would sims.net work better with a seperate sql server?

[projector1]

We are in the process of moving from msde to a full blown sql 2000 server to support sims.net. Our network infastructure is very well designed. (1gig fibres from hp 4108 switch)
I thought if we have sql running on a seperate server it takes some load from the A/D server that is running sims.net.
However i was told that it would not make a difference. All we need to do is to install it on a seperate hard drive on the A/D server. Server is a 2.4 zeon machine with 2xscsi 30g hdd.
If you have a mis system, whats your setup?
Also how would you folks go about it?
We have a box with sql server 2000 already that is doing nothing at the moment. However i have thought about using this with our circ server to support WSUS and sophos, veritas

many thanks

[pete]

we have a dedicated SIMS server handling SQL, Apps and Documents. It's a dual xeon box with 2GB of ram and 4x 36GB disks (currently in RAID5, looking to change to RAID10 at the same time we migrate from MSDE to full sql server.

Apart from performance, our decision to use separate hardware allows us to bounce the sims box without affecting any other services.

[mighty.grey.eagle]

we have a dedicated SIMS server handling SQL, Apps and Documents. It's a dual xeon box with 2GB of ram and 4x 36GB disks (currently in RAID5, looking to change to RAID10 at the same time we migrate from MSDE to full sql server.

Very nice, but does SIMS work any faster?

[pete]

Very nice, but does SIMS work any faster?

Than before? Definitely, but it isn't a fair test as this was all done on new hardware. Would it work faster if we had a separate SQL server? No, since it's already a dedicated box.

So long as your server can keep most (preferably all) of the SQL database in RAM and the server's not being thrashed, you don't need separate hardware due to performance. You might consider dedicated hardware for convenience / keeping things simple, as we did.

I was responding to "If you have a mis system, whats your setup?" :P