UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I need to put together a RAID1 file server for use by Windoze systems. I've built zillions of windows systems from components. I was a HPUX SE for a long time at HP, but have been out of the game for years.

I've got an old workhorse mobo FIC PA-2013 with a 450 MHz K6 III+ I could use, but I'd need to get a RAID card for that.

I've also got a PCCHIPS M789 mobo with the VIA C3 processor, and likely have some memory for that, would still need a RAID card.

I won't be doing video editing over the LAN which is currently 100 BT.

I would like a balance between performance and operation cost (ever calculate what 500 watts costs for 24x7?) It occurred to me that if I need to buy a RAID card I might be better off buying a new MOBO with the raid built in with a second or third tier efficient processor.

I would appreciate recommendations for both hardware and flavor of LINUX.

I realize that there may be posts here relating to this topic, but I haven't stumbled upon any.

tanksAbunch

pc

Come on, guys. I'm dying here. Running out of space on my server and wanting to BUILD something economical and dependable.

tanks

pc

Just about any PC should be able to do what you want. Use that C3 you've got (since it's probably a bit faster, and the motherboard probably has LAN on-board), connect 3-4 500 GB discs, and set them up as software RAID (no need for a RAID card). With a RAID 5 setup, you're looking at 1 TB to 1.3 TB of useable space (subtract 20 - 30 GB to have lots and lots of space for the OS).

Suggested layout (on all discs):
Partition 1: ca. 100 MB, RAID1, using ext2, mounted at /boot
Partition 2: ca. 20 GB, RAID1, using ext3, mounted at /
Partition 3: ca. 500 MB, swap (= 1.5 to 2 GB of swap space)
Partition 4: the rest, either RAID5 configured as LVM PV or just RAID5 using ReiserFS (quicker with small files), mounted at /srv/samba

As for the distribution: just about any should do, as any modern distro knows about software RAID, LVM, and Samba (for Windows connectivity), but I'd opt for Debian.