[K12OSN] SATA vs SCSI

[Chris Kacoroski]

Liam Marshall wrote:

>>
> fair enough, I like the idea of scsi anyway,   I don;t have a raid 
> controller for the scsi, but I have an Adaptec controller with two 
> connections, I forget off hand which model it is.  It does the ultra 2 
> wide and the narrower type.  In order to do Raid, of whatever flavour, 
> you need either a raid controller or 2 scsi cards, right?  the one I 
> have is not a raid controller
> 
> I was thinking sata raid because the mb I am buying has a sata raid 
> controller on board
> 
Liam,

You have two choices with raid - hardware and software.  If your scsi 
controller does not do hardware raid, then you do it in software (cf 
http://linas.org/linux/raid.html).  You do not need 2 scsi cards to do 
software raid.

Your system usage is what determines if SATA raid would work.  For a 
small elementary with 10 - 15 terminals on a server used by grade school 
kids doing paint, typing, or those types of programs I am guessing that 
SATA would work fine.  For a high school with kids really using the 
capacity of the computer (perhaps doing compiles), it will not.  One 
other facter to consider is that linux support for mb raid is spotty at 
best (which it why I always spring for a 3ware card).  If you go that 
route, be sure that it is supported well by the linux distribution you 
are using.

cheers

ski

-- 
"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it
   connected to the entire universe"		John Muir

Chris "Ski" Kacoroski, ckacoroski at nsd.org, 425-489-6263