Splitting a ProjSvr database

[RickH]

I'm in the process of moving our EPM implementation to a single, much more
powerful server. We were originally promised RAID5 storage, but have ended up
with 2 pairs of mirrored disks; does anyone have any ideas/tips as to how I
should split the database/installation across the two physical disks to
spread the load?

Thanks, Richard

 

[Rick Roszko]

Let me see what you said.

You said "two RAID1" subsystems, not
"two disks" in a RAID1 configuration.

I assume this is not a RAID0+1 or 1+0.

That means you have 4 drives. Why don't
you just reconfigure it and turn it into a four
disk RAID5, or better yet, a three disk RAID5
with a hot spare?

Okay, let's say you don't want to go there
because it's a different department, etc. etc.

So you have two RAID1 subsystems which I'll just
basically call the "C:" and a "D:" drive.

That's what you really have. Not much you can do.
Basically just install the core O/S and IIS on "C:"
and all of the SQL files and the physical SQL
database on "D:". I might point the SQL transaction
files and other log files onto C: so that D: doesn't thrash.

WARNING! Don't let your log files grow unchecked. If
you run out of disk space on C: you will be "hosed", like
you won't even be able to reboot normally.

NEXT:

You didn't say how many processors.
If you have 1. Well, good luck.
If you have 2. Well, better, but no tweaks.
If You have 3. Point the 3rd processor as a dedicated SQL processor
If You have 4. Point the 3rd/4th as dedicated SQL processors

If you have 2 HT processors, then point the 2nd HT processor to SQL.

That's about it...

 

[RickH]

Hi Rick,

Many thanks for your reply and apologies for not responding earlier.

You are right in working out that we have 2 pairs of disks, but we also have
a third disk that is strictly for the operating system and server management
software, no applications. We have set up a separate volumes for the log
files and data files as I've seen what happens when the disk fills up. I
think we will end up with the database on one disk and SQL Server, Project
Server, log files and Analysis Services data on the other.

The server is a 4 x Xeon 3.0ghz with 8gb of RAM, so will look at dedicating
a couple of the processors to the SQL Server and also restrict SQL Server to
approx 6gb of RAM to make sure IIS and Project Server have space. We were
originally promised with RAID 5 storage on the SAN; so it is very annoying to
end up with a storage configuration that will handicap the performance so
badly ...... but hey, I'm just the contractor. We have at least got the disks
set up to match the 145gb "storage blocks" on the SAN, so hope we can move it
asap.

Many thanks
Richard