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Windows Server Forum / Exchange Server / Design / May 2005

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RAID Config for New Exchange 2003 Box

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Dave Leonardi - 29 May 2005 00:54 GMT
Good Afternoon,

   I had a question regarding what type of Raid Configuration is most
likely the best to use with an exchange 2003 Server.
I was told a Raid 0+1 is the most practical, but I am unaware how to layout
the disk design. I was wondering if someone can assist with a solution and
how would I set up the array. I know I'm going to use smaller, faster 15K
SCSI drives possibly 36Gb. I want to setup the disk storage to the best
configuration for performance.Thank you.

Brand New DELL PE Server Specs:

Exchange Server 2003
Win3K Server Enterprise Box
4GB Ram
Unknown Hard Drives, Possibly Six 36GB Drives

OS will be mirrored
Transaction logs will be on their own disks
Information store will be on their own disks

Information Store is currently about 2-3 GB with minimal growth in future
200-250 End Users
David Strome - 29 May 2005 05:05 GMT
hi Dave.

I wouldn't recommend RAID 0+1 for your implementation. A simple RAID5 setup
will do just fine. The performance increase in using RAID 0+1 will be
negligible. The fault tolerance is not an improvement over RAID5. It's far
more expensive to implement.

I implement Exchange servers in environments similar to yours as:

mirror OS (controller 0)
seperate mirror Logs (controller 0)
RAID5 stores (controller 1) minimum four drives, preferably 5 or 6 just to
spread the operations across more spindles.
either a global hot spare and/or a good support contract (I use Gold support
4x7x24 with Dell)

That's my ideal config anyways. If money is short, combine the OS and logs,
but still keep the stores on their own RAID5.  A PE4600 with a split
backplane and drive cage will allow that config. You might have to go to a
PE2600 with a PV220 to do the config above.

> Good Afternoon,
>
[quoted text clipped - 19 lines]
> Information Store is currently about 2-3 GB with minimal growth in future
> 200-250 End Users
Dave Leonardi - 29 May 2005 14:17 GMT
Thanks Dave I greatly appreciate it. I will highly consider your layout and
propose it  to my Network Engineer. Thanks again for your advice.

Dave Leonardi

> hi Dave.
>
[quoted text clipped - 40 lines]
>> Information Store is currently about 2-3 GB with minimal growth in future
>> 200-250 End Users
 
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