unique to our environment?

Reply
0 Kudos
4 Replies
murreyaw
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I have had the same results, and I think that is pretty much the typical metric. If you want ESX to manage, and increase the speed, go with an actual iSCSI HBA like QLogic, etc.

happyhammer
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

i can agree with that, on all the tests i run the MS init running in the VM was far quicker than both the software and hardware initiators. Although we went for the 4052c hba's

happyhammer
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

One thing to note is that the MS init inside the vm was using 2 to 3 times more CPU than the HBA's

Reply
0 Kudos
will_barley
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I've talked to Dell who has done extensive iSCSI initiator testing; they've concluded that at this point the software initiators are going to outperform hardware initiators.

Reply
0 Kudos