[CentOS] Need advice on storage

[Shibu C Varughese]

boisvert.guy at videotron.ca wrote:
> Hi all,
>
>   I have a CentOS 4.5 server running on a workstation mainboard (PCI 
> Slots only).  We have now one 200 Gigs IDE disk dedicated for e-mail 
> server storage.  We use Communigate Pro and the server has 45 Outlook 
> clients with the MAPI connector (All mailboxes on the server).  When a 
> user opens Outlook, a refresh of the local cache is performed for his 
> data.  There is a big "Public" area (about 50 Gigs) where all the 
> projects data/infos are stored (all that on the same IDE hard disk).  
> Clients cache updates are performed on e-mail folder access.  We 
> noticed server response slowdown as the number of user increased 
> (quite normal!).
>
>   Now we want to upgrade the server to get better performance.  I'd 
> like to know if, as a temporary cheap upgrade, software RAID with a 
> Sil 3124 and 2 x Raptor WD740ADFD (74 Gigs with NCQ) in Software RAID 
> 0 would bring a significant performance boost.  If it is the case, 
> that would permit to phase out this server in 1-2 years and we'd 
> upgrade the whole server after.
>
> Here a the specs of the actual "server":
> Asus A7V600 (I know, that's bad but it just works!!!)
> Athlon 2500+
> 1 Gig RAM (we'll probably put 1 more gig soon if it can help)
> System Hard Disk: WD 80 Gigs
> Mail hard disk: Western Digital WD2000JB (IDE 200 Gigs) EXT3 on LVM
> Backups hard disk: 1 x 200 Gigs IDE, 1 x 320 Gigs SATA, 1 x 750 Gigs 
> SATA -->  LVM Total of 1270 Gigs
>
> Any help / experience would be appreciated.
>
>
> TIA,
>
> Guy Boisvert
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>   
if you are planning to do a full upgrade ... in future .. try out zimbra 
from zimbra.com

-- 
Shibu
-
"Quality is truly a state of mind" 
One error in every 16 million transactions - Mumbai Dabbawala.