Re: Is it possible to redirect the default user shares?

Dear SuperGumby,

The server is a rack mounted HP ProLiant ML 350 G4 and the integrated NIC
adapter is Gigabit speed. That's the default.

Question for you. How does one determine the amount of RAM needed to run all
the components in W2K3 SBS Premium sans SQL ?

I understand most people thatr design a server around W2k3 SBS Premium start
off at 4GB RAM.

What's your opinion?

-Jon-Paul Ward

"SuperGumby [SBS MVP]" wrote:

Dual Gb would seem to be a bit of overkill, what is the speed of the current
card? It is unlikely your internet connection is or will ever be more than
100Mb.

Opinions differ on the advantages/disadvantages of multiple partitions. I
m'self have only recently changed my mind. Previously I would suggest a 20GB
OS partition and only a single additional partition if the underlying drive
structure was a single RAID array. The change I have recently thought to be
worthwhile is to create an additional partition to use for items which I
wish to exclude from Volume Shadowcopy Service. VSS is enabled/disabled on a
per volume basis and though there may be situations where it could be used
as a safety net I believe it is desirable for items like Exchange and SQL
database files not to be on VSS enabled partitions. The logic here is that a
restore from a shadow copy would put the database out of sync with the
logfiles. I must point out that this is my personal opinion, no consensus or
MS advice to back it up.

My \\clientapps & WSUS data folders are also on a shadowcopy disabled
partition, the files change infrequently and I am only interested in the
latest version so shadowcopies are of little value.

Also, if you do have multiple RAID arrays (elsewhere you have mentioned
RAID1+RAID5) it may be worthwhile putting the shadowcopies from one array on
a shadowcopy disabled partition on the other array. The default condition
for VSS is for the shadowcopies to be stored on the same partition, this, in
rather normal conditions, can lead to intense IO during the shadowcopy
update and possible loss of shadowcopy data.

NOTE: Disabling regular shadowcopies does not disable NTBackup's ability to
use VSS.

As to the 'optimal' performance of the system. We could discuss it to death
for very little value, though SBS is HDD intensive (due to running all these
services on one box) drive optimisation for Exchange and SQL systems is
required for system running hundreds, if not thousands, of users, our 75
user limit makes following anything but basic principles of little
necessity.

Think about the size of your data and how it may grow.
Think about the performance of NTFS, it is degraded as free space is
reduced, at 40% free it runs well, at 30% it is slightly degraded, at 10% it
crawls.
Design your partitioning scheme to allow data+growth to allow minimal
degradation.

I would possibly use your RAID1 for OS + VSS data partitions. ie. move the
VSS data location for the single partition of the RAID5 to the 2nd partition
on the RAID1. I would probably also put \\Clientapps and the WSUS database
on this 2nd partitionand disable shadowcopies for it. Some would suggest
also creating a second partition on the RAID5 to hold Exchange/SQL database
files. Though I do not consider this necessary I would do so and also
disable shadowcopies on this partition. You might also look at putting the
Exchange/SQL logfiles on the RAID1 2nd partition.

So we end up with:
RAID1
20GB C: OS partition (I'd disable shadowcopies here too but there are
circumstances where having them enabled have been of benefit)
REST V: VSS repository, static data, logfiles. VSS disabled.
RAID5
xGB D: DATA Whole of drive - whatever is below. Shadowcopies redirected to
V:.
xGB x: Exchange/SQL databases. Size determined by expectations of
content+room for free space. VSS disabled.
Additional HDD - Global hotspare.

"Morpth" <Morpth@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:7E0835D5-C7AF-436D-B318-1E9B493ACF47@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dear MVP's:

I forgot to inform you that there is no one on the system yet. I will in
fact be reinstalling this entire system yet again, come Monday. It will be
the 4th time. You see, currently the server (box) has but one NIC adapter
in
it. On Monday this coming week, I am set to receive a dual port gigabit
Server NIC Adapter, which will allow me to install ISA which is not
currently
installed. Learning how powerful the integrated installation process is,
it
leaves me no choice but to reinstall the entire system once again.

My system consists of a ML 350 G4 dual Xeon processors with RAID 1 / RAID
5
logical volumes intended for OS/Exchange & Data stores. Its obvious to me
that I somehow missed these default locations even after my 3rd install.

Prior to reinstalling the server:

1) do I remove the licenses I added on Friday before reformatting?

2) Also, in reinstalling the server this time around, I plan on installing
all the feautures of the Premium package, as I just discovered I am in
need
of a working mail server for my Line of Business application (LOB).

3) what is the proper location for profiles and home directories for
domain
users? Does it follow the same structure as XP Pro uses?

4) What is the Industrial Best Practice (IBP) for the location of the
corporate file share? I know what I did in Windows 2000 Server, but I am
aware that SBS is diffierent and might already have by default install a
location for this.

Thanking you in adavnce for your time and attention in this matter.

Enthusiastically,
Jon-Paul Ward
"Kevin Weilbacher [SBS-MVP]" wrote:

Jon-Paul,

Since you apparently already have your SBS up and running, follow Frank's
advice. I will add these comments for anyone else who may come across
this
message thread:

Jon-Paul's problem with missing when and where to relocate the shared
folders when doing an SBS install, along with his own admission that he
is
new to SBS, is exactly why we strongly suggest to SBS newbies to take the
time and install SBS 3 times the first time around.

- Do it once just to see how the process works.
- Do it again, this time taking copious notes of each and every step and
response.
- Do it a third time, mostly to verify that your notes are correct, and
to
give you more practice.

Remember, once you put an SBS server into production, you can't
"practice"
on it. So do it right to begin with. Cheers!

--
Kevin Weilbacher [SBS-MVP]
"The days pass by so quickly now, the nights are seldom long"


"Morpth" <Morpth@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:99EB695A-B402-4DD3-9C2D-2FC559C59DA0@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
is it possible to redirect the default user shares?

Not sure how I missed this, but upon installing the premium version,
the
default user shares; User shared folders & users along with Client
apps;
were
created on the C volume when I wanted them installed on another volume
E.

Is it possible to redirect or move it by recreating it, or am I just
stuck?

I'm familiar with W2K, and AD, but SBS is very much its own animal.

Enthusiastically,
Jon-Paul Ward






.

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