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RAID Configuration for 2003 Server

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3 replies

by dnh

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I'm looking for suggestions for a RAID 5 configuration. The server contains 4 SCSI 36GB hard drives and it will be running Windows Server 2003 Std Edition. It will perform the following roles:
- Domain controller: AD, DNS, DHCP
- File server
- Application server (minimal)

This server will have approximately 60 clients connected to it.

Should I use all 4 drives for the RAID 5 configuration or could I install the OS on the first drive and use the other 3 drives for the RAID 5. What would be the best configuration with the 4 drives?

Thanks for any help!

3 replies

by adrianmrutter

You have to consider a few things.

1. Stick with your suggestion, 1 disk OS, RAID 5 for data, but this will not give you any resilience on your OS disk. If this disk fails then you are up the creek without a paddle.

2. RAID 5 the lot. This will offer full resilience, and if a disk fails, then the system won't go down. You can then partition for performance. C: = OS, D: = Page File (2.5 x memory) (Formatted for 2Kb pages), E: = Applications, F: = Data

3. RAID 0+1 so you have only 2 disks available for data This will allow you performance and resilience, but you do forfeit disk space.

by dnh

I understand the page file partition but I don't understand how you format it for 2Kb pages. Can you explain how this is done?

by dnh

If I create partitions across this RAID 5, should they be Primary or Extended partitions? I know on a Basic disk you can have up to 4 partitions which I have but wasn't sure if primary or extended would matter.

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