Hi all, I am building a SQL new server that has 6 internal drives with an
array controller. Best Practices advises to split the log files and the
databases on seperate spindles. Being that we only have 6 drives there are
two possible scenarios we would like to consider- 2 raid 5s or a raid 1 and a
raid 10. I have a few questions: Based on our configuration what would be the
most optimal way to configure? I'm not only asking about the raid but also
about the os location as well as the dbs and log files: I was thinking that
the os and log files on one drive and the dbs on the other. I'm curious as to
what people think in regard to performance of this setup utilizing raid 5-5
or raid 1-10.

On 1/25/2010 2:29 PM, Sammy wrote:
My first thought would be to add 2 more drives and have RAID 1 (OS),
RAID 1 (program & log/ldf files) and RAID 10 (database/mdb files).

If we are stuck with the 6 drives, I'd go for the RAID 1 and RAID 10.
RAID 5 is slower than either RAID 1 (the fastest) and RAID 10. You want
the log files on a fast array and separate from the database files.

The other problem with a 3-drive RAID 5 is that it can't recover from a
2-drive failure.

BTW, be sure to have good & frequent backups of the database(s).

--

Regards,
Hank Arnold
Microsoft MVP
Windows Server - Directory Services
http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/personal-pc-assistant/