Ubuntu to Windows server switch

[sammynl]

Hi,

I've always been happy with Ubuntu and Linux RAID, but trying to install the new Ubuntu 10.4 version was not fun at all. So I tried Windows 2003 Server R2 X64 Enterprise Edition and the performance is actually impressive!

In the Ubuntu config I had 6*1TB for RAID5 and a seperate 2.5" bootdisk. I've changed this to gain performance and reduce power consumption, now it's 5*1TB RAID0 (5 dynamic disks stiped into one volume) and 1*1TB OS and an extra backup partition for critical data:

The client shares are on the HIGH_PERF striped RAID0 volume, critical data is being copied from the RAID0 volume to the backup partition with a scheduled task (Robocopy), so data is on 3 locations now, 1*client, 1*server Disk 0 and 1*server RAID0 volume. Benefit is that this is just as secure as 6*1Gb RAID5 but the performance is much better.

And I must say Windows Server 2003 R2 OS is more stable and less buggy than Ubuntu. (Yes it is really!)

Read performance is about 105MB/sec. Write performance, it's about 80MB/sec (files like > 20Gb multimedia ). No parity needs to be calculated with RAID0

If you want your shares to be accessable (on your own secure subnet) without annoying authentication (mediaplayer?) there are 3 simple steps to take:
1) gpedit.msc -> Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Local Policies -> User Rights Assignment ->
Access this computer from the network: everyone, anonymous logon

2) gpedit.msc -> Computer Configuration -> Windows Settings -> Local Policies -> Security Options
Network Access: let everyone permissions apply to anonymous users: enabled

3) Enable and give the guest account a blank password.

And off you go!

Regards, Sammy.

 

[00Roush]

Wow now that is a change...

I am surprised to see you moved to a RAID0 array as most people go the other way!

How much has your power consumption changed?

Hearing you had troubles installing Ubuntu 10.4 makes me wonder if I really want to test it out. I recently setup a new home server (currently using Server 2008 R2) and I was considering testing Ubuntu Server to see how performance was.

00Roush

 

[sammynl]

Hi Roush,

Power consumption is 87W when running and 48W when disks idle.

I use this power scheme:

Not RAID5 with 6 disks but RAID0 with 5 disks and 1 seperate disks for critical data backup is a workable solution for me (data is at 3 places now, I have a 2TB 5400rpm seperate backup disk in my Windows7 client PC).

I'd stick to Windows Server if I was you if you are happy with it! Ubuntu is great but it's hard troubleshooting as soon as you run into some kind of problem, and that's what I ran into many many times. Once you got it running it's fine but the way to get there can be very time consuming. I'm gonna try Windows Server 2003 X64 for a while but so far it looks good to me!

I did a small test showing the RAID5 overhead for parity calculation:
Writing to RAID5

Writing to RAID0

Regards, Sammy.