[Info-vax] Compaq Smartarray 5300 - test results

[MG]

On 27-feb-2013 9:24, Hans Vlems wrote:
> This is a follow up on a question I posted earlier, whether the Compaq
> Smartarray 5300 would work on an AlphaServer 800 that runs VMS V8.4.
> The Compaq Smartarray 5300 is not a supported device; a later model,
> the 5300A is supported on some Alphaservers.

Actually, the former (and perhaps it helps, when one loads the latest
firmware) ought to work also.  See the Smart Array 5300 (KZPDC) and
6400 (KZPEC) series Q&As on the HP site.


> An image backup from the system disk to RAID-1 set showed 440 ~ 480
> IO's per second (MONITOR DISK), I've never seen values that high on
> this AlphaServer 800 before.

My memories are also very fond of this controller.  I remember I ran a
RAID-0 logical volume, comprised of two 300 Gbyte 15K RPM Ultra320 SCSI
disks, inside a DS10 I used to own.

I remember that boot times decreased incredibly and that the overall
access times and performance (transfer speeds, in particular for
sequential read/write operations) improved amazingly.

At the time I also remember reading that there was someone who was not
very impressed by the card.  I was surprised, as it performed rather
nicely for me.  (So, I wonder what kind of RAID level that person used
and in what kind of system.)

  - MG