I've recently had the misfortune to spend a large amount of my time suffering at the hand of a DL380 G5 server. This server is being used for file and print and seemed to be ok at first, at least until people started using it!

The problems reported were as follows:


* Sever slow when reading and writing files.
* Server hanging/freezing when writing files.
* Server hang causing all desktops to freeze for periods of around 30 seconds.

Hardware checks showed no issues and even Microsoft seemed to be stumped. They spent a long time looking into the problems, changing settings, analysing server dumps etc.

In the end, I discovered the cause of the problems completely by chance. The server had a P400 raid controller with 256mb cache serving the disks. However, it did not have the battery backup unit connected to it. Apparently, without this battery backup, the cache is redundant.



A battery was purchased and plugged into the P400 and immediately the problems disappeared. No more hanging or freezing!

My conclusion on all of this:

* The P400 hardware is junk on it's own.
* A battery backup is essential when using this card.

If you've been experiencing the same issues, either buy the battery from hp or your usual supplier (don't forget the cable too) or you could buy the entire upgrade pack which includes the battery, 512mb cache and the cable to connect it all up with.

You can find the entire upgrade kit here: P400 512mb BBWC Upgrade Kit