Installing and Configuring Windows Server 2008 R2 : Performing postinstallation tasks (part 5) - Configuring disk drives - Creating a RAID 5 volume

Creating a RAID 5 volume

The process of creating a RAID-5 volume is very similar to creating a mirrored volume. This time you will need to ensure that you have at least three disk drives to be included in the RAID array. Once the drives are installed, you are ready to create the RAID-5 volume.

1. Log on to the server, open Server Manager, and expand Disk Management.

2. You may need to bring the newly installed drives online by right clicking on each drive and choosing the online option.

3. Once the disk drives are online, they can be initialized by right clicking on each drive and choosing Initialize.

4. You can now establish a new RAID-5 volume by right clicking on the first drive to be used in the array and choosing New RAID-5 volume as seen in Figure 9.

   

   Figure 9 Create new RAID-5 Volume.

5. The New RAID-5 Volume Wizard will launch. Click Next to begin.

6. Add the drives you want to include in the RAID-5 volume, using the Select Disks page (see Figure 10). Remember that you will need to include three or more disk drives to create a RAID-5 volume. After you have selected the disk drives to use, click on the Next button to continue.

   

   Figure 10 RAID-5 Volume Drive Selection.

7. Select a drive letter to be used and click Next.

8. Choose the option to Perform a Quick Format and optionally give the new volume a meaningful label and then click Next.

9. At the summary page of the wizard, verify the settings you have selected, and then click on the Finish button to create the RAID-5 volume.

10. You will be prompted to convert the drives to dynamic. Click Yes to convert the disks to dynamic.

11. You have now established a newly formatted RAID-5 volume as seen in Figure 11.

    

    Figure 11 Newly Created RAID-5 Volume.

Notes from the field

Shrinking volumes

Starting with Windows Server 2008 R1, you can shrink volumes to a smaller size if you need to do so. To shrink a volume, right click on the volume and choose shrink. You will be asked to enter the new size, and the volume will be shrunk to that size.

Disk fragmentation

As data is written to a disk over time, it can become fragmented. This means that part of a file could be located in various noncontiguous locations on the disk drive. This decreases the speed with which the read/write heads can access the data, causing slower response times while opening these files. To resolve this issue and ensure that the disk performance is optimal, you should have a regular scheduled disk defragmentation process. Luckily, Windows Server 2008 R2 includes a disk defragmentation utility and automatically schedules it to run on a weekly basis. You can modify the scheduled run time, using the Task Scheduler found in Server Manager.

Enable BitLocker

If you plan on using BitLocker to encrypt the disk drives on your server, you can enable it at this time. This will ensure that the drive is encrypted prior to installing production applications and services.

Finalizing the configuration

After you complete the setup and configuration of a Windows Server, you should review all configuration changes prior to using the server for production services. Better have someone else review the configuration for you. This will ensure that you have not left out any critical steps, such as assigning the server an IP address or setting up backups.