Server build. What to use?

[Cstorms]

Hello all, I am just trying to get a feel on what others are using for hardware when setting up their new Exchange 07 box. Mainly how did you maximize the recommended split of transaction logs and database files across disks, what kind of RAID has worked well in any failure events for you in the past. I have heard a RAID 1+0 is recommended, would a RAID 5 work and just create seperate partitions to split them up or is this redundant?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Zelandakh]

This is too hypothetical to get a decent answer. If you can only afford one disk then it is a moot point but if you can afford RAID 1+0 across 10 disks for each of OS, transaction logs, database and LCR database then it is a different story.

RAID level depends on lots of things including spend.

Spend the most possible on the most spindles and make sure they are fast. Lots of RAM too. Processor is irrelevant barring it being 64 bit.

 

[Cstorms]

Hmm well yea, I spose thats a good point, I guess I was trying to see if people in larger enviroments were getting away with not as beefy RAID setups and results were still on the ok side. Thanks for the reply.

 

[anawrocki]

According to the MS Propeganda Machine, E2K7 is somthing like 30% more efficient with disk IO than E2K3 was. It all really comes down to workload and sizing. Large environments are using SANs and will have storage engineers tune their storage performance on the fly as needed. In general terms, I would expect mid-range RAID solutions to be acceptable for small to mid sized needs.

 

[58sniper]

I'll echo Zelandakh's point. Too hard to say based on the info provided.

My recommendation is to always stay away from SATA drives due to their speed.

You need to keep the logs and DBs on separate arrays on separate spindles. The quantity and sizing of which is dependant on your org. As Anawrocki mentioned, some will use SANs.

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA
Microsoft Exchange MVP

 

[Knackster]

Following along those same lines, I too have a new dedicated exchange server I am about ready to build.

I've got a RAID 1/ RAID 5 setup with 72 gig on RAID 1 and 300 gig on RAID 5.

I also have less than 100 users and plans are that it will essentually stay pretty close to that level.

My original thoughts wer to put the OS on the RAID 1 and Exchange on RAID 5. SInce I have a small user base, I wasn't too concerned about splitting up the logs and the store.

THis box has 2 quad core cpu's and 16 gig of mem so it has the horses to run.

Will I be OK or would you recommend something abit different?

Thanks,

Chris

Chris
IT Manager
Houston, Texas

 

[anawrocki]

Looks like a fine starting point or maybe even a bit more than you need. My only recomendation would be to partition your RAID1 volume 3 ways, 1st for OS, 2nd for page files, 3rd for Trans Logs. It is advisable to keep trans logs seperate from DB for DR purposes.

On your RAID 5 set you may want to halve it and reserve half for backup/restore operations and/or DB maint.

 

[58sniper]

But partitioning the drives doesn't do anything for performance. But 72GB is pretty big for an OS partition.

Pat Richard, MCSE MCSA:Messaging CNA
Microsoft Exchange MVP

 

[anawrocki]

Ah but it does. If you put your page file on it's own partition it does not frag the other partitions, resulting in better long term performance. Granted dedicated spindles would be better, but if you don't have em in the budget, may as well slice and dice.

 

[anawrocki]

One more often overlooked thing - Don't forget to use DISKPART to create your partitions to get propper offset alignment. See this overlooked waaay to often. There is not an easy way to do this for the boot partition, but for all others it is an absolute must. You could leave up to 25% performance gain in disk IO on the table if you don't do this.

 

[Cstorms]

Thanks for the pointers guys. Always good to get any and all relevant info.

 

[cajuntank]

How would you go about doing a diskpart on the boot partition?

 

[anawrocki]

You would need a boot disk that had all drivers/utilities needed for your particular hardware and create the partition pre-Windows Install. Than you would use the pre-existing partition to install Windows to. Unless you have high disk IO on your boot drive (you did move your page file, right?) their may not be a tangible bennefit. However if you are booting from a SAN or Virtual Disk, all the combined, non-aligned partitions can add up to a lot of unnecessary read write head movment degrading performance and decreasing MTBFs.