Other processes / High CPU Utilization

When performance is low, one possible reason is that the system is busy with other processes. One way to check this is to observe the CPU utilization. This is best viewed from the activity monitor screen in the telnet interface. The CPU utilization can be found in the lower right corner, listed as a percentage.

The rest of the activity monitor screen may also be helpful, as it may give an indication of the source of the demand on resources. The display is arranged in four columns. The left most column lists each volume, and for each volume, the current disk space in use as a percentage of the volume and I/O requests. Note that a volume utilization of over 75% can cause a significant slowdown. The second column shows the load on each resource, such as CPU, memory or network adapters. These numbers do not correspond to any defined performance parameters, so they are only useful for relative comparison to another point in time. The third and fourth columns list clients currently connected to the StorEdge, and how many network I/O requests are coming from each.

Having determined that the slow server response corresponds with high CPU utilization, the next step is to collect system diagnostic while the CPU utilization is high (usually 90% or higher). The diagnostics provide a per-process breakdown of CPU and memory utilization, along with all associated log messages and configuration.

It is also possible to acquire this per-process utilization breakdown at the CLI with the “status” command. This can be useful when the CPU utilization spikes are very brief in duration, rendering them difficult to capture via a diagnostic. In this case, you would log the telnet or terminal session, and run the status command several times in succession while a performance problem is occurring. System diagnostics should also be captured to supplement this information.

Command Line performance utilities

StorEdge provides several built-in utilities designed to measure performance. These are best used to isolate a problem. For example, using aratewrite to write directly to the RAID set may help to determine whether a write performance problem is on a particular volume, or even the network.

Usage for these utilities is as follows:

■ratewrite: write contents of a file, report performance. The file creation does not use network connection. This can determine if issue is disk or network related.

usage: ratewrite FILENAME [+OFFSET] TOTALKB [BLOCKSIZE]

example:

support > ratewrite /vol1/testfile 1000000 4096 1024000000 bytes (976.5M) in 36.844 seconds 26.50MB/sec

1-18Sun StorEdge 5310 NAS Troubleshooting Guide • December 2004

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Sun Microsystems 5310 NAS manual Other processes / High CPU Utilization, Command Line performance utilities
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5310 NAS specifications

Sun Microsystems, known for its innovative computing solutions, launched the Sun 5310 Network Attached Storage (NAS) system, which marked a significant advancement in the realm of storage solutions in the early 2000s. The 5310 NAS was designed to provide high-performance, reliable, and scalable storage tailored for enterprise environments.

One of the standout features of the Sun 5310 NAS is its file-serving capabilities, which support multiple protocols, notably NFS (Network File System) and CIFS (Common Internet File System). This dual-protocol support allowed organizations to seamlessly integrate the NAS into diverse IT ecosystems, facilitating interoperability between UNIX, Linux, and Windows systems. The enhanced file-sharing capabilities made it an ideal solution for businesses with mixed operating environments.

The Sun 5310 NAS incorporates cutting-edge technologies to ensure high availability and data integrity. The system utilized a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) technology, providing various RAID levels to protect against data loss while optimizing performance. Additionally, the device featured hot-swappable drives, enabling maintenance and upgrades with minimal downtime, a crucial factor for business continuity.

Equipped with advanced management software, the Sun 5310 NAS offered users an intuitive interface for monitoring storage health and performance. This software included comprehensive reporting functionalities that allowed IT administrators to oversee usage patterns and capacity planning efficiently.

Scalability was another defining characteristic of the Sun 5310 NAS. The system could easily expand with additional storage modules, accommodating the growing needs of an organization without the necessity for complete system overhauls. This flexibility ensured that businesses could adapt their storage solutions to meet evolving data storage needs without incurring significant costs or disruptions.

In terms of performance, the Sun 5310 NAS featured high I/O throughput achieved through its robust hardware architecture and optimized file serving capabilities. This performance baseline was crucial for organizations that relied on heavy data workloads and required rapid access to information.

In summary, the Sun 5310 NAS from Sun Microsystems embodied a forward-thinking approach to network storage, blending reliability, scalability, and multi-protocol support. Its user-friendly management software, combined with the robustness of RAID technology and hot-swappable drives, made it a preferred choice for enterprises looking to streamline their storage infrastructure while safeguarding critical data.
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