Enhanced Availability With RAID CC5493/7493

RAID Redundant Array of Independent Disks RAID is implemented to improve: –IO throughput (speed) and –Availability of a file system.

RAID Implementation Software – often criticized as not being a true RAID implementation. Hardware – A special RAID controller is required.

RAID: Stripe The stripe takes on two meanings within the context of a RAID system: –Stripe width (number of independent drives) –Stripe size (storage block size) Both stripe width and stripe size are adjusted to enhance IO throughput.

RAID Stripe Width Stripe width refers to the number of disks used in parallel for IO transfers to and from the array.

Raid Stripe Size Stripe size refers to the size of the storage units organized on the disk surface. The stripe size is adjusted to optimize the speed of the IO transfers.

Common RAID Types RAID-0 RAID-1 RAID-1+0, RAID-0+1 RAID-5 RAID-6

RAID-0 AKA disk striping Does not provide redundancy Degrades data availability, reduces MTF Improves IO throughput (average IO transfer rate improves)

RAID-0 Ideal for temporary storage requiring fast data access. -Engineering/Scientific calculations on large data volumes. However, the data is a redundant temporary copy.

RAID-1 AKA mirroring Requires two independent disk devices –The first disk stores the data –The second disk is an image of the first –Can double the overall read throughput

RAID-1 width = 1

RAID-1 Advantages Improves data availability. Dual-channel controller allows for two simultaneous read operations. Allows for error detection on read. Administrative advantages for service on one drive while the other remains available. Fault tolerance is one drive.

RAID-1 Disadvantages Writes have a slight performance penalty compared to no RAID. Doubles the cost of storage. Storage efficiency = 50%

RAID-1 Ideal for data that is read more often than written: –Some database information that is not updated often. –Web Server information (lots of reads, few writes)

RAID-1+0 Enhances IO throughput and data availability. Requires 2(n+1) separate disk devices, where n = 1, 2, 3, 4, … –Minimum of 4 disks required (n=1)

RAID-1+0 Width=2

RAID-1+0 Width = 4

RAID-1+0 RAID-1+0 has a higher fault tolerance compared to RAID-0,1, & 5. Storage efficiency is 50%

RAID-0+1 Requires the same hardware as RAID- 1+0, but less fault tolerant. However, there is better read throuthput from RAID-0+1 compared to RAID-1+0.

RAID-0+1 Duplicate RAID-0 arrays. Allows simultaneous reads

RAID-5 RAID-5 enhances –IO data throughput –Data availability Parity information enhances availability Requires a minimum of 3 independent disk devices.

Parity Information Based on the logical exclusive-or operation.

RAID-5 Configuration Stripe Width = 4

RAID-5 The most common implementation of RAID. Ideal for a disk-server providing general storage. A good balance between reliability and speed. Often implemented using high quality disk drives (SCSI, 15k-rpm, high MTF)

RAID-5 Limitations Overhead occurs during writes due to the parity calculation and parity write. Storage efficiency is not 100% due to the parity storage requirements. storage efficiency = (n-1)/n, where n = number of drives.

RAID-5 (S)ATA Limitations Large capacity (S)ATA drives are more likely to contain bad blocks. After a disk failure, the bad blocks make it impossible to rebuild the array from the remaining drives.

RAID-6 Contains two sets of parity. Tolerates two simultaneous disk failures. A better solution for (S)ATA arrays where each disk has a large capacity (multiple TB).

Stripe Width = 6

RAID-6 Higher availability at the cost of greater IO overhead due to complex parity calculations and storage. Storage efficiency = (n-2)/n Becoming more popular for large storage capacity (S)ATA arrays

RAID-6 Disadvantages More expensive to implement due to extra parity information Slower write operations compared to other RAID-5

RAID Disk Swapping Hot Swap Warm Swap Cold Swap

Hot Swap The ability to swap out a failed disk from a RAID array without an interruption of service from the array. Performance will be slower due to the operations required to rebuild the new replacement disk.

Warm Swap The array is not accessible while a drive is being serviced, but the system does not need to be shut down.

Cold Swap System must be shutdown to service the array.

Spare Disk: Hot Spare Some RAID controllers can be configured to immediately recover from a disk failure if a hot-spare disk is connected to the controller at all times.

RAID Disk Failure and Performance When a failed disk is replaced in an array, there is a performance hit as the new disk must be re-populated with the required data for the complete array.

RAID Summary RAID-0 : for temporary storage only RAID-1 : ideal for disk services that provide mostly read operations like data base services and web services. RAID-5 : general purpose disk-server RAID-6 : for very large data requirement environments (multiple T-Bytes).

RAID Summary RAID 1+0 : general purpose disk server where RAID-5 & 6 are not adequate. –Better fault tolerance –More IO throughput

Other? RAID 1+1, mirror a mirrored RAID-1 –Triples the cost of storage –Excellent fault tolerance. –Excellent read throughput. –Writes will suffer