Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers
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@shuey said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
I'm uncertain about which RAID controller to go with. These are the three to choose from:
- PERC H310 Mini Mono Controller
- PERC H710 Controller with 512MB NV Cache
- PERC H710P Controller with 1GB NV Cache
I'm not sure there would actually be any significant benefit in getting the 1GB NV card vs the Mini Mono...
Page 9.
Looks like the H310 doesn't have an NV cache, battery, and supports less RAID levels. The cache makes things way faster and adds life to your drives.
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@shuey said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
I'm uncertain about which RAID controller to go with. These are the three to choose from:
- PERC H310 Mini Mono Controller
- PERC H710 Controller with 512MB NV Cache
- PERC H710P Controller with 1GB NV Cache
I'm not sure there would actually be any significant benefit in getting the 1GB NV card vs the Mini Mono...
Cache can make a significant performance difference. The difference between 512 and 1 GB, that probably depends on your work load.
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Thanks for the quick replies guys! I'll just have to make sure I have it properly enabled once the server is deployed :D.
Check out my recent spec list too (I updated my previous post).
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@shuey said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
Should I consider upgrading to the 1100W PSUs for an additional $60?
I think the 750s are even a bit high.
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@tim_g said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
@shuey said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
Should I consider upgrading to the 1100W PSUs for an additional $60?
I think the 750s are even a bit high.
I don't know what the power draw specs of your items are - You should look them all up and see what it actually takes to run your configuration, then size your PSU based on that.
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@shuey said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
Windows Svr 2012 R2 Standard x64 English
Why such an old OS?
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@dashrender LOL, that's an upgrade for us! We're still running Server 2008 R2 on almost every server in our fleet!
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@shuey said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
@dashrender LOL, that's an upgrade for us! We're still running Server 2008 R2 on almost every server in our fleet!
That's fine, but if you are upgrading - skip the 2012's and go directly to 2016. It's already a year old. It's clear your company doesn't upgrade often, no point in being 5 years behind already.
In fact, I'd wait, 2016 R2 is currently in beta. Don't buy and wait for it to come out if possible, that way you can get the most value for your purchase.
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Dangit! The sales guy at xByte said "We don't have any 520 servers in stock, and I don't think we'll be getting any - we haven't had any in several months. They were not mass produced like the 720s were..."
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@shuey said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
Dangit! The sales guy at xByte said "We don't have any 520 servers in stock, and I don't think we'll be getting any - we haven't had any in several months. They were not mass produced like the 720s were..."
Then get the same build, but in a 620 or possibly 420. I'm sure the price difference is minimal, maybe even less. Actually I'm not sure if those servers will allow that drive configuration. I can't remember without looking.
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@tim_g said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
Then get the same build, but in a 620 or possibly 420. I'm sure the price difference is minimal, maybe even less. Actually I'm not sure if those servers will allow that drive configuration.
Sadly, that assumption is way off... I just spec'd out a 720 with the exact same options and the price comes to $7,975 ($2400 more than the 520 server!)
Wait... did you change your post, lol!? I swear your first post said "720" not "620" or "420"... By the way, we need 2U... The 420 and 620 don't exist in 2U...
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@shuey said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
@tim_g said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
Then get the same build, but in a 620 or possibly 420. I'm sure the price difference is minimal, maybe even less. Actually I'm not sure if those servers will allow that drive configuration.
Sadly, that assumption is way off... I just spec'd out a 720 with the exact same options and the price comes to $7,975 ($2400 more than the 520 server!)
Wait... did you change your post, lol!? I swear your first post said "720" not "620" or "420"... By the way, we need 2U... The 420 and 620 don't exist in 2U...
Any reason to need 2U? Just the drive configuration? Or was there something else?
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@coliver said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
Any reason to need 2U? Just the drive configuration? Or was there something else?
Main reason is storage. We need at least 18TB usable, and we want it in the 3.5" form factor.
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@shuey said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
@coliver said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
Any reason to need 2U? Just the drive configuration? Or was there something else?
Main reason is storage. We need at least 18TB usable, and we want it in the 3.5" form factor.
Why does storage form factor matter?
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@dashrender said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
Why does storage form factor matter?
Eight 6TB drives is cheaper than trying to build out 18TB of usable storage with the 2.5" drives...
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@shuey said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
@dashrender said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
Why does storage form factor matter?
Eight 6TB drives is cheaper than trying to build out 18TB of usable storage with the 2.5" drives...
OK, so it's not that you care about form factor, it's that you care about cost.
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@dashrender said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
OK, so it's not that you care about form factor, it's that you care about cost.
How 'bout we say that I "care about form factor because of cost..." ?
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@shuey said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
@dashrender said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
OK, so it's not that you care about form factor, it's that you care about cost.
How 'bout we say that I "care about form factor because of cost..." ?
Well I would agree, you have to chose the literal best fiscally viable option that meets the requirements. If LFF drives come in cheaper, even by a little, while meeting every other requirement (IOPS) then what does it matter that the drives aren't SFF?
It's cheaper and performs the same or better. If it cost the same and performed worse than you would have something to stand on.
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@dustinb3403 said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
Well I would agree, you have to chose the literal best fiscally viable option that meets the requirements. If LFF drives come in cheaper, even by a little, while meeting every other requirement (IOPS) then what does it matter that the drives aren't SFF?
It's cheaper and performs the same or better. If it cost the same and performed worse than you would have something to stand on.
Yeah, the difference in price was literally thousands of dollars when we spec'd out a same model server with 2.5" drives vs 3.5" drives (especially since the biggest drive they offer in the 2.5" size is 2TB - it takes a lot more of 'em to reach 18TB of usable space).
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@shuey said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
@dashrender said in Advice on building "storage servers" with two DL380 G7 servers:
OK, so it's not that you care about form factor, it's that you care about cost.
How 'bout we say that I "care about form factor because of cost..." ?
That's not a reason to care about the form factor.
Basically what I was getting at was you only care about cost/performance. As such dropping the stated need for LFF keeps your options more open. As noted you will likely end up with LFF drives because price/performance are at an acceptable level compared to other options.
Stipulating LFF does nothing but limit options needlessly.
