Dell R720XD as server/storage

[trackstar]

Hello,

After much debate we decided not to use our NAS to store backup images. We are thinking of using a Dell R720xd as a server/storage machine running Windows 2008 R2. Maybe run a raid 1 for the OS and raid 5 for storage. We are looking at around 16 TB. We like the 2U footprint and the simplicity of having a server & storage on one device but know we lose the centralization of a NFS, etc (we don't plan to have more than one backup veeam server).

Any opinion on the device?

Spec: 12x3.5" hard drive up to 4 TB & 2x2.5" hard drive up to 1 TB = total 14 drives



Thanks,
TS

[dellock6]

The R720XD is indeed a really good solution for Veeam backups, I really like it.

Based on the size you need, I would go for the 3.5" drivers and aggregate them in a raid10 array. In this way you can avoid the write penalty of R5 and have a pretty fast storage, obviously if you choose a good raid card. 12* 4Tb drives in R10 would give you 24 Tb of storage for example.

About the shared storage by using NFS, when you install the Repository role of Veeam on that server, it could become your centralized repository for different proy servers, thus making it a centralized Veeam storage server. If you also share the same directory used by Veeam with SMB, you can also reach the backup files with other programs, if needed.

Luca.

[trackstar]

The R720XD is indeed a really good solution for Veeam backups, I really like it.

Based on the size you need, I would go for the 3.5" drivers and aggregate them in a raid10 array. In this way you can avoid the write penalty of R5 and have a pretty fast storage, obviously if you choose a good raid card. 12* 4Tb drives in R10 would give you 24 Tb of storage for example.

About the shared storage by using NFS, when you install the Repository role of Veeam on that server, it could become your centralized repository for different proy servers, thus making it a centralized Veeam storage server. If you also share the same directory used by Veeam with SMB, you can also reach the backup files with other programs, if needed.

Luca.

Thank you for your input.

OS = 2x1 TB (2.5" drive w/ Raid 1) --> 1 TB
Storage = 12x4 TB (3.5" drive w/Raid10) --> 24 TB

[trackstar]

Do I need 16GB or 32 GB of ram ??

[dellock6]

General reccomendations are 2 CPU cores + 2GB RAM per concurrent job on both proxies and repositories. So if this server is going to be only the central repository, with 16 Gb you would probably b able to manage 6-7 cuncurrent jobs (save some space for OS and to not hit the swap on disk).
Also, it depends on the final size of the VBK file you are going to create, generally the bigger the VBK, the bigger amount of memory it requires to open it and update it, especially if you go for reverse incremental. If the price difference is not that much, I would go for 32Gb just in case.

Luca.

[trackstar]

Thanks.

[yizhar]

Hi.

1. Good idea - I think that the server with local DAS will give you best return for the money comparing to NAS, regarding:
performance, capacity, stability, simplicity, and I think that also cost/gb is similar (comparing to separate server + nas).

2. Regarding the OS:
You might consider using dedup in the future, especially for long term retention - either manually or with new v7 GFS feature.
So - you might wish to do the following in advanced even if currently you are not going to dedup:
2a. install Windows server 2012 instead of 2008r2
2b. divide the new storage capacity to 2 volumes:
First volume for current backups - for example 10tb.
Second volume for long term retention .
Each volume using separate disks (example 6 disks for each) - this will give you less spindles and less IOPS comparing to striping both volumes on all 12 disks - but with better stability and less risk of losing both arrays.
You can start without Windows 2012 dedup currently, but if required in the future you have a dedicated volume that can be used for that purpose.

Yizhar