[Tfug] $2K fileserver

[Robert Hunter]

> In other words, I think it depends on your application.   From the
> tone of your "voice", sounds like you have made the right choice for
> yours :)
>

Stephen,  the work cycle at my lab is something like this:  1)
Acquire huge amounts of binary data.  2) Spend a few weeks
processing it, after which 3) the data is either removed or
compressed down to a small fraction.  This particular system was for
someone who was starting to acquire about a terabyte of data, before
he got around to processing the data.

As far as hardware RAID, I think it's possibly a fetish for me.  I
believe that with a backup battery attached to the controller that
these things can survive an abrupt power out without the loss of a
singe byte.  On the other hand, if the system is plugged into a UPS,
that is not such a likely scenario.  As far as off-loading
processing, it's probably not that important, since the system is
intended to be a dedicated file server.  And for that matter,  my
initial benchmarks are nowhere close to what Harry posted in his
benchmarks of software RAID.  And by the way, Harry, how are you
attaching 15 SATA drives?

http://www.tfug.org/pipermail/tfug_tfug.org/2006-October/012485.html

Despite these issues, the biggest challenge I faced in building this
system was trying to keep the cost down.  Especially considering
that the PC market is in a transition to PCI-E, and so it becomes
more difficult to integrate older components.

-- 
Rob