RIAD 5 + Windows SBS Server 2003 R2

Question

I have a question regarding RAID 5 and Windows SBS Sertver 2003 installation.   We recently bought a PowerEdge SC1430 server and want to install the OS on a RAID 5 but reading the Microsoft website it says that the OS has to be installed on a seperate HDD and the OS can't be on the RIAD 5   Is this correct?   Secondly I have  a spare RocketRAID 2310 adapter and have tried to install it into the SC1430 with 3 x 500GB HDD's. The adapter sees the HDD's and can be configured for the RAID 5 but when the system boots the Dell Server install utility does not recognize the 'boot drive' and the same happens when trying to install the Win OS 'no boot device found'   any help with this problems will be great.   Thanks in advance

Shemp11 · Answer

I'm pretty sure the MS documentation is referring to software RAID 5 where it says you cannot install the OS on a RAID 5 volume. I believe you can install the OS on a software RAID 1 volume, but not a software RAID 5 volume. I have installed various MS server OS's on hardware RAID 5 without issue including SBS 2003. In fact, the Dell 840 I recently ordered with hardware RAID 5 came with the the SBS OS installed on the RAID 5 volume (which was divided into two partitions; a 25GB OS Partition and the remainder as a 'data' partition).

gtJimri · Answer

Hi   We have a PE2600 RAID 5 system with MS 2003 Server op sys and MS SQL 2005 - several years old.   The op sys / SQL was installed as part of the RAID 5 Drive C: and is bootable.   It is a clean installation, runs without errors and recovers easily from backup.   The info you refer to is MS recommended best practices -- since MS supports separating church from state. They always caution to not mix system and data. They consider any RAID mode as a Data based support.   However, if you keep your system clean and watch data changes and RAID Controller / HDs functionally, it should work.

eagle0468 · Answer

I am guessing either you didn't discuss this option with your salesperson, or your salesperson did not understand your desire to configure your system in this manner.    Let's start with the reason the Install utility will not see your controller.  Simply put, it does not have the drivers necessary to do so.  Now, let's move on to the options you have that will not complicate issues down the road when or if you need technical assistance with the server (primarily with your RAID subsystem).   Your options are to either install a PCIe PERC controller or if you have SATA drives a CERC controller that you purchase from DELL.  If your drives are SCSI, you can purchase a PERC 5IR card.  If they are SATA drives a CERC SATA6 Card is your answer.   Either of these solutions will allow you to configure a hardware level RAID 5 that you can use to install your SBS.

Jitoo · Answer

Okay I managed to sort out the problem.   The issue was that I was trying to use the Dell utility that came with the server and was causing the problems.  I guess Dell does not want you to use any product that is not sold by Dell.   I looked at the prices of the RAID cards supplied by Dell and the prices are crazy if you don't purchase them with a new system.  Therefore the cost was an issue.  I bought this server from the outlet section and did not have any options to 'upgrade' or add components for the server.   My workaround was to create my own startup disk with the required drivers and then everything worked and got SBS installed.

eagle0468 · Answer

Good job.

PowerEdge Hardware General

RIAD 5 + Windows SBS Server 2003 R2

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