SQL Server Backup Info: Configuration
Below is a disk layout designed with backup and recovery in mind. Note that we are using RAID 1 for each of the following files: Transaction Logs, Data Files, OS Files. All are stored on separate disks from each other with separate controllers.
OS (Mirrored disks 1 and 2)
- You should be able to store your OS files and page file on a single mirrored disk
- Never move the page file to a disk containing transaction log files or data files
Data Files (Mirrored disks 3 and 4)
- Data files should be located on separate physical disks with separate controllers than transaction log files and OS files
- If you have tables that are accessed frequently, consider putting them on separate physical drives
- If you can't afford to install all of the disks required for mirroring, you could also do data striping with striped parity (RAID 5)
- You will often times have multiple disks to store the data files
Transaction Log Files (Mirrored disks 5 and 6)
- Transaction log files should be located on separate physical disks with separate controllers than data files and OS files
- Transaction logs are written sequentially and will generally do just fine on one single mirrored drive
Tempdb (contained with data files on mirrored disks 3 and 4 in this example)
- Usually can go on the same physical disks as your data files
- If you have a large database with a lot of activity, may wish to break tempdb out on to its own separate disk
