Hard Disk Arrangement Suggestions/Help

[NinjaNife]

I have a few questions today. A few of my friends got together and built a dedicated server recently, and we are having some issues. Here are the specs:

 

Intel SR1630GP Chassis/Motherboard/PSU

Intel Xeon X3440 Lynnfield 2.53GHz LGA 1156 Processor - Total of 8 cores, 4 physical and 4 virtual

2x G.SKILL Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1333 - Total of 16GB

2x Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB HDD's in RAID 0

 

Basically what happened was the power cut out and somehow (possibly because of the RAID 0 setup) the registry was corrupted, and we had to reinstall Windows (we put the HDD's back in standard configuration when that happened). What I am wondering is what you all think would be the best plan of action. Here are a few options we are considering:

 

Setup 1:

Put the HDD's in standard configuration, with one drive as Windows/Games and the other as a backup - We have tried this and it works, but VERY slow performance when loading 40 gameservers, especially during startup..

 

Setup 2:

Put the HDD's back in RAID 0 and get a 2.5in Laptop HDD as a backup for the RAID 0, minus the UserFiles/GameInstalls folders (we could have 15 daily backups stored on the laptop drive at all times)

 

Setup 3: Put the HDD's back in RAID 0 and put the UserFiles/GameInstalls folders on them, and use the 2.5in Laptop HDD as the Windows drive - No backup available with this option (internal anyway)

 

Setup 4: Put the HDD's back in RAID 0 and put the UserFiles/GameInstalls folders on them, and get a VelociRaptor HDD for Windows and use another 2.5in Laptop HDD as a backup for Windows (same thing; we could have 15 daily backups stored)

 

 

Those are a few things we are considering right now.. Unfortunately, we have to decide by Friday, since that is when our server is being picked up from the DC and being repaired (we are also adding another 8GB of memory, for a total of 24GB installed). We don't want to lose the RAID 0 performance (for server loading it went almost 2-3 times faster), but we also don't want to risk our Windows install corrupting again with a power failure... Any ideas? Thanks for your help.

 

Brendan "NinjaNife" West

 

P.S.

There is only space for two 3.5in HDD's in the server case, so that is why we are planning on using 2.5in Laptop HDD's for anything extra (we can fit them where the optical drive normally would be; not perfect but it should work without any issues). Also, we are using desktop memory instead of server memory because we bought server memory and nothing would work.. Desktop memory is working fine, and it is just for a clan so nothing critical. Unfortunately we couldn't return the server memory lol.. Now we have 16GB of ECC just sitting here xD

[SickPuppy]

Keep your operating system and game servers on different drives. Backing up a game server is a waste of time and disk space.

 

If the OS drive fails the game installs remain on the other drive just replace the OS drive and you are back up and running. We keep drives on hand with operating systems already installed. If a OS drive fails just ship a new drive to the Data Center.

 

If the Game drive fails just replace it, open TCAdmin and reinstall the game servers.

[NinjaNife]

Thank you for the response. So you do not recommend backing up the Windows files at all? Such as an image backup (I don't plan on backing up the gameservers; I agree that it would be a waste)? I am currently leaning towards "Setup 4", which combines your idea and adds a backup (plus the VelociRaptor HDD would greatly increase windows load times, as well as TCAdmin Panel response). Do you agree with this or have a different idea? Thanks for your help.

 

 

Brendan "NinjaNife" West

 

P.S.

In your situation, if the OS drive fails, how do you import all of the servers/settings back into TCAdmin on the new drive? If you don't have the same TCAdmin Database from the crashed server, wouldn't the gameservers just be sitting there with no idea what IP/Port they should be on, even if you could get them started? Or does TCAdmin store a configuration file in each game folder? That is something I have been wondering. Thanks again.

[dimitrifrom31]

Disk1 and 2 with 2 partitions :

- C: in RAID1 software (OS)

- D: in RAID0 (Games)

 

As for Disk3 I would use it for GS backup and if disk1 or 2 fails call the DC to switch it with disk3.

I disagree with sickpuppy on the no GS backup point especially if you run a small GSP. Imagine you lose the datas if a few unhappy customers leave it may lead you to clos your doors.

[NinjaNife]

Disk1 and 2 with 2 partitions :

- C: in RAID1 software (OS)

- D: in RAID0 (Games)

 

As for Disk3 I would use it for GS backup and if disk1 or 2 fails call the DC to switch it with disk3.

I disagree with sickpuppy on the no GS backup point especially if you run a small GSP. Imagine you lose the datas if a few unhappy customers leave it may lead you to clos your doors.

 

Unfortunately our server was only designed for two HDD's, so the other two laptop drives we are installing will be.."rigged" I guess lol. I have no doubt that it will work, but it takes out any RAID 1 option (the two laptop drives are different kinds/sizes; one is a 300GB VelociRaptor, the other is a standard 250GB laptop drive), and no GS backup, but we are just a clan/community so if the GS goes down it isn't very serious (the people paying know what may happen, and the others can complain all they want lol). Thanks for all the help guys. I think I will stick with Setup 4 (RAID 0 for GS, VelociRaptor for OS, and standard laptop drive for OS nightly backup; probably image backup). Thanks again

[SickPuppy]

In your situation, if the OS drive fails, how do you import all of the servers/settings back into TCAdmin on the new drive? If you don't have the same TCAdmin Database from the crashed server, wouldn't the gameservers just be sitting there with no idea what IP/Port they should be on, even if you could get them started? Or does TCAdmin store a configuration file in each game folder? That is something I have been wondering. Thanks again.

 

We host our DB with TCAdmin. That way we have everything on a separate server. All you have to do is open your TCAdmin control panel and hit reinstall. After the game is installed open the config editor and hit save. The server config will then be updated back to the setting it had prior to the HD failure.

[dimitrifrom31]

simply make a daily SQL Dump of your DB so once you get your OS reloaded, reinstall TCA and mysql then import the dump.

 

You can then get your TCA services back by going to services settings and hitting save. It will reinstall the service.

I got a script from luis that can do that automatically if you have many servers installed. Also got a script to execute install scripts as you may want to recover firewall exceptions too.

[DrEvil]

What's up with just running RAID1? What does it matter if the OS is slow to load, it's a server so it doesn't get rebooted like a desktop and should always be "up" anyway.

Just my thoughts. In my world stability always outranks performance no matter what.

 

That said Dimitri and SickPuppy do have some good ideas.

 

Evil

[Dorkslayz]

Get 3 More HDD's so you have 4 In total and put it into a RAID 10 Array, You will get Maximum performance and redundancy.