Topic: High I/O wait

[ddougan]

I have a client running SME Server 7.4 on an Acer Altos G320 server. It has a hardware RAID array with two drives set up in a mirror. Recently, one of the processes they run from a user PC (updating a geological database from a vendor; the update distribution is about 1.1 GB) has begun to grind the server to a halt, with "top" showing "wa" up at 99% for the Samba process.

The database and associated application live in an i-bay where they are accessed by several users. When the update process is run, the server becomes unresponsive to the extent it won't issue IP addresses.

I read on another forum that later kernel updates (2.6.23) have improved issues with I/O waits. This kernel level is not available for SME Server - I'd appreciate suggestions as to how this situation can be improved.

Thanks,

Des Dougan

 

[piran]

I'd appreciate suggestions as to how this situation can be improved.

Amend the 'nice' setting for that process... if it has one?

Move the iBay stuff to a NAS box with a 100Mbps interface
ie not a 1000Mbps interface. Yes, the update takes longer
but not at an operational expense of everyone else.