We have purchased a new server to act as a MS SQL backend. I am curious to know what the best setup would be for it.
The server is a Dell R710 it has 6 hard drives 2x 74GB 15k and 4x 146GB 15k
This is currently setup in a RAID 1/Raid10 configuraton.
My question is where(which array) the following should go?
TEMPDBs (also how many, size and growth)
System DBs (master,model, etc)
Application MDFs
Application LDFs
System Page file
OS is already installed on the RAID1.
Best Answer
I'd put the OS, paging file and LDF(s) on the RAID1 array. Everything else on the RAID10 array.
If you're not using Windows 2008 make sure your partitions are correctly aligned:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd758814.aspx
As already explained add 1 TEMPDB file per cpu core - make them all the same size.
Size your log files appropriately and create them in one step.
Consider backing up your databases to a different server over a network share if possible - to mitigate the risk of your array completely failing and taking your database and backups with it.