Dell Poweredge Raid 10 Setup 1

[willwoll100]

Hi Everyone,

I'm currently an Automotive Design Engineer who has been tasked to setup a new file server for our CAD data to run with a PDM system. The system spec is as follows:

i) PE 2900 III Quad Core Xeon E5430 (2.66GHz, 2x6MB, 1333MHz FSB) x2

ii) 8GB (4x2GB Dual Rank DIMMs) 667MHz FBD
400GB SAS 10k

iii) PERC 6/i Internal RAID Controller Card (256MB cache, battery backup)

iv) PV110T LTO3 400GB Internal 39320A SCSI Card Internal Cable

v)Broadcom NetXtreme 5721 Single Port Gigabit Ethernet Teaming NIC, Cu, PCIe x1

vi) PE2900 III C5 R10 PERC 5/i / 6/i Min. 4 Max. 8 Drives

My problems are that I've never setup a server before so this is a very steep learning curve. I've installed Windows Server 2003 but did not install the raid drivers at that time. Also when selecting the system volume I left it at the default 12gig and have since read that 30gig would be better, does this sound correct.

Since I have not installed the RAID drivers at OS install I'm lead to believe that you can't install them after with great success. I can easily install the OS again as the server is obviously offline and I have about 2-3 weeks to play and set it up correctly before the PDM company come in for the install.

With regards to the RAID setup we were advised to go with RAID 10, is there anything critical that I need to know before I tackle this?

It is extremely important that the server goes live successfully and remains stable as it rests on my shoulders if it all goes wrong.

Any help and advice would be of a great benefit to me. Are there any good books on Windows Server 2003 that I could also read up on?

Regards

Will

 

[technome]

Some rambling....

"Also when selecting the system volume I left it at the default 12gig and have since read that 30gig would be better"
12 Gigs is not sufficient with the pagefile you will have, I would go 30 gigs and use the spare space to create an \Install directory where all program install CD and etc are copied to for your use.

You will need to create a raid 10 from scratch, there is no migration from your present setup. Raid 10 gives the best overall performance, the default raid bios setting are generally the fastest for a general use server, though a larger stripe size might benefit the CAD files. Make sure you use "patrol reads", as this checks the entire raid disk surface( defaults to enabled).
For critical servers, I always institute a hot spare drive (requires the purchase of 1 extra drive). Install the Dell raid management software. Setting up a raid 10 is not difficult, the array will appear as a single drive from within Windows disk Manager. Before you create the array mark all drives and the slots they go into, mark you cables as to the connectors they go to.

Disk alignment, can speed up an array, but impractical for a newbie ( no offense)....

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929491

Place the minimum of resident software packages on the server, do not use it as a garbage can, the less you have on it the more stable it will be. KISS, keep it simple as sh*t. No demos or software which are likely to be removed, try them out on a workstation. One program with a bug can mess up a server even after it is uninstalled. Turn off un-needed services.

Look into PerfectDisk for defragmentation/offline defrags, nightly defrags gives you 3-5% increase performance, offline defrags at least once/month can increase programs up to 15%

http://www.perfectdisk.com/products/business-perfectdisk10-server/learn-more

If your going to implement port teaming, you will need a switch which is compatible or it is not worth implementing.
Generally "flow control" disabled if you have a clean wire infrastructure (cables will pass CAT Certification).

SMB signing disabled if you are aware of the internal security implications.

An excellent book large book.. will also stop .38 ASP rounds and spears...
Mark Minasi's Master Windows Server 200x by Sybex


Server Performance tunning....

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/evaluation/performance/tuning.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/sysperf/Perf_tun_srv.mspx

Tape drive...
Make sure you test a backup. At least restore one directory to an empty directory, and compare it to the original directory. Go to the Adaptec/backup site to get tweaks to the Adaptec controller settings, can increase backup performance considerably.

Install a couple anti-malware programs on the server, Spaywareblaster and Spybot are excellent. Do not use server to troll the Internet, only use to download drivers/updates.

