Posting in newbie since that is what I am in the field of RAID..

Question on Linux software RAID.

If intel x25-v ssd for root fs + raid array of regular sata-disks for /home and /var:
Is it advisable to use a much faster disk (intel ssd) combined with a RAID array (consisting of regular sata-disks)?
If the question seems strange I have to agree it is, it's just a question that keep popping up in my mind. Call it a mis-hunch if you like:P

Would I be better off runnnig everything in the array, booting of RAID? This seems trouble prone if any error in the os.

Another thought is having the root filesystem on one RAID1 array and /var and /home on another array, maybe RAID0.

I'm researching a little, hope anyone care to share their opinion on best solution. Best as in will give more fault tolerance without major administrative pain.

Leif,

What are your goals, what's the budget?

Ideally (if money were no objective) I'd have a 2 SSD RAID-1 for system & swap,
and a 4+ SSD RAID-10 for /home ( & /var if I were running an RDBMS).


Cheers,
Tink

Thanks for replying, eventually the goal is a rather potent server. It will serve files both on the LAN and via internet. Because of picture gallery software it will run mySQL/Apache/lighttpd. It will probably end up running squid as well. The plan is to, eventually, use RAID10 (as you mention) + lwm, this seems a superior solution from the articles I've read around the net. Today I run sql/web server and samba on a laptop with 192MB of RAM Great for low power/space, not so great for heavy loads.

Budget is roughly 5000NOK = approx. 850USD, complete with wife approval
I already have a E8400 cpu and a asus p5k-e motherboard with 4gb ram + plenty of fans, so budget is mainly about hdd's

EDIT:: From what I have read ssd's seems to be potential trouble unless running kernel 2.6.33. I have no problem with compiling my own kernel, but I want everything on a server to be from stable repositories. So I'm thinking maybe have 4 regular sata-disks with each disk having 2 partitions. One smaller partition for RAID10 for the / filessystem, except for /home and /var that will be on the bigger array. When it comes to regular sata-disks, is there anything in particular I should be careful about when choosing harddrives for RAID10 ?

Interested in 4 of these (info in Norwegian, but numbers are international..):
http://www.prisguide.no/produkt/118898/detaljer

Our work server has a single SSD for the OS (ubuntu server) and a hardware-based raid 5 (PCIe card) with 4 SATA2 500GB drives in it. It hosts our network storage shared drive as well as a few virtual machines.

The biggest deal of the server was when we rebuilt it to put in lots more RAM and the fastest X4 amd cpu: the drives were too hot to hold. So we pulled them out and physically bolted them to an aluminum plate on their sides. Then mounted fans along one side and a copper sheet as the "roof". Now, the drives are always cool to the touch.