Server with a "tolerant" RAID controller

[vortmax]

I'm building a data system for an aircraft mounted instrument that will basically dump a stream from a highspeed IP camera to disk. We are looking at using a 2u rack mount server capable of holding 6 disks: 2 would be dedicated to main and redundant system disks and the other 4 for data.

The plan is to use 2 data disks in RAID1 or 4 disks in a mirrored JBOD if we need the space. We want to take a big box of prebuilt arrays with us, and just swap out sets of disks (with the power off) so we don't have to mess with transferring data off the computer.

We have been doing this successfully with an external firewire RAID, but all of the servers I've tried it on that have an internal RAID card balk at the new set of disks and require me to reconfigure the RAID in the bios even though the 2 disks are still paired.

I've had good experiences with HP servers in the past, so I would like to stick with them, but before we go out and buy a machine, i need to know that I can get the RAID to work like this. Does anyone have any experience doing this or know if it's supported by a particular model?

for what it's worth, the system will be running a flavor of windows (the camera capture software is windows only).

 

[Annihilannic]

How about a portable NAS connected by a crossover ethernet cable, that way the client doesn't know or care about the RAID architecture behind it?

Annihilannic.

 

[vortmax]

we considered that, but space and power on the aircraft is limited which is why we are consolidating our current system (laptop with USB and firewire components ... about 4 or 5U of space) into a single 2U box.

 

[Annihilannic]

You could use a 1U server and 1U NAS. Not sure about the power side of things though... although it shouldn't add up to much more than a 2U server with lots of disks in it.

Annihilannic.

 

[blister911]

vortmax,
I've never done anything like that, but I think it would work as long as all the arrays are configured ahead of time and the drives are put back in the exact same bays they were in when configured (label them to make sure).

The DL380 G7 (2U) can handle 8 drives, but if speed is an issue the 15K RPM small form factor drives max at 146 GB. And since you're doing video, I would get the FBWC for the array controller.

Good luck.



Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

 

[nhbilly]

Tried a buffalo terra station?

http://www.buffalotech.com/products/network-storage/business/terastation-iii-ts-xlr5-ts-rxlr5/