Disk to Disk Backup is Very Slow, Solutions ?

We got 2 MS Win 2003 Servers with RAID5 on a GIG-E Port / GIGE Switch.

Its taking on average 6 Min to move 1 GB of File betwen servers. I am
looking at the network utliszation and its very low, so the issue might be
wiht the disks, how do i narrow down this issue ?

Thanks

Jay

On Sun, 15 Oct 2006 04:09:42 GMT, "Jay" wrote:

We got 2 MS Win 2003 Servers with RAID5 on a GIG-E Port / GIGE Switch.

Its taking on average 6 Min to move 1 GB of File betwen servers. I am
looking at the network utliszation and its very low, so the issue might be
wiht the disks, how do i narrow down this issue ?

Thanks

Jay



Knowing a little more about the layout would be helpful. Things like
controller card(s), how many drives in the raidgroup, type of drives,
etc.

But for a first pass I would suggest looking at disk counters in
Windows, or if you have a tool from the raid controller that's even
better.
This will give you an idea of what the drives are doing, since ntework
doesn't seem to be heavily used.

Also, what is the file makeup in this file system you're backing up?
Is it bazillions of small files? A few large files? File types
(.exe, .obj, etc)?

~F

Hi,

Its 3Ware RAID-5, 4 - 750 GB drives. Files are large Vidoe files, each being
around 2 GB in size.

Right now its taking 8 Min to copy 1 GB of file, which is nuts.

Jay


"Faeandar" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 15 Oct 2006 04:09:42 GMT, "Jay" wrote:

We got 2 MS Win 2003 Servers with RAID5 on a GIG-E Port / GIGE Switch.

Its taking on average 6 Min to move 1 GB of File betwen servers. I am
looking at the network utliszation and its very low, so the issue might be
wiht the disks, how do i narrow down this issue ?

Thanks

Jay



Knowing a little more about the layout would be helpful. Things like
controller card(s), how many drives in the raidgroup, type of drives,
etc.

But for a first pass I would suggest looking at disk counters in
Windows, or if you have a tool from the raid controller that's even
better.
This will give you an idea of what the drives are doing, since ntework
doesn't seem to be heavily used.

Also, what is the file makeup in this file system you're backing up?
Is it bazillions of small files? A few large files? File types
(.exe, .obj, etc)?

~F

On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 21:40:59 GMT, "Jay" wrote:

Hi,

Its 3Ware RAID-5, 4 - 750 GB drives. Files are large Vidoe files, each being
around 2 GB in size.

Right now its taking 8 Min to copy 1 GB of file, which is nuts.

Jay

When you say copy, do you mean CIFS drag and drop? I know that that
is one of the slowest possible data movement mechanisms possible.

A raid config like that should be able to do full gig speed for reads,
writes would be slower. But I would imagine a total transfer speed
possible of 50MB/sec.

Have you looked at the 3Ware tool or Windows disk counters to see what
the drives are doing?

~F


"Faeandar" wrote in message
.. .
On Sun, 15 Oct 2006 04:09:42 GMT, "Jay" wrote:

We got 2 MS Win 2003 Servers with RAID5 on a GIG-E Port / GIGE Switch.

Its taking on average 6 Min to move 1 GB of File betwen servers. I am
looking at the network utliszation and its very low, so the issue might be
wiht the disks, how do i narrow down this issue ?

Thanks

Jay



Knowing a little more about the layout would be helpful. Things like
controller card(s), how many drives in the raidgroup, type of drives,
etc.

But for a first pass I would suggest looking at disk counters in
Windows, or if you have a tool from the raid controller that's even
better.
This will give you an idea of what the drives are doing, since ntework
doesn't seem to be heavily used.

Also, what is the file makeup in this file system you're backing up?
Is it bazillions of small files? A few large files? File types
(.exe, .obj, etc)?

~F

When you say copy, do you mean CIFS drag and drop? I know that that
is one of the slowest possible data movement mechanisms possible.

At least it is slower then FTP.

--
Maxim Shatskih, Windows DDK MVP
StorageCraft Corporation

http://www.storagecraft.com

I have been running Performance Moniter on Win 2003. What values do i need
to look at. the % disk write says 100%

Jay



"Faeandar" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 21:40:59 GMT, "Jay" wrote:

Hi,

Its 3Ware RAID-5, 4 - 750 GB drives. Files are large Vidoe files, each
being
around 2 GB in size.

