Every time we setup a server for a client, we always specify, at the minimum, mirrored drive pairs for boot and for data.
How those pairs are created has varied depending on the hardware involved.
PowerMac G5s (having only 2 native internal bays) get either a software RAID pair or a hardware RAID card. Or they get a drive bracket installed to increase internal capacity.
Xserve G4s are always built with 2 software RAID mirrors as the four bays in that system and not ability to use a hardware RAID card make it the most natural setup. Usually 2 x 60GB drives for the Boot and whatever size for the Data is appropriate for the application. A system where there will lost of media files will tend to get 2 x 500GB, otherwise, 2 x 250GB is now the sweet spot for longevity and reliability.
Xserve G5s I really don’t see any use in deploying if you aren’t using the Apple Hardware RAID card, but that also has some issues as well.
PowerMac G4s (yes we still use these) are a different story. With their 4 internal bays (5 if you want to squeeze one into where the Zip drive was spec’d to go, gives you a lot of options. We use PowerMac G4s almost exclusively at our office for things like development servers, log processing, internal project management, etc… Most of these have been with us for quite some time and have gone from one version of the OS to another as time progresses.
For some reason, I guess penuriousness is the most likely culprit, the boot drives on these systems were never more than whatever IDE drive we threw in at the point of setup. No mirroring or redundancy at all. Our data drives tended to be pairs of Ultra 2/3 SCSI disks software mirrored together.
Well I was determined that we should follow our own advice, so I’ve been on a crusade of upgrading/migrating disks/partitions/sharepoints on our internal servers so that all systems enjoy mirrored goodness.
I like the RAID cards over software RAID for 2 reasons: 1. I can easily partition the “disk” presented by the RAID card to the OS; 2. No hit on the CPU (which on a faster machine would be negligible) for performing the mirroring.
In the end, we’ve used the following devices/setups:
- ACARD AEC-6880M in mirror mode with 2 x 400GB IDE – PowerMac G4/500DP
- ACARD AEC-6890M in mirror mode with 2 x 320GB SATA – PowerMac G4/500DP
We still use 10K and 15K rpm SCSI disks in these systems to hold speed critical data like MySQL tables.
For some clients we’ve used:
- ACARD AEC-6880M in mirror mode with 2 x 250GB IDE – PowerMac G4/500DP
- ACARD AEC-6890M in mirror mode with 2 x 400GB SATA – PowerMac G5 DP
- HighPoint Tech RocketRAID 2224 with X4 external enclosure connected by Infiniband (This was FAST)
We have seen some issues with the ACARD devices, but we’re leaning towards power supply problems more than anything directly wrong with the cards. Definitely flash the cards to the latest firmware before deploying is a good tip.
As for drives, I tend to spec Seagate drives almost exclusively these days.
A mishmash of ideas and technologies, but with the inexpensive options available today, there really isn’t any reason to deploy anything (even user desktops) without some redundancy. An extra $150 at the initial setup (drive, card, whatever) can save you and your employee a lot of time (meaning money if you bill for your time) down the road when a drive WILL fail.