Exchange 2003 Hardware Question
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wizard12
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Exchange 2003 Hardware Question
Exchange 2000, Exchange 2003, Exchange
I am currently building a 2003 Exchange server for a migration and I'm trying to decide what HD configuration might be best considering my hardware options. Here is what is available:
P4 2.8 Ghz
2 GB RAM
3- 160 GB SATA Drives
SATA Raid Controller

I was going to run RAID 5 but then read that the system partition and/or page file should not be on RAID 5. I was then going to put the system partition on one drive and use RAID 1 on the other two. The only problem with that is that I feel it's a waste to use a 160GB drive for a system partition. The server would only be for about 50 light users. Could I run RAID 5? If not, what other options do I have that would let me use my drives efficiently?

Thanks
Dave
ASKED: Apr 25 2005  2:51 PM GMT
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pedwards17
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If you're only going to use 3 drives, I would strongly recommend just using a RAID 5 for all three. I don't think mirroring two of the drives will be much use if you have a single point of failure because the system drive isn't fault tolerant.

The recommendation to stay away from RAID 5 for certain types of partitions only comes into play with heavy I/O. If you've only got 50 or so users, I don't think it really applies to your situation.
Last Answered: Apr 25 2005  3:30 PM GMT by pedwards17   0 pts.
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JohnScott16   0 pts.  |   Apr 27 2005  4:53PM GMT

Raid 5 will be fine for 50 light users.

I’ve never had a problem with the system partition/page file on raid 5. Assuming its hardware Raid.
The arcticle you read about not using raid 5 for system partitions, was it for ‘Windows’ Raid ?

MS reccommend a dedicated raid 1 or raid 0+1 for transaction logs, so ideally you would have 2 drives for your logs, raid 5 or raid 1 for your OS, and a seperate raid array for your database drive(s).

If you are woerried about the performance if your box you could try using loadsim.

John

 
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