[Dovecot] Dovecot imaptest on RHEL4/GFS1, RHEL6/GFS2, NFS and local storage results

[Aliet Santiesteban Sifontes]

We have done some benchmarking tests using dovecot 2.0.12 to find the best
shared filesystem for hosting many users, here I share with you the results,
notice the bad perfomance of all the shared filesystems against the local
storage.
Is there any specific optimization/tunning on dovecot for use GFS2 on
rhel6??, we have configured the director to make the user mailbox persistent
in a node, we will thank's any help from you.
we are interested in using GFS2 or NFS, we believe the problem is the locks,
how can we improve this??

best regards, Aliet

The results

 rhel 4.8 x86_64/GFS1 two nodes, shared FC lun on a SAN

Totals:
   Logi List Stat Sele Fetc Fet2 Stor Dele Expu Appe Logo
   100%  50%  50% 100% 100% 100%  50% 100% 100% 100% 100%
                             30%                  5%
1- 2608 1321 1311 2608 2508 3545  547 2001 2493 2702 5282
2- 2810 1440 1430 2810 2688 3835  403 2154 2679 2925 5706
3- 2913 1457 1441 2908 2778 3913  417 2253 2773 3034 5924
4- 2814 1448 1412 2812 2695 3910  401 2186 2686 2929 5712
5- 2789 1464 1432 2787 2652 3774  427 2112 2649 2879 5676
6- 2843 1460 1444 2839 2722 3948  422 2164 2713 2957 5778

rhel6 x86_64/GFS2 two nodes, shared FC lun on a SAN(Used RDM in VMWare
vSphere for GFS2 lun)
Tunned cluster suite cluster.conf +    <dlm plock_ownership="1"
plock_rate_limit="0"/>
            <gfs_controld plock_rate_limit="0"/>

Totals:
   Logi List Stat Sele Fetc Fet2 Stor Dele Expu Appe Logo
   100%  50%  50% 100% 100% 100%  50% 100% 100% 100% 100%
                             30%                  5%
1- 2730 1340 1356 2704 2644 3748  522 2125 2643 2662 5422
2- 3309 1618 1659 3294 3223 4658  531 2563 3221 3239 6596
3- 2131 1046 1017 2055 2025 2911  381 1608 2024 2052 4256
4- 2176 1055 1039 2082 2058 2947  377 1671 2058 2078 4344
5- 1859  928  931 1859 1800 2626  304 1454 1799 1801 3706
6- 2672 1322 1329 2672 2607 3758  464 2097 2606 2615 5326


rhel6 x86_64/GFS2 two nodes, shared FC lun on a SAN(Used RDM in VMWare
vSphere for GFS2 lun)
Cluster suite defaults configs for plocks

Totals:
   Logi List Stat Sele Fetc Fet2 Stor Dele Expu Appe Logo
   100%  50%  50% 100% 100% 100%  50% 100% 100% 100% 100%
                             30%                  5%
1- 1417  644  676 1325 1305 1872  308 1048 1302 1318 2824
2-  837  378  392  742  726 1050  117  588  722  734 1658
3-  803  363  347  752  745 1069  153  597  744  750 1658
4- 1682  802  811 1587 1569 2261  291 1299 1569 1585 3360
5- 1146  583  564 1146 1037 1500  213  811 1037 1049 2290
6-  838  403  366  744  734 1057  152  561  731  736 1664

rhel6 x86_64 two nodes used NFS(NAS Freenas 0.8, nfsvers 3)

Totals:
   Logi List Stat Sele Fetc Fet2 Stor Dele Expu Appe Logo
   100%  50%  50% 100% 100% 100%  50% 100% 100% 100% 100%
                             30%                  5%
1- 1382  699  691 1357 1063 1500  224  861 1053 1313 2694
2- 1634  785  799 1610 1459 2120  311 1192 1451 1570 3204
2- 1635  826  806 1611 1463 2088  345 1159 1459 1568 3190
3- 1574  758  781 1537 1403 2060  324 1135 1396 1504 3090
4- 1685  842  807 1653 1506 2135  349 1215 1504 1634 3344
5- 1766  850  893 1737 1582 2289  335 1288 1579 1705 3480
6- 1597  797  769 1572 1423 2007  313 1133 1420 1536 3142

rhel6 x86_64 local storage

Totals:
   Logi List Stat Sele Fetc Fet2 Stor Dele Expu Appe Logo
   100%  50%  50% 100% 100% 100%  50% 100% 100% 100% 100%
                             30%                  5%
1- 7798 3868 3889 7706 7566 10713 1080 6089 7559 7688 15562
2- 7806 3879 3874 7716 7585 10873 1114 6018 7578 7696 15572
3- 7866 3910 3855 7773 7748 11053 1076 6253 7747 7761 15710
4- 7893 3978 3931 7802 7772 10988 1117 6197 7767 7789 15760
5- 7775 3853 3809 7683 7654 10897 1081 6142 7651 7675 15534
6- 7877 3919 3872 7789 7758 10986 1085 6218 7755 7773 15720