Over the last few days I've been in a similar position, I needed to put together specifications on a new NetWare server for a very cost-conscious customer, so I learned quite a bit about ATA RAID and tape drives in a short amount of time. (Unfortunately I found that alghough ATA RAID is supported in NetWare 5.x but isn't quite mature enough to use on a production server yet, and although some people claim to have got IDE tape drives to work it doesn't seem to be officially supported.)
You might want to take a look at the Dell PowerEdge 500C, the IBM x-Series 200 and Compaq Proliant ML330. All are 'Entry Level' servers which use IDE drives. The Compaq and IBM even have a 2-channel IDE RAID controller. As long as you are using Dell/Compaq/IBM's drives reliability shouldn't be a problem. Performance will not be at the level of SCSI drives however. Neither support hot swap IDE drives, but the Compaq can be adapted to support hot swap SCSI cards. (but it's a rather pricey option. You would probabally be better off buying a model that comes with a hot-swap cage.) If you build the server from components, Adaptec's ATA RAID 2400 controller does support hot swap IDE drives. I might be willing to try one of these in a Dell server, but as a rule you should never plug anything into a Compaq box that doesn't come from Compaq. However IMHO if the application is mission-critical enough to require hot-swap drives it's usually important enough to justify the expense of a good SCSI RAID controller, hot swap chassis and drives, redundant hot swap power supplies, redundant hot swap fans, etc. As far as the OS supporting hot-swapping in a (redundant) RAID configuration, if you are using hardware RAID the OS isn't even aware that it's a RAID configuration. As long as you have enough drives for the controller to reconstruct the data on the disks the OS may not even be aware that the drive has been removed or replaced. (NOTE: I have never actually used hardware RAID on a Linux box, my RAID experience has been with Windows and NetWare.) -----Original Message----- From: Paul RodrÃguez <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: newbie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: 15 Nov 2001 19:56:35 -0500 Subject: Re: [newbie] motherboard suggestion for stable system Thanks, Jim. Your reccomendations have been very helpful. I've been going over several options over the last few days. I'm afraid server grade components seem to be outside the price range of this environment. The doctor is looking for components in the $500 range. That being said, I'd like to know more about hot-swappable drives. Because of the importance of data reliability, I will definately be going for a RAID setup, probably just mirroring as you said. And because of price considerations I'm currently leaning towards integrated motherboard RAID controllers. Having never used removable hard drives, I need to ask whether or not this needs to be integrated into the case or can be added to later. My main concern about the RAID setup is many mixed reports regarding RAID and various controllers and Linux. Also, having a RAID 1 setup with removable drive cages on a Linux server/workstation, are the hard drives truley hot-swappable? Thanks for your help, Jim, Rog, and everybody on the list. -Paul RodrÃguez On Mon, 2001-11-12 at 13:55, Jim Dawson wrote: > My only recomendation is to use 'server grade' hardware. 'Desktop' grade computers >are not designed to run 24/7. Unfortunately I don't know of any server-grade >computers that use AMD processors. > > If possible go with a SCSI disk subsystem rather than IDE. IDE drives are made for >the desktop market and are generally not designed for 24x7 operation. If you can >afford it get a RAID controller (even if you are just mirroring, a RAID controller >can handle mirroring much better than the server itself.) and hot swappable drives. >it is also a good idea to have redundant (and if possible hot swappable) power >supplies and cooling fans. > > Compaq and IBM both sell very Linux-friendly server lines. Dell and (I think) HP >also support Linux on their server products. I personally would recommend the Compaq >Proliant line. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Paul RodrÃguez <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: newbie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: 10 Nov 2001 17:02:19 -0500 > Subject: [newbie] motherboard suggestion for stable system > > I am building a system for the doctor's private practice. Stabillity is > the number one concern. We will have windows and linux running on > separate hard drives untill we can tansition the database to Linux,dõ3E after which, >I'd like to have a RAID system for increased data > reliabillity. > > Do you have any suggestions on hardware I should be looking for or > staying away from? I'd like to use an AMD chip. Are there any special > considerations for having a mroe reliable system? > > -Paul RodrÃguez > > > > > > _________________________________________________________ > > Do You Yahoo!? > > Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com > > > > > > > > > ------------=_1005591342-1851-1811 > Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? > Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
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