First – I’d like to say – you really should not plan an application deployment by saying “this is the hard ware I have – how should I use it?”

Much better to define and document your requirements for the application, then look to the app vendor for guidance.  In this case – the guidance is on the OpsMgr R2 Sizer:

http://blogs.technet.com/momteam/archive/2009/08/12/operations-manager-2007-r2-sizing-helper.aspx

So – we take your data – up to 500 agents – and plug that into the sizer.

We will use the 251-500 agent model.

Keep in mind - these are the MINIMUM specs to be considered a supportable design/deployment.  Not OPTIMAL.  In general – the RMS like memory and CPU (and fast disks if large deployment and config churn is expected)  The DB need DISK I/O first, and memory and processing power second.  The bottleneck of the DB is almost always the Disk I/O.

This design in the sizer, shows all DB’s on one SQL server, with a RMS on the other server (redundancy is not part of the design example here)

RMS needs a dual proc, 2xRAID1, and 4GB RAM.  So, any of your servers would exceed that.

The DB server has a MINIMUM spec of 6 disks in a RAID 10.  NONE of your planned servers can provide this, because this RAID 10 array is designed for ONLY the OpsDB and DWDB to be present on it – it assumes the OS and pagefile workloads are on their own disks.

The R900’s are overkill for your needs…. You have spent way more on hardware in the base box – and not enough planning for disk I/O.  Keep in mind – SQL is licensed per processor – so your costs go up as well by overbuilding your solution.

If I was “stuck” with this solution…. I would deploy it as so:

Solution 1 (no possible additional hardware):

RMS:  R900 with 2xRAID1 for OS, 2xRAID1 for SCOM install (Healthservice queue and config file)

DB:  2950 with 6xRAID0+1 (or RAID10), then the OS, and all DB’s installed on this single array.

MS:  R900 with 2xRAID1 for OS and SCOM install.

Solution 2 (get hardware to meet application requirements):

RMS:  R900 with 2xRAID1 for OS, 2xRAID1 for SCOM install (Healthservice queue and config file)

DB:  R900 with 2xRAID1 for OS, and a SAN or direct attach RAID0+1 (or RAID10) based disk with ample spindle count.  Preferably multiple disks for logs separate from data.

MS:  2950 with 2xRAID1 for OS and SCOM install.

The 3 RAID 1’s is a horrible idea.  RAID 1 on two spindles does not have enough performance for the OpsMgr SQL database.  The minimum spec for ANY SCOM deployment that will host a database is 4 disks in a RAID0+1.

If you are able to separate the logs and DB’s on distinct spindle arrays – then you place ALL the logs on one array, and ALL the DB’s on the other array.  Transaction logs leverage sequential writes, while DB’s are random writes/reads.  This is why there is a performance benefit to separating tlogs from DB’s.  However – it is FAR better from an I/O perspective to combine both on a 6 disk RAID10, than to be able to separate them on 3 RAID1 arrays.

The bottom line – these servers are overkill in some areas – and not enough in others. 

I’ve been researching and feel I am stuck between a couple ideas right now so I could use help.  Want to give my DB/DW a good start as well as RMS and MS.

Setup

2 Dell R900 Quad’s w/16gig RAM (each comes with 4 146gig HD’s, 1 empty HD bay)

1 Dell 2950 Dual Quadcore w/16gig RAM (4 146gig HD, 2 empty HD bays)

SCOM MP’s include:

Dell

Windows Server

SQL

Active Directory

Sharepoint (possibly)

No ACS planned at this time.

Total agents anywhere between 300 and 500. 

So which server should I make the SQL server??  Originally I had spec’d the architecture to be R900 RMS, R900 SQL and 2950 MS.  Problem is the R900 only comes with 5 possible HD’s (4 146gig HD’s + 1 empty HD bay which I could fill with another 146 HD).  I was hoping to separate the trans logs, datafiles and the system on separate physical disks.  6 drives would almost be perfect for my needs I think.  I’d just do 3 Raid 1’s, put the system on disk 1, the Trans and datafile for DB on disk 2 and then the trans and datafile for the DW on disk3 (no hot swaps of course).  Or would it be better to just separate the Trans and datafiles for the DB and DW physically (System disk 1, DB/DW trans Disk 2, DB/DW datafiles Disk3) .  Either way, to do that I’d have to put the SQL server on the 2950 since it’s the only server that supports 6 physical disk locally.  I’m not sure this is the best idea since the 2950 is not a true quad and I don’t want to sacrifice the performance of the SQL server.  But there’s this nagging voice in my head that says, SQL needs memory and Application servers need processing so it almost makes sense to move the SQL to the 2950 and then run the MS and RMS on my r900’s?? 

On the other hand, if it’s best to keep the SQL on the r900 then I have to figure out the best RAID config to use on 5 disks.  Maybe Raid 1’s for the trans and data files for the DB and DW and then a RAID 0 for system?  Or maybe a Raid 1 for the Trans logs and then just RAID 5 the other 3 disk for everything else? 

Sorry, I’ve driven myself a little madd here.  I’ve waited to get properly sized servers for this project and I just want to make the right first step here.  I’ve always been concerned about performance with SCOM. 

Also, any suggested RAID for the RMS and MS.  I realize they arent very write heavy.  I’m assuming RAID 5 is probably fine?? 

Thanks for anyone’s input!

regards

Bryce Kinnamon

Social Security Administration

OESAE – DESEI - EIMB-MOM

mailto: Bryce.W.Kinnamon@ssa.gov

SSA Phone: (410) 965-2613

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