Can I set up RAID 1 in Mac Mini Server?

Officially, yes, you need to off-load to a backup, configure the RAID-1, and reload onto the mirrorset.

If you're feeling lucky, you can potentially [activate RAID-1 without the archive|http://www.afp548.com/article.php?story=20040827122302975]; on-line. Search for (other) discussions of using the DiskUtil tool and enabling disk mirroring for various of the previous discussions.

But if something goes wrong with the on-line conversion, a bug or a power drop-out or a disk glitch or or... ?

RAID-0 is striping; two disks together presented as one bigger disk; targets I/O performance.

RAID-1 is mirroring; two disks together presented as one; targets reliability.

RAID-0 and RAID-1 (and the other RAID levels) can be hardware-based or software based.

The Mac Mini Server uses software-based RAID.

And for completeness, neither RAID-0 nor RAID-1 is an archival strategy.

As for the other question, do you have one disk showing, or two? If two, you're not running RAID-1. All of the Mac Mini Server boxes I've seen have arrived not configured for RAID-1. They've arrived as two single disks; as what the RAID folks tend to call JBOD; Just a Bunch Of Disks.

The mac mini servers are already preconfigured as mirrored (Radi 1) devices. They replaced the cd/dvd drive with the second drive. All you have to do is to plus it in, and finish the configuration.

Err... "plug it in"...

The two drives are marked as "Server HD" and "Macintosh HD2".

Same here. My Macintosh HD2 is still empty and Server HD is in full use with the OS and other stuff for 1 month now. I guess I have the same question as the original poster, can I activate Macintosh HD2 as a mirrored (RAID 1) disk without loosing the data on Server HD?

This looks to be JBOD.

With RAID-1 mirroring (and without added partitions around), I'd expect to see one disk device presented.

FWIW, [some more reading on Apple RAID-1 Mirroring|http://www.afp548.com/article.php?story=appleraid2-in-depth]; launch Terminal.app or launch Disk Utility and have a look at the configuration; see if you have RAID-1 or not.

The Mac Mini Server boxes I've met with have all arrived with JBOD, and have required enabling RAID-1 when that's needed.

"The mac mini servers are already preconfigured as mirrored (Radi 1) devices. They replaced the cd/dvd drive with the second drive. All you have to do is to plus it in, and finish the configuration."

Certainly wasn't the case with mine. The two disks weren't in RAID.

What I did was re-install the whole lot, before the installation, I went into disk utility and configured the two disks in a raid 1 array

I can confirm, no preconfigured arrays in Mini servers.
You could avoid wipe and set up again:
Check Charles Edge's Krypted.com entry:
http://krypted.com/mac-os-x/enabling-raid-mirrors-redux/

Regards

Kostas

Sorry to bring up a slightly old thread, but since the new mac mini server has no DVD drive, what is the procedure? Can I use the mac mini installer DVD's in my MacBook Pro and start up the Mac Mini Server in FireWire target mode? (to configure the RAID and reinstall the OSX Server OS)

Thanks for comments.
Donovan

Actually you would use the "Remote Install Mac OS" in the utilities folder on your Mac Book Pro. Same utility used for installing on a Mac Book Air.