I have got an old mac pro which I am going to use for hosting a few websites and email domains. i don't really want to spend a lot of money on getting a RAID card for it to run the 4 drives on a RAID 5 so what I was think was to get 2X 500gb drives on a RAID 1 as the boot drive then 2x 2TB HDD on a RAID 1 for anything else ie storing the mailboxes, websites icals and address books.
What do you all think if you can think of a better way please let me know.
Yes this will work well enough for what you're going to be using the system for. But as mentioned, you need a backup system in place (Line Interactive UPS that uses a pure sine wave inverter as well - refurbished can save you funds and work just as well).
Why does the boot drive need RAID?
If the OS goes down, the system is done for until it's repaired (sites and mail will be down). This is standard practice for a server due to high availability (24/7 operational requirement), and even more important as the OP stated it will be off-site (no one immediately on-site to fix it if a problem occurs).
Software RAID is no match for hardware RAID. If you're not willing to spend the money you have to be aware of the possible consequences.
No, it's not quite as good as a proper hardware RAID card, but will be sufficient for what the OP's going to use it for (shame that Apple doesn't use the ICHxR versions, as that would be perfect for this - hardware RAID on the cheap).
Assuming you can sell this old machine, it may be easier, cheaper *and* safer in terms of potential data loss to choose a dedicated server with a hosting company.
Assuming the OP has sufficient bandwidth for this location and usage, it's cheaper to go ahead and keep it vs. going with a dedicated server from a hosting company.
There's trade offs of course, such as a staff that can fix a failure, sufficient bandwidth (so long as the account holder doesn't cut it short), and redundant power systems (includes generators, ideally configured for fail over as well).
That said, shared hosting would be sufficient for this (decent company that's not cutting corners on staff, redundant power, and equipment).
The real question to me is, how critical are these sites and mail servers that the intended system will host (i.e. personal or commercial)?
That will determine if a home-grown system would work, or if a hosting company is the better way to go.
