OS Partition size for Server 2019.

[thecomputerguy]

Going to be deploying a couple of new servers. Per the recommendations of a few fellow Technibblers I will be going with a large RAID10 using somewhere between 4-8 SSD's.

What would you recommend for the OS partition? I'm thinking 200GB should more than cover just about everything I'd need. The server will just be a basic DC, DNS, DHCP, AD server with all the data sitting on the second partition but I'd like to preserve as much of that storage as possible for data.

I could probably drop it down to 100GB but I'm just asking based on other experiences.

 

[Sky-Knight]

I never go smaller than 80gb for an OS partition, but I tend to use 200-250 as well for some odd reason.

The image backups of my DCs are often around 80gb so it's not like I need all that storage.

 

[freedomit]

If you are doing this on bare metal then definitely no smaller than 200GB or you will regret it in 3-5 years time.

 

[Yosebas84]

I normally go with 80gb for c:/ 250gb, for d:/ (or wherever is needed), double of Ram for that server in p:/ since i disable the Page file in c:/ and only leave it active in p:/ so Windows does not play with my c:/ drive.

If its only dc, dns, dhcp and fs.. 6gb of Ram top (4gb would do fine) and 12gb of p:/ drive for Page file.

If you are going to have apps and bbdds, create 2 other servers (yeah 2, bite licencing costs bullet it's worth it) so you can give granular access if needed to bbdd developers, external resources to do app installations, and that way if something goes wrong, it will be easier to restore an entire server without leaving the entire company without ad, dns, dhcp, mail, etc services.

This is what i normally do for clients with a nice IT budget:

Host Bare Metal (VMWARE or PROXMOX free or licenced depending on your backup solution)
1)Windows Server: roles - DC, DNS, DHCP, FS
2)Windows Server: roles - DC, DNS, DHCP, FS
3)Windows Server: roles - APPS (Business Apps, not mail)
4)Windows Server: roles BBDD (SQL, MySQL, etc.)
5)Windows Server: roles - RDS (if needed)
6)Maintenance Windows Server: roles - FS (Antivirus Console, WSUS, Backup Software, etc)

with a storage and 2 bare metal servers for failover and O365 for mail with AzureAD to sync the passwords (so they only have 1 user and Pwd)

Cost: Elevated
Service: Premium

 

[SAFCasper]

To be honest I would say 200GB is overkill and a waste of storage. Windows server is pretty slim these days.

Just checked a clients Server 2019 instance we setup 3-4 months ago. It runs pretty much what you said. DC, DNS, DHCP and nothing else.
The C: drive is at 18.5GB used.

I think 100GB is a good 'safe' number to go with. It's still overkill really, but storage isn't so expensive we need to scrimp over 10's of GB.


Or hey, go nuts and install server core. Fully patched install is less than 7GB

 

[Sky-Knight]

@SAFCasper I agree with you, but it's all fun and games until one of your "guys" or another vendor gets in there and doesn't pay attention and fills C with a SQL dump.

I use 200gb because people that have no business working on servers, work on servers.

 

[Markverhyden]

@SAFCasper I agree with you, but it's all fun and games until one of your "guys" or another vendor gets in there and doesn't pay attention and fills C with a SQL dump.

I use 200gb because people that have no business working on servers, work on servers.

Completely agree. A server is a condo complex and you can't always rely on what other "tenants" will do. I've seen plenty of times where LoB apps get installed with certain default locations being on C. You don't get the options to change things during the install unless one chooses Advanced/Expert. The result is space getting gobbled up on C when it could have been directed to another partition.

 

[Markverhyden]

Just checked a clients Server 2019 instance we setup 3-4 months ago. It runs pretty much what you said. DC, DNS, DHCP and nothing else. The C: drive is at 18.5GB used.

I don't have anyone using 2019 but just checked a 2016, workgroup and just file sharing, and it's using 40gb. Knowing that so much of the bloat involves updates I'm guessing that they've been working on that angle.

 

[YeOldeStonecat]

Smallest I'll go is 128 gigs if I'm cramping for space for a virtual guest. I try to stick to 256 gigs in most cases.

 

[Yosebas84]

To be honest I would say 200GB is overkill and a waste of storage. Windows server is pretty slim these days.

Just checked a clients Server 2019 instance we setup 3-4 months ago. It runs pretty much what you said. DC, DNS, DHCP and nothing else.
The C: drive is at 18.5GB used.

I think 100GB is a good 'safe' number to go with. It's still overkill really, but storage isn't so expensive we need to scrimp over 10's of GB.


