Number of disks

ayhan06

Hi all,
I read almost all of topics about hardware considerations about nav implementations. but i didn't clarify myself about recommended number of disks.
my customer will have 25 concurrent user and 10 concurrent web user (sales team will use nav via blackberry integration interface). our suggestion for sql server hardware (except disks) will be following:
NAV 4.03
windows server 2003 standard x64
SQL Server 2005 Standard x64
Number of proccesors: 2
RAM: 4GB

your comments about number of disks will be appreciated.


another thiing is that: storage section of hardware guide 4.0 v4
https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/documentation/whitepapers/hardware+sizing+guide+for+microsoft+dynamics+nav.htm has unclear statements.. It says that for 21-40 GB databases and 6-50 users, it will be beneficial to have "2 – 3 HDD † Mirrored @ 15K RPM RAID 10".. what does "2 – 3 HDD † Mirrored @ 15K RPM RAID 10" mean? how many disks does it recommend?

thanks in advanced.

Rainer

I am not well to SQL but in "old days" Navision said that 7 disk was the most optimal for performance, as I remember. But that was using native database, not SQL.

I mean, by using 8 or more, was not better.

ayhan06

Rainer wrote:

I am not well to SQL but in "old days" Navision said that 7 disk was the most optimal for performance, as I remember. But that was using native database, not SQL.

I mean, by using 8 or more, was not better.

thanks for your answer, rainer

anyone has comment about sql server?

Henry_Faber

RAID 10 = RAID 1 and RAID 0 combined.

RAID 1 = Mirror => Means 2 disks with the same data
RAID 0 = Striped => Means 2 disks working as 1 large disk

So RAID 10 means for example:

Disk A and B striped => as disk 1
Disk C and D striped => as disk 2

Then a mirror on disk 1 and 2.

So 2 – 3 HDD RAID 10 =>

2 * 4 = 8 Disks or
3 * 4 = 12 Disks

* RAID 0+1: striped sets in a mirrored set (minimum four disks; even number of disks) provides fault tolerance and improved performance but increases complexity. The key difference from RAID 1+0 is that RAID 0+1 creates a second striped set to mirror a primary striped set. The array continues to operate with one or more drives failed in the same mirror set, but if drives fail on both sides of the mirror the data on the RAID system is lost.

For more info aboud RAID see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID

Hope this helps.

ayhan06

Henry_Faber wrote:

RAID 10 = RAID 1 and RAID 0 combined.

RAID 1 = Mirror => Means 2 disks with the same data
RAID 0 = Striped => Means 2 disks working as 1 large disk

So RAID 10 means for example:

Disk A and B striped => as disk 1
Disk C and D striped => as disk 2

Then a mirror on disk 1 and 2.

So 2 – 3 HDD RAID 10 =>

2 * 4 = 8 Disks or
3 * 4 = 12 Disks

* RAID 0+1: striped sets in a mirrored set (minimum four disks; even number of disks) provides fault tolerance and improved performance but increases complexity. The key difference from RAID 1+0 is that RAID 0+1 creates a second striped set to mirror a primary striped set. The array continues to operate with one or more drives failed in the same mirror set, but if drives fail on both sides of the mirror the data on the RAID system is lost.

For more info aboud RAID see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID

Hope this helps.

thanks henry.

2 * 4 = 8 Disks or
3 * 4 = 12 Disks

last question:

so we need 8 - 12 disks for data files. is that really neccessary? I mean that are at least 8 disks for data files, 2 disks for log file really needed for db with 6-50 user and 21-40 GB?
(this statement "2 – 3 HDD RAID 10" are written in hardware guide nav 4.0 v4.)

Henry_Faber

No not for 6 users, that would be overkill.

I'd think you will be alright with 4 disks.

Mirror 1 => logfiles
Mirror 2 => database files

But it all depents on what kind of users are working on de database.

ayhan06

Henry_Faber wrote:

No not for 6 users, that would be overkill.

I'd think you will be alright with 4 disks.

Mirror 1 => logfiles
Mirror 2 => database files

But it all depents on what kind of users are working on de database.

25 concurrent users plus 10 web user so that there won't be so much transaction.
i think 8 disks will be enough.