We tested our Fibre Channel switches using Intel's IOMeter and running a suite of four tests. In our maximum throughput test, we looked at the maximum rate at which an HBA, coupled with a switch and a JBOD array, would run. The second test simulated database performance. The third was a maximum I/O rate test to see how many I/O operations per second each HBA could handle. And the fourth test, a Web server test, simulated the load a typical Web server puts on a storage network. The list below shows the setup of IOMeter for each test.

Web Server Test Size Multiples Click here to enlarge

• Maximum throughput test: Transfer request sizes set to 64 KB; percent read/write distribution, to 100 percent read; and percent random/sequential distribution, to 100 percent sequential.

• Database test: 2 KB random I/Os with a mix of 67 percent reads and 33 percent writes, representing a typical database workload.

• Maximum I/O rate test: Transfer request size set to 512 bytes; percent read/write distribution, to 100 percent read; and percent random/sequential distribution, to 100 percent sequential.

• Web server test: Change the transfer request size multiples as shown in "Web Server Test Size Multiples"; set the percent read/write distribution to 100 percent read and the percent random/sequential distribution to 100 percent random.