> But, I have heard that Apple boxes (pre-Xserve) have been > used for years as servers in Universities, and places like > Ford, and some others
Anything can be used as a server. You could rack-mount laptops. (I could tell some funny stories at this point, but won't.) However, machines designed as servers typically have a different feature-set than those designed as desktops. Reliability and redundancy are very important in server hardware. > One comment was that SCSI interface to hard drives is better > than ATA IDE interface. > > Why? SCSI supports concurrent requests better than IDE does. In a multitasking environment, like you'd find on a server, this is more important than on the typical desktop, in which the application on the user's screen is typically doing most of the work. > Others said that they would not consider hardware for a > server unless it had RAID. > > Why? > > I can see the desirability of RAID, but: > > Is RAID necessary ... It's not necessary, but it is desirable. It allows a server to continue functioning after a hard drive fails. It can be used with any server (database, application, etc). In addition, it can speed filesystem access. > Do RAIDs normally go in the same box as the server(s) or > they just a separate rack-mount component? Yes, typically, a server will have a hardware RAID controller inside the box (on the motherboard or on an add-on card) and some number of physical disk drives. Dave Watts, CTO, Fig Leaf Software http://www.figleaf.com/ voice: (202) 797-5496 fax: (202) 797-5444 ______________________________________________________________________ Your ad could be here. Monies from ads go to support these lists and provide more resources for the community. http://www.fusionauthority.com/ads.cfm FAQ: http://www.thenetprofits.co.uk/coldfusion/faq Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
