Building a server? SAS vs SATA
Most servers that have RAID controllers with Hot Swap bays will support both SAS and SATA drives. First I’d like to say that if you are looking at a server, you should really consider one with hardware RAID and hot swap bays for the drives as a minimum requirement. A properly configured RAID system will allow you to replace a faulty hard drive without powering down the server and without data loss, how much is downtime worth to you?
I’m going to assume you picked the right server and now the question is “Do I go with SATA or SAS drives?”
A SATA drive can connect to a SAS interface, a SAS drive cannot connect ot a SATA interface. Most SATA drives are designed for the consumer market where cost is a big factor. Most consumer drives are based on 8 hours per day usage with a 10-20%* workload. They are designed to run at half duplex (one data direction at a time) with an I/O per sector of 77*. Enterprise based SATA drive improved on these specs by being design for more usage, higher workloads and can run at higher temperatures, and cost more. SAS drives are designed to be enterprise drives where performance and reliability are much more important than price. SAS drives are design to be running 24 hours a day with a much higher workload and to withstand higher temperatures. SAS drives use full duplex and have an I/O per sector of around 319*, 3 to 4 times faster than SATA. If you ever pick up a SAS drive, one of the first things you’ll notice is that they are much heavier than the SATA counterpart.
I guess you can see where this is going. From personal experience, SAS based RAID system out-perform SATA based RAID systems.
Joe Clarke
*Some of the numbers used above are from Intel.
No Hiding From SPAM
I’m not much of a blogger, this is the first time I’ve actually check out the dashboard for this site. This site has only been up for a little while and I know I really haven’t been promoting the site as much as I should, so I was surprised to see SPAM waiting for us. Just shows you, there’s nowhere safe from spam in the connected world.
It’s almost as bad as a few years ago (ok, maybe more than just a few years) I was installing a new server. I connected to the Internet through a dialup connection to update the anti-virus software, while waiting for the update to download, they got a virus (it was cleaned after the update and a reboot). I remember thinking at the time what was the chance of getting a virus from a dialup connection as I saw the tell tale sign of the virus pop up on the screen, just imagine the look on my face.
I’ll chat more on viruses and such in later blog entries.
Joe Clarke
One down.. more to come.
We had our first meeting on December 12 with Mitch Garvis of SWMI Consulting Group discussing the nuts and bolts of Windows 7 deployment. There were seven in attendance, which is pretty good considering the time of the year and the fact that it was our first meeting. Mitch’s presentation was very informative and entertaining.
We want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who attended. Without you there would be no user group. The first meeting was such a success that we plan on having our next meeting this February or March. If you have any meeting ideas or would like to present, please let us know.
We’re also looking for a few volunteers to help out with the user group. Please contact us if you are interested.
I almost forgot to mention our first sponsor, AG Research. They generously donated the meeting space and coffee. Microsoft Canada also paid for the pizza and refreshments.
Hope to see you at the next meeting.
We may need a bigger room
Due to popular demand, we’ve opened up two more seats for our meeting on December 12.
Get them while they’re hot!
Did you know?
According to Biztech, Mitch Garvis’ blog is one of the 50 Must-Read IT Blogs.
Find out why on December 12!
It’s been a large day
Our user group has gone from 0-100 today. Within a few hours we had content on the site and registered users for our first meeting. Thanks go out to AG Research, Mitch Garvis, Microsoft Canada, and you.
As if I wasn’t busy enough, I’m also proof reading AtlSecCon sponsorship material for my good friend Travis Barlow, Founder of the Atlantic Security Conference. If you didn’t attend last year, you need to attend this year.
Hope to see you all on December 12!
May we present, Mitch Garvis!
Join us for what is sure to be both an educational and entertaining event on December 12 from 6:00PM to 8:30PM at the offices of AG Research in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Free pizza, pop, coffee, and tea will be provided. There will be door prizes as well. Seating is limited, so register now!
The ABCs of Desktop Deployment: MDT, WDS, MAP, ACT, SCCM, USMT: You Can’t Spell DEPLOYMENT Without Them!
Windows 7 is the fastest selling operating system in history. With such high adoption rates, it is important for the desktop deployment engineer to know all of the tools available to make their lives easier… and most of those tools are free! This high-level session will provide an overview of the alphabet soup of deployment and compatibility tools, and a demo of most of them. Prepare to walk out of this session ready and eager to become your company’s deployment guru!
Mitch Garvis is a Renaissance Man of the IT world. Aside from being a partner with SWMI Consulting Group, he is a Virtual Partner Technology Advisor for Microsoft Canada and has contributed to numerous certification exams for Microsoft Learning. He seems to collect certifications, and trains on a variety of topics including System Center, server virtualization, desktop deployment, and security. We think that parts of Windows 7 really were his idea. You can read his blog at www.garvis.ca, or follow him on Twitter as @MGarvis. He makes his home outside Toronto where he has one wife, two kids, two dogs, and two minutes to himself per day.
Our first sponsor!
We’re pleased to announce that AG Research is our first sponsor. They will be providing the space (and the coffee/tea) for our first meeting on December 12. You should come to the meeting and see what they’re all about.
For more information, please visit our sponsor page.
Christmas comes early!
Mitch Garvis will be our inaugural speaker on December 12. Stay tuned for more details!
Welcome!
We are a non-profit group for IT professionals and enthusiasts on Cape Breton Island. It’s a great way to network with other local technology professionals and learn something new.
We plan to have many top level speakers and encourage local speaker submissions as well. The group is open to all interested in the Cape Breton area. There is no need to register. All you have to do is show up at a meeting. We hope to see you soon.
