Hyper-V: Creating a Fixed VHDX on 8x RAID 6 10K SAS Spindle Set: 130GB

Our previous blog posts on this subject:

• Hyper-V: Creating a Fixed VHDX on 8x RAID 6 SATA Spindle Set: 130GB
• Result: 158 Minutes
• Hyper-V: Creating a Fixed VHDX on SSD: 40GB Time
• Result: 5 Minutes
• 130GB Extrapolate: 19 Minutes

For today’s test we are running the following setup:

• Intel Server System R2208GZ4GC
• Dual Xeon E5-2630
• 128GB (16x 8GB) Kingston ECC
• Intel Integrated RAID RMS25CB080 with BBU
• 8x 600GB Seagate 10K SAS drives at 2.5”

The operating system is a freshly installed Windows Server 2012 Standard.

The RAID 6 array setup in the RAID controller’s BIOS is as follows:

• Logical/Virtual Disk 0: 120GB
• Logical/Virtual Disk 1: 3.1TB

We start the New Virtual Hard Disk Wizard in Hyper-V Manager and run through to create a fixed VHDX with a 130GB size.

Our test results are:

• Start time: 13:29
• End time: 13:31
• 
• Result: 2 Minutes

Yup. 2 Minutes.

As a just-in-case we ran this test again this time while watching the Performance Monitor:

• Start: 13:37
• Finish: 13:39
• Disk Queue Length:
• 
• Disk Throughput:
• 
• All three measures:
• 
• Result #2: 2 Minutes

Check out that throughput at 1GB/Second! And, Disk Queue Length hovering around 5 for the working virtual/logical disk.

This test demonstrates that a properly configured disk subsystem will perform as good or better than expected.

Now on to the SSD tests! :)

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Windows Live Writer

Hyper-V: Creating a Fixed VHDX on 8x RAID 6 SATA Spindle Set: 130GB

In our last post Hyper-V: Creating a Fixed VHDX on SSD: 40GB Time we saw that a single SSD setup was capable of creating a 40GB fixed VHDX in about 5 minutes.

We have a server setup on the bench that we were running troubleshooting steps on and some component replacements.

• Intel Server Board S5000PSLSATAR
• Dual Intel Xeon E5440 CPUs
• 16GB (8x 2GB) Kingston ECC RAM
• Intel RAID Controller SRCSASRB
• Intel SC5400LX Server Chassis with 10 hot swap bays
• 8x 500GB Seagate ES series 7200RPM SATA drives in RAID 6
• Windows Server 2012 Datacenter RTM with Hyper-V only

First off, there is no battery backup on this unit so performance is not that great. It is a stop-gap situation for our client.

We started the run at 16:55:

We started the process to let it run after we closed up shop.

The file’s final write time was at 19:33:

So, in this case with a decent RAID array configuration, though missing the battery backup for the RAID controller’s cache, we saw a 140GB fixed VHDX file created in 2.5 hours or thereabouts.

Next up, we have an Intel Server System R2208GZ4GC with eight 600GB 10K SAS spindles that will be running in RAID 6 with battery backup.

We may just run this experiment on this box twice. Once with RAID 6 and once with RAID 10 to see just how different, if there is any difference, the file creation process will be. And, again with the battery backup removed.

We also have a bunch of Intel X25-M 80GB SSDs here in the shop that we may plug into the above unit to test. Hopefully we will have the time to do all of this!

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Windows Live Writer

Hyper-V: Creating a Fixed VHDX on SSD: 40GB Time

We are running a test to see how long Hyper-V in Windows 8 (should be similar in Server 2012) takes to create a 40GB fixed VHDX.

We started the process at 12:05:

The system setup where this test is being run:

• Intel Desktop Board DH67
• Intel Core i7-2600K
• 32GB Kingston RAM
• 300GB Intel 320 Series SSD
• Single partition for the OS.

The process took about 5 minutes to complete:

The next step will be to try the experiment on a spindle based setup. The best way this is going to happen for us will be to use a USB 3 SuperSpeed dock and run the test as USB 3 will assure us we are getting the maximum throughput the 7200 RPM spindle can offer us.

Unfortunately, the Renesas USB 3 chipset on the DH67 board is not very stable in Windows 8.

So, we will run this test on a newly set up Windows 8 machine that will be based on the Intel Desktop Board DX79SR as soon as we have it available.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book

Windows Live Writer