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'''<big>Setup an SME Server with 2 SSD’s in a RAID1 setup with Over Provisioning</big>'''
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'''<big>Setup an SME Server with 2 SSD’s in a RAID1 setup with Over Provisioning</big>'''<br />
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'''Write Amplification'''
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'''Write Amplification'''<br />
    
This manual describes how to setup an SME Server with 2 Solid State Drives (SSD’s) in a RAID1 setup with Over Provisioning to prevent Write Amplification.<br />
 
This manual describes how to setup an SME Server with 2 Solid State Drives (SSD’s) in a RAID1 setup with Over Provisioning to prevent Write Amplification.<br />
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Also SSD’s in RAID5 is discouraged as it also vastly increases Write Amplification.<br />
 
Also SSD’s in RAID5 is discouraged as it also vastly increases Write Amplification.<br />
 
Because this is a manual on how to setup an SME Server with 2 SSD’s in a RAID1 setup with Over Provisioning to prevent Write Amplification, and not on What Write Amplification is exactly, I will not go into that any further.<br />
 
Because this is a manual on how to setup an SME Server with 2 SSD’s in a RAID1 setup with Over Provisioning to prevent Write Amplification, and not on What Write Amplification is exactly, I will not go into that any further.<br />
For more information on that, this is a good place to start:
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For more information on that, this is a good place to start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Write_amplification<br />
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Write_amplification
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'''Over Provisioning'''
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'''Over Provisioning'''<br />
    
Over Provisioning is a fancy term for partitioning xx% less than the full capacity of the disk.<br />
 
Over Provisioning is a fancy term for partitioning xx% less than the full capacity of the disk.<br />
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'''Setup an SME Server with 2 SSD’s in a RAID1 setup with Over Provisioning'''
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'''Setup an SME Server with 2 SSD’s in a RAID1 setup with Over Provisioning'''<br />
    
In the Boot Menu select Advanced installation options.<br />
 
In the Boot Menu select Advanced installation options.<br />
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In this example we choose English.<br />
 
In this example we choose English.<br />
 
[[File:pic04.gif|589px|frameless|none|Picture 4]]
 
[[File:pic04.gif|589px|frameless|none|Picture 4]]
Click next.
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Click next.<br />
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Select your keyboard layout.
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Select your keyboard layout.<br />
In this example we choose U.S. English.
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In this example we choose U.S. English.<br />
 
[[File:pic05.gif|587px|frameless|none|Picture 5]]
 
[[File:pic05.gif|587px|frameless|none|Picture 5]]
Click next.
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Click next.<br />
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Select Basic Storage Devices.
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Select Basic Storage Devices.<br />
 
[[File:pic06.gif|588px|frameless|none|Picture 6]]
 
[[File:pic06.gif|588px|frameless|none|Picture 6]]
Click next.
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Click next.<br />
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Select Yes, discard any data.
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Select Yes, discard any data.<br />
 
[[File:pic07.gif|590px|frameless|none|Picture 7]]
 
[[File:pic07.gif|590px|frameless|none|Picture 7]]
Click next.
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Click next.<br />
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Select your timezone.
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Select your timezone.<br />
 
[[File:pic08.gif|589px|frameless|none|Picture 8]]
 
[[File:pic08.gif|589px|frameless|none|Picture 8]]
Click next.
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Click next.<br />
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Select Create Custom Layout.
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Select Create Custom Layout.<br />
 
[[File:pic09.gif|589px|frameless|none|Picture 9]]
 
[[File:pic09.gif|589px|frameless|none|Picture 9]]
Click next.
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Click next.<br />
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You are given a default RAID1 layout which uses the full disk capacity.
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You are given a default RAID1 layout which uses the full disk capacity.<br />
This is where we start costomizing the partition layout.
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This is where we start costomizing the partition layout.<br />
For the example I have two 40GByte SSD disks.
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For the example I have two 40GByte SSD disks.<br />
Both disks have a 250MB system partition (sda1 and sdb1) and a larger partition for the rest of the data (sda2 and sdb2).
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Both disks have a 250MB system partition (sda1 and sdb1) and a larger partition for the rest of the data (sda2 and sdb2).<br />
 
[[File:pic10.gif|590px|frameless|none|Picture 10]]
 
[[File:pic10.gif|590px|frameless|none|Picture 10]]
Click next.
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Click next.<br />
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Remove all partitions by selecting sda and sdb and selection delete with both.
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Remove all partitions by selecting sda and sdb and selection delete with both.<br />
After that you have a 2 partition free SSD’s like shown below.
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After that you have a 2 partition free SSD’s like shown below.<br />
You can see the disk is 40959 MB in size.
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You can see the disk is 40959 MB in size.<br />
 
[[File:pic11.gif|590px|frameless|none|Picture 11]]
 
