Tips And Tricks; Optimize Data Throughput - Intel SRCU32 - RAID Controller User Manual

This procedure describes how to manually install Novell's ASPI manager module, but be aware
that you may need to follow specific instructions from the application vendor to correctly
configure ASPI.
1. With the server loaded and running, load INSTALL.NLM (Netware 4.2) or NWCONFIG.NLM
(NetWare 5.1).
2. Select "NCF Files Option" from the main menu.
3. Select "Edit Startup.ncf."
4. Add the following line at the end of the .CDM section of STARTUP.NCF:
LOAD NWASPI.CDM
5. Reboot the server.

Tips and Tricks

Optimize Data Throughput

High performance RAID controllers are designed for multi-I/O operations and are capable of
processing several I/Os simultaneously. Cache controllers with powerful on-board RISC CPUs can
handle many I/Os per second. NetWare offers the option of adjusting the number of write I/Os
which are loaded on the mass storage subsystem. To gain optimum performance and speed from
modern high performance disk controllers, the amount of the so-called maximum concurrent disk
cache writes has been increased with every further development of NetWare. Looking back to
NetWare 3.11, only 100 concurrent disk cache writes were possible. With NetWare 4.10, it can be
as much as 1000.
The number of concurrent disk cache writes delivering the best performance is highly dependent on
the performance of the installed disk controller, the amount of cache RAM on the controller and the
hard drives. The Intel RAID Controller SRCU32's can easily cope with up to 500 simultaneous
requests. The following command line enables the adjustment of a new number under NetWare
(default value = 50):
set maximum concurrent disk cache writes = xxxx
Where " " represents the required number of concurrent disk cache writes.
xxxx
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