Recommended Stripe Size on RAID 5 array

[obdata]

Hello,

What should the stripe size be set to for optimal performance with Filemaker Server 9 on a three disk RAID 5 array?

Our hardware:

4 x 36GB SCSI hard-drives with 3 in the array and a hot spare

Adaptec 3210s RAID controller

Thanks,

[Tanner]

I would love to know the answer to this also. I am about to set up a 4 disk raid and in my research some people say that if you have a stripe size that is not optimal you may actually decrease performance.

Please, does anyone have any thoughts?

Thanks.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

I can't give either of you all a definite answer on this matter. I can make some inquiries. However, here are two items to consider:

1. If using RAID, I believe FMI recommends RAID 10 rather than RAID 5.

2. RAID is not a requirement for effective FileMaker Server deployment.

Steven

[Tanner]

Thanks for your response. I just purchased a CalDigit Raid card to go in my Mac Pro and I purchased 5 10000rpm Sata II drives. I was going to hook up 4 drives to the raid controller, either raid 5 or raid 10 for the database files and then hook the 5th drive up to the mac pro SATA controller for the OS. I have been researching on the web what the ideal setup would be and there are so many differing opinions and nothing seems to be clear cut. Any thoughts on how I can squeeze the best performance out of my setup, hard drive wise?

Thanks.

[mr_vodka]

I dont believe that you will notice much difference in the performance if you use a RAID configuration.

IMO, it is a very very small sacrafice in comparison to a possibility of Data loss.

FileMaker Server is very taxing on the Hard Drive and I always recommend going with good HDs with a very fast interface / bus.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

SCSI or SAS drives, not SATA drives.

Steven

[Tanner]

The SATA drives I am getting are the Western Digital Raptor drives that are 10k RPM and 300mb/s. Do you think a SAS drive would give me that much better performance? Why?

Thanks.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

The issue is not speed. It's physical integrity and mean time between failure of SCSI or SAS vrs. SATA.

Take a look at the Server Tech Brief on the FMI Web Site.

Steven