I've just bought a secondhand IBM Netfinity server for the office. Not particularly fast - dual 600 MHz P3's, just over a gig of RAM, 5 18.2 gig HDD, but it was cheap!

It has an installation of SBS2003 on it with the HDD set up in a RAID 5 configuration.

I want a completely clean install of SBS on discs 0 and 1, set up as a mirror. Discs 2,3 and 4 are to be set up as RAID 5 for data.

Questions: (1) What utility do I use to set up the RAID arrays?

(2) What is the best way to ensure a clean SBS install - I have the CD's.

No idea what SBS is but the RAID configuration utilities are usually proprietary to the manufacturer of the RAID controller. You usually get a bootable floppy (or CD) with the utilities on. Just occasionally they're built into the BIOS.

Have a look when its booting up. When the scsi controller comes up you normally have a setup option. f8 on hp's, Ctrl-A on adaptec stuff. Not sure on IBM's though, but it should tell you when it comes up. If this doesnt help I could check with the guys at work and see what it is on the current ones.

No idea what SBS is but the RAID configuration utilities are usually proprietary to the manufacturer of the RAID controller. You usually get a bootable floppy (or CD) with the utilities on. Just occasionally they're built into the BIOS.

SBS = Small Business Server

Have a look when its booting up. When the scsi controller comes up you normally have a setup option. f8 on hp's, Ctrl-A on adaptec stuff. Not sure on IBM's though, but it should tell you when it comes up. If this doesnt help I could check with the guys at work and see what it is on the current ones.

yep.. as above.. here you should be able to break and re-create new arrays, but dont forget to get the floppy disk with the raid card drivers on for windows first

I have not worked on IBM for years but Dell and HP servers come with a server CD pack (OpenManage / SmartStart) and I believe IBM will have the same sort of thing. Boot from the CD and select the system erase option to clean off all that crap and start from fresh.

After the reboot the CD will run the system configuration utility which will allow you to create the RAID volumes. It will then start to install the OS. You will need the OS discs and codes. Big problem if the OS you want to install is not on the supported OS list (Windows XP, etc) as you will not be able to use the setup utility. Once the OS is on the CD will automatically install all the drivers required (Video, Nic, SCSI, etc). Easy

You can DIY a server install without the system utility but good luck finding and configuring the drivers.