Probable FOG server problem

[alexamore90]

Hi, I hope someone can help me, I’ll explain the problem:

I am part of a company that installs many PCs at the same time every day and then ships them.

In the company I have a dell r710 server with exsi 6.5 which has 3 network cards on each of which is connected to a 16 port non-management TP link switch (10/100/1000). On the exsi there are three virtual machines (FOG1 / FOG 2 / FOG3) associated with the three respective switches.
The deployment speed, even if I use like 10 PCs at a time, remains at 3GB rates
If I use just one PC it can reach 16/17GBs. And so far it’s ok.

We also have another HP dl380 g7 server which we need to dedicate other workstations for other types of orders to be processed (PC) with a single FOG1 virtual machine associated with a single 16-port switch (10/100/1000) equal to the others.

The problem is this:
I backed up the DELL server on the HP one using the ConfigBundle.tar and Putty file, to have the same settings as the Dell for the fog server,

If I put 5/6 computers the deployment speed goes to 1/2 gbs, while if I put one it can go to 16gbs.
It’s as if it couldn’t distribute the deployment speed
I’ll start by saying that I tried changing all the workstation cables and also the associated switch, I even changed disks, I put 2 Samsung SSDs in raid 1 with exsi 6.5 but nothing, it still does the same thing

COULD THERE BE SOME WRONG SETTINGS WITHIN THE FOG? HAVING CLONED TO SAY THE SAME SETTINGS AS DELL DOES IT WORK WELL?

ANOTHER QUESTION IS IT POSSIBLE TO SPEED UP MY FOG NETWORK EVEN MORE? WITHOUT CHANGING SWITCHES (THE CABLES ARE ALL CAT 7)

THANKS TO THOSE WHO CAN HELP ME

[george1421]

@alexamore90 My intuition is giving me doubt in a few things here.

First lets get our scale correct so that we can be sure we are talking about the same things.

The speed you mentioned is probably from partclone image deployment. If yes then that scale time frame is volume per minute. So when you image 10 pcs at a time you get 3GB/minute and a single pc you can get 16-17GB/m (I have doubt on this single pc speed)

Let me explain, you have a 1GbE network switch, so your link from the ESXi box to the tp switch is 1GbE. So 1 GbE == 1000 bits per second == 125MB/s == 7.5GB/min (theoretical speed) In theory its possible to get to 16GB/m but its doubtful.

The number you see in the partclone screen is a composite speed. That is the combined speed for the fog server to move a block of data from its local storage, the time it takes to transmit the data over the network, network transport time, then on the client to receive the block of data, decompress the data and write it to the target computer’s local storage media.

So since that speed in partclone is a composite score, its possible to have a partclone speed faster than the theoretical speed of a 1GbE network connection. If you have a very fast target computer and a highly compressed image.

Now with a single 1GbE network link in testing I’ve saturated that network link at 3 unicast imaging. Past 3 simultaneous unicast imaging with a saturated link performance drops off quite a bit.

On a well managed 1GbE network I would expect to see 6-6.5GB/m transfer rates. On a 10GbE core network with 1GbE access layer I would expect to see between 13 and 15 GB/m.

Almost all of the heavy load of imaging is done by the target computer. The fog server only moves data from its local storage, to the network adapter and then monitors the overall imaging process. I can run FOG on a raspberry pi server and get 5GB/m transfer rates. The size of the fog server really doesn’t have an impact on imaging speed as long as the server can get a data block from its local storage media and out the network adapter.

So how can you make FOG imaging go fast if you want/need to have multiple unicast imaging streams going?

1. Have a fast disk array with multiple spinning disks or SSD disk.
2. Have either multiple ethernet adapters configured in a LAG configuration to your network switch or run a 10GbE link between your fog server and network infrastructure.
3. Use enterprise class network switches. Those TP switch are low end switches with limited backplane speed. Even used / older enterprise (managed) switches may be faster.

If you can’t change any of the above, and you need to image multiple computers at the same time consider looking into FOG multicast imaging.

[alexamore90]

@george1421 ok, leaving aside the fact of speeding up the network, could you tell me why the HP, having the same VM fog config, doesn’t work like the DELL? it’s as if he couldn’t distribute the installments well between the PCs

[alexamore90]

@george1421 Can I ask you if I can send you some videos or photos of the situation on wathaspp?

[george1421]

@alexamore90 Let me make sure I understand the problem here.

You ave two esxi servers one is Dell and one is HP. The Dell has 3 VMs that are FOG servers 1, 2, 3. The HP has only one FOG server A (as an example).

So your problem is that on the Dell when you have multiple unicast deployments you have on average 3GB/m deployment rate, but on the HP you only get 1/2GB/m rate. Is that your problem?

If that is the problem, the first thing I don’t know is what is the differences (hardware wise) between the Dell and HP (CPU cores, RAM, network bandwidth) Also how busy is the Dell vs HP servers? Are these ESXi boxes performing any other tasks?

I doubt its the FOG server that is the root of the problem here. As a test you can export FOG1 as an OVA file and then import it onto the HP. Stop FOG1 on the Dell and then power it up on the HP. Do you see the performance differences still between the Dell and HP? If yes than the problem is with the HP and not specifically with FOG.

[alexamore90]

@george1421 If I give you access to any desk on a PC that reaches the 2 servers, would you be able to understand if there is something wrong?