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Ideal RAID configuration

Hi all,

What is the ideal RAID configuration for a server that will work as domain controller, web server and file sharing. Thr server will serve 10-15 users.

Thank you

Sajid Shaik M

raid 5 is best.. for small users... if u have only 3 hdd's here u have 1 parity disk.. (if 1 fails your server is still alive)

if u have 4 HDD's u can choose Raid 6 (here u have 2 parity disks.. (if 2 fails your server is still alive)

or(if u have 4 HDD's) if u need more speed and performance go for Raid 10 (it's a combination of Raid 1+0 here u have 2 fail over disks.. and it's faster in performance comparing to raid 5 & 6

NVIT

If you decide on larger capacity drives, they take longer to rebuild. For those, I'd probably lean towards RAID10.

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rindi

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VB ITS

Seeing as this will be a pretty crucial server I would go with RAID10 if funds permit. Otherwise RAID5 would be the next best option. I am trying to avoid recommending RAID5 these days though as rebuilds get risky as mentioned by rindi above.

phil435

Are you trying to spec a server or do you already have the server with the drives and need to know what raid level? If you already have the drives what is the number of drives, size, and speed? DC's are typically low IO requirements especially with 10-15 users.

I would stay away as mentioned above from raid-5 as its not recommend anymore by most manufacturers.

Glenn M

RAID 5 is the worst performer. For small business applications like this we always suggest two arrays. A RAID 1 boot array with a pair of fast drives (SAS 15K) for the OS, then a RAID 10 data array for everything else (10K SAS drives are usually fine here).

Stay away from SATA drives as they are dogs in terms of performance even for a small network of 10-15 users.

rindi

One thing you should consider is to virtualize your servers, and good practice also calls for you to use separate server installations for your tasks (the DC should only be a DC, The file server should also be separate, and the web-server, if it is meant as a public web-server, should be on a separate LAN in a DMZ anyway).

goldenstar

ASKER

Thanks all for sharing your ideas. Really appreciate it

Sajid Shaik M

Mr. Rindi is right but when u have 3 HDD's and u need maximum of space with redundant feature.. the raid 5 i'll prefer...

best regards