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 Best Configuration For Large MSSQL 2K5 Server?

Author  Topic 

johnvm
Starting Member

18 Posts

Posted - 2007-04-27 : 01:10:16

Hey Everyone,

I'm building a new PC for a set of very large MS-SQL databases (currently weighing in at approx 5TB, and should grow significantly going forward as well). This is for personal business-related use -- I do not have access to a database expert, I am not in an enterprise (self employed), etc., so I am turning here for help.

I'm wondering what type of machine I should get to handle this type of database. It will not particularly be under particularly heavy load (just a few simultaneous connections, not too many queries running at once), but is obviously a very large database (with over 22 billion rows of data). I don't know what type of hardware setup would be optimal for this machine (mainly processors).

What I have spec'd out at the moment is:
11 * SAMSUNG SpinPoint T Series HD501LJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drives
1 * ASUS DSBF-D/SAS Dual Socket 771 Intel 5000P SSI EEB 3.61 Server Motherboard
1 * Areca ARC-1220 PCI-Express x8 SATA II Controller Card
1 * Kingston 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 FB-DIMM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) ECC Fully Buffered Dual Channel Kit Server Memory Model KVR667D2D4F5K2/4G
2 * Intel Xeon 5060 Dempsey 3.2GHz Socket 771 Active or 1U Processor Model BX805555060A

Priced on newegg, comes to a total of $3638.34

In the <$4000 range, can you guys think of anything that would be superior? The 11*500GB's I want to run in RAID50, and the Areca card seems to be one of the best on the market (not to mention has 24 ports for future scalability). The RAM is FB-DIMM's, Xeons..... am I missing anything?

Also, I'm a bit concerned about performance on the Xeons. The ones I chose are dual cores. Since there arent going to be toooo many simul queries (really, often, prolly 1 at a time even), should i try for single core processors?

Anyways, thanks for the help.

SwePeso
Patron Saint of Lost Yaks

30421 Posts

Posted - 2007-04-27 : 01:17:44
DO NOT put all 11 drives in one set!
See this topic http://www.sqlteam.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=82199


Peter Larsson
Helsingborg, Sweden
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rmiao
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

7266 Posts

Posted - 2007-04-27 : 09:28:27
Need more memory for 5TB data.
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stephe40
Posting Yak Master

218 Posts

Posted - 2007-04-27 : 09:38:31
Staying under 4 grand for a server to support at 5 TB database is not a good idea. I guess it depends on the situation.

- Eric
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johnvm
Starting Member

18 Posts

Posted - 2007-04-27 : 22:46:07
Good advice on diff volumes.

How much RAM do I need for 5TB DB? Cost IS an issue, but I'm (a little) flexible if its performance worthy.
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Michael Valentine Jones
Yak DBA Kernel (pronounced Colonel)

7020 Posts

Posted - 2007-04-27 : 23:42:09
If you have a 5 TB database and only about 5 TB of storage, how are you planning on backing up this database? What about an allowance for future growth? What is your plan for backups to tape?

If you have a database that large, you probably need more like 25 TB of storage:
5 TB for the DB.
5 TB for a database backup.
5 TB to make another backup without having to delete your current backup.
5 TB to have room to restore a backup file from tape to disk.
5 TB to have room to restore a copy of the database in case you need to recover lost data from a backup.

Of course you will need additional space for future growth.








CODO ERGO SUM
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rmiao
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

7266 Posts

Posted - 2007-04-28 : 20:30:29
For amount of memory, depends on what kind of performance you want. What size will your biggest table be? I'll not say 32gb is too much.
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jezemine
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

2886 Posts

Posted - 2007-04-28 : 21:40:33
if I were you I'd also want to see what the folks here think about your proposed setup, in particular joechang:

http://www.sql-server-performance.com/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=34




www.elsasoft.org
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johnvm
Starting Member

18 Posts

Posted - 2007-05-05 : 05:35:34
biggest table is likely around 500GB
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rmiao
Master Smack Fu Yak Hacker

7266 Posts

Posted - 2007-05-05 : 12:21:28
Need much more than 4gb memory.
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Kristen
Test

22859 Posts

Posted - 2007-05-08 : 01:59:25
Can across this which may be helpful:

http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlserverstorageengine/archive/2007/04/30/very-quick-list-of-vldb-maintenance-best-practices.aspx
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pootle_flump

1064 Posts

Posted - 2007-05-08 : 07:34:55
Aha - nice link Kristen. It has actually answered a question I have been carrying about in my noggin for a little while. "Are stats updated using ALTER INDEX REBUILD as they were with DBREINDEX?". BoL doesn't say (cue someone to post something I missed from BoL coupled with sarcy n00b comment).
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