Backplanes?

[CetiAlphaV]

I have been looking at server cases and see some with backplanes and some without. My question is if I want to set up a raid array in specific raid 5. What do they do. Do I need a backplane to set up a Raid arrray.

 

[Dameon]

a backplane is intended to make for easy addition and removal of RAID Disks.
Backplanes in Dell Servers handle both the SCSI ID, power, and SCSI Termination of the hard disks.
Backplanes typically use the SCA connector style in order so that it is simple to insert / remove. Normally the purpose is to allow for hot swapping of hard disks. When the backplane controls the three above items, there can almost never be duplicate SCSI ID's, power but no SCSI / SCSI but no power connectio. It is by no means required in order to setup a RAID 5 array, but in order to hot-plug and replace & rebuild the hard disk array without rebooting, it is a god-send. Essentially, a good hot-plug backplane allows you to remove a failed hard disk from within the OS, replace it, and rebuild the disk... all without rebooting or taking the server offline in any manner. This allows for the magic "such and such percent uptime" that server vendors love to push.

 

[CetiAlphaV]

So, let me see if i have got this right. A good backplane will assign ids, provide power, and allow you to remove and replace a hd while in the main os, and handle terminations. So without a good backplane I would have to set the ids, terminations, and provide power right at the hd, and I wouldn't be able to hotswap the hds.

 

[CetiAlphaV]

I hate to do this, but I have to cause I need an answer so I know what I need to buy. Here it goes.

BUMP!