Newest KB Articles in Root

ioDrive (Mono) Backup Firmware Image Might Load Slowly During Boot-up

Tue, 03 Aug 2010 21:42:31 GMT

ioDrive (Mono) backup firmware may load slowly during boot-up if the primary firmware image is not present or unavailable. Follow these steps to load an updated firmware image into the primary location.

Optimally Configuring the Sun Fire X2250 and Sun Fire X4600 Servers

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:03:14 GMT

Optimally Configuring the Sun Fire X2250 and Sun Fire X4600 Servers

Intro

For maximum I/O performance on these servers, please enable the PCI-E Max Payload and the Snoop Filter (SF) Bypass settings.

Setup

The following two topics are quoted from the Sun Fire X2250 Server Product Notes (http://docs.sun.com/source/820-4594-17/index.html):

PCI-E Max Payload

The Sun Fire X2250 server includes the PCI-E Max Payload setting in the BIOS setup menu.
To access this setting, select F2 during system boot to enter the system BIOS. Select Advanced > PCI Configuration.

SF Bypass

The Sun Fire X2250 server includes the SF Bypass setting in the BIOS setup menu. SF Bypass enables and disables the Snoop Filter.
To access this setting, select F2 during system boot to enter the system BIOS. Select Advanced > Memory.

Using the Linpack Benchmark to Stress Test Your System for Bad Hardware

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:00:23 GMT

Using the Linpack Benchmark to Stress Test Your Computer for Bad Hardware

Using the Linpack Benchmark to Stress Test Your Computer for Bad Hardware (CPU, RAM, ...)

Intro

Linpack is an HPC benchmark that solves a set of matrices by two different methods and then compares the output, detecting silently flaky hardware through invalid results. The longer of the two methods can be optimized to push the CPU and memory in a system very hard. These two capabilities make this an excellent hardware knockout tool.

You can roll your own, but Intel provides a nice pre-compiled binary and optimized input files at http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-math-kernel-library-linpack-download/

These instructions should apply to the Mac and Windows versions as well, though they were developed using the Linux version.

Setup

Uncompress the files and go into the linpack_X.Y.Z/benchmarks/linpack directory.
Unload any unneeded drivers and stopping all unneeded applications
In order to achieve maximum coverage you want linpack to use as much memory as possible. To calculate the run size:
- take the total memory in the system and subtract 500 MB or so for the OS (I had to take about 4 GB on my 32 GB test machine). Under Linux use "free -b" and take about an additional 1GB off the 'total' column.
- Take this value in bytes (XXXX MB * 1024 * 1024) and divide by eight, then square root. For better performance find the 16 just below the calculated value and add 8 to it. This gives you your job size:

 Using a python shell:
 >>> import math
 >>> math.floor( math.sqrt( ( XXXX MB - 500 ) * 1024 * 1024 / 8 ) / 16) * 16 + 8 = Job Size

For example

 A 32 GB machine
 $ free -b
 total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 29579198464 6443679744 23135518720 0 3863703552 1220497408
-/+ buffers/cache: 1359478784 28219719680
Swap: 2080366592 0 2080366592

 >>> import math
 >>> math.floor( math.sqrt( (29579198464 - 1024*1024*1024) / 8 ) / 16 ) * 16 + 8 = 59688

Construct a new lininput_xeon64 input file, but using the number calculated above rather than the sample number as shown:

Sample Intel(R) LINPACK data file (lininput_xeon64)
Intel(R) LINPACK data
1 # number of tests
59688 # problem sizes
59688 # leading dimensions
1 # times to run a test
4 # alignment values (in KB)

Turn off swap with

$ swapoff -a

Run ./runme_xeon64 to launch hpl, it should detect the number of sockets/cores and automatically fire up the proper number of threads.
Monitor the first run to ensure it does not consume too much memory, recalibrate the problem size and leading dimensions if needed
After the first run completes, determine the number of tests needed to hit an ~ 24 hour run, change the 'times to run a test' entry.

Running/Reporting

Run the ./runme_xeon64 test set again and allow it to churn.
Inspect the results file lin_xeon64.txt for any errors

Potential watchdog timeout in older versions of ioDrive software ( < 1.2.7 )

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:41:23 GMT

Potential watchdog timeout in older versions of ioDrive software ( < 1.2.7 )

Issue:

This problem can occur when the system is under heavy I/O load and system time is changed by a large amount, such as for Daylight Saving Time. This will cause the affected ioDrive(s) to go offline until the system is rebooted.

Workaround:

Reboot the system to reattach the ioDrive(s).

Resolution:

Upgrade the ioDrive driver software to version 1.2.7.

