Hardware Configuration Suggestions 1

[scottew]

I will be setting up my first domain over the next week. Below is the hardware which I have to work with and was looking for some suggestions on the hardware configuration.

2 Dell PowerEdge 1850's (Primary & Secondary Domain Controllers)
3.0ghz/2x1mb cache Pentium D Processor
2gb DDR RAM
2 x 36gb SCSI Hard Drives RAID 1

Is there any benefit to setting this up with 2 partitions, one for the OS and the other for anything else?

1 Dell PowerEdge 2850 (Exchange Server)
2.8ghz/2mb cache Xeon Processor
2gb DDR Ram
4 x 36gb SCSI Hard Drives

My plan on this was to set it up with RAID 5 with 2 partions. One for the OS and the other for Exchange.

1 Dell PowerEdge 2850 (SQL and Sharepoint)
Dual 2.8ghz/2x2mb Xeon Processors
4gb DDR Ram
6 x 300gb SCSI Hard Drives

The plan for this server was the same as above. RAID 5 with 2 partions. One for the OS and the other for everything else.

I would appreciate any feedback on how I can improve on the configuration would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Scott

 

[gmail2]

The Hard Drives for your Exchange server seem a little small. If you're going to RAID5 these then you'll only have 106GB between all your partitions - that's not much more than a workstation !! And considering it's going to host your mailboxes, I wouldn't have thought it wouldn't be enough. But I could be wrong - I don't work with exchange unfortunately, and obviously it depends on how many users you will have.

I think it's a good idea to create the partitions like you said, one for OS and one for Data. On our servers we also have a third partition purely for the swap file. One of M$ recommendations to improve performance is to store the swap file on a separate partition - or if possible on a separate disk.

We also have AD installed on a partition separate from the OS - not too sure why though. Good Luck ;-)

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[reactornet]

I agree with gmail2 about the exchange space. Usually for Windows servers I would set up two disks of around 36 GB size, mirrored, for OS/Apps, and then a Raid 5 with however many drives/space/partitions on it for the data. Unless there's performance reasons for not using RAID 5.. which there sometimes is.

Exchange often is installed with seperate partitions for Message Stores and Logs, but its not an overall requirement.

Hope this helps.



Isaac Orr

http://www.reactornetworks.com/