Lets start in the begining:
OS Partion:
Should run on a mirror or RAID 1. This not need to be SCSI actually. It could run on a SATA with a separate SATA Controller so you could mirror 2 identical SATA disk for your OS.
Data Partion:
This should run on RAID 5 Configuration using a SCSI controller. You could install up to 6 stacks of identical scsi-hdd capacity depeding you you casing model. As per ML350 models max is 6 stacks but you could buy a 4 stack drive bays.
Points:
On a normal basis, you buy this server and you get 2 to 3 scsi hdd, depending on your capacity requirement, And then normally your raid 5 all the 3 hdd. This means. all the 3 hdd is equivalent to 1 drive. Then you just partition the drive for the OS and for the Data. In an event the OS failed or crashed, since it's a raid 5 configuration, the data partition would also be affected. By using a 2 separate controllers for both os and data would be a very reliable setup.
But in this setup you should also maximize the bays you bought. If your Data partition would be in a raid 5 and you got a (for example) 2 x 146 gb (quite expensive) scsi hdd and you eventually want to add another 146 by just pluging it in, this would not automatically combine with the existing data partion. To combine it you have to backup everything, and ad the ID to your RAID (this would regenerate your new data partion). remember this procedure will delete any existing data on your old partion. Bottomline is, its up to you if you want that procedure everytime you would add additional scsi drive or just maximize you drive by installing a 4 x 146, or 4 x 76 etc.
Btw, im using a RHEL 4 with my ML350.
At 10:27 AM 1/26/2006, you wrote:
hi to all GURUs,
just recently acquired a ML350 server, and i want some advice based on your experiences.
1. SCSI Drives (2x18.2)
LVM or Manual Partition ? Partitioning a scsi the same as ide ? Do i need extra drivers for this?
2. RAID or notRAID
Should i configure it ? This is really my first time to configure a server grade machine.
3. Linux Flavor ?
This is a machine that will be used for "Enterprise" material.
I ve been using Fedora, but what distro would be the best ?
4. Suggestions
TIA,
really loving linux...
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