Bruce,
Short answer ...
If you can only afford one server for your company you can use either
RAID-0+1 or RAID-5. RAID-5 will be slower for Vantage but faster as
a file server. But mostly RAID-5 will be CHEAPER in terms of net disk
space on the machine. A 4x9 gig server using RAID-0+1 would net 18
gig of usable space while RAID-5 would net 27 gig of usable space.
I've been running RAID-5 with Vantage for 5 years now and have never
had a problem with it. For me the decision was originally based on 1
server as cheaply as possible. Since then I've gone to multiple
servers but my last system load was 2 years ago and at that time I
elected to stay with RAID-5 on my Vantage server. If I was going to
build a new dedicated Vantage server it would be Raid-0+1.
If you can afford multiple servers where one server is your PDC /
file server / print server and a second server will be JUST for
Vantage then I would highly recomend RAID-5 for your PDC server and
RAID-0+1 for your Vantage server.
Either way make sure that the WRITE-CACHE is turned OFF on your RAID
controller card on the Vantage machine.
Also, don't even think about using NT's built in RAID logic. Use a
dedicated RAID controller with 32 meg plus of read cache.
This conversation can get very complicated - very fast. This was
just the short version.
Hope this helps,
Todd Anderson
J. Rubin & Co.
Short answer ...
If you can only afford one server for your company you can use either
RAID-0+1 or RAID-5. RAID-5 will be slower for Vantage but faster as
a file server. But mostly RAID-5 will be CHEAPER in terms of net disk
space on the machine. A 4x9 gig server using RAID-0+1 would net 18
gig of usable space while RAID-5 would net 27 gig of usable space.
I've been running RAID-5 with Vantage for 5 years now and have never
had a problem with it. For me the decision was originally based on 1
server as cheaply as possible. Since then I've gone to multiple
servers but my last system load was 2 years ago and at that time I
elected to stay with RAID-5 on my Vantage server. If I was going to
build a new dedicated Vantage server it would be Raid-0+1.
If you can afford multiple servers where one server is your PDC /
file server / print server and a second server will be JUST for
Vantage then I would highly recomend RAID-5 for your PDC server and
RAID-0+1 for your Vantage server.
Either way make sure that the WRITE-CACHE is turned OFF on your RAID
controller card on the Vantage machine.
Also, don't even think about using NT's built in RAID logic. Use a
dedicated RAID controller with 32 meg plus of read cache.
This conversation can get very complicated - very fast. This was
just the short version.
Hope this helps,
Todd Anderson
J. Rubin & Co.
--- In vantage@egroups.com, "Bruce Palmer" <bruce@p...> wrote:
> I am looking to upgrade my server. Can anybody advise on what RAID
level to
> use?