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September 18, 2008 09:40 PM

Categories: Hard Drives/Storage

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DickDay

  Member
Joined: 09/07/2008

I installed the PP1 yesterday and the upgrade went fine.  Unfortunately, now the server seems to be doing a Storage Balancing every hour.  In the past few hours, it did one at 6:28, 7:20, 8:29 and now it just finised at 9:35.

I only have one 500GB drive in the HP 470 and only have 12GB of data on it.  Prior to PP1, I rarely ever saw it run this utility.  Now that it's safe to add my 2nd drive and turn folder duplication on, will the frequency and duration of Storage Balancing increase?  Will cranking up the RAM to 2GB fix this?

Up until now, the latency on this server was not noticable.  Now, when Storage Balancing is running, it's almost not usable.

Thanks,

DickDay

Discussion:    Add a Comment | Comments 1-15 of 15 | Latest Comment

Andy B Avatar
Member
September 18, 2008 10:27 PM

Mine also does the Storage Balancing every hour and I've upgraded mine to 2GB RAM and have multiple HD's. The extra RAM does make a hugh difference in performance though, so it's not really that bad while its going on (although there is still a noticeable difference)

MitchSchaft Avatar
  Moderator
September 19, 2008 12:03 AM

Remote in to WHS and see what levels your CPU and memory is at with the task manager real quick.

Generic Member Avatar
Member
September 19, 2008 10:50 AM

Before PP1 balancing would run all day on my machine. Now it does so in intervals.

JohnBick Avatar
  Member
September 19, 2008 11:10 AM

I, too, used to see balancing running "all day" -- then I upgraded the RAM and, later the CPU. Never saw that behavior again!

As for the "hourly" -- that is normal, but the message may be a little misleading as it seems to occur even when there is no actual "balancing" as defined in the MS WHS White Paper on the subject. (I tend to think of it as indication that it performed "housekeeping" rather that interpreting it literally.

You should be fine adding a second drive (and more). Remember that when you do there will be a LOT of time spend migrating your data. And if you turn duplication on, more time will be spend setting it up. If you are contemplating upgrading to 2 GB (and even a CPU upgrade) I would recommend that you do it before adding the new drive!

...JohnBick

EX475 + 3 1TB WD (2.5TB "pool", 1.5TB backup), 2 GB mmry, LE-1640, APC UPS
PC1: Vista/32 Ultimate SP1, 2x150 GB Raptor RAID-1 Sys (C) & 4x320GB RAID-5 Data (D)
PC2: Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
Linksys WRT54G v1.1, 2xNetGear GS105

DickDay Avatar
  Member
September 19, 2008 7:53 PM updated: September 19, 2008 7:55 PM

JohnBick said: I, too, used to see balancing running "all day" -- then I upgraded the RAM and, later the CPU. Never saw that behavior again! As for the "hourly" -- that is normal, but the message may be a little misleading as it seems to occur even when there is no actual "balancing" as defined in the MS WHS White Paper on the subject. (I tend to think of it as indication that it performed "housekeeping" rather that interpreting it literally. You should be fine adding a second drive (and more). Remember that when you do there will be a LOT of time spend migrating your data. And if you turn duplication on, more time will be spend setting it up. If you are contemplating upgrading to 2 GB (and even a CPU upgrade) I would recommend that you do it before adding the new drive!

Thank you all for the great suggestions.  I doubt if I would attempt a CPU upgrade, but I would like to bump the RAM to 2GB. is there a site that shows the steps involved in swapping the memory out?  Also, is there a specific memory (brand/model) that is known to work in the HP?

Again, thanks!

DickDay

MitchSchaft Avatar
  Moderator
September 19, 2008 9:05 PM

Here is all you need:
http://www.homeserverhacks.com/2007/12/upgrade-memory-in-your-hp-ex470.html

JohnBick Avatar
  Member
September 19, 2008 9:42 PM

By the time you take it apart to do the RAM you have pretty much done the work to get at the CPU.

...JohnBick

EX475 + 3 1TB WD (2.5TB "pool", 1.5TB backup), 2 GB mmry, LE-1640, APC UPS
PC1: Vista/32 Ultimate SP1, 2x150 GB Raptor RAID-1 Sys (C) & 4x320GB RAID-5 Data (D)
PC2: Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
Linksys WRT54G v1.1, 2xNetGear GS105

Andy B Avatar
Member
September 19, 2008 10:18 PM

I followed the link provided above by MitchSchaft as well. Its well written and diagramed.

What I would add, is first purchased the G.Skill memory that was recommended. However, once installed my server was crashing and rebooting periodically. I re-checked, reseated to no avail. I returned the server to the original chip and the issue stopped. I did more research and went with the below instead:

Crucial 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory Model CT25664AA667 - Purchased both from newegg.com

Its been running fine with the crucial ever since. I can't say for sure if the G.Skill was incompatible or perhaps was bad in some way, but figured I would share my experience with the memory upgrade.

