[PERFORM] Ideal disk setup for Postgresql 7.4?

[Steve Poe]

I help manage an animal hospital of 100-employees Linux servers. I am 
new to database setup and tuning, I was hoping I could get some 
direction on a setting up drive array we're considering moving our 
database to.

They're currently on a two-disk Adaptec RAID1 with Postgresql 7.4.2.
The drive array is a 7-disk fibre channel on a Qlogic 2100 controller. I 
am currently testing RAID5 (sw).

The main reason of moving to a drive array is the high level of context 
switches we get during the day (>30K for 20 mins per hour). The OS and 
database exist on the same disk but seperate parition (which probably 
makes little difference)

additional info:
On average, 30-35 vets/doctors are connecting to the database at any 
time from 7am - 7pm. The database is very active for the small company.

Server Info:
Centos 3.3 (RHEL 3.x equivelent)
4GB RAM
Adaptec 2100S RAID
Qlogic QLA2100 Fibre
Any feedback/suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Steve Poe

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