Hi Folks,

Just wanted to briefly thank the moderator, and you all for providing useful information, just because you can!

On target about partitioning being somewhat in personal taste, however there are some issues when things start changing at the server level.

First, let me give you an idea about the hardware config.  PIII Dual Processor server, 2 SCSI adapters, 1st empty (integrated on MB), 2nd Single Channel Hardware Raid Card /w 5 attached 18GB drives in hot-swap cage on single channel.  Std CD on single IDE connector (2nd Channel does not have MB connector).

Goal:
Maximum Flexibility for light duty server use and server config or software testing.  (Currently no additional HW available due to NO budget, although considering add a 120 GB IDE drive for backup.  Move CD to SCSI interface on MB after that, and add second 120 GB IDE drive.)

Possible Pitfall / Issue Areas:
Have developers license for one of everything MS makes, and will need to have working copies of some apps on running server. (Think IIS / ISA / Exchange / Windows Media Server / Term Server / SQL / possible other server based apps, such as commerce server, etc.)  Security issues about drive access from IIS not known, although have heard some reports indicating problems with unpatched systems.  Also frequent installs and un-installs of things during testing.  Issues with newer MS license schemes.

SCSI Drive Array Planning:
The HW array system basically is capable of hiding all internal physical configurations, and allows the creation of logical drive arrays, with logical disks, each capable of different RAID settings.
Originally had all five drives set into a single array, to maximize capacity when in RAID 1 or 5 mode.  Made logical drives in array manager setting some in RAID 5 and some in RAID 0 or 1, however this seems to affect performance.  Lots of logical drives were set up, considering that each major server application would be installed on separate drives, segregation of code drives and data drives.  Unfortunately MS doesn't really seem to get with this sort of program.  Most apps intsall components to the WINNT of the servers drive, and frequently want to install in the root directory of the drive. (I would have liked everything under "Program Files" perhaps even under a "Microsoft" folder.)  Issues also complicated by Basic and Dynamic Disk types on W2K Server.

Considering creating two arrays, 1 a single physical drive, second a 4 physical drive Array.

Basic Partitioning Strategy:
Array A: (One Physical Drive, NO RAID)
Part 1: Win98SE - Used for Recovery (FAT32)
Part 2: Win2K - Primary Server Install (NTFS)
Part 3: Win2K - Test Server Install (NTFS)
Part 4: ???

Array B: (4 Physical Drives, RAID 5)
User Profile storage
User Data storage
Server Data storage (IIS/Exchange/SQL)
Balance, Reconfigurable

Thoughts?

Thanks!

I'll keep an eye out here, and drop by over there.

PS: YABB looks kindof nice.  I'd not run into it before, and wondered how stable the latest release is.  (More maintenance work won't help me much!)