fireguy1125
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Recommended Specs for 2008 R2 Domain Controller
Need suggestions for specs for new Dell Domain Controller (we are complete Dell shop)
Single Forest Domain, currently 2003, trust with NT4 domain. 600 users, approx 350 workstation. Replication with 8 domain controllers at remote sites all 2003, eventually will be upgraded to 2008. Also handles, DHCP, DNS, has all FSMO roles.
What is recommended RAID setup for hard drives? RAID1 or RAID5?
Recommended size of HD? How many partitions? Seperate partition for paging file? How large?
How much memory recommended?
Type of Memory UDIMM/RDIMM Single or Dual ranked?
How many processors/cores/speed?
Anything else?
Single Forest Domain, currently 2003, trust with NT4 domain. 600 users, approx 350 workstation. Replication with 8 domain controllers at remote sites all 2003, eventually will be upgraded to 2008. Also handles, DHCP, DNS, has all FSMO roles.
What is recommended RAID setup for hard drives? RAID1 or RAID5?
Recommended size of HD? How many partitions? Seperate partition for paging file? How large?
How much memory recommended?
Type of Memory UDIMM/RDIMM Single or Dual ranked?
How many processors/cores/speed?
Anything else?
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you could install server 2008 in CORE mode, so it would use 30% less drive space and use alot less resources.. granted it is harder to install due to it being console based... but could help you here?
http://stevenharman.net/blog/archive/2007/01/26/VPN_Connections_and_Default_Gateways.aspx
http://stevenharman.net/blog/archive/2007/01/26/VPN_Connections_and_Default_Gateways.aspx
doh, wrong link sorry.. :
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753802(WS.10).aspx
was trying to help another person with vpn.. :)
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753802(WS.10).aspx
was trying to help another person with vpn.. :)
ASKER
no, definitely will have to be GUI
The key here is to try and make sure to have enough memory to cache your AD. Check the size of NTDS.dit but as Krzy stated 4 Gb is probably going to be good for your size environment.
See this similar question I was a part of over on the TechNet forms http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverDS/thread/bf2c9d83-6dc2-4f0a-9bfd-ca9a55202ecb
Thanks
Mike
See this similar question I was a part of over on the TechNet forms http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverDS/thread/bf2c9d83-6dc2-4f0a-9bfd-ca9a55202ecb
Thanks
Mike
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Forgot to add, also currently 2003 exchange in our environment (not on the server), and eventually upgrading to 2010 exchange (again, not on the server in discussion), but in the environment, assuming that would add quite a bit to overhead for AD??
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it would add overhead more on the exchange server as that server would be the GC so really not ALOT. but some, i would say putting 8gb + ram would suffice considernig how cheap ram is these days :)
plus even if its not enough ram you could add more down the track.
CPU wise, you may want to think about 2x quad cores, if that is within budget. just simply because more is better.
plus even if its not enough ram you could add more down the track.
CPU wise, you may want to think about 2x quad cores, if that is within budget. just simply because more is better.
just another thing, the more ram you put in, the more space you require due to paging files etc. just a fyi~
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Sata drive expecially for file servers are not very fast nor reliable.
SAS + as sata is only 7200 rpm, regardless of the link speed is slow. specially if you have 200+ users using it. my 2c on sata drives D:
SAS + as sata is only 7200 rpm, regardless of the link speed is slow. specially if you have 200+ users using it. my 2c on sata drives D:
ASKER
-Don't have money to burn, gotta be as tight as possible but be able to expand/upgrade easily-which can do with memory, but drive config i want to get right the first time
We have typically used raid5 in all our server configs, and like that if one drive fails it buys us some time to get another popped in, and rebuild.
In regards to partitioning, i would be ok with say, raid 1, split into 3 partitions? -basing size on ntds.dit (which by the way, how much growth will there be if it is 2003 now, and what it will be on 2008?)
Is there a significant difference in terms of having the system only on raid 1, and the other 2 partitions on the raid 5?
No significant data store on this machine, we will have separate VM file server for that.
We have typically used raid5 in all our server configs, and like that if one drive fails it buys us some time to get another popped in, and rebuild.
In regards to partitioning, i would be ok with say, raid 1, split into 3 partitions? -basing size on ntds.dit (which by the way, how much growth will there be if it is 2003 now, and what it will be on 2008?)
Is there a significant difference in terms of having the system only on raid 1, and the other 2 partitions on the raid 5?
No significant data store on this machine, we will have separate VM file server for that.
RAID 1 is better than RAID 5 in terms of write performance, usually just about as good for read performance, and much better performance if you lose a drive. You also don't need an expensive controller and it is cheaper because you only need 2 drives instead of 3+. Oh yeah, we are talking a domain controller so disk performance isn't important to begin with.
As far as disks and partitioning goes you can get two 250 or 500 GB drives and make the C partition 60 GB and leave the rest for D. I think that my 2008 DCs are using less than 20 GB on the C drive and I always leave all AD databases in the default location. Why make it more complicated than it has to be? Also remember that since you have another 8 DCs that this one isn't particularly important. You can always configure the routers to also point to remote DHCP servers and DNS servers. Since it sounds like you are already virtualizing you can add another DC in a VM in case you have an Exchange server on site. In fact, if you are confident in your WAN you could even forego a physical DC on site and just have 1 or 2 virtual DCs which would save you on the hardware costs.
As far as disks and partitioning goes you can get two 250 or 500 GB drives and make the C partition 60 GB and leave the rest for D. I think that my 2008 DCs are using less than 20 GB on the C drive and I always leave all AD databases in the default location. Why make it more complicated than it has to be? Also remember that since you have another 8 DCs that this one isn't particularly important. You can always configure the routers to also point to remote DHCP servers and DNS servers. Since it sounds like you are already virtualizing you can add another DC in a VM in case you have an Exchange server on site. In fact, if you are confident in your WAN you could even forego a physical DC on site and just have 1 or 2 virtual DCs which would save you on the hardware costs.
ASKER
How much space do ad database and logs take up that i would need 300GB?? sounds excessive.
Is there a benefit of having the AD database and logs on seperate drives and on a RAID 5, over just keeping it on the same RAID-1 array as the system partition?