[[File:pic11.gif|590px|frameless|none|Picture 11]]
Now, Over Provisioning usually is set somewhere between 5% and 25% and like said before, there is no right value to set for Over Provisioning.
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Now, Over Provisioning usually is set somewhere between 5% and 25% and like said before, there is no right value to set for Over Provisioning.<br />
Usually people set it at 10% and that is what most SSD tools advise. Setting it lower than that will age your SSD disk faster and will compromise your SSD’s performance.
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Usually people set it at 10% and that is what most SSD tools advise. Setting it lower than that will age your SSD disk faster and will compromise your SSD’s performance.<br />
If you are rather safe that sorry and the diskcapacity of your RAID1 set is not an issue you could set it to 15% or 20%.
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If you are rather safe that sorry and the diskcapacity of your RAID1 set is not an issue you could set it to 15% or 20%.<br />
Setting it higher seems like overkill to me.
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Setting it higher seems like overkill to me.<br />
In our example we will use 10% Over Provisioning.
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In our example we will use 10% Over Provisioning.<br />
The system (250MB) and swap (4064MB) partitions will be the same size as in the default setting.
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The system (250MB) and swap (4064MB) partitions will be the same size as in the default setting.<br />
That will make the size of the larger data partition: 40959MB x 0,9 = 36863MB – 250MB = 36613MB.
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That will make the size of the larger data partition: 40959MB x 0,9 = 36863MB – 250MB = 36613MB.<br />
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We will start bij partitioning disk sda.
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We will start bij partitioning disk sda.<br />
Select sda and click create.
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Select sda and click create.<br />
Select RAID Partition and click create.
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Select RAID Partition and click create.<br />
Set all options like shown in the folowing screen and select OK:
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Set all options like shown in the folowing screen and select OK:<br />
 
[[File:pic12.gif|293px|frameless|none|Picture 12]]
 
[[File:pic12.gif|293px|frameless|none|Picture 12]]
The size of the partition (250MB) will be the same whatever size SSD you will be using.
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The size of the partition (250MB) will be the same whatever size SSD you will be using.<br />
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Under sda select the Free space and click create.
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Under sda select the Free space and click create.<br />
Select RAID Partition and click create.
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Select RAID Partition and click create.<br />
Set all options like shown in the folowing screen and select OK:
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Set all options like shown in the folowing screen and select OK:<br />
 
[[File:pic13.gif|295px|frameless|none|Picture 13]]
 
[[File:pic13.gif|295px|frameless|none|Picture 13]]
The size of the partition will be 90% of the SSD size - 250MB.
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The size of the partition will be 90% of the SSD size - 250MB.<br />
So this size will depend on the size SSD you are using and using 10% Over Provisioning.
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So this size will depend on the size SSD you are using and using 10% Over Provisioning.<br />
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Now we will do the same for the disk sdb.
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Now we will do the same for the disk sdb.<br />
Select sdb and click create.
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Select sdb and click create.<br />
Select RAID Partition and click create.
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Select RAID Partition and click create.<br />
Set all options like shown in the folowing screen and select OK:
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Set all options like shown in the folowing screen and select OK:<br />
 
[[File:pic14.gif|295px|frameless|none|Picture 14]]
 
[[File:pic14.gif|295px|frameless|none|Picture 14]]
The size of the partition (250MB) will be the same whatever size SSD you will be using.
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The size of the partition (250MB) will be the same whatever size SSD you will be using.<br />
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Under sda select the Free space and click create.
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Under sda select the Free space and click create.<br />
Select RAID Partition and click create.
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Select RAID Partition and click create.<br />
Set all options like shown in the folowing screen and select OK:
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Set all options like shown in the folowing screen and select OK:<br />
 
[[File:pic15.gif|294px|frameless|none|Picture 15]]
 
[[File:pic15.gif|294px|frameless|none|Picture 15]]
The size of the partition will be 90% of the SSD size - 250MB.
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The size of the partition will be 90% of the SSD size - 250MB.<br />
So this size will depend on the size SSD you are using and using 10% Over Provisioning.
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So this size will depend on the size SSD you are using and using 10% Over Provisioning.<br />
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Select Hard Drives and select create.
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Select Hard Drives and select create.<br />
Select RAID Device and click create.
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Select RAID Device and click create.<br />
Set all options like shown in the folowing screen and select OK:
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Set all options like shown in the folowing screen and select OK:<br />
 
[[File:pic16.gif|239px|frameless|none|Picture 16]]
 
[[File:pic16.gif|239px|frameless|none|Picture 16]]
Make sure you select both system partitions sda1 and sdb1 witch both are 250MB.
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Make sure you select both system partitions sda1 and sdb1 witch both are 250MB.<br />
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Select Hard Drives and select create.
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Select Hard Drives and select create.<br />
Select RAID Device and click create.
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Select RAID Device and click create.<br />
Set all options like shown in the folowing screen and select OK:
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Set all options like shown in the folowing screen and select OK:<br />
 
