Which provides best Application/Equallogic Performability ? Intel || Broadcom || qlogic NIC/TOE/HBA

Hello,

I don't know about you but determining if/when an equallogic solution is capable of meet its service level agreements in a large scale mission critical environment has been frightning.... I am so used to not having to worry about storage ... it used to be a black box that as a Production QoS engineer I could count on it always being there for me .... I certaintly never worried about getting an alarm  at 2:00 in the morning saying the storage is down.... come to think of it i don't think we had any specific bmc patrol alarms for storage... well enough back story.....

My current problem/conflict is select the best 1g and 10g NIC for my farm of R610s....  

Intel I/OAT QuickPath QuickData .. oh my goodness my head is going to explode with the option matrix ... looks great ... I got a good refs :

http://blog.serverfault.com/2011/03/23/performance-tuning-intel-nics/ 

http://www.principledtechnologies.com/clients/reports/.../1GbiSCSI0509.pdf

- oh but wait don't forget your Intel® QuickData Technology Device Drivers

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/detail_desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=12193

- before you do that you need your prowinxx.exe

http://www.intel.com/support/network/sb/cs-006120.htm

- ut oh.. it is not just me

http://itatmurray.blogspot.com/2008/04/windows-2008-server-equallogic-mpio.html

Surely Intel can save the day... oh wait Dell and Intel need to talk to each other:

Another split brain hangover :http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/23/dells-trouble-kicking-the-intel-habit/

Wait for it ..wait for it ... negative ghostrider

http://communities.intel.com/thread/13683

http://communities.intel.com/message/116311

Ok this is it ... i found the holy grail ..wow this is really well written:

http://download.intel.com/support/network/sb/intelioatandwindowsserver2008whitepaper.pdf

If you can decode the following sentence ... I bet you wrote http://www.ryanheise.com/cube/ (pretty cool)

If Windows Server 2008 detects a NIC with both DMA
and TCP offload capability, TCP Chimney Offload will be
preferentially used and NetDMA will not be used. Since
NetDMA is essential for using Intel QuickData Technology,
that capability becomes unavailable in a TCP offload
environment. However, RSS can still be used across all
TCP connections, including those that are offloaded
through TCP Chimney Offload.

and don't forget about all the registry settings you can 'tweak'

I highly recommended : http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php to keep from going on ridicoulousness

Don't be dismayed there is a whole site :

http://intelethernet-dell.com/ 

that will help you find oz....

At least they could have an email of someone ... I can 't find it ... wait...wait...

I feel like I just found the code that unlocks goat on Lego Pirates of Carribean... (for my son )

NOTE: I/OAT is disabled by default in the BIOS setup menu. To enable I/OAT in the BIOS,

1. Enter the BIOS setup menu.
2. Go to "Integrated Devices".
3. Select "I/OAT DMA Engine" and enable it.

NOTE: Intel® I/OAT version 3 is not supported on Dell R710, T610 and R610 platforms with Windows.

You got to #XX kidding me ... You mean I just bought 50 servers with intel NICs ....

Broadcom here I come ... All I wanted is Simple, Reliable Performance for iSCSI Connectivity

http://download.intel.com/support/network/sb/inteliscsiwp.pdf

What a waste of time ... who cares about performance after reading this:

http://web.archive.org/web/20100412190315/http://www.tuxyturvy.com/blog/index.php?/archives/69-Equallogic-Eats-Our-Data.html

I am sure glad all this hassle is going to the cloud.... please don't loose my data..please don't loose my data ...please don't loose my data....

I am not sure which side anybody's on except their own.

"Just making sure what side your on"

Maj. Gen. Stanisław Sosabowski getting the orders that his dropzone is 'just under 8 miles ' from arnhem....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RqJGoFljIA&feature=related

iSCSI - I Surely Can't Stand Intel ...broadcom here I com...

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/detail_desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=12193

http://download.microsoft.com/.../8/E/D/.../HSN_Deployment_Guide.doc

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/network/dd277646

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb649502%28v=sql.90%29.aspx

http://blog.serverfault.com/2011/01/24/what-to-do-about-storage/

cool microbenchmark study

http://nowlab.cse.ohio-state.edu/publications/conf-papers/2007/vaidyana-ispass07.pdf