This page is the wiki home for the Dell SQL Server 2005 Reference Architecture white paper, where you can download the white paper as well as contribute to the discussion about it below in the discussion threads section.

White Paper Summary

Dell™ PowerEdge™ servers and Dell PowerVault™ storage systems are ideal choices to deploy highly reliable and sustainable Microsoft® SQL Server® 2005 databases. This reference Architecture white paper is intended to help IT professionals design and configure SQL Server 2005 database solutions using Dell servers and storage that apply “best practices” derived from laboratory and real-world experiences. This white paper documents Dell’s recommended approach for implementing a tested and validated solution for SQL Server 2005 SP2 database on Dell PowerEdge 9th-generation servers, Dell PowerVault MD3000 SAS storage enclosures, and Microsoft Windows Server® 2003 Standard Edition with SP2. Download the complete paper for details.

White Paper Highlights

The following highlights are from the reference architecture paper.

Figure 1 - Architectural Overview of Dell SQL Server 2005 Reference Architecture

The layout of disks into different LUNs is also covered in the white paper. An example of how a disk enclosure might be organized to support SQL 2005 is given in the following diagram.


Figure 2 - Separation of Disk Groups and Virtual Disks within a PowerVault MD3000 Storage Array for TempDB, Transaction Logs, and Data

The reference architecture includes detailed configuration information. The following diagrams from the paper show how the MD3000 disk partitions need to be aligned. For details on how to configure the alignment, please see the full paper.

Misaligned Disk Partition:


Aligned Disk Partition:


Figure 3 - Misaligned and Aligned Disk Partitions on MD3000 for SQL Server 2005

The paper also includes the diagram below to explain virtual disk-to-partition mapping and configuration with the specific example of the two-socket, dual-core Dell PowerEdge 2950 server.


Figure 4 - Virtual Disk to Partition Mapping and Configuration for a Dual-Core Two-socket PowerEdge server hosting SQL Server 2005.

Download the complete paper here.

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