need advice for cheap RAID web server setup

D

djbeta

Registered
Hi,

I'd like some advice.. I want to setup a little web server at home.. and want to run a bulletin board system to keep track of the music I own. I'll probably setup a phpBB or something like that...

The thing is.. I don't *ever* want to have to worry about making backups.. burning things to dvd, etc.. so I was thinking I would run a mirrored RAID configuration.. and would like to setup a system that has the most bang for my buck..

I think I could probably get away with a 120Gb system.. i was thinking of getting a mac mini , upgrading the drive to 120Gb, then mirroring the system to a firewire drive using SoftRaid or the mac system RAID..

I'd like to try to setup the whole system for ~$700 if possible, and make it so that if a drive fails, the system keeps on chuggin and i just need to replace the drive..

am I barking up the right tree ? does anyone have any input ? Is there a better way to do what I'm trying to do ? I'd like to get more drive space if possible, but don't want to venture into very expensive options territory..

Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

thanks.
 
Probably better off getting an older G4 (one of the early ones) and a Sonnet Tempo SATA or ATA RAID-capable PCI card then install two drives one on each channel. Use Mac OS X's Disk Utility to create the RAID.

I don't think using an external along with an internal as a RAID is going to work. You might prove me wrong.
 
thanks..

so.. get an older g4 and a sonnet card.. then run the system drive and another drive mirrored.. does that sound OK ? will the system keep chugging along if one drive fails ?

how recent of a g4 do i need to purchase in order to support 250Gb or higher size drives ?
 
The system should keep chugging along in case of a disk failure, but since the RAID is software-based, I have no idea how that would impact this functionality.

Here's a good primer on RAID, just for reference... I can't even keep all the levels of RAID straight in my head and find myself referring to this page over and over:

http://www.acnc.com/04_01_01.html

It's suggested (and, sometimes required) that the drives in the RAID be on the same controller (preferrably, same controller but different buses). Having an internal, 2.5", 5400RPM SATA drive mixed with an external FireWire/USB 2.0, 7200RPM drive may cause synchronization problems, and the RAID may not work at all due to the different timings and bus speeds.

I, too, would recommend a computer with a high-speed ATA (ATA/100 or faster) or SATA PCI card. If you want maximum speed and reliability, get a hardware RAID PCI card so that the RAID is controlled by the card rather than OS X's software, which is much, much faster. Sometimes a software-based RAID can actually be slower than a single-disk in a non-RAID, simply because of the CPU overhead associated with a software implementation -- all the checksums and bit checking and duplexing and what-not have to be done with the computer's CPU instead of a fast, dedicated, specialized chip on the RAID PCI card.

Specifically read the "Disadvantages" about RAID 1 on that linked page: it specifically mentions that RAID 1 is strongly suggested to be implemented in hardware, not software. It also mentions that software-based RAID 1's performance can be degraded by the fact that it's a software implementation, and that it's the most unefficient implementation of RAID, disk-wise.
 
OK... I've picked up an old G4 - 500 Mhz PCI desktop, ($50 on ebay with a bad video card-- i hope)

could anyone tell me:

1. what type & size hard drive this system can accept by default ?

and

2. if I get a sonnet ata 100 card, what size ata 100 drive I can put on that bus ?

3. would you install 10.3 or 10.4 on the machine ? (i'm leaning toward 10.3 but not sure)

thanks!
 
You can put any size drive in, you just have to make sure it's a PATA drive (parallel ATA) and not SATA (serial ATA).
 
By size, I mean size in terms of capacity GB. You'll need a 3.5 inch hard drive not a laptop-sized drive 2.5"
 
Yep. Both use PATA drives.

You cannot put a drive larger than 128GB on the internal bus, though. If you do, only 128GB will be recognized, even if you try and get sneaky like, "I'll create TWO 100GB partitions!" -- nope, you're limited to 128GB total, for one drive.

The Sonnet card can support drives larger than 128GB.
 
Correct!

The first Mac whose logic board offers support for drives larger than 128 GB / 137 GB (depending on how you count GB) is the Quicksilver 2002. The first Mac that Apple admits that their logic board supports drives larger than 128/137GB is the Mirrored Drive Door models.

Of course, there are two possible "quick-fix" solutions without buying a later revision motherboard:

1. Install a third-party PCI ATA controller that will allow the use of drives larger than 128GB.
2. Purchase third-party software that fixes the problem.
http://www.speedtools.com/ATA6.shtml
 
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