> We have a database with lots of small simultaneous writes and reads
> (millions every day) and are looking at buying a good hardware for this.
>
> What are your suggestions. What we are currently looking at is.
>
> Dual Quad Core Intel
> 8 - 12 GB RAM
>
> 10 disks total.
>
> 4 x 146 GB SAS disk in RAID 1+0 for database
> 6 x 750 GB SATA disks in RAID 1+0 or RAID 5 for OS and transactions logs.
>
> Good RAID controller with lots of memory and BBU.
I have very positive experiences with HP's DL360 and DL380. The latter
slightly more expandable (2U vs. 1U). I have used the internal
p400i-controller with 512 MB cache on the DL380 and bought an external
p800-controller (512 MB cache as well) and a MSA-70-cabinet. I've have
11 disks in raid-6 (one hotspare).
I don't see any reason to mix sas- and sata-disks with different
sizes. I'd go for sas-disks, smaller and faster, less power and heat.
Raid 1+0 or raid-6 does not seem to make much of a difference today as
it used to if you have more than 6-7 disks.
The DL380 is a 4-way woodcrest at 3 GHz and 16 GB ram and the DL360 is
a two-way woodcrest at 2.66 GHz with 16 GB.
My personal preference is FreeBSD and the DL3x0-servers all run
without problems on this platform. But choose your OS depending on
what you're most comfortable with. And choose hardware according to
what your OS supports.
Areca-controllers may also be worth looking into but I haven't tried
these myself.
Our largest table has 85 mill. entries.
--
regards
Claus
When lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom,
the gentlest gamester is the soonest winner.
Shakespeare