Re: Partitioning SBS2003 Premium

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Proper SBS partition strategy.

I want partition0 to be big enough to hold my root/boot/pagefile operations
and a minimum of 30% free space.
I will set the paging file on partition0 to min/max values of 'about'
RAM+50% to avoid fragmentation of the paging file.
After installation I will use one of the freely available tools to take my
non-critically fragmented paging file a single contiguous portion of the
disk. (hopefully somewhere near the middle because though HDD access is
faster on outer cylinders I appreciate that head movement has more impact on
overall speed than raw read/write sequential speed, and I'm not using a
sequential system, my system multitasks)
I will decide whether I want 'shadow copies' enabled on my system drive. A
general recomendation from MS suggests this should be disabled but SBS Dev
have suggested they have found shadow copies to be useful at times. If I do
have my OS partition 'shadow copy enabled' it is most likely I will redirect
the SCs to another partition, but I just disable them, SUX HUH.
I will install all SBS operational components (APPS) into this partition. It
is the fastest partition on the block because it is toward the outermost
cylinders of the HDD, and SBS spends more than a little time acessing it's
most used components.

DATA (I have a system, now I'd like to use it)

It took me a long time to realise that there are things I wish and other
things I don't wish to be covered by 'Shadow Copies'. SCs are
enabled/disabled on a drive/partition basis. Which partitions do I wish to
be shadow copy enabled? What data do I wish to store on SC vs nonSC
partitions? Where do I wish the SCs to be stored? How much room am I going
to allocate to SCs?

FREAK, I'm getting nowhere except questions!!!!

For performance reasons I want the 'store' location of SCs on the fastest
performing part of the drive(s). This is NOT because I want fast access in a
restore situation (I can wait 5s for a single file to be restored from SC)
it is more about IO during the SC update process, I want that IO to be as
fast as possible. My SC 'container' should be as close to the outer edge of
the drive as possible.

SO Partition1 is the best place to put the SC 'store'. It is as close as
possible to the outer rim of the HDDs without intruding/impacting on my
root/boot partition.

Partition1 also, being next closest to the outer rim sems like a good place
to put my 2nd paging file. If I create it immediately after the partition is
created it ends up in a single contiguous area, that sounds nice.

I don't need shadow copies of my shadow copies, nor do I need a shadow copy
of my paging file (neither 1st nor 2nd). I think I'll disable SCs on
Partition1.

What else gains little advantage from SCs?
Exchange database files, edb and stm, I'll throw them on part1.
SQL/MSDE/WMSDE ldf ldb, they can go on part1.
Lots of stuff that people may have opinions about, that can go on the nonSC
enabled part1. (do I need SCs of \clientapps, NO, I don't think so)

SO, part1 has to be big enough to hold all this and still have 30-40%
freespace, after assumed growth. All this AND the shadow copies from part3.


Part3
As the only SC enabled partition I better put important stuff here.


Is there reason to partition further?


"jeffuk123" <jeffuk123@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:73FC5BA4-C196-4BB9-B82B-63BDA3D06AEC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hello to everyone,

PLEASE SEE MY QUESTION RIGHT AT THE END - My manager wishes that a new
installation of SBS2003 Premium be partitioned with the followng
instructions
set out as follows:-

Using best practice guidelines the single physical drive (mirrored RAID
equivalent) of 250GB..

Drive letter Volume name Filesystem + block size Logical size +
type
Usage / notes

C: System NTFS default EFI Boot partition and
Windows server 2003 system drive

D: Pagefile NTFS default 6GB Primary
dynamic
- Page file and active log files partition

E: Apps NTFS default 20GB Primary dynamic Where all
applications should be installed

F: Data NTFS default 160GB Primary dynamic - Where all
data files including exchange databases and users data

n/a n/a n/a 44GB 17.5 % available for dynamic
expansion, when other drives get full. Or for recovery should a new system
drive be required

Pagefile should be set as follows.

C: minimum size = 2MB, maximum size = 2MB.
D: minimum size = 1.5GB maximum size = 1.5GB

The logs from the system should be moved from %SystemRoot%\System32\config
into the D: System\logs.

To Move the Log Files' location

By default, Event Viewer log files use the .evt extension and are located
in
the following folder:
%SystemRoot%\System32\Config

To move Event Viewer log files to another location on the system, follow
these steps:

1. Click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Open box, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. Locate and click the following registry
key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Eventlog
4. Click the subkey that represents the event log that you want to move,
for
example, click Application.
5. In the right pane, double-click File.
6. Type the complete path to the new location (including the log file
name)
in the Value data box, and then click OK. For example, if you want to move
the application log (Appevent.evt) to the Eventlogs folder on the E drive,
type e:\eventlogs\appevent.evt.
7. 7. Repeat steps 4 through 6 for each log file that you want to move.
8. Click Exit on the Registry menu.
9. Restart the computer.

The above are his instructions

However, my questions are:

What is the best way to do this partitioning. Can it be done during the
SBS2003 install?
Can it be done through FDISK?
Does it really need partition magic.

Many thanks and kind regards for any help and assistance,
Jeff



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