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This is my first attempt at virtualizing SQL server on VMWare and I want to make sure I am doing things correctly.

Should I have SQL server installed on the C: drive / same partition as the OS, Then add a virtual disk for the Data files, say 300GB, and then another virtual disk for the log files say 100GB?

Or should I add 2 300GB vdisks, for the data files mirror them in the operating system, and then add a non mirrored vdisk of 100GB for LogFiles??

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If the virtual disks are all on the same underlying spindles, then it doesn't really matter. If they're on different sets of spindles and your use case will benefit from the extra IO, then do that. It's really up to you to profile your usage and determine whether or not you would benefit from this.

That said, if they're all on the same spindles now, but you plan to grow to separate sets later on, separate virtual disks now will make that migration easier down the road.

At no point in this process does it make sense to introduce Windows software RAID unless you have no other RAID factoring in anywhere.

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  • It also seems prudent that the data be on a separate drive than the OS, for restorability reasons also than just performance reasons. But then this whole questions become more "discussion" rather than just question/answer, and therefore becomes off-topic.
    – Ryan Ries
    Dec 10, 2012 at 2:08
  • We are on a shared netapp solution, I am pretty sure it is raided at some level. Seperate spindles serving the LUN.
    – CrazyCoderz
    Dec 10, 2012 at 4:58
  • If its one LUN, chances are its one set of spindles...
    – MDMarra
    Dec 10, 2012 at 10:53

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