RAID + Primary Controller Questions

[Dave96]

If I understand correctly, when you have 2 hard drives in a RAID1 array, a primary controller should be installed?

I'm toying around dell, configuring some servers and it has the choice of primary as well as secondary controller. What should be needed if 2 hard drives are in RAID1 and what is the use of such controllers?

I configured something like this. Should I keep the network card instead of the onboard one?

PowerEdge 750 Intel? Pentium? 4 processor, 2.8GHz, 1MB Cache, 800MHz FSB
Operating System No Operating System
Memory 1GB DDR,400MHz, 2x512MB DIMMs
Keyboard No Keyboard Option
Monitor No Monitor Option
Primary Hard Drive 160GB 7.2K RPM SATA Hard Drive
2nd Hard Drive 160GB 7.2K RPM SATA Hard Drive
Hard Drive Configuration SATA RAID 1 with 2 Hard Drives Connected to add CERC SATA RAID Controller
Primary Controller CERC 6-Channel SATA RAID Controller, 64MB Cache,
Floppy Drive Options No Floppy Drive Option
Mouse No Mouse Option
Network Card Dual Onboard NICs Only
CD/DVD Drive 24X CD-ROM, 650MB, INT
Bezel Bezel for PowerEdge 750, Pentium 4
Documentation Electronic Documentation, PowerEdge 750
Chassis Configuration No Rails Included
Hardware Support Services 1Yr Parts + Onsite Labor, Year 2-3 Parts Delivery (Next Business Day)
2nd Network Card Intel Pro 100S Network Adapter Is this really needed?

TOTAL:$1,626.90 CND ~ $1340 USD

 

[Ravi]

RAID 1 Implementation: http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/5653

RAID Controller: In a RAID array, drives are linked together via software or hardware. In a hardware RAID, a physical controller is used. The computer accessing the storage only sees the controller, which deals with the drives directly. Software RAID can be as simple as using software to ?stripe? drives together to behave as one. Or, as it can be as complex as using a dedicated server computer as a ?traffic cop? to manage data flow to and from a group of drives, as in Unity.

Thankyou.

 

[Stephen]

RAID1 is good, sty away fromthe dell controllers, they are LSI MegaRAId(which are GREAT!) but they have a Dell BIOS that makes them crap.

If you want a good setup with 4 drives or less the LSI MegaRaid SATA-4 is great, and not overly expensive, for some sweet hardware raid.