Looking for feedback on a server storage configuration

[beansbaxter]

I wanted to share a server's storage configuration, and am looking for feedback if this is a safe and reasonable way to proceed.

On the Perc RAID controller, there are 4 identical hard drives - 146GB 10K RPM 2.5" SAS6 Drives

The first 2 drives are setup in a RAID 1 Array, the third drive is a dedicated Hot Spare for the RAID 1 Array, and the 4th drive is setup as a separate standalone drive:

1. Drive 1 - RAID 1 Array
2. Drive 2 - RAID 1 Array
3. Drive 3 - Hot Spare
4. Drive 4 - Standalone Physical Drive

DirectAdmin and all website data is installed on the RAID 1 Array.

Drive 4 has been mounted as a /backup drive, and DirectAdmin does nightly backups to to this drive. The backups are done using the DA Cron Backup Tool with a 7 day retention period.

The primary concerns are:

• Data Redundancy - Handled by the mirrored data on the RAID 1 Array
• RAID Uptime - Handled by the dedicated Hot Spare
• External Backups - Handled by the physical drive separate from the RAID array

I understand the standalone physical drive used for /backups didn't need to be as powerful as the drives in the RAID array, since it's just being used for backups, however I wanted to use the exact same drive from the exact same batch as the drives in the RAID array because in the event I need another drive for that RAID array, I can always transfer those backup files off to another drive and have an identical hard drive to either rebuild the RAID array or add as another Hot Spare.

Looking for feedback, thoughts, criticisms, suggestions on this storage configuration?

Running CentOS 5.9 if it matters.

Thanks in advance.

 

[nobaloney]

My only concern is that you call your backup an External Backup, whereas in reality it's not. It's on the same server, and perhaps even on the same controller. That's hardly external. I'm not even sure I'd call a backup in the same datacenter an External Backup, but of course as long as you understand the limitation, then you're probably okay.

(We use a separate backup server, in the same datacenter. That's not truly External either.)

Jeff