From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Kasper Sandberg Subject: Re: Intel Updates SSDs, Supports TRIM, Faster Writes Date: Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:40:31 +0100 Message-ID: <1257878431.22155.163.camel@localhost> References: <4AF7066C.1040507@tmr.com> <70ed7c3e0911081713m7184356buadd6b102fe4755e8@mail.gmail.com> <70ed7c3e0911090842i167175a0q44fc5ad50a2f1759@mail.gmail.com> <1257846132.22155.155.camel@localhost> <70ed7c3e0911100743y55a1eef5p5705cd9cd1f1aa51@mail.gmail.com> <70ed7c3e0911100801j2880965p7a5d6e03c74248dd@mail.gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: In-Reply-To: Sender: linux-raid-owner@vger.kernel.org To: Chris Worley Cc: "Majed B." , Linux RAID List-Id: linux-raid.ids On Tue, 2009-11-10 at 09:18 -0700, Chris Worley wrote: > On Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 9:01 AM, Majed B. wrote: > > Which disks can provide 2ms response with a read of 250 MB/s and write > > of 170 MB/s other than SSDs?! > > The drives I use average <50usecs latency at 4KB packets (properly > measured as the complete turn-around time of a single outstanding > I/O), 800MB/s reads and >600MB/s writes at 128KB blocks. > > > > > Are you saying that it doesn't matter whether we use Linux or Windows > > with SSDs because the limitation is coming from the disk's controller > > itself? > > To some degree, yes, when using SSD's behind a controller, the > controller is the biggest performance issue, and given they use > chicklets for processors, they all hamper performance given the speed > potential of the underlying storage. > > As none of the enterprise distros are handling TRIM yet, W7 can claim > it was first, and putting together a TRIM-capable kernel is manual Except it wasnt, it may be earlier than the enterprise distros, but thats not first. > currently in Linux, and given only ext4 supports it (strangely, FAT > supported it, then the code was pulled... XFS may support it, but I > believe that's still in the works), you have the additional problem > that ext4 has some maturity issues. Porting "discard" to ext2/3 would > not be too difficult, especially w/o journal considerations. And given W7 supports it, it is going to have the same issues which linux faces, i dont know what solution microsoft has chosen, but that doesnt mean linux shouldnt choose the best one.. > > Chris > > > > On Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 6:58 PM, Chris Worley wrote: > >> On Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 8:43 AM, Majed B. wrote: > >>> Does that mean we won't be able to squeeze the juice out of Intel's > >>> Extreme SSDs on Linux? > >> > >> The limitation is in the design. You'll be able to get as much > >> performance as they can offer, given the bad design (of putting SSS > >> behind legacy controllers). > >> > >>> > >>> What about those of us who use OpenFiler and build their own storage > >>> solutions? We won't be able to provide solutions based on these SSDs > >>> because the kernel support is crap? > >> > >> It's sub-optimal, written to make the best of a bad design, limiting > >> performance of good designs, but not crap. > >> > >>> > >>> I may have clients wanting to mix between SAS/SATA & SSD to load their > >>> main database on the SSDs, but now it seems pointless since the > >>> performance isn't gonna be that great :/ > >> > >> You can still get much greater performance from SSS designed > >> correctly. Just don't do SSD's. > >> > >> Chris > >>> > >>> On Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 6:39 PM, Chris Worley wrote: > >>>> On Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 2:42 AM, Kasper Sandberg wrote: > >>>>> On Mon, 2009-11-09 at 09:59 -0700, Chris Worley wrote: > >>>>>> On Mon, Nov 9, 2009 at 9:42 AM, Majed B. wrote: > >>>>>> > Well, SATA uses SCSI emulation so I guess that's no problem, right? > >>>>>> > >>>>>> The only problem is SSD's put Solid State Storage (SSS) behind > >>>>>> SATA/SAS controllers... while compatible