Thinking XRaid to connect 2 PowerMac towers for OD Home Folders... thoughts

Here is what I was thinking, tell me if this is along the correct lines...
Getting an XRAID (not sure of the drive config yet, suggestions are appreciated!) and dual Fiber cards, one for each PowerMac towers. Connecting both PowerMacs over fiber to the XRaid. Having a Mirrored set of drives (possible 4 total drives- mirroring 2 spanned sets- possible correct?). Then having that RAID connected to both systems, one as an OD Master, the other system as an OD Secondary.
Will this work? I want to have a central shared RAID array that both systems can see, should one box fail, and the other need to access the same data. Users entire desktop, home folder, etc will be pulled from the RAID though the PowerMac to the local desktop, which authenticates to first the Primary and if unavailable the secondary. All clients are 10.5 (latest revision) and the Servers are 10.5.4
I don't have the XRaid yet, about to order here in the next week. Would it also be recommended that if I buy a refurb that I buy an extended warranty on the unit- how often are they guys failing?

Hi
I'm in total agreement with Camelot. If I might add some views of my own? I do have some experience with your proposal but only in theory. It might be advisable to cross-post in the XSan Forum:
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=810
For perhaps more detailed answers to your questions?
Some things I have noticed about your post is you do know that Apple have discontinued the XServe RAID? Unless you already have at least one or have already purchased prior to phase out or are planning to buy second hand then you won't get any joy with any Apple branded products. Apple do recommend:
http://www.promise.com/product/productdetail_eng.asp?segment=VTrak&productid=121
Which I have never used. What I have used in a mac environment is:
http://www.united-digital.co.uk/sub_hyperstar.php
But not in the scenario you're proposing. Something you should be aware of is XSan limits you to 64 licenses. This includes MDCs, RAIDs, and Workstations. It might also include the Fibre Channel Fabric? Although I'm not sure? I'm not sure what repercussions this may have in your desire to host networked home folders as theoritically the license would be with the OD Master rather than its clients. Something to double-check on possibly? What I have seen on Apple Training Seminars is this scenario:
XSan (2 or more XServe RAIDs or any other RAID of your choice), 1xMDC and 1xBackup MDC (both XServes) and finally OD Master and however many Replicas you want depending on load. Again all XServes. Of course this is Apple's recommended configuration and assumes limitless budget. One thing for certain though is you will have performance problems if you don't dedicate something as the MDC. Although this does depend a lot on load. I guess you could have an OD Master as MDC provided you had at least two Replicas (possibly?) hosting the home folders. Again your mileage may vary.
Tony

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