[wplug] HowTo - Spec out a Linux Server

[Christopher DeMarco]

Sorry about the missing attribution, I mistakenly deleted the message
to which I'm responding :)

> processor, dual power supply, SCSI, split backplane (not even sure
> what that is)

Split backplane (just like two single-channel PCI cards) is nice if
you're doing software RAID.  RAID 0, 0+1 and 5 (and 1, <shudder>) will
be speedier and safer (you can lose an entire channel and still
survive).

Software RAID in Linux (md) is reportedly faster than many cheap-o
RAID cards.  No time to track down the citation ATM, but a google for
"linux md benchmark" should turn it up.

Another point in favor of software RAID is that Dell (and others?) are
known for selling RAID cards are actually more like winmodems in that
they implement RAID logic *in the os* (and are therefore useless in
Linux).


-- 
Christopher DeMarco <cmd at alephant.net>
Alephant Systems (http://alephant.net)
PGP public key at http://pgp.alephant.net
+1-412-708-9660
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