Best Practices For Configuring MD1000

Question

just got a PowerVault MD1000 w/ 15 750GB SATA HDs and I'm trying to find the best way to configure this to my companys needs. I thought of RAID 10, but the overhead was to much (need to maximize space), so now I'm going w/ RAID 5. This is going to be a file share, so it has to appear as one large drive, but I know i should have 2 or more smaller arrays instead of 1 big array. Next comes the OS, file sytem and the best way to span the drives. If i go w/ the already installed Server 2003 i have to convert the disk to GPT and span the drives w/ the Disk Manager, but this is not supported (per phone conversations w/ Support). I'm also worried about other systems being able to access the file system. I can install Linux (CentOS) and use LVM which IS supported, but i'll be supporting this and I'm a novice at Linux. Other options were Sun Solaris 10 w/ ZFS, but supporting this will be harder. So basically I'm interested in:   Best Array Configuration? 2 Arrays? (7 + 7 + 1HS or 6 + 6 +3HSs) 3 Arrays? (5 + 5 + 5) Best OS + File System? Will Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003 & Linux have trouble accessing the whole drive?   thanx in advance

cjtompsett · Answer

Message Edited by cjtompsett on 02-20-2007 08:59 AM

cjtompsett · Answer

Munyokli,

If you want all of the space visable to the OS as one big partiton you can deffinetly accomplish this. Here are a few scenarios that will present the space as one logical drive to the OS.

1) A 14 disk Raid 5 and 1 hot spare.

2) A Raid 50 made of 5 disk spans and no hot spare

3) A Raid 50 made of 7 disk spans and 1 hot spare

Here is what you would have to do for the OS to see them:

1) Windows 2003 SP1/SP2

To have Windows 2003 SP1/SP2 see all of the space you are on the right track. Change the partition table to GPT and then it will then show as one big disk. Then create the NTFS partition and format.

2) Linux (RHEL 4, SLES 9, SLES 10)

a) After creating the Lun on the MD1000, check to see if the OS sees the disk "cat /proc/paritions"

b) Use the utility parted change the partiton type from mft to gpt "parted /dev/sdb mklabel gpt"

c) To make sure the change occured you can check by "parted /dev/sdb print"

d) To create the partiton you would then use parted again "parted /dev/sdb mkpart primary ext3 0.000 208128.000"

Hope this answers your questions,

Regards,

cjtompsett

Message Edited by cjtompsett on 02-20-2007 09:26 AM

JTGlenn · Answer

Refer to the support matrix for supported O/S's.  Click here. Linux (CentOS) and Sun Solaris 10  are not supported with the MD1000.   Whatever you do... make sure you have a hot spare! you should always use hot spares, even for the most expensive storage systems. :smileyhappy:

munyoki · Answer

thanx for all the input   i found out about RAID-50 early in the week and that will solve my dilemma / uneasiness of using LVM / software raid. i went w/ a 12 disk array w/ 3 HSs (7TB), but i can still change my mind if others think 7 TBs is too small. i might even use 1 as a cold spare. too bad this was after i called Dell to inquire about support for CentOS and other questions i had. they said even though its not on the list, its based off RHEL 4, so they'll support it to a point. thanx for the heads up on Solaris, i was starting to research it again after a couple of developers brought up ZFS (again).

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Best Practices For Configuring MD1000

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