Web Server Storage config. question

[Chiefcrowe]

hi,
I am speccing out a server to be used for a IIS front end to run Windows 2008 enterprise server.

What kind of hard drives do you think I should get on it? I'm debating between 7.2K and 10K or even 15K but i'm not sure if the speeds will make that much difference.

 

[Blain]

Use a high quality RAID controller card and 4 x WD RE3's in RAID 6 and you'll be set.

 

[Nothinman]

Depends on the usage patterns. For plain static pages it won't really make a difference, especially if you've got enough memory to cache the whole site.

 

[pjkenned]

Along with the above, it also depends how much data you need to store There is a huge difference in seek times though between a 7.2k rpm drive array and a 15k one. Also note that there is a considerable heat/ power consumption delta between 3.5" and 2.5" drives. If you are doing a raid 5/6 setup, in a 1U case, a lot of times you want to run 2.5" drives just to have enough physical drives in the chassis (Raid 6 + hot spare is a minimum of 5 drives). I am sure this is a false belief, but I believe that the hard drive manufacturers must build/test the 10k/15k drives a bit better than other offerings... again that may be a totally unfounded belief, but it makes me feel a bit better running them.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

Well, i want to make it last for a while so I will probably get more space than I need. I'm thinking minimum 300 GB.
This server will be a sharepoint server.

I also agree that the higher speed drives are more likely to be more stable.

Does anyone know if Dell offers the WD RE3 drives?

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: Chiefcrowe
Does anyone know if Dell offers the WD RE3 drives?

Yes they do