FreeBSD - software raid

[Bill Moran]

Moti Levy wrote:
> Hi,
> before I do the unthinkable and use Linux for a server , I ask for your
> help.
> I have a set of 4 IDE drives .
> I need to build a file server that'll run samba/nfs

I've done this.  Works very well.

> I want to use all 4 drives as a raid 5 array and use the combined space for
> storage.
> is there a way to do it with FreeBSD ?
> I looked at ccd and vinum but as far as my understanding goes , I cant use
> it during setup but rather build the
> system first and than use ccd/vinum on all BUT the system disk .
> am I wrong ?

Yes.

> is there a solution out there ?

You can use all four drives in your Vinum array.  There used to be a
restriction that the root partition could not be part of the Vinum array,
but that's no longer the case, see the Vinum section of the handbook:
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/vinum-vinum.html
And specifically this:
http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/vinum-root.html

-- 
Bill Moran
Potential Technologies
http://www.potentialtech.com