Hi Guys,

I have just retired the last web services and mysql off my HP ProLiant DL360G4 and want to repurpose it as an iSCSI host for my main server - using local unmetered bandwidth for backups etc...

So,,, given that the U320 disks are pretty outdated I have sourced 3x 300G 10k U320s at a good price to form a mirrored pair and a spare.

I figured that the HP ProLiant DL360G4 will be able to accommodate the pair of 300Gs as a native mirror and I will partition and put CentOS 5 on it like my main G5 server.

Then I will be aiming to use the iSCSI project to host iSCSI backup targets on the box...

So does this sound ok or am I missing some critical aspect that might mean it won't work.

I don't want to sell or completely retire the G4 while it can be used for backup and the cost of the 300G drives means that it looks like the best way to get my backup space on unmetered bandwidth and reasonably good space for speed compromise.

Look forward to some thoughts.

BTW I am not at all familiar with iSCSI and hoping that I have thought this through the right way...

Will

If it is only for backup I don't see a major issue. Although I would suggest openfiler or freenas instead of CentOS especially if this is going to be just a ISCSI/SAN box. The only real concern is the age of the hardware, primarily the HARDWARE raid controller if it goes bad it could corrupt the drives.

Great advice. I was only considering CentOS becasue that is what i have moved to for my G5 and cpanel server. Supposing I can rely on the hardware raid as a mirror and have a spare I guess its worth trying... New 1RU solution is too expensive right now even if I would benefit from three times the space and current tech.

Well the reason I say openfiler or freenas is that they are distributions built to work as those devices. and they have nice easy interfaces to set everything up with. If you are familiar with the ncurses based anaconda installer then installing openfiler should not be a problem. Good luck