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50071
October 4th, 2012 18:00
RAID setups on new T620
We will be purchasing a new T620 with a PERC h710p card to setup a RAID1 and RAID10 scenario. We would like to have the C:\ as RAID 1 and D:\ as RAID 10 with one more HDD as a global hot spare. The OS will be on C:\ and SQL on D:\. All HDD's with be 300gb 15k. I have setup up RAID 5's before with a hot spare, but this will be new to me. What should I be aware of going into this? Also, any documentation I should review?
Thank you
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Daniel My
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October 4th, 2012 19:00
Hello hoemee
It should be fairly easy to set up. The hot spare can be assigned to an array or set as global. Most hot spares are configured as global. You may want to consider purchasing one SSD to configure as a cachecade drive for the RAID 10. It provides a significant boost in read speeds in most configurations. Here is the manual for the PERC 8 controllers that has more information:
<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed from this post by Dell>
Thanks
theflash1932
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October 5th, 2012 09:00
SBUU should be ok for Server 2003. For 2008 and beyond, you should use SMTD.
theflash1932
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October 5th, 2012 22:00
Not where I can get you a link right now, but it is under the Secure Systems Management section on the support site for the 620.
hoemee
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October 5th, 2012 06:00
Thank you for the information - can you verify that this is the correct software I need to get started:
...the Dell system build and update utility.....
Daniel My
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October 5th, 2012 10:00
hoemee
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October 5th, 2012 19:00
Hi Flash - can you provide me a link to th SMTD......we will be using Server 2008 R2.....
pcmeiners
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October 6th, 2012 13:00
May I suggest getting an extra drive specifically for creating a clone of your c: drive ( after you are setup), rotated occasionly to a safe place. The clone is easily produced by pulling one of the raid 1 drives while the server is hot and replacing with the spare drive; no down time, only a small performance drop after the swap, for a short time (automatic rebuild).
Assuming Windows OS....
Performance tunning for 2008, if your using 2003 there is one for that OS, if 2012, much of the same info would be pertinent; if you make registry changes document all of them .....
msdn.microsoft.com/.../gg463394.aspx
You getting an 8 bay, 300 Gb drives for OS raid 1 seems overkill/expensive. I would set it up as , (5) 300GB, being as a 4 drive raid 10, and a global spare. (3) much smaller drives for the raid 1 , one being rotated as a clone/ or as emergency spare ( size approx 100 Gb), which would allow OS expansion, programs, and general storage for admin files/install files.
As to anti virus, Microsoft has a list as does the AV producer, as to the correct settings for the server/wks and file exclusions, some of the settings are specific to SQL.
If the r10 is primarily for database use, you could vary the stripe size, but there is always a trade off, time consuming to find the best stripe size. If you also use the server as a file server, the default stripe size is generally the way to go.
Lastly , rig up the server to email major raid error alerts, I use LSI's Power console to do this.
Your going to like raid 10, the raid of champions.... at least the one's who can afford it.; most of my clients are champions without the resources.
hoemee
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October 6th, 2012 17:00
I found it - thank you all
hoemee
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October 18th, 2012 17:00
Can you recommend specs (size, part number, brand) of a suitable SSD?
Thank you
Daniel My
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October 18th, 2012 18:00
These are the validated SSDs for the T620:
342-3351 HDD,100GB SSD SATA MLC,3G,2.5,HP,HYB,CK 499.99 100GB Solid State Drive SATA Value MLC 3G 2.5in Hot-plug Drive,3.5in HYB CARR-Limited Warranty Only; Cus Kit
342-3357 HDD,200GB SSD SATA MLC,3G,2.5,HP,HYB,CK 1593.99 200GB Solid State Drive SATA Value MLC 3G 2.5in Hot-plug Drive,3.5in HYB CARR-Limited Warranty Only; Cus Kit
Thanks
hoemee
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October 19th, 2012 20:00
Thank you again Daniel......one more question - it doesn't seem as though the capacity has to match the installed drive size....in this case 300GB to 300GB.....
Daniel My
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October 22nd, 2012 10:00
For cachecade no, the drives do not have to match.