Intel CAS software on home server

[JSchuricht]

Has anyone used Intel CAS (Cache Acceleration Software) on a windows server and seen any improvements?

I am toying around with picking up an Intel NVME drive to use the free Intel CAS software on my home file server, mainly to buffer writes. Slightly worried about a single point of failure with one drive acting as write back cache with no drive redundancy. The software requires using an Intel SSD and I am not sure an Optane drive counts.

The server specs if it helps, Supermicro X11SSH-LN4F with one empty M.2 3.0 x2 slot and E3 1230 V5. Windows 2019 server, dedicated for file serving only, 64GB RAM, 2x 10Gb NIC, 21x 7200 RPM SATA spindles in RAID 6 on a LSI 9271-8iCC with 6 240GB SATA SSD on cachecade. Mainly looking to improve ingestion speed when I transfer 200-400GB of 8-60GB files to the server.

NVME drive I am leaning towards is a Intel DC P3700 800GB with a M.2 adapter cable.

 

[JSchuricht]

Someone finally accepted my low ball offer on a new P3700 800GB drive so I am giving this a try. So far results are great. Still worried about a single point of failure. The Intel CAS software does mention using RAID with write back enabled so maybe it supports RAID with the NVME drives. I haven't been able to find documentation on RAID for a CAS drive so maybe I will try testing it in the future.


Array before Intel CAS

With Intel CAS enabled I am hitting the PCIe 3.0 x2 link limit. Yes the read speeds are lower but they were not sustainable with other I/O activity.