Institute Terminal Service admin mode for your server management use. Do not allow users RDP to the server, as it is a sure fire way to trash a server. Do not let the "bosses" become administrators.

First thing after you get Anti virus software installed, go to the Dell support site and update all firmware and drives.

Check out Diskeeper's Undelete, far superior to system restore...

http://www.undelete.com/undelete/undelete.aspxck

out Diskeeper's Undelete Server...


........................................
Chernobyl disaster..a must see pictorial

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/default.htm

 

[willwoll100]

Firstly thanks very much for your detailed explanation.

A quick question, when you say create an install directory do you mean just creating a new folder where all the programs will be installed to?

Thanks Again

Will

 

[technome]

Sorry that was not clear. The \Install directory is just for your storage as an administrator, for all programs downloaded or the contents of program installation CDs, your notes (config files, txt files with program license/installation numbers), drivers, etc, not as a installation directory like \Program Files. Some of my larger networks have "Install" directories of >30 gigs.

Do not get threatened by the size of the Minasi book, this guy knows his stuff, no fluffy or nonsense, real world networking, unlike MS Press.. to boot he is an excellent technical writer, with a sense of humor.


........................................
Chernobyl disaster..a must see pictorial

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/default.htm

 

[willwoll100]

Hi again,

Another quick question, I have since discovered by entering the RAID utility that RAID 10 is already setup. Now it states in the PERC6 BIOS that I have 1 virtual disk in RAID 10 of size 744GB.

It also states that I have 4 physical disks, 2 in Span 0 and 2 in Span 1 all drives are online and are 380928MB in size.

Now windows states in my computer that I have 1 disk 12GB in size, this is the system volume when I installed the OS and as already mentioned will change to 30GB once I've re-installed the OS.

Now for the question, can you explain what exactly is the meaning of the virtual disks, physical disks and why is there only 1 disk showing in windows?

Sorry for coming across possibly a bit thick but I just want to try and understand as much as possible in a very short time period.

Again thanks for your time.

Will

 

[willwoll100]

I've managed to figure out the whole VD, PD and the reason why windows was showing just the 12gig drive. So I've now got the 30gig C drive and a 700+gig E drive.

I'm going to connect it to the net tomorrow and start to try and set the whole thing up on the network which should be fun!!!

 

[technome]

Now for the question, can you explain what exactly is the meaning of the virtual disks, physical disks and why is there only 1 disk showing in windows?"

Physical disks are the hard disks which make up the array or arrays.
A virtual disk is the array (volume)size of the raid 10; technically it is possible on some adapters to create two or more raid volumes out of 1 array set (like partitioning), each volume would appear as a separate disk to the OS. Only 1 disk (generally) shows up in Windows per array set, as the array adapter only presents the virtual disk to the OS, this is a good thing, as the less the OS knows about the raid the better, as in the case of Microsoft. If MS was allowed any more info, they would would likely screw it up. Also note the raid adapter firmware programmers do not let the OS control the disk cache or the raid adapter cache, thank goodness.
Example..If this was a single disk on a standard disk interface, with Active Directory, MS would attempt to disable the cache to protect the AD database, crippling performance.
Best MS raid idiotic idea (when Windows NT came out)was when they stated you could create a raid from 32 mixed interface disks (MFM,IDE,RRL,SCSI)...my estimate of the MTBF of such a raid would be <3 seconds.

If I had my choice, I would love to setup servers full time, lots more fun then dealing with email and malware.
A few weeks back I set up a couple 3.0 quad Perc 6 servers, what a pleasure the extra speed is,leaving no time to get bored.
Have fun with the new toy, you have made very good choices.


........................................
Chernobyl disaster..a must see pictorial

http://www.kiddofspeed.com/default.htm

 

[willwoll100]

technome

Thankyou very much for your time, I just wish I had more time to learn and play with the server but unfortunately my main job is to design and this is now my second job!

Will