For a high performance server, where do I put the page file, SSD, local hd or SAN?

Question

I am in the process to spec out the server. I know the page file performance is critical, as well as system temp folder for our app. Where should I put them? Choices are local HDD, SSD or on the SAN?

My worry about putting on SSD is the wear and tear, heard it is not performing in the long run, also on the SAN drive, it seems the cache is not that good, anyway, please help.

Answer 1

A high performance server will have enough RAM to cover its needs and not be using the page file very much except in a very unusual situation or very overloaded situation - and if the overloaded situation is continuing and becomes the 'new normal', then you need to re-spec and upgrade. With this in mind it's not useful to consider wear and tear considerations of SSD insofar as where to put the page file.

The page file will be the fastest if it's on its own drive and controller. This means not shared partition with your system volume, but on a separate disk on a separate SATA port. Back in the day of IDE it was said to put it on its own controller (don't share with another drive or CD-ROM) for maximum performance. An SSD is going to be faster than a standard HDD, obviously. Make sure it has TRIM support, and if you are running an OS later than Windows XP, performance degradation over time should be mitigated substantially through use of TRIM.

Depending on your SAN, putting it on there might be faster than a local spinning HDD drive but probably not. If you have backup procedures running on your SAN, backing up the page file is generally pointless.