Right now its taking 8 Min to copy 1 GB of file, which is nuts.

Jay

When you say copy, do you mean CIFS drag and drop? I know that that
is one of the slowest possible data movement mechanisms possible.

A raid config like that should be able to do full gig speed for reads,
writes would be slower. But I would imagine a total transfer speed
possible of 50MB/sec.

Have you looked at the 3Ware tool or Windows disk counters to see what
the drives are doing?

~F


"Faeandar" wrote in message
. ..
On Sun, 15 Oct 2006 04:09:42 GMT, "Jay" wrote:

We got 2 MS Win 2003 Servers with RAID5 on a GIG-E Port / GIGE Switch.

Its taking on average 6 Min to move 1 GB of File betwen servers. I am
looking at the network utliszation and its very low, so the issue might
be
wiht the disks, how do i narrow down this issue ?

Thanks

Jay



Knowing a little more about the layout would be helpful. Things like
controller card(s), how many drives in the raidgroup, type of drives,
etc.

But for a first pass I would suggest looking at disk counters in
Windows, or if you have a tool from the raid controller that's even
better.
This will give you an idea of what the drives are doing, since ntework
doesn't seem to be heavily used.

Also, what is the file makeup in this file system you're backing up?
Is it bazillions of small files? A few large files? File types
(.exe, .obj, etc)?

~F

Hi,

Its 3Ware RAID-5, 4 - 750 GB drives. Files are large Vidoe files, each
being
around 2 GB in size.

Right now its taking 8 Min to copy 1 GB of file, which is nuts.

Jay

When you say copy, do you mean CIFS drag and drop? I know that that
is one of the slowest possible data movement mechanisms possible.

A raid config like that should be able to do full gig speed for reads,
writes would be slower. But I would imagine a total transfer speed
possible of 50MB/sec.

Have you looked at the 3Ware tool or Windows disk counters to see what
the drives are doing?

So here are the numbers from Performance Monitor

1. Avg Disk Queu length 100%
2. % disk write time 100%
3. % Ideal Time 0%

Network utlization is around 20 megs, but its not constant

Jay wrote:

So here are the numbers from Performance Monitor

1. Avg Disk Queu length 100%
2. % disk write time 100%
3. % Ideal Time 0%

Network utlization is around 20 megs, but its not constant


Do you get the same thing copying to/from non-RAID volumes across the
network?

http://www.objectcube.com/ftp/from.jpg shows the Performance moniter of
server where files are being copied

http://www.objectcube.com/ftp/to.jpg shows where I am copying the files
too...as you can see disk writes are at 100%.

Right now I am using FTP and I am getting 6 Min for every GB, this is little
better then 10 min for every GB I got with CIFS.

I dont have non raid5 vol with me now

Jay

"Steve Cousins" wrote in message
...


Jay wrote:

So here are the numbers from Performance Monitor

1. Avg Disk Queu length 100%
2. % disk write time 100%
3. % Ideal Time 0%

Network utlization is around 20 megs, but its not constant


Do you get the same thing copying to/from non-RAID volumes across the
network?

On Tue, 17 Oct 2006 17:45:37 GMT, "Jay" wrote:

http://www.objectcube.com/ftp/from.jpg shows the Performance moniter of
server where files are being copied

http://www.objectcube.com/ftp/to.jpg shows where I am copying the files
too...as you can see disk writes are at 100%.

A valiant effort but I couldn't read it, the text and was too small
and jagged.
But I think I get the point.


Right now I am using FTP and I am getting 6 Min for every GB, this is little
better then 10 min for every GB I got with CIFS.

If my rounded math is correct that's about 2.8MB/sec for ftp.
Pathetic to be sure.
I would normally recommend looking at network ports for speed and
duplex mismatches but if your disk writes are 100% that's probably not
your issue.

Drive questions: how many? what type (SATA, FC)? anything else using
these drives besides your copy?


I dont have non raid5 vol with me now

How about the boot/OS disk? You should be able to get far more than
2MB/sec even from a single drive.

~F


Jay

"Steve Cousins" wrote in message
...


Jay wrote:

So here are the numbers from Performance Monitor

1. Avg Disk Queu length 100%
2. % disk write time 100%
3. % Ideal Time 0%

Network utlization is around 20 megs, but its not constant


Do you get the same thing copying to/from non-RAID volumes across the
network?