opinions on printer and a raid controller needed

[Eric S. Johansson]

I'm putting together server and I would like to use ubuntu for a variety 
of reasons.  The raid array recommended by the white box vendor is the 
3ware Escalade 9500.  I have no experience with this particular piece of 
hardware but the manufacturer was recommended by a couple of people I 
know.

It's an sata raid controller and I'm hoping this will cause me a great 
deal of problems

the next challenge is a multifunction box from Canon, MF8170C.  It would 
be nice if we could print from the server if it's easier to just let it 
be its own print queue, that I'm comfortable.

and last, are there any caveats folks would give me on using ububtu in a 
server context?  I've used Red Hat, Gentoo and Debian and found them all 
lacking in various ways. (yes, I know ubuntu is based on Debian but it's 
better!)  where does ubuntu come up server-side short?  all I know is 
how well it works as a laptop system and I am really happy with it.

thanks for your opinions.

--- eric