June 30, 2004 at 7:08 am
I am purchasing a new server that will be replacing a SQL 2000 (Standard) SP3 Server already in place. I have decided to have RAID 1 (36GB) for the OS and RAID 5 (72GB total) for the Database. Our database is small (1-2GB). I have read recomendations on having the log files on one disk set/partion and databases on the other. With the RAID 1 and 5 setup would it be advisable to have the Log files on the OS disk set but a separate partion?? and have the database on the raid 5. What kind of partions should I setup?? This server is also going to act as an Optical Jukebox controller and document imaging server. We are moving to a paperless system. This will be my first SQL server setup and I would like to have it configured correctly so it doesn't have to be done again in the future. (Right now our SQL server is a desktop pc that supports about 20 users) Also what is the best way to to copy over the databases, roles, etc. I am kinda of familiar with database copies with the GUI, (never saw SQL until 8 months ago, so I pretty much suck at T-SQL) but will that achive what I am trying to accomplish? Any recomendations thoughts etc. are without doubt appreciated! TIA
June 30, 2004 at 7:51 am
Alex,
there are several issued here. cost and good design.
i recommend the following
system drive -Mirrored (place Sql server system databases on this drive also)
data drive - Mirrored and striped (1+0) - this drive needs to read fast
transaction log - Mirrored and striped (1+0) - this drive needs to write fast - but you could use raid 5 with a write cache if transactions are small.
tempdb - raid 5 - place the temp database on a seperate drive.
backup drive- raid 5 or mirrored
i know there are a lot of disks here, but this is going towards best performance and recoverability.
i would also advise for all Mirrored drives, use 2 raid controllers rather than both channels of a single controller. if the raid controller dies you still have one half of the mirror working.
MVDBA
June 30, 2004 at 8:47 am
Michael thanks for the reply. We are a small company and my budget has also been limited because of the paperless system implementation. The server will only support 5 HD's so I am a little limited on what I can do. We have already purchased but not recieved the server. It will be set up with the RAID 1 (2-36GB HD) and RAID 5 (3-36GB HD). I wish I could have the optimal setup. Any suggestions on this configuration?
June 30, 2004 at 9:12 am
in that case (depending on the qty of data and the read/write ratio)
i'd place the data on the raid 5 and the T-logs on the raid 1
although beware, if you start performing large operations and your transaction log grows you may crash the server (unless you limit the T-log size)
have you also accounted for backup space??
you should proboably back up to the raid 1 disk and leave enough free space for all backups to complete - maintenance plans delete the existing backups AFTER a successfull backup.
MVDBA
June 30, 2004 at 9:29 am
Mike thanks for your time I am sure it is valuable. I will take note of that as I prepare for this setup. One more quick question if you don't mind, I am a one man show at my company and being new to SQL I have noticed that it is quite in-depth. There is too much to master all at once and I am spread kind of thin with all other IT Manager tasks. Are there any recommendations as far as literature or first steps to focus on to being a thorough, effective DBA. Thanks and have a good one.
July 1, 2004 at 2:55 am
I recommend the Osborne (mcGraw Hill) books, and also the microsoft press books, although they might be a bit heavy for beginners.
your most important areas for SQL server are understanding the backup and recovery methods and drawbacks, also security.
other than that SQL server can pretty much take care of itself whiles't you learn a bit more.
This site is great for finding problems and learning, although as valuable resources go, i always use micorosft.com, technet, msdn and SQL server books online (shipped with sql server)
MVDBA
July 1, 2004 at 3:11 am
Alex,
Would it be too late to change your server order slightly?
I would suggest buying 2 x 36Gb for the o/s & logs and 2 x 72GB for the database & document imaging storage.
The 2 x 72GB set up as Raid1 would give you the same available space as the 3 x 36GB Raid5, but would give you the benefit of Raid1 performance and a free drive bay in your server for future expansion.
You have not mentioned the make and model of server, but most servers that have hardware raid controllers are able to migrate from Raid1 to Raid5, which you could do when you needed to add an extra 72GB drive in the future if the Document Imaging storage requirement increases. This would double the capacity of the raid1 volume.
Andrew
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