I'm building new servers for a project I'm working on. They will all run Ubuntu Server x64 (10.04 soon) and require a RAID 1 hotswap configuration (just two drives) to minimize downtime.
I'm not worried about Raid performance. The server hardware will have plenty of CPU power, and I'm only doing a RAID 1. My only requirements are:
- Everything, including the OS, must be mirrored.
- There must be no down-time when a drive fails. I need to be able to swap out the failed drive with another and have the RAID rebuild itself automatically (or maybe by running a simple script).
I'm wondering if the built-in Ubuntu Software RAID can handle this, particularly the hotswap part. 10.04 looks promising.
I'm considering buying the 3Ware 9650SE-2LP-SGL RAID controller, but with the number of servers we're purchasing, that would increase the total price quite a bit.
Any advice at all would be appreciated. Thank you.