Linux Linux File Server , need some help

I'm planning to build a new file server for our small company. It's going to be used for storing backup/project data from 4-5 computers. I'm planning to buy the following stuff

2xSATA2 drives 300gb each in RAID1 for backup
1xIDE drive for Linux
Intel Pentium 4 CPU
1gb DDR of RAM (maybe it's too much)
300watt PSU


The distro I'm planning to install is Debian Sarge 3.1, I'm not sure about the motherboard I'm going to buy. I don't want to have any problems with the sata controller drivers in linux and I also like the mobo to have an onboard vga and 4 sata connectors.

So what do you think ?

 

Check out the guide on the front page?

http://www.bit-tech.net/bits/2007/06/05/build_your_own_server/1

 

this isn't helping much with which motherboard i should get :/ nor there's any reference on raid 1 setups in Linux

 

Or check the sticky I once wrote http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=129569 it's Debian based

But, for your questions...

Don't worry too much about the SATA drivers for the motherboard. Most are supported from the box in Linux, certainly in Debian.

From your explanation, I recon you want a sofware RAID 1. Linux has a great software RAID solution called mdadm. Again, don't worry about it, it's really good. And to top that off, while installing Debian, you have the option to manually partition the disks (as done in the sticky). In that tool, you also have the option to set up a RAID array (software, mdadm driven). So if you configure it over there, no additional steps are to be made. (look at the screenie below, option 1 in the menu, Configure software RAID):


Some remarks I have to make.

Debian is currently at the version 4 stable release. Use that instead of the version 3.1 (IIRC it's called "etch")

If the server is just serving files, P4 and 1GB RAM is way overkill
At my high schools computer club we use a 1800 Athlon with 512MB RAM to serve (through IET [iSCSI]) block devices hosted on an Logic Volume, which resides on a software RAID 5 array consisting of 4+1 hot spare. Average load is 0-5%CPU and 60MB RAM usage . And that is very IO intensive (hosts the home directories of about 300 users). Samba might require a bit more (not at the block device level), but your spec's are way over

 

cool thanks for the tips , however if i go for RAID5 won't I need a hardware controller as well?

 

Nah, you can go with a software raid, this is less expensive and works great.