Server OS: put it on a separate drive? Yes, no, or depends on the situation?

Posted by captainentropy on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by captainentropy
Published on 2010-03-18T22:20:49Z Indexed on 2010/03/18 22:21 UTC
Read the original article Hit count: 226

Filed under:

server

|

os

|

configuration

Hi, I would like opinions, or facts, both preferably, on whether it's ok to install a server's OS on the RAID array or not.

I would predict installation on separate drives is the best but I'm interested in the performance. The server in question will have 8 cores (2.4GHz ea.), 24GB RAM, and ~16TB of usable space of server-class drives in RAID10. There is also a subsytem of an ~equivalent size for backup. I will be running CPU/memory intesive applications on this server in addition to it being file storage for my work (research lab).

IF I install the OS (haven't decided which one, probably Ubuntu or Fedora or some other good linux distro) on separate drives will there be any performance problems if they aren't configured in RAID10?

IF it is better to have the OS on separate drives should I go for 150GB velociraptors in RAID1 or smallish SSD drives in RAID1? Money is unfortunately a factor as I think I'm close to maxing my budget as it is.

Thanks!

© Server Fault or respective owner

Related posts about server

SQL SERVER – Server Side Paging in SQL Server 2011 Performance Comparison

as seen on SQL Authority - Search for 'SQL Authority'
Earlier, I have written about SQL SERVER – Server Side Paging in SQL Server 2011 – A Better Alternative. I got many emails asking for performance analysis of paging. Here is the quick analysis of it. The real challenge of paging is all the unnecessary IO reads from the database. Network traffic was… >>> More
Should I switch my server to Ubuntu Server from Windows Server 2003

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I have a server thats primarily used for SRCDS, I host a few Team Fortress 2 servers on it and I would much prefer a ssh-like (more so the no-gui part) for something like this, mostly because I can't navigate with my phone on VNC very well and also because there really is no need for a gui in this… >>> More
Windows web server and SQL Server on same dedicated server

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I'm currently trying to decide on the best approach to handle hosting a few moderate traffic websites for production e-commerce and online applications. We'd like to move to a dedicated server and are looking at this as the most likely machine: Quad Core Intel Core2Quad Q9550 Processor, 2.83 Ghz… >>> More
Windows 7 Desktop/Start Menu Redirection: Server O/S: Windows Server 2003 And Server 2008

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
Hi, I am new here so I am might be asking a question which has already been answered [however I can't see it in the suggested answers above] I manage a network which is split into a parent domain and a child domain. Recently I have been looking at when to migrate to Windows 7. The child domain… >>> More
Windows 7 Desktop/Start Menu Redirection: Server O/S: Windows Server 2003 And Server 2008

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Hi, I am new here so I am might be asking a question which has already been answered [however I can't see it in the suggested answers above] I manage a network which is split into a parent domain and a child domain. Recently I have been looking at when to migrate to Windows 7. The child domain… >>> More

Related posts about os

Using Solaris pkg to list all setuid or setgid programs

as seen on Oracle Blogs - Search for 'Oracle Blogs'
$ pkg contents -a mode=4??? -a mode=2??? -t file -o pkg.name,path,mode We can also add a package name on the end to restrict it to just that single package eg: $ pkg contents -a mode=4??? -a mode=2??? -t file -o pkg.name,path,mode core-os PKG.NAME PATH MODE system/core-os… >>> More
Hyper-V: virtual 32 bit OS on 64bit OS

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Hi. Is it possible to run 32-bit virtual OS(Windows Server 2003) on 64-bit machine with Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Standard isnstalled? >>> More
Is Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server better for hosting a web server

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
Would Mac OS X Server be better than Mac OS X for hosting a web server? I've checked out the apple.com Mac OS X Server page and it seems like its more of office server features rather than Web Server features, am I correct on this? >>> More
PAE, 60 GB of Memory, 32 bit Windows Server OS vs 64 bit OS

as seen on Server Fault - Search for 'Server Fault'
I have 60 Gb of RAM on server. Windows 2008, 32bit with PAE. One Sql Server 2008 Express Instance can use 1 Gb of RAM. So if I install 60 instances, each can use 1 Gb of RAM, right? And the second question, what will be if I install 64bit system and use many Express instances? >>> More
OS X/Wine - Associating file extension (.php) with a Windows program on OS X

as seen on Super User - Search for 'Super User'
Greetings, I am running PSPad (a Windows programming editor) on Mac OS X (Snow Leopard) using Wine 1.1.35 I want to associate various file extensions (.php, .js, .html) with PSPad.exe Finder does not allow this association -- I can only associate file types with $.app items in Applications. How… >>> More