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Servers and storage

A server is bought for five years, and requirements double over that time. So we size not for what is needed today but for what will be needed by the end of its service life: adding memory or disks later costs more than allowing for them at the outset.

Profile
we calculate the load
Spares
five years ahead
Duplicates
power and disks
Rack
installation and start-up

What the work includes

Requirements first, hardware second. The other way round leads to buying a powerful server that is held back by its disks.

Discuss the scope

Load profile

An accounting database needs clock speed, virtual machines need memory, files need disks. Their requirements differ and often contradict each other.

The disk subsystem

The array layout, the type and number of drives. Performance depends on it more than on the processor.

Separate storage

When the volume outgrows local disks or several machines need access at once.

Redundancy

Two power supplies, mirrored disks, several paths to the network, and a second machine if needed.

Rack

Installation, power, network, configuring the controllers and remote management.

Support

Packages that include an engineer visit and part replacement within an agreed time.

How it goes

Stock builds arrive in about two weeks; made-to-order configurations from a month and longer.

01

Requirements

What will run, how many people, what volume of data and how fast it grows.

02

Configuration

We list the items with explanations and show cheaper and more expensive options.

03

Purchase and installation

Ordering, delivery, acceptance, racking.

04

Start-up

Arrays, a virtualisation environment or an operating system, documentation and handover.

A disk array filled to the brim starts behaving unpredictably. Speed drops, a rebuild after a disk replacement stretches over a day, and there is not even enough free space for temporary files. Plan so that no more than seventy per cent is used in normal operation.

Questions and answers

More smaller disks are usually faster than two large ones, because the load is spread. But statistically there are also more failures, so the array layout is chosen according to what matters more: speed or resilience.

While there is one machine and the volume is moderate, quite. Separate storage is needed when there are several servers that require shared access to the data, or when the volume no longer fits inside the case.

Either extend support with the manufacturer or keep spare parts yourself: a power supply, a couple of disks, memory modules. Working without either is risky - a part for a discontinued model can take weeks to find.

We will put together a server configuration

Write what will run and how many people will use it. We will send a costing with an explanation of every line.