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Separated hard disks for Operating System and applications - better IO performance ?

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# 1  
Old 10-12-2010
Separated hard disks for Operating System and applications - better IO performance ?
Dear all,

I would like to ask if there are any positive effects from having a dedicated hard disk for the operating system.

The scenario would be to have a dedicated disk for the OS and a dedicated disk for the applications.

Do you see any advantages in such a configuration such as better IO performance ?
If the applications use primarily ""disk 2" for IO would that have a noticeable positive effect?

Thanks in advance,
Petros
# 2  
Old 10-12-2010
I don't think it matters on most applications.

If you describe the details of your application, people can give a more appropriate response.
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petrospis
# 3  
Old 10-12-2010
I set up systems with the OS on drive 0 and the application and data on drive 1.
Even with RAID, I set up logical drive 0 with the first two spindles, and then use the rest for data.
The biggest advantage is ease of creating a standby machine.
Performance will depend on how well you can balance the IO between disks.
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petrospis
# 4  
Old 10-12-2010
Thanks for your replies,

This is not for a specific application in mind.
I want to see if this is a best-practice I have missed, or if this does not
really have an effect in applications that do not have demanding disk I/O requirements.

To me it would sound logical if an application has specific performance requirements
and heavy disk I/O, a busy database for example, to have its own disk.

I see the advantage in having the OS / Applications in different physical disks, from the management perspective (creating a standby machine, swapping disks for the application, ...)

but does the OS on its own really need a significant amount of I/O access to the disk? I would guess not.
# 5  
Old 10-12-2010
Quote:
Originally Posted by petrospis
To me it would sound logical if an application has specific performance requirements and heavy disk I/O, a busy database for example, to have its own disk.
If there's significant competition, this would make sense. If there's significant competition, though. That's a big "if".
Quote:
but does the OS on its own really need a significant amount of I/O access to the disk? I would guess not.
Generally not.
This User Gave Thanks to Corona688 For This Post:
petrospis
# 6  
Old 10-13-2010
I just checked a system, that has 43 signed on users running a call centre application.
Code:
HP Proliant, Drive 0 = 2 disks RAID1                                           
             Drive 1 = 6 disks RAID10                                          
                                                                               
10:45:49 device             MB     %busy   avque   r+w/s  blks/s   avwait  avserv 
Average  c0b0t0d0p1s2    29966        5      8.6     13      155      32.5     4.3 
Average  c0b0t0d0p1      34699        5      8.6     13      155      32.5     4.3 
Average  c0b0t1d0p1s0    19531        0      1.4      0        0       2.1     5.7 
Average  c0b0t1d0p1s1    39062        2      2.4      7       93       5.2     3.6 
Average  c0b0t1d0p1s2   151323        2      2.5      5      102       5.9     4.0 
Average  c0b0t1d0p1     209924        3      3.1     13      196       6.3     3.0

Surprisingly the root file system is the busiest.
Last edited by jgt; 10-13-2010 at 11:59 AM.. Reason: align columns
# 7  
Old 10-13-2010
This is indeed interesting.
Does the application strictly use disk 1 for its disk I/O ?

There seems to be lots of activity on disk 0 which is directly or indirectly caused by the application.

In the case it does it indicetly, it would be interesting to see where this disk I/O originates.
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