I want to try to build a Samba file/print server on a small office budget. I'm trying to replace an aging NT 4 server, but we only have money for some new hardware - not Microsoft Server and CAL licenses.

I'll have two identical 40GB IDE hard drives that I want to build into a software RAID1 configuration. I don't have a special RAID controller card - just the embedded IDE controllers on the motherboard.

I should point out that I have no experience with Linux RAID. I've ony built simple, single-drive desktops with RedHat 9 (although, I have built software RAID1 systems with Windows NT so I understand the theory).

First question: Can Linux boot from a software RAID1? I've read other postings here that mentioned problems to boot from mirrored disks.

Second question: What's the best way to partition a RAID1 server? Should you split the data from the O/S on separate partitions?

On the current NT server we have the O/S on one partition (C and the office data on a separate partition (D. The thinking was that if something happened to the O/S we could format C: and reinstall while leaving D: intact. Does this line of thinking hold up in the Linux world?

Thanks in advance.

I guess this was properly a software question about configuration.

I have had no trouble with booting from a software RAID.
The RAID system can be setup happily during the initial install process, though Maddog indicates a preference for scsi drives for network.

You may be better to have the large RAID thing available for the network use while the machine itself runs from a completely seperate drive. Mostly, this keeps things tidy. Linux works on a slightly but significantly different paradigm to Windows networks - so check your assumptions.

Remember, linux dosn't make distictions between drives the way Windows does - though the kernel may be aware of hda hdb etc, the user only has access to mounted filesystems. The RAID system will be one big continuous filesystem.

For the system you suggest, you'd have, say, hda holding the boot and swap and the RAID system spanning hdb and hdc holding the root partition. Alternatively, you can add the two large drives as two seperately mounted file systems on the machine. It really depends on what you want them for.

Note: you can also boot from a different computer (read about it never tried it) over a network.
Normally, linux user will keep an imergency boot disk (floppy or CD) in case of trouble, and ALSO keep an old copy of the kernel around as a spare option in the bootloader.

Setting up small networks with linux is either annoying or surreally-easy depending on your preparation and the complexity of the system. An NT-type system should be a snap!

I'd suggest getting a book.
Paul Sery has a good book called: Red Hat Network Toolkit which is out of date but still good.
There are many others.