Best Practice:

Upgrade the ioDrive driver before Spring Daylight Saving Time.

Basic ioDrive Troubleshooting on Windows

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:44:11 GMT

Basic ioDrive Troubleshooting on Windows

ioDrive Software Will Not Install

Check to see if there is a C:\fio_package.log log file. If it exists, open the file and check near the end of the file to see if a reason for the failure is readily apparent. This type of failure is unusual and may be caused by some corruption in your Windows installation.

If the ioDrives are not appearing in Windows Disk Manager, take the following steps to review your hardware and software configuration.

ioDrive Software Is Installed, but the ioDrive Is Not Operating

Step 1

a) Start ioManager by double-clicking the ioManager program icon on the desktop (created during installation). Once ioManager is loaded, the ioDrives should be visible on the left side of the window as shown in the images below. If they are not, proceed to Step 2.
(ioManager is part of the Fusion-io ioDrive software package available at our Support web site (http://support.fusionio.com).)

b) If the ioDrive is not attached, click on its icon and then click the “Attach Device” button in order to make it available to Windows. Once the ioDrive is attached and available to Windows, it will be visible in the Windows Disk Management utility (Start, Run, “diskmgmt.msc”). If your ioDrive will not attach, reboot your computer, login, start ioManager, and retry the Attach operation. If this fails, please contact Fusion-io Support (http://support.fusionio.com).

NOTE: If your ioDrive attaches manually but does not automatically attach at boot, open the following folder in Windows explorer: C:\Program Files\Fusion-io\1.2.6\Utils. In this folder there is a file called AutoAttachEnable.reg. Double-click this file to add the registry key it contains. This will make the ioDrive attach automatically at boot time.

Figure 1: ioManager utility: Appearance of ioDrive attached and ioDrive detached.

c) If ioManager reports that the firmware of the ioDrive is out of date or incompatible, update the firmware to restore operation. There is an "Update Firmware" button in ioManager that accomplishes this task. To update multiple ioDrives in parallel,
-1. Select multiple ioDrives by holding the Shift or Ctrl keys while clicking the ioDrive icons in the left side of the ioManager window.
-2. Click the "Update Firmware" button at the top of ioManager to begin the firmware update process.
-3. Once it completes, reboot your computer.

If you are unsuccessful in restoring the operation of your ioDrive, please contact Fusion-io Customer Support right away (http://support.fusionio.com).

Step 2

a) If there are no drives visible in ioManager, open a command window (Start, Run, “cmd”). Enter “cd C:\Program Files\Fusion-io\1.2.6\Utils”. Then run “fio-status.exe”. If this utility does find any drives, then enter: “devmgmt.msc”.

Figure 2: Windows Device Manager with ioDrives installed properly

b) Right-click the desired Fusion ioDrive and select Properties. This allows the ioDrive driver version to be checked, and it verifies that the ioDrive is functioning properly. If the Fusion ioDrive is not present in the Device Manager under the category Fusion-io devices, then it may be under the System devices category. Under System devices—a more general category—the ioDrive is recognized as a “Mass storage controller”. If it is under System devices, then any previously-installed Fusion-io software needs to be uninstalled (via Add/Remove Programs), the computer rebooted, and the Fusion-io software reinstalled.

In certain situations the “Fusion ioDrive” device may be present in Device Manager but not be able to operate due to software or hardware problems. In these cases, there is often a yellow exclamation mark next to the “Fusion ioDrive” icon in Device Manager. You can right-click the ioDrive icon, select Properties, and then check the panel of the General tab to see why the device is not operating. If the ioDrive device status reports that it cannot be started (Code 10), shut down the computer and power it off. Then, move the ioDrive to another PCIe slot and boot up again. If the error is due to some other problem, it often can be corrected by uninstalling all Fusion-io software (via Add/Remove Programs), rebooting the computer, and then reinstalling the Fusion-io software package.

If you are unsuccessful in restoring the operation of your ioDrive, please contact Fusion-io Customer Support right away (http://support.fusionio.com).

Supported Operating Systems

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:06:40 GMT

Supported Operating Systems

Supported Operating Systems (2.1.X Release)

ioDrive and ioDrive Duo

Windows 64-bit

XP Pro, Vista, 7, Server 2003, Server 2003 R2, Server 2008, Server 2008 R2, Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V

Linux 64-bit

Red Hat 4/5, SUSE 10/11, Ubuntu 8.04, 8.10, 9.04, 9.10, 10.04, CentOS 4/5, OEL 5, Debian 4.0 (Etch), 5.0 (Lenny), 6.0 (Squeeze), Fedora 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, OpenSuse 10/11, Chaos 4.3

VMware ESX 4.0

Beta Releases

Solaris 10

FreeBSD 6, 7, 8

NOTE: All operating systems are x86 64bit variant; no other architectures supported.

ioXtreme and ioXtreme Pro

Windows 64-bit OS

XP Pro, Vista, 7

Linux 64-bit

Red Hat 4/5, SUSE 10/11, Ubuntu 8.04, 8.10, 9.04, 9.10, 10.04, CentOS 4/5, OEL 5, Debian 4.0 (Etch), 5.0 (Lenny), 6.0 (Squeeze), Fedora 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, OpenSuse 10/11, Chaos 4.3

NOTE: All operating systems are x86 64bit variant; no other architectures supported.

