8 Oct
2012
8 Oct
'12
3:07 p.m.
On Mon, 8 Oct 2012, Cameron Kaiser wrote:
So do I. I have spare disks for the two small arrays I run, and I even have
an entire new controller and backplane in case the array itself goes toes up.
I'll be getting a full body double for the POWER6 as soon as prices drop
enough.
Amen. Just in the process of building the new server. Picked up a Dell
PowerEdge 2950 and have been putting together one extra of everything off
of eBay. These are all coming off lease now and parts are quite
inexpensive.
I've been burned before with a 3ware SATA RAID controller dropping dead
(those things run HOT), so a backup PERC/5i was the first thing I went
after. Planning a Raid-5 array of WDC RE4 500GB drives with one hot-spare
and an extra drive on the supply shelf.
Even with the current server I backup to an LTO-2 drive on a regular
basis. One set of tapes is always in my desk at the office - five miles
away :-).
The new box has redundant power supplies and I have a third one waiting if
problems occur. The old server ate one high-end ATX supply per year on
the average - and these were NOT cheapies. Seems like all consumer
supplies are crap nowadays.
Steve
--
I consider RAID as an availability measure - but how
many installations
have you seen that have spare disks on-hand and procedures to monitor
and replace them? (I am sure the serious ones do. Elsewhere, every
cowboy sysadmin configures RAID on day 1... but where are the disks? :)
I do. But then some people think I'm crazy for running grownup
equipment with grownup procedures "at home".