Re: point me in the right direction...

Joseph Tate <jtate@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> · Mon, 02 Dec 2002 10:20:18 -0500

If you use the Promise Raid Controller, you're using Software Raid.  All 
Software RAID is dependant on the capacity of the CPU.  If File Serving 
is all you're doing though, it should be fine.  As for the Bandwidth 
Bound statement, In my computer architecture class a few years ago, my 
Professor told me that retrieving data over the local network from a 
computer that had it in RAM was still faster than going to disk.  So 
you're still going to be reliant on the speed of your disks, and with 
software raid, the speed of your processor.  Having lots of RAM will 
certainly help.

As for OS choice?  Go with 8.0.  Since everything is compiled with GCC 
3.2 you'll get a bit better performance from the same source code.  It's 
also a bit easier to set up.

Joseph

Scott Evans wrote:

I'm about to build a Red Hat file server for home usage -- mp3s, backups,
and possibly home directories.  I'm planning to buy a pair of large
(120gb, probably) HD's and run them RAID1.  The machine is an old PII/400
with 64 or 128mb of RAM (can't remember).

I want the OS on the RAID drives as well -- might as well protect the
OS from drive failure too.

I'm trying to decide:

 - How to do the RAID. 
    - Promise RAID controller?  
    - PCI IDE controller and software RAID?  
    - Onboard IDE controller and software RAID?  (and HD overlay software)

 - Which OS to go with -- Red Hat 7.3 or 8.0.

Since this is a networked file server, performance will generally be

bandwidth-bound, so I'm not too worried about getting the very most out 
of the RAID performance.  I want to keep CPU usage low though, since it's

only a 400mhz machine and it seems like most NICs use quite a bit of 
CPU on their own.

I've read the ATA RAID HOWTO at murty.net and it looks like installation
won't be *too* painful once I choose a strategy.  Can anyone offer some
pointers?

Thanks.

--
scott evans :: www.antisleep.com

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