[[File:pic17.gif|240px|frameless|none|Picture 17]]
 
[[File:pic17.gif|240px|frameless|none|Picture 17]]
Make sure you select both system partitions sda2 and sdb2.
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Make sure you select both system partitions sda2 and sdb2.<br />
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Under RAID Devices select md1 and click create.
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Under RAID Devices select md1 and click create.<br />
Select LVM Volume Group and click create.
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Select LVM Volume Group and click create.<br />
Select Add and set all options like shown in the folowing screen and select OK:
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Select Add and set all options like shown in the folowing screen and select OK:<br />
 
[[File:pic18.gif|323px|frameless|none|Picture 18]]
 
[[File:pic18.gif|323px|frameless|none|Picture 18]]
Set the swap size the same as the default setting that was presented to you earlier.
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Set the swap size the same as the default setting that was presented to you earlier.<br />
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Select Add again and set all options like shown in the folowing screen and select OK:
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Select Add again and set all options like shown in the folowing screen and select OK:<br />
 
[[File:pic19.gif|323px|frameless|none|Picture 19]]
 
[[File:pic19.gif|323px|frameless|none|Picture 19]]
Set the size the same as the maximum size shown in the same window.
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Set the size the same as the maximum size shown in the same window.<br />
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Select OK again in this window to start the installation.
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Select OK again in this window to start the installation.<br />
 
[[File:pic20.gif|323px|frameless|none|Picture 20]]
 
[[File:pic20.gif|323px|frameless|none|Picture 20]]
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The RAID1 set you just created is shown now.
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The RAID1 set you just created is shown now.<br />
Notice that both sda and sdb have 10% of free space now.
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Notice that both sda and sdb have 10% of free space now.<br />
 
[[File:pic21.gif|592px|frameless|none|Picture 21]]
 
[[File:pic21.gif|592px|frameless|none|Picture 21]]
Click next.  
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Click next.<br />
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Select Write changes to disk.
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Select Write changes to disk.<br />
 
[[File:pic22.gif|235px|frameless|none|Picture 22]]
 
[[File:pic22.gif|235px|frameless|none|Picture 22]]
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After the partitioning/formatting has finished you will see the screen below:
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After the partitioning/formatting has finished you will see the screen below:<br />
 
[[File:pic23.gif|593px|frameless|none|Picture 23]]
 
[[File:pic23.gif|593px|frameless|none|Picture 23]]
Click next.
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Click next.<br />
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The packages will now be installed.
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The packages will now be installed.<br />
 
[[File:pic24.gif|594px|frameless|none|Picture 24]]
 
[[File:pic24.gif|594px|frameless|none|Picture 24]]
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After some time your installation will be completed and you are asked to reboot:
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After some time your installation will be completed and you are asked to reboot:<br />
 
[[File:pic25.gif|592px|frameless|none|Picture 25]]
 
[[File:pic25.gif|592px|frameless|none|Picture 25]]
Click Reboot.
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Click Reboot.<br />
After reboot, finish your SME configuration as you are used to, set an admin password, IP-settings and so on…
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After reboot, finish your SME configuration as you are used to, set an admin password, IP-settings and so on…<br />
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Login to your server with user root and use the command cat /proc/mdstat to check if your RAID1 set is synchronising:
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Login to your server with user root and use the command cat /proc/mdstat to check if your RAID1 set is synchronising:<br />
 
[[File:pic26.gif|591px|frameless|none|Picture 26]]
 
[[File:pic26.gif|591px|frameless|none|Picture 26]]
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After the synchronisation finished the command cat /proc/mdstat output should look something like this:
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After the synchronisation finished the command cat /proc/mdstat output should look something like this:<br />
 
[[File:pic27.gif|340px|frameless|none|Picture 27]]
 
[[File:pic27.gif|340px|frameless|none|Picture 27]]
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'''Tip:'''  
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'''Tip:'''<br />
Do not use the admin account to add an SSD disk to a RAID1 set that is custum partitioned to use less than 100% of the disk space from the menu (Option 5. Manage disk redundancy) because the script behind this option will not check how the disk that needs to be cloned is partitioned.
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Do not use the admin account to add an SSD disk to a RAID1 set that is custum partitioned to use less than 100% of the disk space from the menu (Option 5. Manage disk redundancy) because the script behind this option will not check how the disk that needs to be cloned is partitioned.<br />
The script will add the disk but will partition it using 100% of the disk space even when the first SSD disk in the RAID1 set is partitioned using less than 100% of the disk space.
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The script will add the disk but will partition it using 100% of the disk space even when the first SSD disk in the RAID1 set is partitioned using less than 100% of the disk space.<br />
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