sda@atexnet.UUCP (Stephen Ayers) (06/26/89)
I have a Compaq 386 Deskpro model 40 that appears to run dog slow.
I am in the process of upgrading the memory which should make a
significant difference. I am wondering what else I may be able to
improve I/O performance through hardware and software tuning.
Some more background, a couple of months ago I replaced my Compaq
40MB disk drive when it went belly-up. Of course the system was no
longer under warranty and since Compaq wanted $3600 for a replacement
80MB drive I looked elsewhere.
The solution that I came up with was to replace the disk with a
Seagate 4096 and too add a WD1006WA2 controller to drive it. I left
the Compaq controller in to drive the floppy since the WD controller
didn't seem to want anything to do with it.
Things work ok, but seem to run slow. For example a dd of the XENIX
partition (68MB) to /dev/null takes 7:22 wall time. While dd
is running the system will not respond to commands on any other
screens. Interupts seem to be the problem. Here is vmstat
output while dd is running:
procs paging system cpu
r b w si so ch cm ffr swr sww rec shf shc cpy pf in sy cs us su id
3 13 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 162 312 316 157 0 48 52
2 14 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 163 315 319 157 0 33 67
3 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 159 308 309 154 3 35 62
3 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 126 249 241 120 2 25 73
2 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 167 321 326 162 3 42 55
2 15 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 169 318 323 160 1 44 55
The interupts per second and the system time look high to me for
simply reading the disk sequentually.
When I purchased the WD controller I was told it was 1:1 interleaf
and DMA. Given the interupt level and the system startup messages
I doubt DMA is being used. Here is a copy of the system startup
messages:
SysV release 2.3.1 kid 5.34 for i80386 Serial Number: scoxxxxx
10 bits of I/O address decoding
Sun Jun 25 12:16:27
device address vector dma comment
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
%floppy 0x3F2-0x3F7 06 2 unit=0 type=96ds15
%serial 0x3F8-0x3FF 04 - unit=0 type=Standard nports=1
%serial 0x2F8-0x2FF 03 - unit=1 type=Standard nports=1
%parallel 0x3BC-0x3BE 07 - unit=1
%parallel 0x278-0x27A 05 - unit=2
%tape 0x2C0-0x2C4 05 1 type=W
%console - - - unit=cga type=4
%disk 0x1F0-0x1F7 36 - type=W0 unit=0 cyls=1024 hds=9 secs=17
rootdev 1/40, pipedev 1/40, swapdev 1/41
mem: total = 1024k, reserved = 4k, kernel = 636k, user = 384k
kernel: drivers = 4k, 4 screens = 20k, 200 i/o bufs = 200k, msg bufs = 8k
nswap = 5000, swplo = 0, Hz = 50, maximum user process size = 2884k
---------------------------------------------------------------------
You will notice %disk entry does not list anything in the DMA column.
Does anyone know if this controller can support DMA or if XENIX
will? How about a controller that will?
Any suggestions on system tuning paramaters that might also improve
system thoughput would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
--
Steve Ayers, Atex, Inc., A Kodak Company
{sun,ll-xn,kodak}!atexnet!sda
+1 617 276-7384jim@applix.UUCP (Jim Morton) (06/30/89)
In article <297@sda.atexnet.UUCP>, sda@atexnet.UUCP (Stephen Ayers) writes: > I have a Compaq 386 Deskpro model 40 that appears to run dog slow. > mem: total = 1024k, reserved = 4k, kernel = 636k, user = 384k ^^^^^ ||||| No wonder! you've only got 1 meg of memory!! The MINIMUM you want to run Xenix 2.3 with is 2 megs. > You will notice %disk entry does not list anything in the DMA column. Standard HD/FD controllers use DMA only for the floppy portion of the controller. -- Jim Morton, APPLiX Inc., Westboro, MA ...uunet!applix!jim jim@applix.com
jeff@swusrgrp.UUCP (Jeff Tye) (07/05/89)
In article <297@sda.atexnet.UUCP>, sda@atexnet.UUCP (Stephen Ayers) writes: > > Any suggestions on system tuning paramaters that might also improve > system thoughput would be greatly appreciated. 1) Put at least 4MB in your system. I know that sounds like alot and can be expensive in today's memory market but you will be glad you did. In fact if you can release the bucks, make it 8MB. 2) Buy a DPT caching disk controller. The performance difference will put religion into you. Call them at (407) 830-5522. Don't delay. Operators are standing by! :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) -- Jeff Tye ncar!noao!asuvax!hrc!swusrgrp!jeff southwest!/usr/group is the Southwest U.S. chapter of /usr/group