Henry
Sat Nov 01 07:57:37 CST 2003
At this stage you're probably not going to want to rebuild the Server, so
we need to find you the best option with what can be moved.
First off I would set up the RAID 1 on another channel.
As RAID 5 is Ideal for SQL Server I'd leave the User Databases there, but
I'd move the Master Database to the RAID 1.
I'd also move all Write heavy Operations that can be moved, such as the
Exchange Databases and Transaction Logs, as well as other logs to the
RAID 1, same goes for the Temp files. I'd also put Archive data there,
and maybe, depending on how much Read -v- Write the users need the User
Data files as well.
I'd also Max out the RAM ( which is cheap these days ) so O/S functions
can be Cached in the RAM and take some of the Read load of the Raid 5.
There is probably a good deal of Performance Gain that can be got from
Tweaking the SQL Server applications by using Views, Stored Procedures,
Optimised Indexes and SQL Queries, Correct Dataset Types ( Read only /
Forward only instead of dynamic etc), Setting the appropriate Locking
etc..etc..etc... - It's a black art and many ( if not Most ) application
writers ignore it telling the client to throw hardware at any problems
that arise. ( they're code cutters, not DBAs ) - and if you don't have
access to the core code and requisite skills, that's all you can do.
Same goes for your MS Access Applications re tweaking the Jet Database
which should be housed on the RAID 5 while
the Front-end application is housed on the Client Desktop. They should be
designed to pull minimal datasets across the wire, and would no doubt
benefit greatly from migrating to SQL server or MSDE with Views, Stored
Procedures and Triggers.
A Server Level NIC with large onboard cache and processing will also help
if large amounts of data are flying across the wire.
Just my ideas, and I'm sure you'll find others with a different spin on
it.
--
Henry Craven.
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=====================================
"Carl" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:08c801c3a075$f7921670$a601280a@phx.gbl...
> I have a small company-2 remote offices and 11
> workstations with the server in one office. We utilize
> Access and SQL databases for most all of our data, part
> of which is website generated.
> I have a server which currently has 5 drives-4 are in a
> RAID5 array and 1 is hot spare. I was recently told that
> having the OS on that array really slows down the SQL
> performance.
> I am not a whiz on this so does anybody have any better
> suggestions. I can add one more drive to my case and
> setup 1-RAID5 array and 1-RAID1 array if that might help.
> Thanks for any insight.
> Carl