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Richard

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new SMB server. Configure SSDs with Raid 1?? Also Query Raid controller type

I am configuring a small server for my small six person business.
Current data stored is about 150 gb stored across two HDDs in a Raid 1 config.
ie not much but critical.

Very slow at moment and Server needs updating anyway as seven years old and extra memory not available any more.

Opinion seems to be that SSDs would be fine for my purpose.

So do I have 2 separate SSDs for OS and two more for Data.
In a Raid 1 config?

Would M2 for any of this (NMVe) work? Thinking of Samsung Enterprise type

Would I need Raid 1 controller or would software Raid be enough.

Thanks.

richard
Avatar of Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)
Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)
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Use a Storage Controller.

You can separate OS and Data onto separate "spindles"
Would M2 for any of this (NMVe) work?
if that is 7 years old, likely not supported

Would I need Raid 1 controller or would software Raid be enough.

please don't use software raid
as andrew said, get a physical controller to take care of the arrays; 1 for the OS, 1 for data
4 total physical drives would be sufficient
You would put your two SSD into a RAID 1 using a hardware RAID controller, and then partition the array during OS setup into C for OS and leave space for D for data.

Using four SDD is silly. I have servers much larger than yours with 2 SSD.
@kevin I disagree with your approach and endorse seth's and andrew's approach. I encourage using separate physical drives for OS and DATA  Also when setting up the system do not accept the defaults to have data in c:\program files  put it on d:\somepath
This simple change reduced the system center install database creation time from hours to minutes.
@kevin I disagree with your approach and endorse seth's and andrew's approach. I encourage using separate physical drives for OS and DATA  Also when setting up the system do not accept the defaults to have data in c:\program files  put it on d:\somepath
This simple change reduced the system center install database creation time from hours to minutes.
This is for a small 6 person business, where the server is likely a file server and possibly a domain controller. I see no reason to dedicate drives to an OS. My branch severs currently have two 1.92 or 3.84 TB SATA SSD in RAID 1. No reason to add two more drives just to boot an OS. What's the purpose? More drives, more cost, same nominal performance. Back when I started with SSD they were 800 GB drives. Still only two driver per server, until many years later I needed more capacity and I added in another two SSD drives that I pulled from another server. 
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Richard

ASKER

Thanks Guys

I am tending towards two NVMe drives for OS (raid 1) and two more drives for data and other (also raid one)

With Raid Controller hardware.
Money not a huge consdieration.

What should be the non OS data drives, SSD SATA ? Can other non OS programs go on there?



Depends how much speed and performance you want for the data.
So new server 16GB RAM (at least)
2 * SSD
Do NOT use the on-motherboard RAID controller (or FakeRAID as it is known) use a separate controller that supports SSD's
RAID controllers that support NVMe are not common. 
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ASKER

Hi

Gerald and Kevin think only two SSDs supported by Raid Controller. I daresay this works OK and safely.
David and Seth think four.
Cost is not really an issue.
Separating the OS sounds like it makes sense.

How do I decide this? If costs is not an issue what could be other issues.

How do I decide this? If costs is not an issue what could be other issues.

There are no other issues, other than cost.

There you go, you have your third vote!

Decided!!!!

What is more important is to find the correct Storage controller which supports SSD correctly.

Is this a branded server, or just some hocky cokey 9000 - workstation!? and you may want to start thinking about virtualisation, and a larger host for this, and virtual machines.

Are you replacing the server, or just adding storage controller and disks ? If it's seven years old - it's scrap, and you've had you usage and time to invest and purchase a new server with 3 year support. (if this data is critical to the business)
I was also going to bring up virtualization. You really should give it strong consideration.

I only suggested that more than 2 drives wasn't at all necessary, not that it wasn't possible.

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ASKER

Andrew, what do you mean by a storage Controller?

Is that a hardware Raid Controller?

What would be a tip for the best Raid hardware for a small six perosn business.

Also confused about battery backup. Is that UPC as I have one of those for the server.?

Storage Controller = RAID controller = RAID card = something to connect to your disks.

Battery Backup is a small module on the Storage Controller, as well as a UPS for the server.

What is the make and model of your server ?
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HI Andrew

I would replace my 7 year old Fujitsu server with a new one (as would be on home ground)

Fujitsu TX 1330 M4
and have a Raid 1 array of two SSDs (say 250 gb each) for OS and two larger SSDs (for the data/other programs say 1000gb each.). Probably Samsung Pro SATA.

Richard
So you need to purchase a new server with a RAID Controller, based on vendor recommendations.

e.g. purchase it with then new build.
You ought to use enterprise SSD. The reason is that enterprise SSD include power loss protection. This is like a mini UPS for the SSD which allows the drive to flush its DRSM to persistent NAND in case of power loss to the system. Without it, loss of power to the system can corrupt the drive.
you cannot use a regular raid controller with NVMe drives and what is sold for NVMe makes it idiotically much slower. i do not second in any way the fact a software raid is less good than hardware. it is arguably much better in that case : faster, makes it easy to move drives around, next to zero toll, one less SPOF, ... also note that most SATA and all SAS controllers feature builtin RAID1 without requiring an external raid card.

i believe SATA, or maybe SAS drives would be more than enough in your case, but pick NVMe if you want even more speed.

separating the data from the OS is hardly useful with SSDs, given your use case. i mean you obviously need separate partitions but not physical drives. just make sure you throw in enough RAM.

i would second the power loss protection in some cases but that depends on the criticity of loosing one split second worth of unacknowleged data. in your case, there might not be much of a point.

... and if the data is critical, do not forget incremental frequent backups. drives die much more often than a machine/office catches fire or gets hit by a meteorite. it happens nevertheless. not to mention voluntary destruction, viruses, ...

also do not forget that whatever you choose, the network will very likely become a limiting factor. it might even already be the case so some analysis of the current situation might be useful. think in terms of latency at first rather than I/O or bandwidth.
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Ask a question to 12 - IT Experts, and you'll get 13 different Answers!

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I fully understand that none of the posts were helpful, and you could not select them as an answer to your question, based on the comments on your last post.

That's fine.

BUT, I'm sure Experts would be more than willing to comment/feedback on what your vendor recommends if you come back with the specification, if you would like feedback and comments, and critique on the recommended server!