To RAID or to not RAID

[Michael Izak]

I got this proliant 1600 server with one drive from a used computer place. I don't see any RAID cards installed with this machine however when I read the 1600 quick specs the specs say the 1600 has an integrated dual channel wide-ultra SCSI-3 adapter. If I add the extra drives and install the Compaq software, the Compaq Smart Start and the Array configuration utility with Smart Start Array controllers installed, will I have the ability to create a RAID-type drive configuration or not? Do I have to get a Smart Array 3200 RAID controller card or something like that installed to have a RAID-type drive configuration?

[JohnWRuffo]

The quick and dirty answer is: Yes and No

You would need to either have an O/S that can perform software raid (i.e., Windows Server, Linux, etc.) or you can purchase a RAID controller for the system.
The on board Untra3 controller will only spin the disks as indipendent drives.

Hope this helps?

G'luck!

[Michael Izak]

This helps. You say independent drives. Do you mean, without the RAID card and under Windows NT 4.0 or Win 2000 OS servers, the drives will spin as C: D: E: F: drives?

[Terri Harris]

By independent drives John means the drives are not in any logical drive configuration...C:, D:, E:, F: ect means something else:

1. When you install Windows, the default is that the OS is installed to a C: partition. This C: partition can be the size of one drive, or it can be smaller.

When you have a RAID controller, you first configure the hard drives into a RAID array = a single logical drive (might be more than one logical drive, but one is most common). This has nothing to do with Windows drive partitions, designated by the drive letters.

2. The CD-ROM is given a drive letter, as is the floppy drive (default A:).

Otherwise the drive letters are not specific to any hard drive. You create partitions in Windows Disk Manager and assign drive letters to allocate any additional hard drive space - this can be for one or more hard drives.

[JohnWRuffo]

Yes. If you install, say a flavor of Windows Server, you can create a "RAID 1 or 5" of the drives. Each disk is like a C, D, E, F until you bind them together in a software configuration.

Hardware RAID is diferent in that the O/S does not know about the RAID... it just sees the volume(s) you create. Hardware RAID has its advantages (and costs) in that the O/S does not have to perform CPU cycles to do the RAID as well as automatic rebuild and hot spare options.

Take a look at this link:
ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/supportinformation/papers/0291-0799-a.pdf