Configuration of servers for sql server
We currently have a SAN with a combination of SATA drives and fast fibre channel disks. We have 4 host 2950 servers as hosts for virtual servers using vmware.
Our SQL servers are having performance issues and i wondered how people would configure their SQL servers. We have a combination of heavy read and heavy write databases.
I have read you should not virtualize your SQL servers and other documents that you should.
What configuration should I use and should they be virtual or physical (my boss has decided that RAID 10 is not needed and RAID 5 is adequate because we are only a college)
Our SQL servers are having performance issues and i wondered how people would configure their SQL servers. We have a combination of heavy read and heavy write databases.
I have read you should not virtualize your SQL servers and other documents that you should.
What configuration should I use and should they be virtual or physical (my boss has decided that RAID 10 is not needed and RAID 5 is adequate because we are only a college)
I would install Windows on two of the servers and cluster them. I have always found SQL performs better when installed Natively than when installed as virtual servers. You can use VMWare for your test/DR environment on the other servers.
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at the moment I have no control over the way the SAN is configured. It has two Raid 5 volumes one I am using for data and one I am using for logs with the temp and OS going on a raid 1 drive.
I have been looking at some of the dell MD3200 storage devices with 2 or 3 servers in a cluster at the front end. Can anyone give any suggestions as to configuration or alternatives.
My company do not want to spend alot, see RAID 5 being ok, but we are getting speed issues with some of our database applications and time outs
I have been looking at some of the dell MD3200 storage devices with 2 or 3 servers in a cluster at the front end. Can anyone give any suggestions as to configuration or alternatives.
My company do not want to spend alot, see RAID 5 being ok, but we are getting speed issues with some of our database applications and time outs
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Since SQL Server does 64KB I/Os, you better make sure your RAID is configured for optimum IOPs using 64KB I/O size. Chances are that it is not.
You should really be using RAID1 for I/O intensive, and write intensive things like journals, temporary/scratch data space and log files. Perhaps your boss will let you do that. If not, maybe buy a small SSD? For a few hundred bucks you can get a SSD that can maintain 20-30,000 RANDOM I/Os per second. Use that for scratch table space and your performance problems may be a thing of the past.