Server rebuild: SSD in an HP ML110 G7

[will_]

Hi,

 

I'm after some confirmation that what I'm planning is sensible.

 

We need to upgrade our Windows Server 2008 installation to Windows Server 2012. Our main support company has suggested we replace the entire server with a Dell T430 and offered to provide this service for £6500. This feels like a rather drastic upgrade and, frankly, we can't afford it.

 

Our current server is an HP ML110 G7 which is plodding along fairly happily. The CPU generally ticks over at between 2 and 10%, and we're currently using 10GB of the 16GB of RAM installed, although the disks are getting a bit full for comfort. We're a small junior school (8 classes altogether, 1 ICT suite and around 20 laptops) so it really doesn't get thrashed particularly hard. I suspect our support company likes to spec for the worst possible scenario.

 

My proposal is to keep the HP server but:

 

- upgrade from 16GB to 32GB of RAM to allow for more caching

 

- replace the data disks (currently 3 x 300GB SAS in RAID 5) with 2 x 4TB WD Re (not red) SAS. Partition each disk into a pair of 2TBs. Mirror the two 'Stripe A's for shared user data and use the two 'Stripe B's for a pair of backups, populated alternately so as to provide two levels of roll-back. Shared user data is accessed concurrently but it's usually the same file being accessed by a class so slow access times can be tolerated.

 

- replace the OS spinning disk with a 256GB SSD, probably something like a Samsung 850 as I'm not convinced our use is hard enough to justify enterprise grade SSDs. Use this stand-alone (not in a RAID) for both the OS and user home folders, backing up the latter to the 2TB partitions. Home directories are access concurrently and putting them on a spinning disk would cause slowdowns as head jumps around all over the place.

 

- install Windows Server 2012 onto the SSD in another machine and migrate it to the server when it's ready, so as to minimise down-time.

 

The HP currently has all its disks connected through a P410 RAID controller but I wonder whether this will cause problems if we try to install Windows 2012 in a different machine and then migrate the disk to the HP. If so, there's a spare SATA socket on the motherboard that we could use.

 

Happy to hear your thoughts, tips and suggestions!

 

Thanks,

 

Will

[mrwoberts]

Hi Will

 

I've recently embarked on a little rebuild project myself (thread). One thing I kept reading in threads regarding HP equipment was that they were 'fussy' about what drives were connected - obviously preferring HP branded disks. This may be linked to particular controller cards, or particular systems. Worth double checking though.