Windows 2003 Server boot from SAN

[Max Sorokin]

Hi All,

We plan to implement boot Windows 2003 Server from EVA. In the document WINDOWS 2003 Server BOOT FROM SAN we find a note:
"The memory paging system requires fast access to the pagefile.sys file. In SAN
environments with heavy I/O loads, the access request for moving information to or from the
paging file may be delayed. This can cause the operating system to halt, requiring a reboot to
recover. Microsoft recommends that if paging errors occur, page files should be relocated to disks
that are built into the server using its internal data paths. See the Microsoft article for additional
recommendations related to booting from a SAN on the Microsoft web site
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q305547."

We need exactly know, is it problem for all arrays or for particular array?

Regards, Max

[Mario_66 · Accepted solution]

Hi,

it is not easy to provide you exact answer. The main reason for that is that some HW providers tell you about this problem and some of them do not. It does not mean that they do not have problem, they just did not tell you about it.

I think that this problem is more general then specific to any particular storage and more related to OS itself.

I am almost sure there is no such storage on this world which will have standby resources just for OS paging operations in the case of heavy I/O load on it.

My 2 cents.

Regards,
Mario.

[Steven Clementi]

Max:

I agree with Mario. Any storage Array can have heavy I/O. Windows will ALWAYS work the same (mostly). Delayed access to the pagefile can/will cause a BSOD.

For best performance (if you need a reason), it is best to keep the pagefile separate from anything else. One really good location is on a single disk array on the built-in Array controller (if you have a Proliant DL type server).

Another option is to put in more memory and reduce or remove the page file.

Another problem with Boot from SAN is IF your Wndows Server DOES go belly up (BSOD), and you have the server set up to do a dump... with no local drives, it might not recover properly. I usually just turn off the memory dump since it is not likely that you will send it to MS anyway.


Steven