Or hey, go nuts and install server core. Fully patched install is less than 7GB

Today i'm about to go for a core installation with 2 VMs (DC and apps/bbdd), this is going to be an experiment hahaha, core will only go for the host, i want to see if can replace proxmox in some of my clients.. Will let you know how it went

 

[kwest]

Storage is cheap. I always set at 250gb

 

[SAFCasper]

Today i'm about to go for a core installation with 2 VMs (DC and apps/bbdd), this is going to be an experiment hahaha, core will only go for the host, i want to see if can replace proxmox in some of my clients.. Will let you know how it went

My hyper-v host and DC at home are core. Thought it would force me into using PowerShell more often but the remote management is so good I rarely ever do. Just install server manager and hyper-v manager on my desktop PC and most tasks can be done directly from there.

Storage is cheap...

Please repeat this to my dell account manger so he can laugh his ass off.

Most recent quote for a SCv3020... 960GB read-intensive SSD's priced at £1,330 each. Oh, you want write-intensive? We have 800GB models at just £3,340 each.

Wait! You want to buy third-party drives? Afraid they won't be detected as they don't have Dell firmware.

Complete daylight robbery.

 

[thecomputerguy]

My hyper-v host and DC at home are core. Thought it would force me into using PowerShell more often but the remote management is so good I rarely ever do. Just install server manager and hyper-v manager on my desktop PC and most tasks can be done directly from there.





Please repeat this to my dell account manger so he can laugh his ass off.

Most recent quote for a SCv3020... 960GB read-intensive SSD's priced at £1,330 each. Oh, you want write-intensive? We have 800GB models at just £3,340 each.

Wait! You want to buy third-party drives? Afraid they won't be detected as they don't have Dell firmware.

Complete daylight robbery.

Same ... I do almost all of my stuff through Dell and the margin on higher end storage through Dell seems like it's easily 100% markup. Business grade stuff is pretty intensely overpriced which is why I usually buy a mid-range model with the smallest HD I can get in it and then drop my own Samsung NVme SSD's for half the cost of what an SSD through Dell is.

 

[kwest]

My hyper-v host and DC at home are core. Thought it would force me into using PowerShell more often but the remote management is so good I rarely ever do. Just install server manager and hyper-v manager on my desktop PC and most tasks can be done directly from there.





Please repeat this to my dell account manger so he can laugh his ass off.

Most recent quote for a SCv3020... 960GB read-intensive SSD's priced at £1,330 each. Oh, you want write-intensive? We have 800GB models at just £3,340 each.

Wait! You want to buy third-party drives? Afraid they won't be detected as they don't have Dell firmware.

Complete daylight robbery.

Well buy from them then. My servers are all built from bare bones servers for small business. So storage is cheap.

 

[SAFCasper]

Same ... I do almost all of my stuff through Dell and the margin on higher end storage through Dell seems like it's easily 100% markup. Business grade stuff is pretty intensely overpriced which is why I usually buy a mid-range model with the smallest HD I can get in it and then drop my own Samsung NVme SSD's for half the cost of what an SSD through Dell is.

We have done the same thing a couple times. Order the server from Dell with something like a single 500GB SATA drive then buy the real storage elsewhere. With the savings you can usually purchase an additional drive for hot-spare and still come in 20-30% under what Dell would charge.

 

[HCHTech]

rder the server from Dell with something like a single 500GB SATA drive then buy the real storage elsewhere.

We've been doing this for workstations for years. Order minimum configs of both RAM and HD, buy add'l RAM & SSD elsewhere and stick 'em in during setup. Gives us higher markup than normal and still saves the client money. Win-win.

 

[Sky-Knight]

If I sell Dell, I sell with a 5 year warranty. So the customer gets to pay the Dell price, so that warranty extends to all the gear. This goes double true for servers. I know they bill highway robbery rates, but the entire point of using Dell is that service plan, not the equipment itself.

 

[SAFCasper]

If I sell Dell, I sell with a 5 year warranty. So the customer gets to pay the Dell price, so that warranty extends to all the gear. This goes double true for servers. I know they bill highway robbery rates, but the entire point of using Dell is that service plan, not the equipment itself.

Same here (for servers). Just about every client that has a server, has Dell ProSupport NDB or 4-hour on it.

Even for the couple servers I mentioned above with 3rd party drives. We still take out ProSupport on the server. It just doesn't cover hard drives. But with RAID1/RAID10 and a hot-spare that risk is largely negated. At least enough for me to be comfortable with.

It's a rare occurrence and I definitely prefer buying everything direct from Dell. I mean it makes my life easier and it's not my money being spent But sometimes cost is a major factor and going with third-party drives can be the difference between a proposal being approved or rejected.

 

[Sky-Knight]

@SAFCasper, I used to do that... but after almost losing a customer because Samsung... Never again.