You work as an IT support technician for a boss who believes you are really bright and can solve just about any problem he throws at you. Folks in the company have complained one time too many that the file server downtime is just killing them, so he asks you to solve this problem. He wants you to figure out what hardware is needed to implement hardware RAID for fault tolerance.
You check the file servers configuration and discover that it has a single hard drive using a SATA connection with Windows Server 2016 installed. There are four empty bays in the computer case and four extra SATA power cords. You also discover an empty PCIe 4 slot on the motherboard. BIOS/UEFI setup does not offer the option to configure RAID, but you think the slot might accommodate a RAID controller.
Research RAID and discuss the following in a minimum of 185 words:
- What hardware do you need to purchase? Share with the class the web pages showing the products and their costs.
- What levels of RAID does the RAID controller card support? Which RAID level is best to use? Cite any important information in the RAID controller documentation that supports your decisions.
- What is the total hardware cost of implementing RAID? Estimate how much time you think it will take for you to install the devices and test the setup.
- Why did you choose this RAID controller? Share your reasoning with the class.