Is Hardware RAID Supported?

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:40:13 GMT

Is Hardware RAID Supported?

No. The current generation of mainstream hardware RAID products would greatly degrade the combined performance of a multi-drive Fusion-io ioDrive setup. These hardware RAID products are not capable of keeping pace with a single ioDrive, let alone multiple ioDrives.

Software RAID is a tried and tested solution that ships in many modern operating systems such as Microsoft Windows ®, Linux ®, Mac OS X ®, and Solaris ®.* Software RAID can provide management flexibility, redundancy, and high performance.

Simple RAID striping and mirroring are available in each of these operating systems. In addition, extended levels of protection such as RAID-5, RAID-6, and RAID-10 are available in many of these operating systems. There are also other approaches to create additional redundancy and high availability beyond a single node or system.

A software RAID-0 volume of multiple ioDrives can deliver multiple gigabytes per second (GB/s) of bandwidth and hundreds of thousands of IOs per second (IOPS).

Please contact a Fusion-io sales representative today to discuss your high-performance, storage solution needs.

* These trademarks are held by their respective owners.

Firmware and Driver Best Practices

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:32:28 GMT

Firmware and Driver Best Practices

When installing new ioDrives or updating ioDrives, it is best to use the latest recommended version of firmware for them. Also, it is best to use matching firmware on all ioDrives installed in the same system. Please see Driver and Firmware Versions Lineup for a list of driver versions and compatible firmware.

Understanding the Operating Temperature Range for the ioDrive

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:30:35 GMT

Understanding the Operating Temperature Range for the ioDrive

The ioDrive is designed to operate in an system where the temperature ranges from 0 degrees C to 55 degrees C, with at least 300 LFM airflow*. This ambient or environmental temperature range is provided in the ioDrive data sheets. The end user can compare the ambient temperature reading as reported by fio-status with what is listed in the data sheets. (The 1.2.6 fio-status utility reports "board temperature" in place of "ambient temperature".)

The product data sheets are available at:
http://www.fusionio.com/Products.aspx

Sample fio-status Output

$ fio-status -a
Fusion-io driver version: 1.2.5
fct0 Attached as 'fioa' (block device)
 Fusion-io ioDimm3 320GB Product Number: FS1-001-123-CS SN:1234
 ioDimm3, PN:001195011 Mfr:000 Date:20080709
 Firmware v24160
 322.46 GBytes block device size, 396 GBytes physical device size
 4096 blocks, 512 pages, 189056 bytes/page (25 pads, 2 planes, 4 banks) Samsung (ec) SLC
 Error correction: 11 bits per 240 bytes, retire above 4 bits
 FPGA ID:000 UID:0000000002cf01326845000048f00c00
 PCI: 02:00.0, Slot Number: 13 Vendor: 1aed, Device: 1003, Sub vendor:laed, Sub device:1010
 Internal temperature: avg 44.3 degC, max 50.7 degC
 Ambient temperature: 40 degC
 Internal voltage: avg 1.0V, max 1.0V; Aux voltage: avg 2.5V, max 2.5V
 Media status: Healthy. 99.78% blocks good. data:99.77% good, md:100.00% good.

* Warning: Operating the ioDrive in an environment outside of the thermal limits specified may shorten the life span of the ioDrive and void its warranty.
LFM = Linear Feet per Minute.

Why Is My ioDrive's Red Light On?

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:14:28 GMT

Why Is My ioDrive's Red Light On?

When the ioDrive is first powered on, the red LED light turns on. (It is amber on newer ioDrives.) This is normal. The red light will turn off once the ioDrive driver software loads successfully. If the driver is not set to load, or does not load properly, then the red light does not turn off. In that case, reinstallation of the Fusion-io software may be necessary. Remove any previously installed Fusion-io software packages, reboot, and then install again. See the User Guide under Support driver downloads for in-depth instructions. The description of all valid LED color combinations is found in the ioDrive User Guide for Linux or the Knowledgebase article entitled "Understanding the ioDrive External LEDs".