Replace E200i with P800 or use both?

Question

I'm managing a HP ML 350 G5 machine. It has a SAS controller(E200i) with two ports. Port 1 is attached to 4 drive bays and Port 2 also. Now we have bought a P800 Controller to improve performance. I'm not sure if i should replace E200i with P800 or use both to get the best performance.

Troublefix

Answer 1

I know that kit well but would need to know what disks you have and how you intend to use them to give a full answer.

For instance if you have 8 disks and want to use them all in one R5/R6/R10 array then I'd strongly urge you to use just the P800 as that way the array can be entirely managed in hardware. You'd have to use software RAID to link them them across two controllers.

If on the other hand you wanted two separate 4 disk arrays then by all means use both controllers, if you select the right PCIe slot for the P800 you shouldn't be bus-sharing and would see the benefit of two independent controllers.

Let us know these extra details and we can perhaps help more ok.

Answer 2

You should use one or the other, but not both. If the E200i has a battery-backed cache module, it's usable. If not, you can use the P800, but you will want to disable the E200i in the BIOS. I haven't personally found much of a real-world performance difference between the E200, P400 and P800; only flexibility and connection options.