Server Upgrades

swinnie

swinnie

swinnie

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A company I work for supplied a Server last year to an organisation with around 8 users, running SBS 2011 Standard. Providing Exchange, file storage and also a specialised Server Side Application.

We are currently putting together a new server for them as an opportunity has arisen to get this in place, as they are setting up an additional business.

What we're finding on the current server is that they are getting a disk queue length of up to 32, which is giving them major problems as they are regularly reading and writing AutoCAD files to the network storage, and also the large files going through their email via Exchange. The current server is running from a single 1TB SATA Hard Drive, which means that we should be having a maximum disk queue of 2 (double the number of disks installed).

I am suggesting that we install a new server, that will manage their Exchange Server and Server Side Applications and install a NAS Box (the QNAP boxes look just the job) to handle their data storage, offloading that from the main server.

So guess my questions are as follows:

1. Does this sound like a reasonable solution?
2. If it is, will it be possible to have the SBS Server manage the file permissions on the NAS?

If you have any other suggestions I would be very interested to hear them.

Many Thanks,

James.
 
You normally only get really high disk queue lengths when there's no write cache enabled, either because the array controller doesn't have a battery-backed cache, or because the cache is available but disabled. Note that there are ways of forcing disk caching on, but it's never a good idea (even if you have a UPS) if you are concerned about data corruption.
 
If it only have 1 SATA drive then I would not call it a server, a proper server would have redundant drives, etc
 
If you set an iSCSI connection to the qNap from the SBS box and have it presented as a drive within Windows, then yes you would be able to have SBS manage the permissions.

It sounds like the server is just badly setup, if the underlying hardware is good, you could just put in some SAS/SATA disk with a raid card and reinstall SBS onto that array, or better yet would be to create an array on the new disks, then do a full restore from the backups onto it.

That in theory would limit the downtime, then you can move the data to the QNAP at leisure.

Though my concern would be is it sounds like a white box job if it only has one SATA disk in it, so would be wary of the underlying hardware, I would probably put in a HP ML G7 in.

Kimbie
 
Whilst the NAS option would work, either as an iSCSI target (as Nikumba suggests) or you could get one that supports Active Directory integration it sounds over complicated for 8 users IMHO.

If it's not a "proper" server at the moment (HP ProLiant / Dell PowerEdge etc), then I would also vote for a new server like a ML350. The ML350 G6 is still around and offers good "bang for buck" if you don't need the extra performance of the latest E5 Xeons.

Part 638182-035 gives you the server with a Xeon E5606 CPU, 4GB RAM, 2 x 146GB 15k SAS, 512MB BBWC RAID Controller for around £1200+VAT. I'd up the RAM to 24GB (3x8GB) as RAM is super cheap and add additional storage for data to meet the requirements (the two supplied 146GB drives become a RAID1 mirror for the OS / core system files).

Was SBS 2011 supplied with the existing server as OEM licenses? If so, then it's not supposed to be transfered to the new hardware and new licenses should go into the budget...
 
Hardware wise, getting a box from a vendor is probably the best way to go as the initial units are usually quite competitively priced and you have the warranty and support backing up the hardware.

If you have the opportunity, I would try to get this moved up to a process project. By this I mean not just re-specifying the hardware but looking at the user processes and seeing if you can find improvements in the way they are working and try to create a synergy between the hardware / software solutions available with what they are trying to achieve as their ultimate goal. This, if done right, could lead to a much better solution for the users within a budget. It will also allow you to get a better understanding of not just technology and hardware but in the way people use it and how to help, as a technology expert in your company, you can advise and help bring the two together. A lot of the time people just revert to old habits or do not know other options available to them with newer offerings. Education on best practices can help quite a bit. A common mistake is to assume you know why they are doing what they are doing in the way they are doing it. Sometimes you will find out that on asking the user, they are doing it for completely different reasons.

RB
 
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