RAID help needed, chaps!!

[Jushin-Thunder-Liger]

This is a follow up post to my thread about buying a new server. I am not massively well up on Network Admin, i am really a DB admin who has been thrown in at the very deep end.
I have a q about RAID, i know what it is, basically a mirroring of 2 or more disks, yes?
So if i purchase a new server with 2 HD's set in a RAID configuration, i am providing myself with a backup in case 1 of the disks goes down, yes?
Also
Is RAID easy to set up and can you have RAID over 2 or more servers?


Any help would be much needed, as you can see

[kona]

There are many different types of RAID. Each one is suited to different uses and has its own advantages and disadvantages.

http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/R/RAID.html

Do a google search and you'll find lots of good pages that explain everything in depth.

[Dache]

Couldn't resist.

[Jushin-Thunder-Liger]

ahhhh Raid 1 will have to do, no time to fanny about with anything else for now

[marcus]

If you are after performance then Raid1, if you want better fault tolerance then 5. I keep meaning to do this on my server :/

[Jushin-Thunder-Liger]

If you are after performance then Raid1, if you want better fault tolerance then 5. I keep meaning to do this on my server :/

Yeah its a bit of a quandry, but with money tight and only 2 HD's available at the price, RAID 1 will have to do

[Willei]

The norm is RAID1 on the system drives, and RAID5 on the data drives. That's five drives in total. You might need a SCSI RAID controller as well, check what you've got in the server at the moment.


It really isn't worth cheaping out on this sort of thing.

[Adrock]

Also i wouldnt just use RAID as a system backup.

Always have a back up schedule that will use whatever removable format is suitable.

But yeah for general backup purposes RAID 1 can be good