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RAID. Oh yes. What’s RAID?. Redundant Array (of) Independent Disks. A scheme involving multiple disks which replicates data across multiple drives.
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RAID Oh yes
What’s RAID? • Redundant Array (of) Independent Disks. • A scheme involving multiple disks which replicates data across multiple drives. • Methods include Mirroring (maintaining an identical copy on another disk), Striping, (splitting data across disks), and Parity (error identification and correction methods)
What’s RAID good for? • Helps prevent data loss though replication • Can increase access times using multiple disks • Can provide enterprise-level performance using inexpensive and unreliable hardware • Decreases the probability that a hardware fault will bring down the availability of a server and can help prevent data loss. • RAID is not a replacement for backups.
Cool, ok, how do I do it? • Software RAID • Usually at the operating system level • Advanced levels usually only supported by enterprise grade systems • Hardware RAID • Interface cards • Usually costly • Most often times proprietary (cannot switch controller hardware to another brand without destroying the array)
So what kinds of RAID are available? • Seven standard “levels” of RAID • Each have their advantages and disadvantages • Some non-standard “levels”, usually proprietary
RAID 0 (striping) • Divides data into blocks, and then spreads the blocks amongst disks in the array • Offers NO redundancy • Any disk failure will corrupt the entire array
RAID 1 (mirroring) • All Data is ‘mirrored’ on duplicate disks • Provides fault tolerance from failure from all but one drive. • Least space efficient method • Can be fast if implemented correctly
RAID 2 (Hamming Code ECC) • Each ‘word’ of data is spread out amongst disks • Error Correction Codes are stored on dedicated ECC disks • Many ECC disks are required, High controller costs. (No commercial implementations have been made)
RAID 3 (bit level striping with parity) • Data block is subdivided (striped) and written to data disks. Parity is recorded on a dedicated parity disk. • Higher efficiency than RAID 2, yet controllers are expensive. • Too resource intensive to be implemented in software. • Very high read and write transfer rates.
RAID 4 (block level striping with parity) • Identical to RAID 4, but does block-level striping instead of byte-level striping. • Again, complex controller design means high cost. • Write speed is slower, read speed remains high.
RAID5 (Distributed Parity) • Data blocks written on one data disk, Parity is stored on another disk • Requires a minimum of 3 drives, can tolerate one disk failure. • Storage efficiency is equal to the sum of the number of disks in the array, minus one disk. • Good transfer rates, highest read rate. • Efficient, and a very popular RAID level to use due to it’s low cost and high efficiency
RAID6 (redundant distributed parity) • RAID 6 extends RAID 5 by using 2 sets of parity blocks – Total storage space is number of drives, minus 2 drives. • Can tolerate 2 failures at once. • Requires an additional parity calculation.
RAID 10 (Striped Mirrored arrays) • Stripped array whose segments are RAID 1 arrays. • Same overhead & fault tolerance as RAID 1 • High speed • Can sustain certain multiple drive failures