mirroring windows 2000 server

[arielneill 0]

Hello all,

Thanks for the help…

 

My question is what is the best software to setup a mirrored drive with windows 2000 server?

 

I have a new dell filesever running: 2 identical western digital sata 250gb drives (non-raid.) (Just 2 drives…)

 

Drive 0: ntfs

Partion1: windows 2000 server operating system.

Partion2: 60gb of AutoCAD files.

 

Drive 1: ntfs

Partion1: blank

 

Is what I’m looking for ultimately is if my master drive goes down I just need to switch drives to get everyone up and running fast.

 

[kasandoro 0]

I would tell you to use the built-in mirror RAID function, but you can't use RAID on the system volume. You might try adding a third drive and use it for the system volume, then set the other two up in a RAID configuration. Keep in mind that this operation will delete the contents of both drives, iirc. Alec, where are you?

[adamvjackson 0]

There's support for software RAID mirroring in Windows 2000/2003 Server, under Disk Management snap-in for MMC.

 

If you have 60GB of Autocad documents, that's a serious investment (of both time and money) and I would recommend that you implement a tape backup (off-sight nightly, if possible) and a *hardware* RAID card.

 

Software RAID *can* break, if Windows becomes corrupted enough, but hardware RAID is less likely to fail.

 

Good luck, and think of it like this, no matter what the cost for backup hardware/media, it *will* be less than the cost of lost work and time!

 

[zen69x 0]

Since you're using server, you can do this in software. You will need to convert both disks to dynamic first then you can click on your current OS partition and choose mirror.

 

What kasandoro says is for the most part true in that you can't use your system volume in most RAID applications. However you can indeed use it in a RAID 1 implementation.

 

RAID 1 isn't especially resource intensive so you should be fine going the software route for this. However if you do want to go the hardware route, I would recommend picking up something a bit more robust than something along the lines of a lower end Promise type adapter.

 

There are plenty of ways to go about this, in the end it will come down to what you are willing to compromise and how much $$ you are willing to spend.

[QuackerJack 0]

If I currently have a remote server (no RAID controllers) that I just had a 2nd identical drive put into, can I safely convert both drives to dynamic and mirror them via software RAID? If I convert the first (boot) drive to dynamic, will I lose everything on it?

[DS3Circuit 0]

I think these links should help ya:

 

Upgrading the System or Boot Drive to Dynamic (Rooting)

 

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=222188

 

How to create a mirrored volume on a remote Windows 2000-based computer in Windows XP-based computer

 

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=307880

 

Best Practices for Using Dynamic Disks on Windows 2000-Based Computers

 

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=329707

[zen69x 0]

I think ds3circuit's links answer most of the questions brought up here.

 

I'll reply to a few other questions directly though, kinda lost this thread for a bit.

 

Originally posted by Alec§taar

Quote:

A mirror will eat more CPU in software than in hardware though

 

Software is almost always a poorer choice than dedicated hardware for any task. However since he is only looking to mirror a system partition, I can't see that he's facing much of an issue here, unless he has other software that makes frequent and heavy writes to that drive, then I'd have to ask why though. I searched around for some benchmarks and couldn't find much out there less than about 4 years old regarding software vs. hardware (I use that term loosely for some of the low end controllers) solutions.

 

Also posted by Alec§taar

Quote:

What I need to know basically is, has this limit of using ONLY dynamic type disks (vs. basic type) come into play on software-driven RAIDs lately on 2000/XP/2003 only, vs. older NT 3.5x & NT 4.0?

 

Yes, these came about with Win2k. Dynamic disks were first implemented here and this is where MS decided that any new FT, stripe, or spanned sets would be implemented. Actually, the Win2k help system has some good information on this. ...I know, what was I thinking reading the help files? LOL.

 

As for QuackerJack,

 

This MSKB should be exactly what you need regarding setting up a software mirror. Also check some of the related links at the bottom because they will likely save you in case the primary disk does go down.

 

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=302969

 

BTW, I recently implemented software RAID 1 on two older servers due to lack of funds for a hardware implementation, on a 2000 and a 2003 server. Both were done without any data loss, although having a backup is always good practice.