Windows Server 2016 install slow

[TRITInfrastructure]

Hey guys,

Got a new UCS system setup in two separate DCs, however the Windows Server 2016 installation is taking in excess of 2 hours to complete on a blade, it seems all parts of the install are going slow (copying files, getting ready for install ect).

So far we've tested the following and nothing seems to have made an improvement:

Used a standard Windows 2016 ISO

Used a slipstreamed ISO that includes the relevant UCS drivers

Tried with legacy and UEFI boot policies

Instigated install from a server that resides in the same VLAN and only has access to said VLAN

Has anyone else had any of the same issues? I've hunted around and can't seem to see any posts. I'm open to all suggestions!

Thanks,

Tobias

[Wes Austin]

Are you booting locally or remote?

If booting to SAN, try booting/installing on only a single path (A or B) to isolate any storage path issues.

Have you tried a different ISO? Windows 2012? Same issue?

Does this happen on all blades?

[TRITInfrastructure]

Hi Wes,

Thanks for the quick response, we're booting locally and there's no SAN involved.

Will test with a 2012 ISO and let you know how we get on, however we need to have all blades on Windows 2016 before we can go into production.

This does seem to be happening across all blades in both data centers, is there possibly any policies that we may have overlooked?

Thanks,

Tobias

[Wes Austin]

What server model? Blade/rack?

Are you using default BIOS policy?

What type of drives? HDD/SSD ? 4K?

Are you using MRAID12G?

Using Java KVM or HTML5 KVM to install?

I would attempt to install a different Windows version or even try Linux or ESXi and see if you have the same behavior. If you are pulling from the same network location, you can rule that out and if you only see the issue on Windows 2016 vs Windows 2012, there may something new with Windows 2016

[TRITInfrastructure]

Hi Wes,

Please see replies below:

What server model? Blade/rack?

These are all blade servers, B200M4 to be exact, we have 3 different types with varying RAM levels and CPU models, all experiencing slow install times.

Are you using default BIOS policy?

We are using a custom BIOS policy however this is all set to the default values.

What type of drives? HDD/SSD ? 4K?

All drives are 240Gb Samsung SSDs in a RAID1 array, two SSDs per blade.

Are you using MRAID12G?

Yes we're using MRAID12G in a RAID1 config.

Using Java KVM or HTML5 KVM to install?

Due to the firmware version we're on we don't have access to the Java KVM.

I've tested a Windows 2012 install and it is looking to take just as long as the 2016 one. We've tested mounting the ISO from different locations and we still get the same issue.

I've kicked off a Ubuntu build and it looks to be running slower than I would expect, just trying to do a bare install with no additional packages is taking a long time. At a bit of a loss as to why we're seeing such slow speeds, once the OS is installed and configured it looks to perform fine however the initial part of getting it up and running is taking us around 3 hours per blade.

Thanks,

Tobias

[Wes Austin · Accepted solution]

Thanks for all that info. Sounds like your problem is vMedia on HTML5 KVM, which unfortunately has deprecated performance vs Java KVM. We are working on a fix currently.

Loading ISO image through Vmedia too slow CSCvd39706

This is also outlined in the 3.1 Release Notes under Open Caveats.

You can use the workaround of launching Java KVM. Just click the ">>" next to "Launch KVM"

Please mark the answer correct if you found it helpful.

[TRITInfrastructure]

Hi Wes,

Appreciate you finding this for me, we've tested using the Java KVM Console and installs are looking a lot quicker! We're currently at 54% after 10 minutes when previously this would take well over an hour.

Looks like the HTML5 client has been causing us issues, thanks for finding the workaround.

Regards,
Tobias