Question

PowerConnect 6224 Throughput

Asked by: AaronIT

I have a Dell Power Connect 6224 as my Server Rack Switch.  According to dell it has a Switch Fabric Capacity of 136Gbps and a Forwarding Rate of 95mpps.

Currently when I'm running a bandwidth test to my Dell MD3000 iSCSI San i'm only get about 250mbit\s (megabits).

Now i know there could be a 100 reasons for his, however this is what i know:

Using CAT6 Cabling
Jumbo Frames enabled on both Server, Workstation and in Switch
All machines show full duplex 1000
Workstation Disk Checks show the capacity to write at 250MB\s (MegaBYTES)
Server Disk Check show the capacity to write at 2000MB\s (megaBYTES)
Cable test shows both CAT6 cables are good.

Now why am I only seeing a network read\write speed of 250mbps (megabits)  In the past I have seen higher, but one would think when writing to my file server even with the overhead of windows i should be above 500mbps.

Thoughts?

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Asked On
2009-04-09 at 12:42:31ID24310743
Tags

Bandwidth

,

Networking

,

Windows

,

Dell

,

PowerConnect

,

6224

Topics

Networking Hardware

,

Computer Servers

,

Windows Networking

Participating Experts
1
Points
500
Comments
4

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Answers

 

by: MaerosPosted on 2009-04-09 at 14:52:24ID: 24112058

What configuration and setup are you running with the SAN?  What specific test(s) are you performing with this "bandwidth test"?

Also check to see if any throttling/QoS is enabled, as it is very well possible that your tests are being intentionally throttled by a setting.

 

by: AaronITPosted on 2009-04-09 at 15:20:57ID: 24112234

It's a Dell 1950 that is directly connected to the MD3000.  I can write to one of the "Drives" at just under 3Gbps (which is what it suppose to be at).  I believe the 1950 connects to the MD300 via SAS cables.

Throttling and QOS are disabled both on the switches and both adapters (sorry i didn't mention that) so is backpressure and flow control.

The tests I run...  One of them is a little program called NetCPS, another is Crystal Mark.  Both test the read\write speed to drives, both local and Network.  At the same time those are running I am using network monitoring software to watch the bandwidth on the switches.  I have confirmed my monitoring software by watching the built in statistics on the switch as well.

Another test i have done is to copy a 1GB 2 GB and 10GB file from my SAN to workstation, and vice versa while watching the monitoring software.

I have also verified both with and without other devices plugged into the switches that i'm staying under the Switch Fabric Capacity.

 

by: AaronITPosted on 2009-05-26 at 20:19:17ID: 24479677

Windows overhead sucks... That's the issue.  Netapps have better performance.

Ticket can be closed

 

by: AaronITPosted on 2009-10-07 at 08:39:24ID: 31568702

unresolved

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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