W2k best practice on partitions

[BabylonDrifter]

What is the the best practice when setting up partitions on a new y2k server. I got a new Dell server and it came with a 4 gig partition and a 63 gig partition --> C: and D: (HW Raid 5 config).

With all the dell junk pre-installed I only have 1.63 gigs free on the C: drive! Should I format the whole thing and just have one volume C:, leave it alone, format to something else 10 gig and 55 gig --, or something else?

This server will run exchange mainly and will never have software raid.

Suggestions Please.

Thanks

 

[CoolClark]

I would have set it up the same way, 4gb OS and rest data. Any futur SPs shouldn't increase the OS more than what you currently have. Of course with M$ bloatware you never know

I think it's safe the way it is.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[BabylonDrifter]

What if I run DCPromo wont that take a lot of disk space making it a DC????

 

[Xansa]

In my personal experience, it's too easy to underestimate the amount of space that should be allocated to the 'system' partition. There are lots of packages out there that will drop garbage all over C, especially 'program files', also, don't forget the fact that users profiles will be locally cached (if that's an issue for you) and they do tend to just drop junk anywhere they fancy. Sounds like you have lots of free space - although mailboxes are gonna take a lot of room. I would give yourself at least 8 gig on C and think ab out pagefiles too.

 

[Jpoandl]

Agreed...At least 5 - 8(+) GB on C: partition. (Depending on the size of your AD)

Why don't you give us details on the physical drives...maybe we can give more information about it...

especially for an Echange server. You may want to allocate drives for log files, page files, etc on certain drives.

Joseph L. Poandl
MCSE 2000

If your company is in need of experts to examine technical problems/solutions, please check out

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[BabylonDrifter]

Thanks for the imput

The server has 3 -- 36 gig drives in a raid 5 configuration

The first volume is 4 gigs and the remainder will be another volume

Should I just format the whole thing as one volume C: ????

 

[MasterRacker]

It's always a good idea to have your OS on a separate volume than your data. Similar to the others, I would recommend 8GB system (C with the rest as data (D.
Jeff
I haven't lost my mind - I know it's backed up on tape somewhere ....

 

[jjgraf]

What i do is put another hard drive into the computer lets say 10 gig just for the OS

Leave the array dedicated to DATA only. This will improve performace because the OS will not be eating up the RAID resources.

Stick all Applications on the 10 gig hardrive and data on the RAID.

 

[Jpoandl]

In JJGRAFS solution, I would add 2 10 gig drives and mirror them for redundancy. Joseph L. Poandl
MCSE 2000

If your company is in need of experts to examine technical problems/solutions, please check out

http://www.esavio.com