Raid 5 Server Advice or Wiki?

[ezkcdude]

I need some suggestions for a Raid 5 server setup. I think it should be hardware controlled, and be able to use with different OS. I've read through some of the threads here, but what I'm looking for is a specific part list/setup procedure. Thanks.

[JJZolx]

I need some suggestions for a Raid 5 server setup. I think it should be hardware controlled, and be able to use with different OS. I've read through some of the threads here, but what I'm looking for is a specific part list/setup procedure. Thanks.

We need some more design goals. You may get some suggestions on a parts list, but setup procedures are going to be beyond what you can hope to find in a forum.

- Storage capacity.

- Speed. Will it only run SlimServer, or other applications as well?

- Form factor. Tower, HTPC, mini, rackmount, etc.

- Noise level. Does it matter?

- Budget.

[ezkcdude]

Thanks. It's more like I wanted to know a good web resource for figuring this stuff out. I don't think it would be dedicated to running SlimServer, so I would like it to be cross-platform.

[JJZolx]

Thanks. It's more like I wanted to know a good web resource for figuring this stuff out. I don't think it would be dedicated to running SlimServer, so I would like it to be cross-platform.

One place to begin is Storage Review. A site about hard drives and controllers and such. They have a forum and you often see discussions there about setting up RAID file servers.

http://www.storagereview.com/

Beyond that, just read up on hardware sites that review PC components and discuss building PCs. Most have forums and the better ones actually have knowledgeable folks in those forums.

Many of the review discussion sites are geared toward, or mostly frequented by gamers, so keep that in mind. You don't need a mega-video card in a server (in fact, you may want to use a motherboard with an onboard video chipset). A mid to high-end server is a much different beast than a gaming or business desktop. At the low end, though, there's not really much difference.

Try:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/

http://anandtech.com/

There are quite a few others.

[Havoc]

Most setup procedures will be valid for the controller in question only. In most cases with a dedicated hardware controller (not one on the motherboard) it goes like this:
- put in the controller
- boot pc and install drivers for OS
- shutdown pc and install drives
- re-boot pc and enter the bios of the controller
- config the array in the bios of the controller
- let the controller initialise the array Most will let you do this in background. But the disk has to be initialised before formating
- format the drive (the array will be a single drive to your OS)
- use drive as any other drive

But to decide what controller you want you need to do a bit more thinking:
- what interface (pci, pci-x, pci-e)?
- what interface to the disks?
- how many disks?
- single array or more than one?
- hot spare, hot swap?
- nbattery backed up cache?

[ezkcdude]

But to decide what controller you want you need to do a bit more thinking:
- what interface (pci, pci-x, pci-e)?
- what interface to the disks?
- how many disks?
- single array or more than one?
- hot spare, hot swap?
- nbattery backed up cache?

For example:

PCI-Express, SATA, 4 disks, single array, hot swap, no battery backup

Can you recommend something?

[ezkcdude]

It looks like this Infrant ReadyNAS may work well for me. I probably couldn't DIY it for much cheaper, and it has pretty good reviews at NewEgg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822329010

[JSonnabend]

As long as you don't need to set permissions any finer than on a share level, then ReadyNAS is great. I have one for all my music, but my work and family documents are on a PII based Linux raid 5 box so I can set permissions on a directory by directory basis.

- Jeff

[Havoc]

PCI-Express, SATA, 4 disks, single array, hot swap, no battery backup

The Areca 1210 may fit: http://www.areca.com.tw/products/pcie.htm