Configuring disks for server

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gtsolid

gtsolid

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Hi all.
I am planning a server for business use-solidworks and storage. alongside a E5-2620v3 iput 2 mirroring SM951 from 512 GB (maybe too much), but from there I do not know how to cope with various RAID. at the time I was also recommended 4 WD2003FZEX in Raid 5 for more speed in read.

What do you think?
 
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Spectre694
RAID 5 is no longer considered good practice on large arrays (multi terabyte) because another drive may drop during the ridiculous rebuild times. RAID 6 (write hit) or 10(capacity hit) are considered to be best

Also will this be hardware or software raid? Will you be running solidworks on it, and do you have an actual backup plan as well?
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Spectre694

Spectre694

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RAID 5 is no longer considered good practice on large arrays (multi terabyte) because another drive may drop during the ridiculous rebuild times. RAID 6 (write hit) or 10(capacity hit) are considered to be best

Also will this be hardware or software raid? Will you be running solidworks on it, and do you have an actual backup plan as well?
 
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gtsolid

gtsolid

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i thought to an hardware RAID. for bck i want to implement a NAS with 2 red WD disks of 6TB.
what do you think?

practically, if i have 4 disk, how can i set up a RAID 10? i connect all SATA cables to Motherboard and then do i configure RAID from BIOS? or from Windows Server installation?
 
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Spectre694

Spectre694

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That depends on what type of RAID you have.

Hardware (separate RAID card): The card has a BIOS accessible from boot were you will set the array up.

Software (RAID from windows): Doesn't really support RAID 10, Server 2008 and older can create RAID 0,5,1 but IDK if it can handle 4 disks I'll have to check. Server 2012 up I would say storage spaces but again doesn't have a 10 only Striped, mirrored (two and three) or a very slow parity implementation.

Firmware (requires mobo supported): Using a mobo firmware to set the array up before booting but all the work is done at the driver level in the OS a sort of compromise between hardware and software.

If this is for a business (and since it is windows server) I'm going to recommend either hardware or storage spaces. The software version in 2008 and older is kinda slow and I wouldn't trust it.
 
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gtsolid

gtsolid

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i would like to use a Gigabyte GA-X99-UD4 for business purposes.
does it have and integrated controller or is it better to use a dedicated card?

i don't know so much about controllers: the most sold RAID controller on amazon is SI-PEX40064. i don't know what is the difference between this and another more paid such as LSI00303
 
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Spectre694

Spectre694

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That gigabyte board does have Intel's firmware RAID on it. So it'll support 0,1,5 and 10. This implementation is tied to the mobo so if the mobo dies you lose the array. That said the performance is pretty good and fairly reliable. The OS can mess with it though because it is at the driver level though that is quite rare. (I use it at home on my Z87 board)

Stay away from the Marvell controller for RAID. They have slow performance and are quite unreliable. They work fine for JBOD but I could never recommend them for actual RAID in a production environment. There is a reason they are dirt cheap.

The LSI card is basically an industry standard SAS (SATA compatible) RAID card. This would be the most recommended way to do it. Fastest and most reliable way to do it. The specific one you listed has both an internal and an external SAS connector. The internal will connect to up to 4 drives SAS or SATA) with a breakout connector.

My question though is how much will it cost you (your business) if this system goes down? If it would be little more than an annoyance or is this going to cost a fair bit of money/productivity? If little more than an annoyance use the X99 board a few WD reds and the Intel RAID. If it is going to be a problem for this thing to go down (lost productivity/deadlines/money) You should consider a Supermicro mobo (designed for 24/7 use) or the like a LSI controller and higher quality Enterprise drives (SAS or SATA) Honestly though it shouldn't cost too much more to do this anyway.
 
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gtsolid

gtsolid

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hi
i will have big troubles about lost productivity/deadlines/money if the server is down.

to improve the cost efficiency i had a brainwave: my PC is old... maybe with few changes can i use this server to run solidworks? maybe virtualizing something. cost will not be a problem

 
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