w/ old disk technology, it > >>>>>> severely limits performance (i.e. none of these SSD drives do even > >>>>>> 300MB/s... while SSS drives do 800MB/s). While the initial 2.6.27 > >>>>> No, around 280MB/s... and obviously they dont do more, because of the > >>>>> simple limitation of the sata controllers.. this also means they dont > >>>>> need to do as many channels as other devices.. > >>>> > >>>> I'm not sure if you're agreeing or disagreeing here... > >>>> 280MB/s<300MB/s, due to the "compatibility" based design of SSD's, > >>>> while SSS, w/o a legacy controller, can do 800MB/s out of a single > >>>> drive. > >>>> > >>>>>> drivers and ext4 "discard" worked very well with forward-thinking SSS > >>>>>> not encumbered by old controller technology... but, SSD's were not > >>>>>> able to handle it well: > >>>>>> > >>>>>> http://lwn.net/Articles/347511/ > >>>>>> > >>>>>> So it looks like "design by committee" Linux is well behind Windows 7, > >>>>> And how exactly does windows 7 handle this so much better? > >>>> > >>>> TRIM is in W7; NTFS support. No Linux distro does. And by the time > >>>> "design by committee" gets through with it,we shouldn't have bothered. > >>>> > >>>>>> while Linux contemplates slowing new technology down to optimize for > >>>>>> ill-designed SSD's. > >>>>> It does? > >>>> > >>>> Those that speak loudest in the kernel development (and contribute the > >>>> most) work for companies like Intel that promote the slower, > >>>> controller-based, SSD's. > >>>> > >>>> Chris > >>>>>> > >>>>>> Be glad "thumb drives" didn't try to be floppy-drive-compatible!!! > >>>>>> > >>>>>> Chris > >>>>>> > > >>>>>> > On Mon, Nov 9, 2009 at 7:37 PM, Chris Worley wrote: > >>>>>> >> On Sun, Nov 8, 2009 at 6:13 PM, Majed B. wrote: > >>>>>> >>> The firmware which introduced the TRIM command was deemed buggy and > >>>>>> >>> has been pulled out. > >>>>>> >>> > >>>>>> >>> Are there any filesystems that are TRIM-aware? > >>>>>> >> > >>>>>> >> Ext4 (at that level in the kernel, it's referred to as "discard", it's > >>>>>> >> not TRIM until it's issued as a SCSI command). > >>>>>> >> > >>>>>> >> Chris > >>>>>> >>> > >>>>>> >>> On Sun, Nov 8, 2009 at 8:57 PM, Bill Davidsen wrote: > >>>>>> >>>> For those of us playing with use of SSD for journals on ext[34], this does > >>>>>> >>>> have implications for RAID performance. > >>>>>> >>>> > >>>>>> >>>> http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/10/27/1427209/Intel-Updates-SSDs-Supports-TRIM-Faster-Writes > >>>>>> >>>> > >>>>>> >>>> -- > >>>>>> >>>> Bill Davidsen > >>>>>> >>>> Unintended results are the well-earned reward for incompetence. > >>>>>> >>>> > >>>>>> >>>> > >>>>>> >>>> -- > >>>>>> >>>> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-raid" in > >>>>>> >>>> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org > >>>>>> >>>> More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html > >>>>>> >>>> > >>>>>> >>> > >>>>>> >>> > >>>>>> >>> > >>>>>> >>> -- > >>>>>> >>> Majed B. > >>>>>> >>> -- > >>>>>> >>> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-raid" in > >>>>>> >>> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org > >>>>>> >>> More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html > >>>>>> >>> > >>>>>> >> > >>>>>> > > >>>>>> > > >>>>>> > > >>>>>> > -- > >>>>>> > Majed B. > >>>>>> > > >>>>>> -- > >>>>>> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-raid" in > >>>>>> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org > >>>>>> More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> -- > >>> Majed B. > >>> -- > >>> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-raid" in > >>> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org > >>> More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html > >>> > >> > > > > > > > > -- > > Majed B. > > > -- > To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-raid" in > the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org > More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html