RAID ARRAYS

Redundant Array of
Inexpensive Discs
WHAT IS RAID ARRAYS?
RAID is an acronym for
Redundant Array of Independent
Drives (or Disks), also known as
Redundant Array of Inexpensive
Drives (or Disks)
The various types of RAID are data
storage schemes that divide
and/or replicate data among
multiple hard drives

WHY USE RAID?
Improved Reliability
Improved Performance
Fault Tolerance
Improved Availability
Higher Data Security
KEY TERMS
Mirroring - the copying of data to more than one
disk
Striping - the splitting of data across more than one
disk
Parity - a redundancy check that ensures that the
data is protected without having to have a full set of
duplicate drives.
Duplexing - an extension of mirroring that is based
on the same principle as that technique expect it
goes one step further in that it also duplicates the
hardware that controls the two hard drives (or sets
of hard drives).
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RAID - REDUNDANT ARRAY OF INDEPENDENT
DISKS


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RAID
Controller
RAID Array
Host
RAID COMPONENTS


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RAID
Controller
Logical
Array
Logical
Array
Physical
Array
RAID Array
Host
DATA ORGANIZATION: STRIPS AND STRIPES
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Stripe 1
Stripe 2
Stripe 3
Strips
RAID LEVELS
0 Striped array with no fault tolerance
1 Disk mirroring
3 Parallel access array with dedicated parity disk
4 Striped array with independent disks and a
dedicated parity disk
5 Striped array with independent disks and
distributed parity
6 Striped array with independent disks and dual
distributed parity
Combinations of levels (I.e., 1 + 0, 0 + 1, etc.)
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RAID 0
A striped set of at least two
disks without parity
The data is broken down into
blocks and each block is
written to a separate disk drive
Best performance is achieved
when data is striped across
multiple controllers with only
one drive per controller

RAID 0 STRIPED ARRAY WITH NO FAULT TOLERANCE
RAID Arrays
- 10
RAID
Controller
Block 4 Block 4 Block 3 Block 3 Block 2 Block 2 Block 1 Block 1 Block 0 Block 0
Host
ADVANTAGES OF RAID 0
I/O performance is greatly
improved by spreading the
I/O load across many
channels and drives
No parity calculation
overhead is involved
Very simple design
Easy to implement

DISADVANTAGES OF RAID 0
Not a "True" RAID because it
is NOT fault-tolerant
The failure of just one drive
will result in all data in an
array being lost
Should never be used in
mission critical environments

RAID 1 DISK MIRRORING
RAID Arrays
- 13
RAID
Controller
Block 1 Block 1 Block 1 Block 0 Block 0 Block 0
Host
RAID 1 ADVANTAGES
High data availability and high I/O
rate (small block size).
Improves read performance -
twice the read transaction rate of
single disks, same write
transaction rate as single disks
100% redundancy of data means
no rebuild is necessary in case of
a disk failure, just a copy to the
replacement disk
Simplest RAID storage subsystem
design easy to maintain

RAID 1 DISADVANTAGES
Expensive due to the extra
capacity required to duplicate
data. Overhead cost equals
100%, while usable storage
capacity is 50%.
May not support hot swap of
failed disk when implemented
with software. Use hardware
implementation.

RAID 0+1 STRIPING AND MIRRORING
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RAID
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Block 3 Block 3 Block 3 Block 2 Block 2 Block 2 Block 1 Block 1 Block 1 Block 0 Block 0 Block 0
Host
RAID 1+0 MIRRORING AND STRIPING
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RAID
Controller
Block 3 Block 3 Block 3 Block 2 Block 2 Block 2 Block 1 Block 1 Block 1 Block 0 Block 0 Block 0
Host
RAID 0+1 VS. RAID 1+0
Benefits are identical under normal operations
Rebuild operations are very different
RAID 1+0 uses a mirrored pair only 1 disk is rebuilt if
a disk fails
RAID 0+1 if a single drive fails, the entire stripe is
faulted
RAID is 0+1 is a poorer solution and is less common
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RAID REDUNDANCY: PARITY
- 19
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Parity Disk
0
8
4
1
9
5
2
10
6
3
11
7
0 1 2 3
8 9 10 11
4 5 6 7
RAID
Controller
Host
PARITY CALCULATION
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Parity
Data
Data
Data
Data
4
2
3
5
14
5 + 3 + 4 + 2 = 14
The middle drive fails:
5 + 3 + ? + 2 = 14
? = 14 5 3 2
? = 4

RAID Array
RAID 3 PARALLEL TRANSFER WITH
DEDICATED PARITY DISK
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RAID
Controller
Block 1
Block 2
Block 3
P 0 1 2 3
Block 0 Block 3 Block 2 Block 1 Block 0
Parity
Generated
Host
RAID 4 STRIPING WITH DEDICATED PARITY
DISK
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RAID
Controller
P 0 1 2 3
Block 0 Block 0
Block 0
Block 4
Block 1
Block 5
Block 2
Block 6
Block 3
Block 7
P 0 1 2 3
P 4 5 6 7
Parity
Generated
Block 0
P 0 1 2 3
Host
RAID 5 INDEPENDENT DISKS WITH
DISTRIBUTED PARITY
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Block 0
P 0 1 2 3
Block 7
RAID
Controller
P 0 1 2 3
Block 0 Block 4 Block 0
Block 1
Block 5
Block 2
Block 6
Block 3
Parity
Generated
Block 0
P 0 1 2 3
Block 4
P 4 5 6 7 P 4 5 6 7
Block 4
P 4 5 6 7
Block 4
Parity
Generated
Host
RAID 6 DUAL PARITY RAID
Two disk failures in a RAID set leads to data
unavailability and data loss in single-parity
schemes, such as RAID-3, 4, and 5
Increasing number of drives in an array and
increasing drive capacity leads to a higher
probability of two disks failing in a RAID set
RAID-6 protects against two disk failures by
maintaining two parities
Horizontal parity which is the same as RAID-5 parity
Diagonal parity is calculated by taking diagonal sets of
data blocks from the RAID set members
Even-Odd, and Reed-Solomon are two commonly
used algorithms for calculating parity in RAID-6
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RAID IMPLEMENTATIONS
Hardware (usually a specialized disk controller card)
Controls all drives attached to it
Performs all RAID-related functions, including volume
management
Array(s) appear to the host operating system as a regular disk
drive
Dedicated cache to improve performance
Generally provides some type of administrative software
Software
Generally runs as part of the operating system
Volume management performed by the server
Provides more flexibility for hardware, which can reduce the
cost
Performance is dependent on CPU load
Has limited functionality
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HOT SPARES
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RAID
Controller
HOT SWAP
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RAID
Controller
RAID
Controller
RAID
Controller
CHECK YOUR KNOWLEDGE
What is a RAID array?
What benefits do RAID arrays provide?
What methods can be used to provide higher data
availability in a RAID array?
What is the primary difference between RAID 3 and
RAID 5?
What is a hot spare?
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