Setting up raid array for esx server

[eldingo]

Hello everybody:

This is my first post here, and I am a newcomer to the virtualization. I have been assigned the task of setting up a esx server. Now I need to setup a HP DL380 quad-core dual processor machine. I need to setup a 20gb partition for esx and the rest of the hard disk space for the second partition for the VMs.

My question is, what is the best raid configuration for this scenario.

Thanks.

[weinstein5]

Welcoem to the Forums - ESX only supports hardware based RAID so you will have to configure the RAID at the hardware level - during the install you are given the opportunity to partition the hard drive space - if you accept the defaults during the install it will create 6 partitions that match VMware's recommended partitioning -

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[java_cat33]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Well if it's going to be local storage, in most cases RAID 5 is sufficient.

In some setups I've had a mirror for the ESX install and RAID 5 for local ESX storage.

[jiths · Accepted solution]

The best option will be go for RAID 5 (HP RAID DDG) , if you want an higher level of redendany (2 disk failures) go for RAID ADG (RAID 6). I recommend you create one Array and two Logical Drive. First one for the ESX OS and second one for the VMFS. Allocate VMFS a bigger share.

[eldingo]

Jiths, thanks for the input. I have been asked to setup a 40gb partition for the ESX and the rest for the VMs. Can I setup a RAID1 for the ESX and RAID5 for the VMs?

[eldingo]

I have an existing ESX server, is there a way to tell what RAID configuration is on it (Without rebooting)?

it has 8 hard drives 75 gb each

and two partitions, partition1 is 15gb and partition2 is 250gb.

[jiths]

You can set up.But if will not be a good idea if both the LDs are created in the same array. If you configure RAID 1 and RAID 5 in same group of harddisk (it is possble through HPACU/smartstart) you maynot able to effectively utilize the harddisk space. Not sure how much impact will be there for performance and stability in this case.

If you are configuring two arrays , one with RAD1 and the other as RAID 5. It will be a better option.

[jiths]

If it is a HP server you can see this information through HP Insight Manager (management agents) or HPACU (online array configuration utility).

If your server storage card is a LSI based card in ESX VI Cliient under Configuration->health status-->stoarge , you can see the RAID configuration).

[eldingo]

Thanks Jiths, you have been a great help.

[shirzadi]

Hi

I have a sever with four 500 GBytes hard disks and i have configured 3 of these hards as Raid 5 in motherboard raid controller. I installed ESX server 4.0 in non raid hard disk but in vsphere client i see these three hards separate and i guess that esx server doesn't configured these hards as Raid 5

How can i define Raid 5 in esx server .

My mother board is Super Micro X7DVL-3