Hardened repository for use with vSphere cluster.

[mdio33]

Hello all,

I've got a vSphere Cluster and I want to build a Hardened repository.

As i have a gigabit network and there is no plan to upgrade it soon, will have notice any advantage in the time to backup or restore
when using a Raid 5 with more small disks (ex: 10x4Tb HDD SATA 7200Rpm) over having less bigger disks (ex: 6x8Tb HDD SATA 7200rpm) ?

Thank you in advance.

[albertwt]

Hi Dio,

FYI, bear in mind that using RAID5, the write penalty is quite significant, especially when there is a backup transformation job to merge the backup files.

When choosing RAID5 or 6, ensure the large stripe size is selected (64K or greater), and I lean towards the fewer larger disks.

If most or all of the backup job is still using Reverse Incremental, then use RAID 10
If converting to or most of the backup job is using Forward Incremental, then use RAID 6

As for the Strip / Full stripe size, choose the largest possible value that is supported by the Storage controller eg.

Code: Select all

Strip Size: 256 KB
Full Stripe Size: 1024 KB

Hope this helps.

[mdio33]

Hello,

Thank you for the answer, it was very usefull and I will take that in mind.

But what i really wanted to know is if I get advantage in write/read speed when using 10 x 4Tb over using 6 x 8Tb, when using 1Gb network and regarding the IOPS of each configuration.

Thank you.

[mdio33]

Hello.

I really needed to know if there is any diference in performance, because it will make a lot of diference in the price of the server.

Thanks.

[albertwt]

Hi @mdio33,

When you have the choice, work with smaller drives rather than a few large ones. This has different reasons:

• You can stripe reads and writes over more drives, leading to a speed increase.

• Rebuilding smaller drives takes much less time.

• Very fast (15K SAS) drives will not be available in larger capacities.

• Random reads could be handled by more heads, leading to a speed increase for applications requiring many small random reads.

There are, however, some drawbacks to using smaller drives.

• When there are fewer disk slots available, using smaller drives may limit the total capacity and future upgrade options.

• More drives use more power and create more heat, vibration and noise, potentially reducing overall reliability.

Also, have a read through this article by @HannesK https://www.veeam.com/blog/hardened-lin ... tices.html under the Finding the right server vendor and model section. Hope this helps you too.

[mdio33]

Thank you, that helped a lot!!

[albertwt]

no worries @mdio33,

let us know what hardware selection and configurations you finally use.