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  • 1.  Slow RDM disk access with Windows

    Posted Sep 11, 2015 06:28 PM

    In ESXi 5.0 I noticed a very poor performance when using RDM LUNs compared to VMFS in Windows. My server is connected to an external HP MSA2212 Fiber channel storage.

    WINDOWS 2008 VM

    Using RDM Physical mode: 2 MB/sec throughput

    Using VMFS: 250 MB/sec throughput

    UBUNTU

    Using RDM Physical mode: 100 MB/sec throughput

    In both boxes: SCSI controller 0: LSI Logic SAS. Bus sharing: None

    Both are new VMs connected to the same LUN.

    Any ideas what could be happening? Do I have to install drivers in Windows?

    Thanks!



  • 2.  RE: Slow RDM disk access with Windows

    Posted Sep 11, 2015 08:27 PM

    Have you updated latest drivers and firmwares ? if no, update latest version to get good performance



  • 3.  RE: Slow RDM disk access with Windows

    Posted Sep 12, 2015 12:28 PM

    ESXi is version 5.0 Update 3. The Emulex HBA has the latest drivers available.

    By "Update drivers" do you mean in Windows?



  • 4.  RE: Slow RDM disk access with Windows

    Posted Sep 12, 2015 12:52 PM

    can you run "ethtool -i vmnic0" output

    What is your VM hardware version and is VMware tools updated?



  • 5.  RE: Slow RDM disk access with Windows

    Posted Sep 12, 2015 03:08 PM

    VMWare tools in Windows: 8.6.10

    Virtual Machine Version: 8

    # ethtool -i vmnic0

    driver: bnx2

    version: 2.0.15g.v50.11-5vmw

    firmware-version: bc 1.9.6

    bus-info: 0000:03:00.0

    # esxcfg-scsidevs -a

    vmhba0  ata_piix          link-n/a  ide.vmhba0                              (0:0:31.1) Intel Corporation 631xESB/632xESB IDE Controller

    vmhba1  cciss             link-n/a  block.cciss/c0d0:0                      (0:6:0.0) Hewlett-Packard Company Smart Array P400

    vmhba2  lpfc820           link-up   fc.20000000c98bf5f2:10000000c98bf5f2    (0:18:1.0) Emulex Corporation LP11000 4Gb Fibre Channel Host Adapter

    vmhba3  lpfc820           link-up   fc.20000000c98bf5f3:10000000c98bf5f3    (0:18:1.1) Emulex Corporation LP11000 4Gb Fibre Channel Host Adapter

    vmhba32 ata_piix          link-n/a  ide.vmhba32                             (0:0:31.1) Intel Corporation 631xESB/632xESB IDE Controller

    vmhba33 iscsi_vmk         online    iscsi.vmhba33                           iSCSI Software Adapter

    ~ #

    ~ # vmkload_mod -s lpfc820 |grep Version

    Version: Version 0:8.2.2.1-18vmw, Build: 914586, Interface: 9.2 Built on: Nov 18 2012

    ~ # for a in $(esxcfg-scsidevs -a |awk '{print $2}') ;do vmkload_mod -s $a |grep -i version ;done

    Version: Version 2.12-4vmw, Build: 623860, Interface: 9.2 Built on: Feb 17 2012

    Version: Version 3.6.14-10vmw, Build: 469512, Interface: 9.2 Built on: Aug 18 2011

    Version: Version 0:8.2.2.1-18vmw, Build: 914586, Interface: 9.2 Built on: Nov 18 2012

    Version: Version 0:8.2.2.1-18vmw, Build: 914586, Interface: 9.2 Built on: Nov 18 2012

    Version: Version 2.12-4vmw, Build: 623860, Interface: 9.2 Built on: Feb 17 2012

    Version: Built on: Sep  5 2013



  • 6.  RE: Slow RDM disk access with Windows

    Posted Sep 13, 2015 10:49 AM

    you may need to have bel stow been updated firmware been updated

    firmware-version: bc 1.9.6

    what do you see on hba version is it latest?

    Have a look at this http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2030818

    Also , did you get connectivity checked at storage level too. Try getting RDM reassiged(remove and remapped) before any version update. Once been added check esxtop stats of respective RDM