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[Plantanthera]

I have a problem that need AT input.

I facing a problem network/server that were created by some idiot. We have a server that have 2 hdd with 3 partitions.

Dev0 ? 2gig C: Primary Active Boot partition, W2Kserver, Exchange, Web, Dynamic database, Veritas BackupExec &amp; drivers
Dev0 ? 8gig D: various Programs &amp; Data (virtual memory paging).
Dev1 ? 18gig E: Data.

C: - 54meg free space (512meg after compression).
D: - 3.9gig free space.
E: - 12gig free space.

The server is flaky due to low memory on the boot partition, and we are looking at adding another database service to this server. I have 4 options of resolving this head ache, and have to find the solution don?t take too much down time for the server.

1. Use Pqmagic 6.0 to resize the disk partition and to give the boot drive more space (but heard that Pqmagic don?t do Win2k Server).

2. Disk Image C: &amp; D: to a new hdd and get ready for the new database.

3. Backup C: &amp; D to the backup tape, then use recover to rebuilt the system onto the new hdds.

4. Since the layout of the installed programs are so irlogical I feel like rebuilding the server form scratch, but that would take days of install/config associations &amp; rights.

Please give me a an idea here of how to minimizes head ache &amp; time (we are looking at keeping this box for another 3 years before the next upgrade).

 

[Fandu]

Well it looks like you have lots of room on E, so why not move D to E and expand C to the full 10GB?

Wether you stck with 3 partitions or consolidate D and E is up to you. Personally I would merge them.

 

[Plantanthera]

I have though about merging both D: &amp; E:, but I might as well get an extra drive to get ready for the addition database service...and I'm kind of worry about file association &amp; viruses, because Users data access share will be on the same partition as the importance server data.

 

[Ben50]

I would mirror your current boot drive onto a brand new drive that has more space and install the database on it too. Then all you have to do is swap out the other drive and there will hardly be any down time if it all works out correctly. You could use the current boot drive as another data drive or something.

 

[Plantanthera]

Ben50 - Thanks, I forgot about mirroring the drive.

 

[Daddyman]

I would mirror the current boot drive and onto a new drive also. But I would put the new database on the existing large drive. When setting up a server then besy way to go is to put your programs on one physical drive and your data on another physical drive. You can ghost the programs drive for easy recovery and backup your data drive. I know one guy who also installs a separate page file drive.

 

[Plantanthera]

Can't remember correctly if one could mirror the boot partition???

 

[bozo1]

<< Can't remember correctly if one could mirror the boot partition??? >>



You bet!

 

[TheHorta]

Get rid of the compression on your Win2000 boot drive.

No self-respecting MIS director would ever allow drive compression anywhere near his system, much less his (or her) OS partition/drive.

Just a thought ;-)

 

[TheHorta]

I should've been more thorough in my original post.

I would image your boot/system drive to a large partition somewhere, then I'd remove the 2GB drive in favor of a 9 or 18GB late model Cheetah. I'd back up your 8GB application/swap drive to tape or image also if you have enough space. You can do it after you replace your system drive or before, it won't create much more work either way. Then I'd replace your 8GB with an 18 or 36GB Cheetah of the same line as your boot/system drive. Afterward, I'd backup your 18GB data drive and, if it's a Cheetah, keep it and use it specifically as a swap and an image drive that backs up the boot/system drive periodically or as a mirror.

Afterward, I'd get either two 36 or 73GB Cheetahs for data and mirror them as well. This is a MINIMAL drive configuration for a Database server. If you read Oracle's SQL drive requirements, they say that the optimal configuration is a SEVENTEEN (17!) drive configuration that is mirrored! for a total of 34 drives. And that's just for the database alone and not the rest of the system. A properly configured, optimal Oracle RDBMS system is FORTY (40) drives!

 

[Jason Clark]

76gb? 17 drives? LOL!. I dont think so. It's all dependant on db load, and db size. Take the forums server for example 4 9 gb 10,000 rpm ibm's in raid 0+1, I/O load is low. Base your disk decisions on current server load, and db size. Open up performance monitor and click on physical disk and watch the disk % time and avg disk queue length. Monitor your performance, and adjust hardware as required. Buying 17 drives to run a company intranet database that gets 500 hits a month is probably one of the most retarded decisions anyone could make .

Buying 2 massive drives is not the solution either. Database servers I/O load is dispersed on a per spindle bases. The more spindles the greater the performance, not the larger the drive that has nothing to do with speed, just space. For example 4 9 GB drives are going to offer a significant performance increase over 2 36 gb drives.