My feeling is I hate servers (just talking about the hardware) unless I really need one. For most home use I don't really see why you'd need one.
The main reason I dislike them is they are very loud. But then there is: RAID arrays that they come with really aren't so useful. Are you really disk IO limited or need a really large amount of storage (greater then 2TB)? Does downtime really matter? A raid array with a large number of drives will make the drives dies faster from all the vibrations of that many drives (i.e. hot swaps add to this) Why do you care about hotswaps? Sure a business may not be able to handle being shut down but your home probably doesn't need to be up 24/7. What is the chance of a HDD failing? Not much. So a mirrored raid array of two 2TB drives should be good enough. If you're really paranoid then get a third to keep in a static bag to plug in after a HDD fails, not as a hot spare. There are off site backup services that you can use over the internet if you really want to keep from losing data. If you're all Windows at your house the WHS (Windows Home Server) may be worth taking a look at as its good at automatting backups and sending it offsite. Sure a "real" raid will be much faster and email alerts when a HDD fails can be nice but you'll spend alot more money on it and is that really your bottleneck? I'm assuming you don't have lots of money to spend on this stuff. If its just about learning IT then the software is much more useful to learn by doing and having (i.e. spending money on) Either the linux path which I'm guessing is cheaper or use the money saved from not getting a pricy raid array to get a technet subscription which would get you all the MS server software you could need: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/subscriptions/default.aspx On Wed, Aug 11, 2010 at 4:17 PM, DSinc <[email protected]> wrote: > Eli, > Pardon me for not responding sooner. You threw me a curve. > What you ask me about, I have never even thought of. > When I purchased, I chose to add a server to my LAN. Simple as that. > > History: > My server came to me used with acceptable credentials, w/loaded OS, ready to > 'play' with. > It came to me with a fully installed RAID5 array. It has essentially the > very same RAID5 array now, except that today I have 2 hot spares in place. > I still consider this machine my local, in-home LAN server learning > platform. > > Yes, it does do what I consider important functions; chiefly, it runs my > ESET Enterprise Server/RAS/RAC/Mirror needs. Besides that, it is also my > WINS server for my LAN. Probably a separate topic! It is NOT a domain > controller (still under study). > > It came to me with a functional RAID system which I had never owned/built. > I have learned much about the care and feeding of a commercial-grade (my > belief) RAID system.. Thank you Collective! > > But, yes, it is a SCSI U160 system. Hence my Initial "Pending Conversion." > I conjured that I might be able possibly convert from SCSI to SATA without > a lot of cost/grief. I am still looking at Bryan's shares and trying to > comprehend the following discussion from yourself, Greg, Bryan, and Joshua. > All of which I read and try to follow. Admit, much of which leaves me in > the dust. No harm, no foul. Thanks folks. My bad, not yours! > > I could, perhaps, agree that I am "playing" with a piece of equipment I > should never have come in contact with. Fine. Too late! LOL! > Best, > Duncan > > > On 08/09/2010 23:39, Eli Allen wrote: >> >> I don't understand why you want a raid controller. Are you really >> doing anything that is disk i/o bound? or is it to keep from losing >> data? Would seem like almost any modern m/b with low end CPU would be >> faster and you can just use the built in raid to do a mirrored raid. >> >> >> >> On Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 10:26 PM, DSinc<[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>> Bryan, >>> I will print and parse your suggestions. Afraid I may be even more >>> behind. >>> The best I can offer are PCI-66 slots on an old Intel STL2 m/b (think >>> this >>> is ServerWerz chipset/design). Know this may be way past its' prime, but >>> this beast just will not die. >>> Yes, I may be trying to beat a horse that ain't quite dead yet..... >>> Still learning. I'll get back to you. Let me parse, absorb, and, think. >>> There are a few times when Technology can just suck! >>> Thanks, >>> Duncan >>> >> >
