ISCSI performance test

Post by **TANE** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 9:57 pm

I was curious about the performance of a low end ISCSI box (QNAP 239 Pro) and have done some testing.
For the test I have created ISCSI lun and a share on the Qnap

OS: Windows XP pro
File Size 4,26gb (VMDK file)
Network speed 1 Gbit
Hardware Macmini (HD Intel X-25M SSD)

copy the file to ISCSI lun 2,05 min.
Copy the file to SMB share 1,33 min

OS: OSX 10.6
File Size 2,5 (VMDK file)
Network speed 1 Gbit
Hardware Imac

copy the file to ISCSI lun 1,10 min.
Copy the file to SMB share 1,35 min

I was a bit surprised that SMB is faster than ISCSI (Windows XP)

PRO
ISCSI lun is connected as local disk (some applications need that)

CON
Slow (QNAP 239pro)
No access from other PC's without the target machine
Need extra software for connectivity

I will do the same test on a QNAP TS-809U...and hope that ISCSI will perform better.

[img]uploaded/Chak/2009922215359_ISCSI.png[/img]

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Post by **Alexander** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:49 pm

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">PRO
ISCSI lun is connected as local disk (some applications need that)<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

That's the idea of iSCSI.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Need extra software for connectivity<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Use Windows Vista / 7, Server 2008 with its initiator build-in.

The slower response than SMB could be the bad software quality of the iSCSI target software. There is a difference. Can you install other software on this? Or the initiater software ofcourse. There is also a big difference if iSCSI packets are offloaded by the network interface card instead of the CPU (check CPU performance on both sides).

Thanks for the review, because you got my attention with the News from last days.

Alexander

Post by **TANE** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 11:18 pm

YW
At the QNAP side I can only replace the software with the next firmware update.
For the Windows I did use the Microsoft version of the software.

iSCSI Initiator on Windows
The Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator v2.07 is an official application for Windows OS 2003, XP, and 2000 to allow users to implement an external iSCSI storage array over the network. If you are using Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008, the Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator is included.

CPU with SMB 25%
CPU with ISCSI 15%

Will try to do the same test on the Imac and Windows 7.

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Post by **Alexander** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 11:31 pm

The CPU percentage is from the client or from the server?

Alexander

Post by **TANE** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 12:00 am

both sides CPU

ISCSI
Client 15%
Server 25%

SMB
Client 25%
Server 45%

ISCSI is doing better on both sides.

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Post by **TANE** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 8:55 pm

At work we have done some extra testing

QNAP TS-809U
HP DL 380 G5 2 CPU Quad 16 GB Win2008

Performance with single lan connection 1 Gb was 80mbs.
local disk was 120 mbs

Testing is done with HDspeed

Speed of ISCSI in this case is more than acceptable.

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