Re: RAID 1 VS RAID 5 SBS 2003

On Mon, 28 May 2007 10:13:40 +1000, SuperGumby [SBS MVP] wrote:

I agree with most of Leythos' comments except the partitioning strategy,
I want 3 partitions.

OS part - 20-30GB, Volume Shadowcopy Service optional (probably
disabled). DATA - main data partition, VSS enabled. DATA2 - 2nd data
partition for Exchange and SQL databases, VSS disabled. Other items
which benefit little from SC's also go here, \clientapps, \WSUS,
MSDE/SQL instances, etc...

Before I got involved with SBS I always did each main app on a different
array - SQL (2 arrays, one for Data, one for Trans Logs), OS got it's
own, user data/profiles their own array, exchange it's own, websites
always moved to their own array and partition different than C, etc...

I've not had a client screw-up and take all the drive space yet, most of
them don't use 50% of the available, but I understand the very real
concern. At the same time I see a lot of users visiting here with the
typical Dell 12GB OS part, or they didn't make their own partitions large
enough....

While I don't like the idea of a single array with a single part, it
seems to be simple enough and easy for most people to manage and also
manage growth, but you are right - it should be multiple arrays and
several partitions total.


I want no more than 3 and no less.

"Leythos" <Void@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1180307677_16767@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Fri, 25 May 2007 20:00:12 -0700, lorenzdominic_ wrote:

Hi

I am thinking of installing SBS 2003 with Raid volumes as follows

2 x Dual Core CPU
2 x 1Gb Ram
2 x 36Gb 15k SAS (Raid 1) Operating System 2 x 73Gb 15k SAS (Raid 1)
Exhcange Server database file 2 x 300Gb 15k SAS (Raid 1) Data

Can anyone see any performance issues in the above? Can I put the
Exchange database on a different drive other than the Operating System
which I have shown above?

OR

Should I go for all Operating System/Exchange and Data in a Raid 5
volume ONLY or something else?

Like
2 x Dual Core CPU
2 x 1Gb Ram
4 x 146Gb 15k SAS (Raid 5)

With 2GB you are going to have more performance issues that any you
will see with your RAID - 3GB makes SBS 2003 Standard happy.

As for what RAID - since you've not said what number of users or what
purpose the server will serve - If you want to make life simple, and
you need medium performance, do a 5 x 74GB (about 300GB) or do a 5 x
146GB RAID-5 array, single array, single partition - then you don't
have to panic about drive/partition space, it all works, runs fast
because of the great read performance, moderate write performance, good
tolerance if one drive fails (you won't see much of a performance hit
if you only have one drive out of 5 die, but you will FEEL it if you
use a 4 or 3 drive array and one fails. If this is an IBM server, add a
6th drive of the same size and make it an active/hot spare.

I know all the reasons to not put it all on one partition, but, with so
many differences in how SBS is used, it's just simple and there is no
real performance difference under 25 users on Standard.

--
Leythos
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum. Calling an illegal alien
an "undocumented worker" is like calling
a drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist"
spam999free@xxxxxxxxxx (remove 999 for proper email address)


--
Leythos
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.
Calling an illegal alien an "undocumented worker" is like calling
a drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist"
spam999free@xxxxxxxxxx (remove 999 for proper email address)
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: RAID Recommendations for SBS2003
    ... -We currently have a total of 45GB, including the 14GB Exchange ... A small array does not perform as well as a large array with 7 ... Make one large partition "C" on the drive, ... If you were actually going to hammer this server with SQL and Exchange, ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • Re: New Server; most effective partition setup
    ... That's not to say you cant do it, just that its not going to gain you anything from an Exchange side. ... Array 1: ... you could create something like a 40 GB C: drive partition for the binaries and then use the rest of the disk as a D: drive for the Exchange logs. ... Now my question is how should I partition the drives for the OS, databases, ...
    (microsoft.public.exchange.setup)
  • Re: Proposed enhancements to MD
    ... The attached patch is for the partition ... >, Adaptec, and many others must continue to support new ... >> the partitions on an array and properly boot them as it would boot a ... root fs exists on array, but md didn't see them show up, ...
    (Linux-Kernel)
  • Re: Adding another Raid - How Best to go about it.
    ... It's _almost_ as easy to create the array at BIOS level. ... so the layout and use(size of parts, %free space, files on it). ... I would adjust the swapfile on the OS partition to RAM+20MB ... Plug in drives, ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.sbs)
  • RE: Fault tolerance with spanned drives
    ... This post is provided "AS IS" and without warranty, ... I created the raid array. ... plus another and space from a third, I can create my 53G partition. ... but these drives have no fault tolerance. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.server.general)