SSD in server

[the pokemon kid]

Hey guys,

I wanted to find some information out about this. I have currently got a FreeNAS server running which stores all my Movie, Photo and Documents. However I am going to be moving to Windows Server instead as I need a test environment for my Drupal, Wordpress and SQL server instances.

Is it worth getting an SSD for the Windows Server OS?

I current have six x 2TB Western Digital Green drives in RAID 10. I will be increasing this RAID array to eight x 2TB Western Digital Greens.

 

[tinytomlogan]

"is it worth getting"

Isnt that a question for you and your wallet? It will only really make a difference when you are using it

 

[the pokemon kid]

"is it worth getting"

Isnt that a question for you and your wallet? It will only really make a difference when you are using it

Well for £60-80 I can get a 240gb SSD but I want to know whether it is a worthy performance increase. I have SSD's in my other computers and I can see huge performance increases. My other thought is, will windows server destroy an SSD? as I was told a little while ago that windows server can wear an SSD quicker than a standard HDD. Or is that BS?

 

[Kushiro]

As above its really subjective. Also WD Green drives arent great for RAID arrays. What makes you think that you need to add the SSD?



You will be replacing your SSD before any wear windows server could possibly cause becomes significant enough. Tom has already told you that its up to you in regards to whether or not the performance for the cost is worth it.

Your really better off just replacing the drives with something that is actually meant for use in these environments.

 

[the pokemon kid]

As above its really subjective. Also WD Green drives arent great for RAID arrays. What makes you think that you need to add the SSD?

I got an amazing deal on the greens at the time. I do intend on swapping these out with Reds at some point.

Well I am using a SQL server to get to my businesses 120gb database. I would be putting this onto there as it would make it so much faster at querying the database (currently it can take up to 30 seconds for some queries). Im just concerned that I put the SSD in and get not performance increase as SQL server is the bottleneck.

 

[TheOsTech]

The simple answer is yes, without question you should absolutely. These applications scream or crawl based on several factors but none more important than the responsiveness of the database. In terms of licensing, the cost of even enterprise class ssd's and a dedicated sql server hardware is minimal.

However a pci-e card with enterprise class pedigree is likely your best bet. look at the 750 intel ssd nvme pci-e but only if you have a pcie 3.0 slot available. These cards really shine under the heavy queue depth environment these platforms crave.

Otherwise try a software, or hardware if available, raid 10 with samsung 850 evo's or pros even. Dedicate servers physical servers to proformance limiting functions web servers, sql servers...ect Just keep in mind that non-enterprise class equipment may not recover to a steady state well and suffer performance penalties under constant heavy writes without a break.


As for longevity, have no fears on that front at all. Everything I have read about extreme testing of ssd's indicates lifetimes many times in excess of the manufactures rated life span that is already generous enough for a long long time in a server environment.

I should add that SQL server and iis to a lessor degree will crave all the ram you can spare. This too will boost proformance

Lastly, have you optimized your queries and tables? Are there structural changes you can make to the queries/tables to achieve better results? Sometimes I have to watch the complex joins and union queries to keep proformance in line with user expectations.