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From: Chris on 13 Apr 2010 22:40
We have a Dell PE 2950 with 32 GB RAM, running w2k8 sp2. It has 5 SAS disks
and is set as a single RAID 5, with two volumes C and D. C: is for OS and D:
is for data. The server is used for flat file server but with heavy export
and import one in the morning and one in the afternoon for a couple hours.
Whenever this happens the server became very slow, almost non-responding.
Those export and import to set to use D:. We have set 33 GB page file on C:.
It improved but not much. Still have "lockup". Since the heavy load is on
logical volume D: I'm wondering:

1. will it be helpful if I set another page file on D:? Because C: and D:
are on the same RAID will it make any difference?

2. If it helps what size will be a good start? D: is at 2 TB.

please advice.

Thanks.
From: Dave Warren on 14 Apr 2010 01:33
In message <F27107F8-5A5C-481C-A6A9-355EA026D3AA(a)microsoft.com> Chris
<Chris(a)discussions.microsoft.com> was claimed to have wrote:

>We have a Dell PE 2950 with 32 GB RAM, running w2k8 sp2. It has 5 SAS disks
>and is set as a single RAID 5, with two volumes C and D. C: is for OS and D:
>is for data. The server is used for flat file server but with heavy export
>and import one in the morning and one in the afternoon for a couple hours.
>Whenever this happens the server became very slow, almost non-responding.
>Those export and import to set to use D:. We have set 33 GB page file on C:.
> It improved but not much. Still have "lockup". Since the heavy load is on
>logical volume D: I'm wondering:

Are you actually paging or is the problem something else?

>1. will it be helpful if I set another page file on D:? Because C: and D:
>are on the same RAID will it make any difference?

It will likely cause more of a performance impact than anything else
since the heads will be skipping back and forth between the pagefiles as
Windows attempts to use both of them.
From: Chris on 14 Apr 2010 19:40
I'm running perfmon and will look into the paging. But I notice 1) avg. disk
queue length max could go up to 6 at some point. This is after disabling
virus scan and Double-Take replication. 2) current disk queue length went up
to 16 at one point. Although those were spike but I suspect it might get
worst if enabling Double-Take and virus scan.

What's the threshold I should use for both counters: avg. disk queue length
and current disk queue length?

Thanks.

"Dave Warren" wrote:

> In message <F27107F8-5A5C-481C-A6A9-355EA026D3AA(a)microsoft.com> Chris
> <Chris(a)discussions.microsoft.com> was claimed to have wrote:
>
> >We have a Dell PE 2950 with 32 GB RAM, running w2k8 sp2. It has 5 SAS disks
> >and is set as a single RAID 5, with two volumes C and D. C: is for OS and D:
> >is for data. The server is used for flat file server but with heavy export
> >and import one in the morning and one in the afternoon for a couple hours.
> >Whenever this happens the server became very slow, almost non-responding.
> >Those export and import to set to use D:. We have set 33 GB page file on C:.
> > It improved but not much. Still have "lockup". Since the heavy load is on
> >logical volume D: I'm wondering:
>
> Are you actually paging or is the problem something else?
>
> >1. will it be helpful if I set another page file on D:? Because C: and D:
> >are on the same RAID will it make any difference?
>
> It will likely cause more of a performance impact than anything else
> since the heads will be skipping back and forth between the pagefiles as
> Windows attempts to use both of them.
> .
>
From: Andrew Morton on 15 Apr 2010 05:43
Chris wrote:
> We have a Dell PE 2950 with 32 GB RAM, running w2k8 sp2. It has 5
> SAS disks and is set as a single RAID 5, with two volumes C and D.
> C: is for OS and D: is for data. The server is used for flat file
> server but with heavy export and import one in the morning and one in
> the afternoon for a couple hours. Whenever this happens the server
> became very slow, almost non-responding. Those export and import to
> set to use D:. We have set 33 GB page file on C:. It improved but
> not much. Still have "lockup". Since the heavy load is on logical
> volume D: I'm wondering:
>
> 1. will it be helpful if I set another page file on D:? Because C:
> and D: are on the same RAID will it make any difference?
>
> 2. If it helps what size will be a good start? D: is at 2 TB.
>

If you are sure it is the paging which is slowing it down, could you add a
separate physical disk drive dedicated to the paging file?

"Optimizing Your Servers' Pagefile Performance":
http://oreilly.com/pub/a/windows/2004/04/27/pagefile.html
Notice especially the section "Keeping the Pagefile Separate."

--
Andrew


From: Chris on 16 Apr 2010 11:01
I might try. With RAID 5 with 5 disks what value will be consider high disk
I/O for following perfmon counters:

avg. disk queue length and current disk queue length

Some articles said 1.5 -2 x spindles but some said total spindles +2. Can
you advice?

Thanks.

"Andrew Morton" wrote:

> Chris wrote:
> > We have a Dell PE 2950 with 32 GB RAM, running w2k8 sp2. It has 5
> > SAS disks and is set as a single RAID 5, with two volumes C and D.
> > C: is for OS and D: is for data. The server is used for flat file
> > server but with heavy export and import one in the morning and one in
> > the afternoon for a couple hours. Whenever this happens the server
> > became very slow, almost non-responding. Those export and import to
> > set to use D:. We have set 33 GB page file on C:. It improved but
> > not much. Still have "lockup". Since the heavy load is on logical
> > volume D: I'm wondering:
> >
> > 1. will it be helpful if I set another page file on D:? Because C:
> > and D: are on the same RAID will it make any difference?
> >
> > 2. If it helps what size will be a good start? D: is at 2 TB.
> >
>
> If you are sure it is the paging which is slowing it down, could you add a
> separate physical disk drive dedicated to the paging file?
>
> "Optimizing Your Servers' Pagefile Performance":
> http://oreilly.com/pub/a/windows/2004/04/27/pagefile.html
> Notice especially the section "Keeping the Pagefile Separate."
>
> --
> Andrew
>
>
> .
>
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