pick [H]'s brains for RAID configuration

H

hotcrandel

Gawd
Joined
Feb 26, 2010
Messages
781
Greetings.

I have a new server, 16x1TB disk, rack mount server for the backups.

This server is the backup sever, and a colo, so I'm trying to make it reliable, and tolerate a disk failure without me having to drive out there right away. The server will have Windows Server 2008 R2 on it.

It uses an LSI 8704EM2 with SAS expander, that supports RAID 0/1/5/6/10/50/60

My initial thoughts for how it is to be configured as follows;

2x1TB in RAID1 (50GB OS, ~8XX GB VSS)
13x1TB in RAID6 (~11TB useable for data storage)
1x1TB hot spare.

My question to [H] is does that make sense? Other suggestions?
 
This makes sense. What kind of enclosure is this going into? Hotswap drives (so you wont have to take the box down to work on it easily)? Redundant power and cooling? How far is the colo from you?
 
mwroobel said:
This makes sense. What kind of enclosure is this going into? Hotswap drives (so you wont have to take the box down to work on it easily)? Redundant power and cooling? How far is the colo from you?
Click to expand...

Yeah, hot swap super micro / acme micro. Just realized it kinda looks like I could have added a third hot-swap power supply. Colo is a few miles away, but I bicycle to work 99% of the time, and if it throws a drive I'd rather it automatically rebuild

1 Acme AG-316EF 3U storage server Opteron 6200 Socket G34 16*SAS RAID included SY-AC-AG316EF $1458.00 $1458.00
4 2GB DDR3 PC3-12800 240-pin DIMM DDR3-1600 Registered ECC Single-Rank 1.35V Brand Name DR3-2G-R12800E2S$38.60 $154.40
16 1TB Hitachi 0A39289 - SATA HDD 1TB Ultrastar A7K2000 Enterprise SATA2 3.0GB/s 7200rpm 32MB 3.5-in BulkHD-HI-0A39289 $119.99 $1919.84
1 LG GT60N Slim SATA 8X Super Multi DVDRW, Black, Bulk OD-LG-GT60N $35.00 $35.00
1 AMD Opteron 6212 Processor OS6212WKT8GGU 4-Way 8-Core Socket G34 2.6GHz 6.4GT/s 16MB 32nm 115W TrayCP-AD-OP6212T $292.00 $292.00
1 Acme 700W Power Module for JB316 redundant PS-AC-700MJB $139.00 $139.00
1 Labor assemble and test a system Class B LABOR-B $50.00 $50.00

Total Amount: $4180.24
 
A couple of things: Acme is just reselling you some SuperMicro gear, so if you are putting this together yoursefl you might find it cheaper elsewhere as components. Second, they are just speccing out 8GB RAM for this box, 16 (or even 32) is not much more money so go with that for a Windows box. Are you going Opteron vs Xeon for any particular reason? Are you going with 1TB drives (as opposed to fewer 2TB or 3TB drives) for any particular reason? Would give you 200% the storage (with 2TB drives) now for about 22% more dollars.
 
I've already got the machine on hand.
I know Acme resells SM, but I have had pretty good luck with servers from them.

This is for work, not for home, and for a small-mid-size business (~125 people).
My time is valuable enough and my relationship with Acmemicro is great, so they can have the business of assembling the machine. Their prices are fairly competitive as well.

My server room is currently standardized on 1TB hitachi ultrastars, though I am getting close to start making the leap as I am getting more budget to buy stuff like Lefthand P4000 units.

As for the price, 2TB hitachi ultrastars are ~ $245, and 1TB ultrastars are $120. Better yet, the ultrastars are the older "A7K2000" (SATA II) drives, which seem to have better reviews than newer "A7K3000" (SATA III)

You might say "Use deskstars", and I'm sure they would work fine, but the backup is one of your most important servers, and the off-site backup is equally important.
I've had great luck with ultrastars and am willing to pay the difference, because I know they would work in every server with every RAID card I have, and better yet,
I have these style disks on hand in case of disk failures.

I went opteron because its the least expensive server available immediately with 16x 3.5" hot-swap, and since its for disk-to-disk backups, this doesn't have to do much CPU, and it had onboard intel NIC's.

Thanks for the feedback about the RAID config, I'm going with it exactly as described.
 
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No, I would never tell you to use deskstar over ultrastar. I would suggest using the larger drives to cut cooling and power needs, and to increase your available storage density.
 
I understand what you're saying now, populate only half of the drive bays.

I suppose I would lose a little more data to parity running 8x2TB vs 16x1TB, but have bays to expand into.

I'll take that into consideration for future projects.
 
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