[TriLUG] Setting Up RAID-5

[Andrew Ball]

That's unfortuate about having to buy the same type of array or at least
from the same
vendor if true.  Wouldn't be too suprising though.

Would a different RAID level in hardware work for you?

Hope you find something that works well.

On 12/7/06, Brian Henning <brian at strutmasters.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Gang,
>    Just looking for some advice on setting up a RAID-5 file server at
> home.  I'm imagining putting six 160GB 7200rpm SATA-II drives in a
> machine with two simple Promise TX4 four-port controllers and doing all
> RAID functionality in software (since 6+ port RAID-5 capable cards are
> way more expensive than two dumber cards).  My questions:
>
>   - Is RAID-5 in software a bad idea?  I hear it's a little
> computationally intense on write as it has to recalculate parity blocks
> for each stripe that is written.  How much computer horsepower do I need
> to not have the bottleneck be processor clicks?
>
>   - Would it really be a better idea to sink the money into a RAID-5
> capable controller instead?  My fear is that if the controller dies, I
> hear you have to be able to replace it with the exact same controller if
> you want your data back.
>
>   - Assuming software RAID, does lotsa RAM help any?
>
> I'll probably be using CentOS as the host OS, so that keeps it on topic.
> ;-)
>
> For the curious, the purpose of this will be a central file server for a
> home music studio.  A place to store the GB upon GB of samples that come
> with quality sampling soft-synths (just bought dfh Superior.. 35GB of
> samples!), as well as finished projects (active projects would be on the
> DAW machine, to reduce disk latency).
>
> Cheers,
> ~Brian
>
> --
> ----------------
> Brian A. Henning
> strutmasters.com
> 336.597.2397x238
> ----------------
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-- 
=======================
Andrew D. Ball
anball at gmail.com
http://filebox.vt.edu/~anball1/
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