A REFERENCE GUIDE FOR OPTIMIZING DELL™ SCSI SOLUTIONS
VER A02
PAGE 2
11/17/2005
TABLE OF CONTENTS
A REFERENCE GUIDE FOR OPTIMIZING DELL SCSI SOLUTIONS
...............................................................
3
1.
I
NTRODUCTION
...................................................................................................................................................
3
2.
S
TORAGE
A
PPLICATIONS AND
C
OMPONENTS
....................................................................................................
4
Identify customer usage model and needs
.............................................................................................................
4
Picking a solution based on the application profile
..............................................................................................
4
General RAID Configuration Guidelines
..............................................................................................................................
5
Application specific guidelines
...............................................................................................................................
6
E-Mail Servers
.........................................................................................................................................................................
6
Database Servers
....................................................................................................................................................................
7
Web Servers
.............................................................................................................................................................................
8
Online Transaction Processing Servers
.................................................................................................................................
9
File Servers
............................................................................................................................................................................
10
Streaming Media Servers
......................................................................................................................................................
12
Additional configuration factors
..........................................................................................................................
13
Hot Spares
.............................................................................................................................................................................
13
Clustering Considerations
....................................................................................................................................................
13
Considerations for Optimal RAID Performance
.................................................................................................................
13
3.
D
ELL
’
S
P
RODUCT
O
FFERING
............................................................................................................................
14
PowerVault
™
220S & 221S Storage Enclosure
.................................................................................................
14
PERC – PowerEdge™ RAID Controllers
..........................................................................................................
14
SCSI Cabling
.........................................................................................................................................................
15
SCSI Hard Drive Support
.....................................................................................................................................
16
3
rd
Party Hardware support
.................................................................................................................................
16
Server Support
......................................................................................................................................................
16
4.
PV22
X
S
E
NCLOSURE
O
VERVIEW
....................................................................................................................
19
Joined Bus Topology
............................................................................................................................................
19
Split Bus Topology
................................................................................................................................................
20
Cluster Topology
..................................................................................................................................................
21
PV22xS – Common Features and Capabilities
...................................................................................................
22
SCSI ID Assignment
..............................................................................................................................................................
22
Multiple PV22xS Enclosures on a Single Host System
.......................................................................................................
23
Mixing EMM Speeds
.............................................................................................................................................................
23
Mixing HDD Capacities
.......................................................................................................................................................
24
Mixing HDD Spindle Speeds
................................................................................................................................................
24
SCSI Enclosure Services (SES)
............................................................................................................................................
24
Warm and Hot Pluggable Features
.....................................................................................................................................
24
External SCSI Cables
............................................................................................................................................................
25
External SCSI Connector Types
...........................................................................................................................................
25
PV22xS Configuration Topology and Application Attributes
.............................................................................................
26
5.
SCSI
H
OST
B
US
A
DAPTERS
/
SCSI
RAID
.......................................................................................................
29
RAID: Hardware Vs Software
.............................................................................................................................
29
Considerations to Implement a RAID Solution
...................................................................................................
29
Controller Family
..................................................................................................................................................................
30
Data Protection Strategy
......................................................................................................................................................
32
High Availability Needs – Clustering
...................................................................................................................................
33
Heterogeneous vs. Homogeneous environments
.................................................................................................................
33
Interface Channel Options – Internal/External/Multi channel device configuration
........................................................
34
Capacity Needs – Virtual Disk Size
......................................................................................................................................
35
Additional RAID information
...............................................................................................................................
35
6.
S
UMMARY AND
C
ONCLUSIONS
........................................................................................................................
39
7.
A
PPENDIX
–
A:
R
EFERENCES
............................................................................................................................
41
8.
A
PPENDIX
–
B:
G
LOSSARY
...............................................................................................................................
42
9.
A
PPENDIX
–
C:
A
BOUT THE
D
ELL
SCSI
S
TORAGE
S
OLUTION
T
EAM
.............................................................
43
Authors
..................................................................................................................................................................
43
10.
A
PPENDIX
–
D:
R
EVISION
H
ISTORY
.............................................................................................................
44