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Dell PowerEdge T320 Configuration Issues

Just taken delivery of a Dell PowerEdge T320 server. Server was purchased with
Small Business Server 2011 preinstalled. It is actually the first Dell I have ever purchased. Just switched it on today and it starts to the clean install part of the process.

Chose clean install, configured server name etc and after a while is now installed.
Had a look in my computer and noticed an OS partition of 120GB and a
Datapart1 partition of the balance of the rest of 1TB Drive.
The server has 2X 1TB SAS hard drives and a PERC 310 raid controller

What I would like to know is, if this is an optimum configuration and should
it be ok. If not what are the options. Also is the Raid (1) already configured and if not what do I need to do. I am assuming there should also be some sort of Raid utilty to check on the health of the drives etc, will this be on the supplied Dell disks. As I say I am unfamiliar with Dell so am learning as I go along.

Thanks

guswebb

RAID 1 is already configured if you only see a max of 1TB (or more like 930GB total drive capacity). As you only have 2 disks, this configuration is just fine, however it's not ideal to be loading your OS on the same physical disk/mirrored disks as vast quantities of data that you might want to serve to network clients, so you may want to think about plugging in additional storage for any file/network storage and leave your RAID 1 disk for the OS and core services (e.g. WSUS, Symantec Endpoint Manager etc.) only.

You should have a Dell Raid utility already installed allowing you to perform certain tasks from within Windows. Is there nothing there under Programs/Dell?

You can also boot in to the PERC controller to administer the RAID array pre Windows loading.

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Dirk Mare

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duttcom

I run all Dell servers - nothing you have mentioned sounds out of the ordinary. Keep the 120GB partition just for the OS and use the other for your files. Use the server admin software that comes preinstalled as suggested above.

I have never needed to do very much to any of my Dell PERC RAIDs as they are very reliable.

floyd197

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Doesn't appear to be any Dell management software loaded. Had a look on the Dell
downloads website, but I am unsure of which version to choose.

floyd197

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Have download the correct software (I think) is it just the setup file I need

floyd197

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Any one know which I need to install it?

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Dirk Mare

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