> One comment was that SCSI interface to hard drives is > better than ATA IDE interface. Why?
Such statements need qualifications. In the most generic terms, SCSI RAID solutions generally provide higher performance. It comes as at a cost, however. IDE RAID solutions are much cheaper (both the controllers and the drives) while providing much more disk space. With the 3Ware RAID cards, for example, you can be fully redundancy with terabytes of data for very little money (relatively speaking of course). Some IDE drives, such as the Western Digital SE's, are on par performance wise with a lot of the high end SCSI drivers. Of course, this varies from test to test. In general, IDE drives suffer when it comes to access times, though this has more to do with the size of the drives (i.e. amount of data stored on the drives) than with any limitation inherent in IDE drives. > Others said that they would not consider hardware for a > server unless it had RAID. Why? I can't speak for anyone else, but IDE RAID is so cheap that we use it just about everywhere. About to perform a major upgrade? Unplug a drive and you have an instant way to get back to where you started. Bad drive? No problem. Just replace it. In most cases, you can sync up the drives while the system's serving up web pages. In my mind, the question is when would you not use RAID? Maybe a gaming machine. Even then, it takes me a minimum of a day to install a system, drivers, patches, software etc. Afterwards, I usually spend the next week installing the software I forgot about, customizing the OS, etc. You can have a RAID system for as little as an extra $250. I think my time is worth that. :) > I can see the desirability of RAID, but: > Is RAID necessary for an Application Sever, like JRun? > Is RAID necessary for an Web application Sever, like > CFMX? > Is RAID necessary for an Web Sever, like Apache? > Is RAID necessary for a Database Server, like MS-SQL? No, no, no, no, and no, but I will never run any of those systems without RAID for the reasons mentioned above. > Do all of the above have the ability of deploying on or > taking advantage of a RAID? Yes. The RAID we're talking about happens at the hardware level. As a result, the question really is, "Does my operating system support RAID?" The answer to this question is vendor specific. > Do RAIDs normally go in the same box as the server(s) > or they just a separate rack-mount component? > If separate, how do RAIDs interconnect with the other > rack-mount boxes? A RAID controller (IDE or SCSI) is *generally* a PCI card that you place in the system in question. The drives are connected to and managed by the RAID controller. > Finally, what would be the configuration of a good, > reliable Web Hosting environment that included all the > above servers and RAID, look like? Though not infinite, there are quite a few possible "configurations." I would say, though, that RAID is the easiest and cheapest way (regardless of whether it is IDE or SCSI) to provide a level of redundancy in a hosting environment. It doesn't address interruptions in Internet connectivity, power irregularities, or a thousand other problems that can occur, but it protects a computer from the most common failure that I've witnessed, a bad hard drive. After all, your drives are the only mechanical components in a modern computer. Your data flies around at 7,200 to 15,000 revolutions per minute on ball bearings. Hard drives constitute, without a doubt, the most antiquated technology in any hosting environment. If nothing else, it just makes me feel better to know that they have to fail two times over before I start losing data and time. :) Benjamin S. Rogers http://www.c4.net/ v.508.240.0051 f.508.240.0057 ______________________________________________________________________ This list and all House of Fusion resources hosted by CFHosting.com. The place for dependable ColdFusion Hosting. FAQ: http://www.thenetprofits.co.uk/coldfusion/faq Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/cf-talk@houseoffusion.com/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
