7.2k NL SAS vs SSD for File Server or Sql server
I am setting up a new Dell PE R930 and need some guidance on which config is best when setting up a Hyper-V host and two VMs. One is a highly used file server and the other will be a Sql server with a document management solution. Here is the config I am thinking of and please let me know if the I/O would seem poor and if I could change my drives based on best practices.
Hyper-V Host: 2012R2 with 2 X 300GB 15k sas drives (raid 1) and one 300GB drive for Hot spare
VM1: 2012R2 and Sql 2014 with 2 X 400GB SSD drives (raid 1) for the OS plus hot spare ; 2 X 300GB 15K sas drives (raid 1) for translogs plus hot spare ; 3 X 1TB 7.2K 12gbps NL SAS drives (raid 6 is better than 5 right?) for databases and disk storage
VM2: 2012R2 with 2 X 400GB SSD drives (raid 1) for File Server OS plus hot spare ; 3 X 800GB SSD drives (raid 6?) for data accessed often plus hot spare
drives remaining for use or not to use: 2 X 300GB 15k SAS drives ; 1 X 600GB 15K SAS ; 1 X 240GB 7.2K sata
I have not set this server up yet and wonder if it's better to use the 1TB 7.2K NL SAS drives on the file server and use the 800GB SSD drives for sql? Will there be performance issues on the SQL server since I want to put my translogs on the 300GB 15K drives and the OS will be using 400GB SSDs and Databases may be on the 1 TB 7.2K drives? I have also read about raid5 being a bad option due to rebuild time and problems. I am open to moving and mixing as best as possible but what are your expert thoughts on best practices for the config based on only this info? Thanks in advance as this is time sensitive as well. Have a great one!!
Hyper-V Host: 2012R2 with 2 X 300GB 15k sas drives (raid 1) and one 300GB drive for Hot spare
VM1: 2012R2 and Sql 2014 with 2 X 400GB SSD drives (raid 1) for the OS plus hot spare ; 2 X 300GB 15K sas drives (raid 1) for translogs plus hot spare ; 3 X 1TB 7.2K 12gbps NL SAS drives (raid 6 is better than 5 right?) for databases and disk storage
VM2: 2012R2 with 2 X 400GB SSD drives (raid 1) for File Server OS plus hot spare ; 3 X 800GB SSD drives (raid 6?) for data accessed often plus hot spare
drives remaining for use or not to use: 2 X 300GB 15k SAS drives ; 1 X 600GB 15K SAS ; 1 X 240GB 7.2K sata
I have not set this server up yet and wonder if it's better to use the 1TB 7.2K NL SAS drives on the file server and use the 800GB SSD drives for sql? Will there be performance issues on the SQL server since I want to put my translogs on the 300GB 15K drives and the OS will be using 400GB SSDs and Databases may be on the 1 TB 7.2K drives? I have also read about raid5 being a bad option due to rebuild time and problems. I am open to moving and mixing as best as possible but what are your expert thoughts on best practices for the config based on only this info? Thanks in advance as this is time sensitive as well. Have a great one!!
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Thanks for the suggestions gentlemen. Perhaps I should have stated that I do already own this equipment. The server is beefed up because we plan to do some growing. Can you provide any suggestions with what I included in my first post. This is the equipment I own and won't be getting any more for a little while. Thanks for any info you can help with. The sql server will be accessible from outside our dmz for our application but shouldn't have a very large database and may be storing some archived docs.
ASKER
Another bit of info-sorry-is that the current file server has about 800GB of data on it that are accessed often by multiple branches in different regions. Thanks.
It's just not worth the complication to setup and the complication to grow to have it all split up. Unless you ha e over 4tb of file shares, just go all SSD.
That's a small file server. Definitely put everything on SSD.
Do you already have the Windows licensing? The R930 is going to be expensive to license if it is fully populated with CPU.
To give you an idea of how much CPU power the R930 has, your single R930 has as much CPU power as my entire R730 3 node cluster when one node is offline, and my cluster has over 100 active VMs, including two Exchange servers, a multi TB file server, a document archive with millions of files, Web servers, etc. I bet a single R730 has enough CPU to run everything. I was using three R710 hosts just a few months ago.
Do you already have the Windows licensing? The R930 is going to be expensive to license if it is fully populated with CPU.
To give you an idea of how much CPU power the R930 has, your single R930 has as much CPU power as my entire R730 3 node cluster when one node is offline, and my cluster has over 100 active VMs, including two Exchange servers, a multi TB file server, a document archive with millions of files, Web servers, etc. I bet a single R730 has enough CPU to run everything. I was using three R710 hosts just a few months ago.
