StarWind global disk cache

Software-based VM-centric and flash-friendly VM storage + free version

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yzhyzh
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Joined: Sun Jul 22, 2012 7:32 pm

Sun Jul 22, 2012 7:50 pm

I am wondering if there is anyway to set global file cache for iscsi disk images. In our situation, disk load is not evenly distributed, for example, morning time disk1 has most traffic, afternoon disk2 has more traffic while disk1 is not that busy, night time is disk3.

I assume once a write-back cache is assgined to a disk, the memory allocated by this cache can't be re-used by another disk's cache. It is kind of waste while not all iscsi disks are busy. I am wondering if there is anyway to have global cache, for example, I assign 24GB RAM as global cache for all disks.

Another possibility I think about is to use Window's built-in file cache. Does StartWind use unbuffered I/O for its all disk image files? Is there anyway to let StarWind use buffered I/O to access these image files?

Thank you.
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anton (staff)
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Sun Jul 22, 2012 9:10 pm

We're working on a dedicated Cache Manager and one of it's features would be tunable cache quota size. Please stay tuned. V6 is coming.
Regards,
Anton Kolomyeytsev

Chief Technology Officer & Chief Architect, StarWind Software

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jsmithv
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Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2012 3:56 pm

Mon Oct 15, 2012 3:57 pm

Any word on this as yet? I've been evaluating starwind and find that I am unsure exactly how much cache to allocate to a disk knowing i can't change it later on. A global setting would be perfect. Thanks,
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anton (staff)
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Mon Oct 15, 2012 8:24 pm

Coming with the next big update we're expected to release closer to the end of this year.
jsmithv wrote:Any word on this as yet? I've been evaluating starwind and find that I am unsure exactly how much cache to allocate to a disk knowing i can't change it later on. A global setting would be perfect. Thanks,
Regards,
Anton Kolomyeytsev

Chief Technology Officer & Chief Architect, StarWind Software

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jsmithv
Posts: 11
Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2012 3:56 pm

Tue Oct 16, 2012 3:44 pm

Thanks for the reply. Your activity on these forums definitely makes this an attractive product. Thanks,
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anton (staff)
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Wed Oct 17, 2012 7:56 am

Doing our best to keep you guys happy :)
jsmithv wrote:Thanks for the reply. Your activity on these forums definitely makes this an attractive product. Thanks,
Regards,
Anton Kolomyeytsev

Chief Technology Officer & Chief Architect, StarWind Software

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