StarWind Software

I've added an L2 cache to a device using the method described here: https://forums.starwindsoftware.com/vie ... f=5&t=4104. I restarted Virtual SAN, but the L2 cache is not appearing on the right. Using Windows Resource monitor it doesn't look as if any activity is happening to the cache file either. Also, the 'last modified' date/time on disk isn't updating - so it looks like it's just not being recognised.

I've also tried setting up a new device with L2 cache defined during creation, and it looks like that's not working either.

Is this a problem with this version of the software (8.0.7929) or am I doing something wrong? Is there any way I can check that Virtual SAN is recognising that there should be an L2 cache defined?

I came here looking for similar answers. Are you creating a thick provisioned disk? The only way I see that it works is using thin/lsfs. I'm hoping this is just a bug that can be squashed and released quickly.

Just saw this quote from yesterday. Apparently there are issues with L2 cache but it does not say what exactly.

https://forums.starwindsoftware.com/vie ... =15#p23737

The thread I referenced (dated 20th April) says:

"We have some issues related to L2 cache in Write-Back mode, thus, meanwhile we recommend using L2 cache in Wright-Through mode only. "

As I'm doing it in write-through mode, I thought it would be OK.

Hello guys!

Unfortunately L2 cache is temporary disabled.
We are improving it,and it will be enabled again in our next build. ETA is 2 weeks.

Thank you for you understanding and patience.

Same here, when using LSFS volume, L2 cache appears disabled and when creating thick volume, it does not appear anyway.

When upgrading from build 6884, contents of a volume previously created using L2 cache have dissapeared!!!!!

Oles-- is there a firm date yet on the new release which you say will allow L2 cache on a thick image? Will this also add back deduplication support on thick images?

Hello!

Approximate time for this release to come out is 4 weeks. Dedup on thick images was always disabled, so i am not sure i understand your question.
Although, you could enable Windows deduplication for thick images.

Back in v6 we were able to do deduplication. Perhaps it was thin provisioned, but I guess my question would be will there ever be an option to do deduplication on a non-LSFS LUN? I don't think LSFS is there quite yet after the horror stories on the forums of data loss and the virtual image sizes growing uncontrollably. We experienced this ourselves where we had about 20GB free on the Windows partition. A VM left untouched overnight filled the 25GB and locked the LUN up. Right now the 2-3x extra space requirements does not make sense from the perspective of space/power/cooling/cost (i.e. if I have 2 JBOD's on each of 3 Starwind nodes, I now need 6 JBOD's to accommodate the LSFS requirements).

Oles(staff) wrote:Hello!

Approximate time for this release to come out is 4 weeks. Dedup on thick images was always disabled, so i am not sure i understand your question.
Although, you could enable Windows deduplication for thick images.

Is this 4 more weeks from today? Back on May 01, the ETA was 2 weeks, which is roughly the end of this week. Is the new ETA is 2 more weeks, or 4 more weeks from now? Just curious.

Thanks!

Branin

Are there any benefits to adding an SSD L2 cache in front of an all-SSD virtual image?

Hello Guys!

So the ETA for release has moved and our developers need 4 more weeks until this new build will be released.

Speaking about dedup on thick images, now we are not planning to add dedup on them, but may be this will be considered in future.

About L2 cache on SSD storage, no, there are no benefits in adding L2 cache for SSD storage.

Thank you for your questions, and please let me know if you have any left

Hi Oles,

Curious if the release timeline you described is still on track, I ran into this yesterday and am anxious to test performance w/ the L2 cache enabled. Thank you!!!!

Will the new version support an L2 cache on a thick (non LSFS) disk?

All of them actually do this...

jhamm@logos-data.com wrote:Will the new version support an L2 cache on a thick (non LSFS) disk?