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Thanks. Great suggestions from everyone! I appreciate it! I don't want to set this up improperly and sacrifice efficiency by over provisioning like you state. Unfortunatley I only have these drives to work with right now. Considering suggestions for all SSD I am thinking of the following drives that I own. Please let me know your thoughts on this and what you would change.
Hyper-V Host on 2 X 240GB SSD Raid 1
Remaining drives: 5 X 400GB SSD and 4 X 800GB SSD on whatever your suggested config is to allow for sql server and file server. I will do my best to only use the processor cores that are needed. If you think the spindle drives I own should be used for any reason let me know. I may have over provisioned because I read that it was a good idea to have separate volumes for transaction logs and databases. I also had someone try to convince me of ramdisk as well but I just need the simplest config with what I have considered. Thanks again everyone
Hyper-V Host on 2 X 240GB SSD Raid 1
Remaining drives: 5 X 400GB SSD and 4 X 800GB SSD on whatever your suggested config is to allow for sql server and file server. I will do my best to only use the processor cores that are needed. If you think the spindle drives I own should be used for any reason let me know. I may have over provisioned because I read that it was a good idea to have separate volumes for transaction logs and databases. I also had someone try to convince me of ramdisk as well but I just need the simplest config with what I have considered. Thanks again everyone
I wouldn't dedicate SSD the 240 GB to the host. Either use them for VMs, share the existing SSD space with the hypervisor install, or put them in your laptop/desktop. Hypervisor can go on 7.2k SATA disk.
What are your maintenance Windows like? SATA disk for hypervisor will mean that patching the hypervisor will take longer, and that is possibly a consideration for faster storage. Otherwise it's a waste.
With SSD, separate physical disks for database and transaction logs is meaningless unless you are looking to need hundreds of thousands of IOPS.
SSD has pretty much eliminated RAM disks, and as you ad RAM to SQL server it will use that to cache your database anyway.
What are your maintenance Windows like? SATA disk for hypervisor will mean that patching the hypervisor will take longer, and that is possibly a consideration for faster storage. Otherwise it's a waste.
With SSD, separate physical disks for database and transaction logs is meaningless unless you are looking to need hundreds of thousands of IOPS.
SSD has pretty much eliminated RAM disks, and as you ad RAM to SQL server it will use that to cache your database anyway.
What make/model are the SSDs?
The following is an important consideration for SSDs in server storage:
TechNet: Don’t do it: consumer-grade solid-state drives (SSD) in Storage Spaces Direct
Basically, consumer grade SSDs do not belong anywhere near server systems.
The following is an important consideration for SSDs in server storage:
TechNet: Don’t do it: consumer-grade solid-state drives (SSD) in Storage Spaces Direct
Basically, consumer grade SSDs do not belong anywhere near server systems.
ASKER
The SSDs are as follows: The 240GB are Intel DC S3500 ; 400GB are Intel DC S3700 ; 800GB are Intel DC S3610
Would be ideal if they were the same but unfortunately not and I believe some are more read intensive but...
Perhaps this?
Hyper-V Host on 2 X 300GB SAS 15k drives plus a hot spare
VM1: Raid 5 (3 X 400GB SSD) for sql server and all it's data plus a hot spare OR Raid 1 (2 X 240GB SSD) for sql (no hot spare yet)
VM2: Raid 5 (4 X 800GB SSD) for file server and all it's data (no hot spare yet)
Again, thanks!
Would be ideal if they were the same but unfortunately not and I believe some are more read intensive but...
Perhaps this?
Hyper-V Host on 2 X 300GB SAS 15k drives plus a hot spare
VM1: Raid 5 (3 X 400GB SSD) for sql server and all it's data plus a hot spare OR Raid 1 (2 X 240GB SSD) for sql (no hot spare yet)
VM2: Raid 5 (4 X 800GB SSD) for file server and all it's data (no hot spare yet)
Again, thanks!
Those are all enterprise SSD, as the model number goes up you get more write performance and longevity. 3500 .3 dwpd (drive writes per day) 3600 3dwpd, 3700 10dwpd.
ASKER
thanks!
We set up all cluster nodes with 120GB Intel 3500 or 3100 series SSDs in RAID 1 for the host OS. That's our go-to.
The Intel R2224WTTYSR 2U has two 2.5" drive bays at the back, as does the Dell R730xd and others, for the host OS RAID 1 drive set. We use SSDs in there too. The front 24 drive bays get the production workload drive set.
The Intel R2224WTTYSR 2U has two 2.5" drive bays at the back, as does the Dell R730xd and others, for the host OS RAID 1 drive set. We use SSDs in there too. The front 24 drive bays get the production workload drive set.
For the hyperv OS, Dell has little 2x200gb ssd raid1.