[BLUG] new big computer for a lab

Hello.

A colleague is starting his own biology lab in Spain, and he's planning to spend between 10,000 and 15,000 € in a computer. He asked me what features I think the computer should have. The fact is that I'd like to provide him some useful information, because I expect him to give me a job soon. So, I'd really appreciate your advise. Anything from hardware brands to operating systems will be welcome. Plus, how to spend money in hardware is a subject that also interests me personally. Let me give you some more background about what the computer may be used for.

I expect between 4 and 10 people to use it at the same time. Most jobs will be CPU intensive, but I can also envision some sporadic jobs to require several GB of RAM. He also wants to store quite a bit of data there, and maybe host a database. I assume that nobody would use it as a desktop, but it would be accessed remotely. In principle, the main concern is to make it a fast computer.

I've read a little bit about RAID arrays, but never met anybody who used them. I'm interested in those configurations where data is mirrored, so that the system can tolerate the failure of one of the disks. And I've been warned that if all the disks composing the array are of the same brand and design, more than one may fail at the same time. Do you think RAID is worthy at all, or not necessary with a good back up system? what is better, an operating system RAID controller, or a hardware one?

As a biologist who works with computers, I'd like to learn more about this topics. Feel free to recommend books, magazines, web sites... that I can use to teach myself. Thanks.

Ignasi.