What do you mean by "optimal raid 5"? There's raid 5, and unless you know what you're doing, you stick with all defaults after picking the raid type and the specific drives you want in there.
So, the only question is; do you want a 4-disk raid 5, or a 3-disk raid 5 with a hotspare?
Easiest is probably to download the server installation CD (ISO), boot to that and use that utility to install Windows 2003. This server installation CD puts the right raid drivers, NIC drivers, chipset drivers (if needed), videodrivers and any other drives in Windows when it's installed.
"unless you know what you're doing, you stick with all defaults " can't agree more.
You should have a raid 1 for the Os for safety along with the raid 5. Raid 1 failures are extremely low, having to manually rebuilding a system partition along with the installed programs can be a tedious and lengthly/stressful process, even with a backup device.
A 3 disk raid 5 has lackluster performance... on my setups I consider a 4 disk raid 5 minimal. The extra disk(s) help make up for the added write penalty of raid 5. Notice the write through and writeback cache policy, in raid 5 the writeback setting is imperative, without it performance is severely degraded.
Since your a newbie, mark your cables and disks as to slots, document every move you make so you can duplicate the exact setup in the future. On the web I have seen it stated 10-15% of raid failures are caused by the user, I think it more like >25%. Very easy to screw up a raid due to lack of knowledge/panic/stress/lack of sleep, in that order. Personally I have never screwed up a raid in 21 years, except in a lab atmosphere, but I can tell you I have come extremely close on a number of production servers, generally around 3 am due to lack of sleep.
I agree with what has been said here and just wanted to add a couple of things. It is possible to "optimize" any RAID array by adjusting stripe size to match the server application, cache, etc., HOWEVER, as a "newbie", I would not get into stuff like that until you have mastered the basics, as playing with those settings without knowing the affect (or consequences) can make the controller perform more poorly, or worse - make the array unstable.
As Dev Mgr said, the easiest way to install 2003 is to download the installation utility called Server Build and Update Utility (SBUU). If you can, use the DVD format that is on the Systems Management Tools and Documentation DVD, as it is much more up to date. If not, then use the CD version. Keep in mind that these utilities require SP2 on your 2003 media (you can use nLiteOS.com to integrate the Service Pack), and they will often not work with VL media downloaded from Microsoft's eOpen website.
SMTD DVD ISO (make sure to download all 4 ISO images and merge using copy /b, as stated in the instructions - ridiculous I know):
SBUU CD ISO:
You can also install directly from the Windows CD, if you are comfortable doing those types of installs, but you will need to load the RAID driver from floppy at the F6 prompt during Windows Setup in order for Windows to see the hard drives, then install all the drivers from support.dell.com. If you don't have a working floppy disk/drive, then you can use nLiteOS.com to integrate the driver into the installation media.
PERC 3/Di RAID driver for 2003:
<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed / replaced from this post by Dell>
Dev Mgr
4 Operator
•
9.3K Posts
0
September 3rd, 2010 07:00
What do you mean by "optimal raid 5"? There's raid 5, and unless you know what you're doing, you stick with all defaults after picking the raid type and the specific drives you want in there.
So, the only question is; do you want a 4-disk raid 5, or a 3-disk raid 5 with a hotspare?
Easiest is probably to download the server installation CD (ISO), boot to that and use that utility to install Windows 2003. This server installation CD puts the right raid drivers, NIC drivers, chipset drivers (if needed), videodrivers and any other drives in Windows when it's installed.
pcmeiners
4 Operator
•
1.8K Posts
0
September 3rd, 2010 08:00
"unless you know what you're doing, you stick with all defaults " can't agree more.
You should have a raid 1 for the Os for safety along with the raid 5. Raid 1 failures are extremely low, having to manually rebuilding a system partition along with the installed programs can be a tedious and lengthly/stressful process, even with a backup device.
A 3 disk raid 5 has lackluster performance... on my setups I consider a 4 disk raid 5 minimal. The extra disk(s) help make up for the added write penalty of raid 5. Notice the write through and writeback cache policy, in raid 5 the writeback setting is imperative, without it performance is severely degraded.
Since your a newbie, mark your cables and disks as to slots, document every move you make so you can duplicate the exact setup in the future. On the web I have seen it stated 10-15% of raid failures are caused by the user, I think it more like >25%. Very easy to screw up a raid due to lack of knowledge/panic/stress/lack of sleep, in that order. Personally I have never screwed up a raid in 21 years, except in a lab atmosphere, but I can tell you I have come extremely close on a number of production servers, generally around 3 am due to lack of sleep.
theflash1932
9 Legend
•
16.3K Posts
0
September 3rd, 2010 08:00
I agree with what has been said here and just wanted to add a couple of things. It is possible to "optimize" any RAID array by adjusting stripe size to match the server application, cache, etc., HOWEVER, as a "newbie", I would not get into stuff like that until you have mastered the basics, as playing with those settings without knowing the affect (or consequences) can make the controller perform more poorly, or worse - make the array unstable.
As Dev Mgr said, the easiest way to install 2003 is to download the installation utility called Server Build and Update Utility (SBUU). If you can, use the DVD format that is on the Systems Management Tools and Documentation DVD, as it is much more up to date. If not, then use the CD version. Keep in mind that these utilities require SP2 on your 2003 media (you can use nLiteOS.com to integrate the Service Pack), and they will often not work with VL media downloaded from Microsoft's eOpen website.
SMTD DVD ISO (make sure to download all 4 ISO images and merge using copy /b, as stated in the instructions - ridiculous I know):
SBUU CD ISO:
You can also install directly from the Windows CD, if you are comfortable doing those types of installs, but you will need to load the RAID driver from floppy at the F6 prompt during Windows Setup in order for Windows to see the hard drives, then install all the drivers from support.dell.com. If you don't have a working floppy disk/drive, then you can use nLiteOS.com to integrate the driver into the installation media.
PERC 3/Di RAID driver for 2003:
<ADMIN NOTE: Broken link has been removed / replaced from this post by Dell>