Hi, We have a Dell Poweredge 1600 SC server bought in 2004. It's running as the domain controller and file server. We would like to use it to implement a mail server and SQL server probably later. (I know it's not recommended to have everything in one server but due to budget constraint, this is what we can do for now) The Dell server has a PERC 4/SC Raid Controller running RAID 1. It has 2 34GB SCSI disc, 1 is for mirroring. Due to lack of harddisk space, we're currently using an external USB IDE harddisk. However, because the builtin USB is USB 1.1, the external Harddisk is slow. We have tested 5 different PCI USB 2.0 card but they are all not compatible either with the server, or not supported by Windows Server 2003. My questions are: 1) I see that the Raid Controller cable has one more empty slot. Can I add another SCSI hdd and upgrade it to run RAID 5? Or the PERC 4 SC controller can only run RAID 1? 2) Can we run RAID on IDE Harddisk? Is this advisable? 3) Are NAS, Hot swap etc or something external recommended? 4) Any other methods to increase the Harddisk space at a not so high cost. Appreciate your suggestions and advise. Thank you. Best regards, Jane

The most logical addition would be to add another pair of SCSI drives and use them in RAID 1, assuming it is possible with the existing controller. The cheapest would be to add a large IDE internally for less critical data assuming the motherboard also has the conventional IDE interface.

1) I see that the Raid Controller cable has one more empty slot. Can I add another SCSI hdd and upgrade it to run RAID 5? Or the PERC 4 SC controller can only run RAID 1? You probably could but do you think you can find another HDD that's identical to the two you already have in there in the RAID 1 configuration? You own the controller and associated documents. How about YOU do some reading/research and answer your own question about what RAID level's the controller is capable of. 2) Yes, but you would need an IDE based RAID controller card. 3) It depends on your budget and what you can afford. 4) You might be able to make an image of your C: drive (the RAID 1). Replace the existing HDD's with larger ones, and then put the image on the new RAID 1. In all honesty....if I were in your shoes, I would be recommending a new server to the boss. First of all, a second DC would give you redundancy. Should one fail, the second one (properly configured of course) would take over authentication etc, without a hitch. With a single DC, should it die.....well, you're screwed and nobody can login to the domain until you fix it and get it back up. Also, two DC's would allow you to distribute applications/services between the two and not overload one DC. An overloaded DC slows down as it tries to provide more services/app's to clients. A new server would allow you an opportunity to get big drives to RAID with. I would recommend a server with hot swappable drives and a RAID controller capable of both RAID 1 and 5. If you get a unit with at least a half a dozen hot swappable drive bays in it, you have room for future growth. I would get one with at least 10 bays if you can. An additional server is an investment in the future. Tell your boss....or the powers that be, whomever they may be.....that cheaping out on your IT department is not very smart. With most big companies, the IT department get's one of the biggest budgets. In todays world, all businesses rely heavily on their IT department and if you don't have the equipment, or try to do everything on the cheap, you're going to regret it. Always always always build with expansion in mind. I'm not familiar with the server you're running now, I wouldn't touch a Dell or Compaq or HP if you gave it to me. Where I work we use custom built 1U/2U dual Xeon servers. The 1U's with NAS and the 2U's with hot swappable drive bays. The single server you have now doesn't appear to even have hot swappable drive bays. If that is the case and one drive goes down, you have to shut the machine off to replace the defunct drive. With hot swappable, you don't have to shutdown and there is no downtime. I hope you have a good backup setup. You never mentioned it but considering your boss doesn't want to spend money on his IT dept and some protection for his companies important data, I wouldn't be surprised if there is no backups either. In the past I've done consulting work for quite a few companies who's philosophy was "spend as little as possible on IT" and each and every one at one point learned the hard way that that is a stupid philosophy. If your server or network goes down and you can't do business, you lose money. In all likelyhood, more than a second server would cost. The loss ratio is always figured out in $ per minute. The bigger the company, the larger the figure. For some companies, downtime on a server or the network can run millions/minute. Even if it's only $100/minute, 20 minutes of downtime is the price of a decent mid-range server.

Thanks so much for your advise. I am new to network administration and your advise is really important to me. I have to get myself familiar with server parts etc. Thanks thanks thanks!! Jane