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Joe Harris, CCIE No. 6200 (R&S, Security & SP) is a Systems Engineer with Cisco Systems® specializing in Security. In addition to authoring Cisco Network Security Little Black Book, Joe has also been a technical reviewer for several Cisco Press publications and written articles, white papers, and presentations on various security technologies. He also assists various Certification Partners by beta testing their newest CCIE certification workbooks and has been recognized by Cisco as an SE Wall of Fame award winner.

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Cisco Field Notice: FN - 63112 - MCS-7816-H3 Hard Drive Write Cache Setting Can Cause High CPU on VOS-based Systems

May 1st, 2008 • Related • Filed Under

Summary:
On MCS-7816-H3 servers, with BIOS versions before Version W04 Release Date: 04/03/2008, the Hard Drive Write Cache setting did not take effect. The end result was the drive’s write cache was disabled.

Voice Operating System:
On Voice Operating System (VOS) based platforms, disabling the Hard Drive Write Cache has a negative effect on hard drive performance and can cause the CPU on the server to plateau above 90%. This causes resource starvation for other services and can lead to system outages.

Windows Operating System:
On Windows-based platforms, the Hard Drive Write Cache is enabled independently of the BIOS, therefore no performance degradation exists. This issue is not present on Windows Operating Systems.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/customer/ts/fn/631/fn63112.html
(available to registered users)

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