ohmErnie
asked on
Windows Small Business Server R2 hardware configuratin recommendations
I am going to be seting up an SBS 2003 R2 server for a small company of 20-25 users and need some advice on hardware (harddrive) configurations.
My thoughts:
OS drive = RAID 1
Data = RAID 1 or 5
Should I create separate partions for the OS, AD db, Exchange DB, etc or can they all sit on C:\? What are your recommendations?
My thoughts:
OS drive = RAID 1
Data = RAID 1 or 5
Should I create separate partions for the OS, AD db, Exchange DB, etc or can they all sit on C:\? What are your recommendations?
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Depends on the usage of the server. What kind of access will it have? heavy utilization or "average" and "basic" e-mail and file sharing? If you need high performance, than you want to put the Exchange database on it's own RAID 1 or better still, it's own RAID 10. The C: drive I would just make RAID 1. The E-F drives I would setup probably as RAID 5. Strictly speaking, for an "average" server, one large hardware RAID 5 or RAID 10 partitioned in the OS would be fine.
ASKER
Would it be ok to create two partitions on the first RAID 1 for the OS and then for Exchange? I am trying to figure out how to configure the server without more than 6 drives.
That would be fine... BUT, how large is the physical disk you're using? The C: drive does not need to be very big if you configure the server properly (12-16 GB should be fine). But Exchange should be big to support growth - and e-mail growth can occur faster than you think it will.
As I said, Depends on the usage of the server. Part of the reason to get it off the C: drive is to get if off the same spindles. This way Exchange isn't contenting for disk time with the operating system. BUT, in a light-to-low-moderate use server, this won't generally be an issue.
As I said, Depends on the usage of the server. Part of the reason to get it off the C: drive is to get if off the same spindles. This way Exchange isn't contenting for disk time with the operating system. BUT, in a light-to-low-moderate use server, this won't generally be an issue.
ASKER