Need advice about Windows server 2003 and raid

[jyates]

Hi all,

I need a little advice on what to buy.

I've been tagged to assemble a PC for my company and the boss
wants to use Windows server 2003 and wants to mirror the
hard drives via raid.

We are planning on buying one of the newer LGA775 motherboards
and it appears that most of them have SATA ports on them,
but I don't know anything about raid or Windows server 2003 and didn't
want to make a mistake and buy something that wouldn't work.


Can you guys provide a little guidance and advice to me?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[Dug]

#1) scsi if this is important, many users logging on, speed, reliability

#2) pata if you want compatibility, ease of use, and cheap drives.

SATA is hyped because of thin cables.
It's a headache when it comes to setup, backup, and anything else you do on the server.

Try making a backup image of 2k3 with a SATA drive. It's a pita.

 

[jyates]

Thanks for the advice Dug......

What is pata?

And if a person is going to do SCSI most of the LGA775 motherboards don't have onboard SCSI do they?
Do you have to use a SCSI card?

 

[Lytech]

pata = sata (typo I think)

Generally speaking, SATA is not THAT much cheaper than SCSI, and SCSI Ultrawide still performs better in most benchmarks, so you likely want to go with a SCSI RAID Array. While you do not need to have special hardware to do a simple mirror array, you want to use a hardware SCSI solution. If there is not a built in SCSI card on your mobo, get a decent one. It will be much faster and you do not need to worry about using Windows 2003 to manage it.

Hope it helps!

 

[PlatinumGold]

if it is for your company, i strongly recommend you buy a Dell Server. it won't cost you much more than it would to build. decent support etc.

also, get scsi. if it is going to be a file server and you are going to mirror, spend the money and get scsi.

i guess i didn't ask what the budget was.

how much is your boss looking to spend?

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: Lytech
pata = sata (typo I think)

Generally speaking, SATA is not THAT much cheaper than SCSI, and SCSI Ultrawide still performs better in most benchmarks, so you likely want to go with a SCSI RAID Array. While you do not need to have special hardware to do a simple mirror array, you want to use a hardware SCSI solution. If there is not a built in SCSI card on your mobo, get a decent one. It will be much faster and you do not need to worry about using Windows 2003 to manage it.

Hope it helps!

SATA = Serial ATA
PATA = Parrallel ATA

 

[jyates]

I had figured I could buy a 3.4ghz mb cpu with an Intel standard board with onboard everything and dvd burner and 1gb of ddr ram
and put a pair of 160gb hard drives in it for less than $1400 or so.

Is Parrallel ATA just a regular IDE setup or is it different?

 

[PlatinumGold]

Originally posted by: jyates
I had figured I could buy a 3.4ghz mb cpu with an Intel standard board with onboard everything and dvd burner and 1gb of ddr ram
and put a pair of 160gb hard drives in it for less than $1400 or so.

Is Parrallel ATA just a regular IDE setup? yes

i strongly suggest checking dells prices. remember, your employer will pay not only for the parts, but also the time you spend assembling it and researching it.

 

[PingSpike]

Aren't SCSI raid cards outragously expensive? Or have they come down in price?