Re: suggestions on network storage

In article <48954c51$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
geoffx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx says...
A couple of comments. Forget RAID. 3 drives = 3 purposes. If you use
RAID on your 3 drives you just lost the benefit of having 3 drives.
Depending on the RAID type, you'd need 6 or 9 drives to get the same
benefit. On an SBS box with adequate backup? Mostly a waste of time.
Overkill. The purists will hate me for suggesting this but there you
go...

BAD MOVE, RAID is needed in ANY setup that can not afford 8-12 hours
downtime when they don't have an on-site IT person.

RAID is not about data backup, it's about hardware redundancy, and it
saves a LOT of companies a LOT of down-time.

"Adequate backup", so, even if you run a backup nightly, if the single
drive fails around 3PM of the typical work day, all of those people just
lost a days work, and while you might be able to rebuild the server in a
few hours, might be able to get everything working while the backup
restores, just how many hours do you think they are going to eat
rebuilding/redoing their full days work and wondering if they got it
all?

[snip]

We've been doing 2008 and EBS installs of late and they migrate even
faster. There are issues but it is nice building an new domain inside
another and then just migrating all the settings across. This is really
neat and really easy. I'd also look at SBS 2008 because it will be out
soon and is way superior to 2003. Worth the trouble.

I've seen people tell companies "You need version xyz because it offers
abc and you can't do without abc" and you know what, many companies
never use abc, they pay for the upgrade process, the new OS, the setup
of abc, and they never use it. While the new wiz-bang features look
really great, while we IT people really like new toys and things that
make our lives easier, it does not always relate to a ROI for customers.

The final point I'd make is that your current box is 3 years old. Pretty
soon the power supply will blow, hard drives will crash or RAM will
fail. I'd be putting my money into preventative replacement now and
relegating the old server as a secondary or standby. But it is doomed to
die soon no matter what.

I don't know what country you work in, but I have workstations that are
10 yers old that work just fine, I have servers that have the same parts
they had 10 years ago, that work just fine.

In 30 years of working with computers I've had RAM fail exactly 1 time,
and that was also part of a power hit that took out the PSU and
Motherboard.

Drives do fail, I've just had a new customer with an IBM 226 series
server where 4 of 6 drives failed over a 1 week period, but their other
IBM 226 has not had a failed drive yet. Yes, drives do fail, they can
fail in 1 minute, 30 days, 10 years, but that's why we USE RAID and keep
a spare on hand.

Power-Supply failures? Other than a FAN being full of dust, it's very
unlikely and again, spare sitting on the shelf, $80 just waiting, and
you have that resolved in 15 minutes.

A 3 year old server is just that, 3 years old, and if it's not been a
problem then it's likely to NOT be a problem. Your comment "But it is
doomed to die soon no matter what." is FUD, there is no way to know. I
could show you a Commodore PET 2001 that still works like the day it was
built (PC from the 1979 era)...... I could also show you a HP server
that was bought last month that worked for 2 days and had to have the
motherboard replaced....

Yes, a new server would be nice, so would 2008, but if the old server
can handle a couple new drives, if the PSU shows no signs of going bad
(FAN) and has enough capacity, then all he really needs is more drive
space and a method to back it up properly.






--
- Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.
- Calling an illegal alien an "undocumented worker" is like calling a
drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist"
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