RAID 0 for Workstation

[rahulraj]

Hi,

Looking for guidance for RAID 0 on workstation.

Would like a workstation with 2 x 1 TB IDE drives for system-data-storage-backup, high bandwidth RAID controller, 6x146GB SAS drives in RAID-0 for the SQL server database.

Can someone who has got something similar share the vendors or ready made systems (Mumbai please) who deliver this in workstation environment?

In case off-the-shelf is not possible, any guidance on MoBo, controller brand and model, etc will be most welcome.

Thanks a ton!
RR

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Some background for anyone interested:

We are currently using some standard workstations (2.26GHz Core2Duo, 2GB RAM@800MHz, 7200RPM HardDisks) for routine office work with moderate excel usage.

On a recent project, we had to run some scenario analysis (MySQL installation - with default configurations) and ran into the LONG HDD read times. Because of the large number of records (350 million+), simple aggregate queries on slightly complicated 'views' started taking anything from 7 hours to 15 hours. Output to text and import is an option but not very attractive given the need for parameter changes in scenarios. One notable point was that CPU and RAM usage rarely exceeded 20% and 600MB during the entire period - leading me to believe that the storage device read time was the bottleneck.

We started scouting for options to improve read/write speeds and did the read-ups on RAID etc. However when we wanted to get a rig, somehow, all vendors wanted to sell us servers! The base prices ranged from INR 1,50,000/- (~$3,500) for a single CPU, single hard disk config with RAID support. None of the authorized vendors gave the option of hardware RAID controller in workstation environment.

Am not too keen on giving the server premium when these are designed as standalone machines/ individual usage. Features like hot-swap, etc are obviously not needed as data on RAID will only be put during SQL analysis and then purged.

 

[Nothinman]

For RAID0 you don't need a dedicated controller, any cheap built-in controller or software RAID should perform about the same.

 

[rahulraj]

Thanks for the tip. Did not know that! I actually had a suspicion that the cpu of the RAID controller will not need to stretch when parity calculations are not needed but did not come across any material.

However, I was hoping that the controller would provide the additional utility of providing a point of attachment for the larger number of discs. Will I need some other card, or should I be looking for some specialized MoBo?

Cheers.

 

[sub.mesa]

Intel onboard RAID (ICHxR southbridge) is what you want. Then you can enable write caching which adds a performance boost; do make sure to have a proper backup as this kind of configuration should not be trusted.