I need to build a couple of physical servers to run MS SQL databases for eDiscovery software. I was thinking about using Windows Server 2012 R2 with the tiered storage pools to take advantage of SSD caching. I was curious if anyone has done this for SQL and has any recommendations.
I was thinking of using four 400-480 GB SSDs and eight 900 GB SAS to create the storage pool with an additional SSD and HD as a hot spare.
For the SSDs I started looking at the Samsung 845DC EVO for a decent price vs performance. The I noticed that the TBW is only 300 TB, which seems a bit low especially compared to Crucial's Micron M500DC which has a TBW of 1.9 TB. As far as price, I believe both the Samsung and Crucial are around the same price. Besides the TBW number, I have always been a bigger fan of Samsung over Crucial and I also noticed that Crucial sets aside 42% of the NAND for over-provisioning and RAIN.
Then I was also looking at the Intel DC S3700 which I don't see an exact TBW, but the lifetime endurance is "Up to 10 Drive Writes Per Day" on the 400 GB SSD. Not sure the length of time that is over, but even at 1 year that would be 1.5 PB. But the Intel is a bit more expensive.
So I am not sure what would be the best SSD to choose.
For the SAS drives I was thinking of going with the Hitachi Ultrastar C10K900 900GB 10000 RPM 64MB Cache SAS 6Gb/s 2.5" drives.
Since RAID is handled in Windows, I would simply go with an HBA.
So far does any of this even sound like a good idea?
I was thinking of using four 400-480 GB SSDs and eight 900 GB SAS to create the storage pool with an additional SSD and HD as a hot spare.
For the SSDs I started looking at the Samsung 845DC EVO for a decent price vs performance. The I noticed that the TBW is only 300 TB, which seems a bit low especially compared to Crucial's Micron M500DC which has a TBW of 1.9 TB. As far as price, I believe both the Samsung and Crucial are around the same price. Besides the TBW number, I have always been a bigger fan of Samsung over Crucial and I also noticed that Crucial sets aside 42% of the NAND for over-provisioning and RAIN.
Then I was also looking at the Intel DC S3700 which I don't see an exact TBW, but the lifetime endurance is "Up to 10 Drive Writes Per Day" on the 400 GB SSD. Not sure the length of time that is over, but even at 1 year that would be 1.5 PB. But the Intel is a bit more expensive.
So I am not sure what would be the best SSD to choose.
For the SAS drives I was thinking of going with the Hitachi Ultrastar C10K900 900GB 10000 RPM 64MB Cache SAS 6Gb/s 2.5" drives.
Since RAID is handled in Windows, I would simply go with an HBA.
So far does any of this even sound like a good idea?