Which RAID Solution Primary School Server

[JATSO]

Hi All,

 

We have a shiny new server which comes with the following storage:

 

16GB RAM

1 x 1TB 7.5K Drive

6 x 600GB 15K Drives

 

Can anyone recommend the raid config setup I should use.

 

Our current storage use is just short of 400GB on the curriculum server that has 1TB of storage in RAID5.

 

Thanks

[3s-gtech]

Storage Spaces may also be something of interest to you, depending on how/if you virtualise (which I'd always recommend onto the bare metal - so not running all services on one instance).

[TwistedHelixis]

All my primary schools I use RAID 10

[AlanD]

Raid 10 might give you best performance. I would probably set 2x drives in Raid 10 as a system/windows server drive.

 

Then I would put 4x drives as Raid 5 to provide contingency and Maxine storage.

 

I’m not sure I would use the 1TB Drive on its own...unless the school is happy with losing what is stored there.

 

You would be unwise to use it as backup because it’s physically on the server....I’d use a usb ..or several of them in turn..fir backup...using windows server backup.

 

Slightly surprised you didn’t plan what you wanted in advance! Rather than getting it first then deciding how to use it.

 

If I wantedreal performance...which might not be critical for a primary school, I’d be wanting SSD as part of windows storage array to use as a cache.

 

I’d also be thinking that it probably isn’t enough storage for a school given the demand of images and video in modern it applications. Perhaps you intend to have filestream for google or micro fats one drive for student material?

[atcoates]

Our most recent batch of servers have been configured like this.

 

Small Primary get.

2X480gb SSD in Raid 1 OS

3x1.2tb 15k in Raid 5 Shares

1x1.2tb 15k as Global hot swap spare.

 

Bigger Primary get.

2X480 SSD in Raid 1

6x1.2tb 15k in Raid 6

[mavhc]

I recommend you sell all the hdds and buy ssds, because it's 2019

[XiJ]

Do primary schools really need ssd for data storage? We’d have sad for Host OS and VM storage. Data would be on large Raid1 / Raid10 mechanicals.

 

For the OP I’d go raid 5 with the 600gb disks otherwise you’d be struggling for capacity (spending on school size). My experiences with storage spaces isn’t great but worth considering too.

 

Edit: Notice you have 6 x 600gb (I read as 5x originally). RAID10 might do it depending on usage.

Edited April 20, 2019 by XiJ

[Roberto]

What on earth is that 1x1TB drive for? I wouldn’t use a single stand-alone drive for anything these days tbh.

 

RAID 10 would work as others say, but I really would suggest planning storage before buying the server, this feels like it’s being done the wrong way round.

Edited April 20, 2019 by Roberto

[JATSO]

The 1TB drive was left in as part of the original spec don't ask me why but it has been pulled out already. The others have been put into Raid 10. Which gives enough for storage for the school.

Thanks for the replys