DickDay Avatar
  Member
September 22, 2008 8:20 PM

Before I ran to my local computer store to grab a 2GB memory module, I decided to call HP and see what they had to say. I was told there is no way this server should ever perform Storage Balancing since I only have the one 500-GB drive and all folders have duplication turned off.
They had me delete all of my backups which made no difference, it still is running Storage Balancing every hour.

Any ideas? HP is stumped.

JohnBick Avatar
  Member
September 23, 2008 8:30 AM updated: September 23, 2008 8:31 AM

You cannot really equate the annotation at the bottom of the page indicating that storage has been balanced (or is being balanced) with the actual balancing operation as defined in the MS white paper describing the Drive Extender technology. The message really indicates that "housekeeping" (my word, intended to be non-specific) took place or is taking place. It can be as simple as running a routine to determine that nothing had to be done.

Support is correct that a single-drive system does not actually balance, but the messages are more generic. (I have not seen any official statement as to what various "happenings" can cause the actual message.) My system shows balancing taking place every hour even when there has been no activity on the shares and when "balancing" in the strict sense is not taking place.

The message is a bit generic and misleading. Don't read too much into it.

PS: The memory will very likely be a lot more expensive at a local store than through NewEgg.

...JohnBick

EX475 + 3 1TB WD (2.5TB "pool", 1.5TB backup), 2 GB mmry, LE-1640, APC UPS
PC1: Vista/32 Ultimate SP1, 2x150 GB Raptor RAID-1 Sys (C) & 4x320GB RAID-5 Data (D)
PC2: Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
Linksys WRT54G v1.1, 2xNetGear GS105

DickDay Avatar
  Member
September 23, 2008 8:41 AM

Thanks. I should have questioned just how much experience the tech had when I had to explain what "latency" means.

Ok, so PP1 does a lot more housekeeping that the original version. And, the concensus is that adding more ram will probably bring the performance back to a usable level.

According to Cindy Wilson, HP will make an announcement next Tuesday concerning MSS memory. I'll probably wait to see what that is all about.

Yes, I know I can buy things cheaper on the net, but I like having a local source of support in case I have problems. Buying locally just may help them be around a while longer :)

Again, thanks for the help.

JohnBick Avatar
  Member
September 23, 2008 3:18 PM

I'm NOT convinced that PP1 does more than pre-PP1 WHS, but it may be more obvious about doing it and it may take a few more cycles! (So maybe that is semantics...)

Where does Cindy refer to an upcoming announcement about MSS memory? I do see the newsletter is coming out next week, but I find no references to memory announcements. And if they do make a change it is more likely to be to the new shipments rather than to the ones we already own!

I' too, generally buy "local", but when the price differential hits 4:1 I rethink that policy! Even more so when they tell me they need to order it and I should stop by a week from Thursday. With NewEgg I have it in three days max, sometimes overnight.

...JohnBick

EX475 + 3 1TB WD (2.5TB "pool", 1.5TB backup), 2 GB mmry, LE-1640, APC UPS
PC1: Vista/32 Ultimate SP1, 2x150 GB Raptor RAID-1 Sys (C) & 4x320GB RAID-5 Data (D)
PC2: Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
Linksys WRT54G v1.1, 2xNetGear GS105

DickDay Avatar
  Member
September 23, 2008 6:36 PM

Thanks John,

In one of the posts on this site, the thread dealt primarily with upgrades on HP MMS's, both memory and CPU (http://www.mediasmarthome.com/blog/entry/10598/HP-Investigating-RAM-Upgrade-Options/) Cindy made reference to the fact that we (I assume she meant existing HP owners) would be happy with some upcoming HP announcements, but also cautioned against upgrading the CPU.

 Maybe I read more into it than I should have :)

I guess I am fortunate to have some really good local PC shops who realize the days of high  margins are a thing of the past.  I know what things usually cost on the net, and see that my local shops apply a modest markup and then supply support if I run into a snag, which with me, occurs quite often.

Again, thanks for the advice.

DickDay Avatar
  Member
September 25, 2008 9:18 AM

I now see where the HP announcement has been moved up to today instead of next Tuesday.

Hopefully they will address the memory issue for existing owners.

JohnBick Avatar
  Member
September 25, 2008 10:53 AM

DickDay said: I now see where the HP announcement has been moved up to today instead of next Tuesday. Hopefully they will address the memory issue for existing owners.

They did! Check it out:

http://www.mediasmarthome.com/blog/entry/10779/HP-Announces-Policy-Change-Reg...

...JohnBick

EX475 + 3 1TB WD (2.5TB "pool", 1.5TB backup), 2 GB mmry, LE-1640, APC UPS
PC1: Vista/32 Ultimate SP1, 2x150 GB Raptor RAID-1 Sys (C) & 4x320GB RAID-5 Data (D)
PC2: Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
Linksys WRT54G v1.1, 2xNetGear GS105

Discussion:    Add a Comment | Back to Top | Comments 1-15 of 15 | Latest Comment

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