Partitioning Server 2003 1

[mrperty]

Hi
H/W Proliant ML530. Want to blow away server (NT4.0 file and print) and replace with (Server 2003 std - file and print). Partitioning as follows:
- Boot partition = 2 X 32.4GB (New disks) in mirror
- Raid 5 for data = 9 X 18.2GB (want to use old disks) and 1 hotspare 18.2GB
In terms of redundancy how does this look. Obviously I can only use the hotspare (18.2gB) for RAID5 or could i replace this with 32.4GB which could be used as hotspare for existing Raid 1+5. Would this work? Thanks in advance

 

[NickFerrar]

Yeah that's a standard config for servers, not optimal for performance but a good balance between redundancy and cost.
You should be able to use the 32.4GB drive in the RAID-5, it will just only use 18GB of it, I've done this a couple of times in the past with Dell servers - not sure if some RAID controllers are more picky when it comes to different disks.

 

[mrperty]

tks nick. when you say config not optimal for performance do you mean that I should have all disks the same. ie. 32.4GB

 

[NickFerrar]

No just that something like RAID-10 would probably give a bit better performance but it's overkill unless optimal performance is your main goal. RAID-1 for the O/S and RAID-5 for the data is the standard config we use here for file servers.