RAID setup.

Hello.
I would like to know the point of view of the experts at this forum.
I have one IBM xSeries 236 Server with just one ServeRAID 7 controller and
six internal hot swapable SCSI hard drives of 73.4 Gb each.
I will setup that Server with MS Windows 2003 Server Standard Edition and MS
SQL Server 2000.
I will load the Server with 5 databases:
1.- MRP production database, very intensive in writing data and also on be
red for reports and other applications. Current size about 1.5 Gb.
2.- MRP test database, same than (1) but only to be used when testing
something new, not very often. Current size about 1.5 Gb.
3.- Payroll database, used ligthly about two days a week, just collecting
employee's checks ins and outs from employees the remaining time of the
week. Current size about 700 Mb
4. - Other small database, very few usage. Current size 100 Mb.
What would be the best option to setup this Server, number of logical
drives, RAID levels, stripe size, write cache settings?
I would like also to implement log shipping in this Server, do I need
exactly the same configuration for the secondary Server?
Thanks for your help...!
Alex.
The info you ahve given would not be sufficient to recommend 'the best option
to setup this server'. But if I have to make a decision, I'd probably use two
disks to create a mirror for the OS, and use the other four disks to create a
RAID5 set.
For log shipping, you don't absolutely need the same configurations for the
standby server. The key factor to consider is what/how you'll use your
standby server. If you don't want any performance degradation after failover,
use an identical server. If the standby server is intended for temporary
relief and your customers are okay with performance degradation while the
primary server is beign restored/recovered, you may consider a less powerful
server config. We typically use the same class of servers for both the
primary and the secondary.
Linchi
"Microsoft Newsgroups" wrote:

> Hello.
> I would like to know the point of view of the experts at this forum.
> I have one IBM xSeries 236 Server with just one ServeRAID 7 controller and
> six internal hot swapable SCSI hard drives of 73.4 Gb each.
> I will setup that Server with MS Windows 2003 Server Standard Edition and MS
> SQL Server 2000.
> I will load the Server with 5 databases:
> 1.- MRP production database, very intensive in writing data and also on be
> red for reports and other applications. Current size about 1.5 Gb.
> 2.- MRP test database, same than (1) but only to be used when testing
> something new, not very often. Current size about 1.5 Gb.
> 3.- Payroll database, used ligthly about two days a week, just collecting
> employee's checks ins and outs from employees the remaining time of the
> week. Current size about 700 Mb
> 4. - Other small database, very few usage. Current size 100 Mb.
> What would be the best option to setup this Server, number of logical
> drives, RAID levels, stripe size, write cache settings?
> I would like also to implement log shipping in this Server, do I need
> exactly the same configuration for the secondary Server?
> Thanks for your help...!
> Alex.
>
>