[merb]

> Lesson 2: Avoid using RAID controllers except for the most simple "pass through" mode.

well raid 1 works aswell, if you can take the performance hit. most raid 1 drives inside a raid controller can be run outside of the raid. we already needed to do that since one of our customers tought it is a good idea to have a running server temporarly near an open window with production data and no backup (we exclude our liability in this case and monitor if backups are created) so we needed to recover the data. which worked by using another controller with passtrough and just running a single disk. (the other disk was destroyed, so was the raid controller) btw. rainwater damages a server, especially if you do not notice it for 30 minutes and a full bucket of water inside it. kudos to dell the server kept running for 25 minutes, when it was full of water until it died. (we transported the server and still had water in it...)