

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µ The redundant array of Independent Disks (RAID) architecture

integrates multiple disk drives into an array to provide higher
performance, capacity and reliability as compared to a single large
drive.
µ This architecture is also known as Redundant array of Inexpensive
Disks and comprises various implementations called RAID levels.

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µ RAID 0
µ RAID 1
µ RAID 2
µ RAID 3
µ RAID 4
µ RAID 5

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µ RAID 0 represents a striped disk array that does not store parity
information. As a result, it does not provide data redundancy.
µ RAID 0 represents a striped array that does not store parity information. As
a result, it does not provide data redundancy.
µ RAID 0 arrays with large stripes are beneficial for multi-user environments
and RAID 0 arrays with small stripes are used in single-user systems that
require access to long and sequential records.

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µ A RAID-0 array requires a minimum of two hard disks. The storage capacity
of the array can be increased by providing additional physical disks.
µ The hard disk in RAID 0 need not be of the same size because the total
capacity of the array is the total capacities of the individual hard disks.
µ Many RAID 0 systems can be formed with a mixture of Small Computer
System Interface (SCSI) and Integrated Drives Electronics (IDE) Drives.

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µ Advantages-
µ High performance
µ Handles data redundancy

µ Disadvantages
µ Lack of data redundancy
µ Loss of even one disk in the array result in the loss of the entire volume.

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µ RAID 1 provides data redundancy by implementing disk mirroring. This is

done by using a pair or group of identical primary and secondary hard disks.
µ In disk mirroring, data is written concurrently to both the primary and
secondary hard disks.
µ If the primary hard disk fails the secondary or mirrored hard disk is used
until the primary hard disk is restored. This restoration takes place by using
the data on the mirrored disk.

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µ Disk Mirroring offers complete redundancy of data but it is expensive. This

is because twice the disk capacity is required to store the same volume of
data.
µ Disk mirroring offers better read performance as data can be read from the
hard disks concurrently.
µ Write operations are slow because the same data is written to both the hard
disks.

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µ The fault tolerance of disk mirroring can be enhanced by implementing disk

duplexing. Disk mirroring consists of a single disk controller for the mirrored
hard disks in the array.
µ This makes the data irrecoverable if the controller fails. Disk duplexing
overcomes this problem by utilizing a separate disk controller for the
mirrored disks.
µ Disk duplexing results in increased costs.

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µ RAID 3 requires at least three hard disks in which two are striped disks. The
third hard disk is used to store parity data.
µ If one striped disk fails, the data can be restored from the from the parity
data.
µ The write operations in RAID 3 are slow as parity data has to be stored on
the parity disk.
µ The read performance is high because the parity disk is used only when the
data cannot be read from the striped drives.

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µ The capacity of a RAID 3 array can be increased by adding more hard

disks. This involves an effective increase in the size of the parity disk, which
should be equal to or greater than the size of the individual striped disks.
µ RAID 3 is most suited for applications that access data sequentially.
µ It should not be used for intensive and transactional database applications.

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µ RAID 5 requires at least three hard disks. The parity data is distributed
across all disk drives. As a result, a portion of the total disk space is
dedicated for storing parity data.
µ This portion generally amounts to the size of one hard disk in the array.
µ RAID 5 enhances read performance as data can be read from all the disk
concurrently.
µ Write operations are slow because parity data is recorded in the parity
stripes.

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µ When a hard disk fails in a RAID 5 array, it can be restored from the parity
information stored on the other hard disks.
µ Read write operations can continue on these hard disks while the data is
being restored from the information.
µ This lowers the performance but greatly increases the availability of data in
the array.
µ RAID 5 very useful for storing critical data.

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µ RAID 2 is rarely implemented because it is designed for disk drives

that do not have built-in Error-Correction Code. At present, ECC is
embedded in most disk drives.
µ RAID 4 is seldom used because it does not support multiple
concurrent write operations.

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µ RAID integrates multiple disk drives into an array to provide

optimum performance, capacity and reliability.
µ By combining different RAID implementations, various hybrid RAID
levels can be created.

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µ 1+5
µ 5+1
µ 0+1
µ 1+0
µ 0+5
µ 5+0

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µ It is a combination of disk mirroring and block striping with

distributed parity.
µ A RAID 1+5 array is created when a number of mirrored sets are
striped with parity.
µ On the other hand, a RAID 5+1 array is a mirrored configuration of
complete RAID-5 arrays.

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µ The 0+1 and 1+0 hybrid levels use mirrored sets in conjunction with the
striped sets without parity.
µ RAID 0+1 is created by mirroring two striped sets, where as a RAID 1+0
array is created by striping multiple mirrored pairs.
µ RAID 0+1 and 1+0 combine the advantages of striping and mirroring to
obtain large arrays that can provide high performance and efficient fault
tolerance.

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µ The 0+5 and 5+0 hybrid levels use the block striping and parity
implementation of RAID 5 along with the striped set technique of RAID 0.
µ RAID 0+5 is essentially a set multiple striped RAID 0 arrays that are
integrated into a RAID 5 array.
µ RAID 5+0 is created by using a RAID 0 array that is striped across RAID 5
elements.

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µ RAID levels are implemented using Zero Channel RAID (ZCR) cards. A
ZCR card is a compact implementation of a RAID controller card and
functions with an onboard SCSI chip. This allows for more space on the
card.
µ The compact design of a ZCR card reduces the cost of RAID controller
card. ZCR provides the flexibility to add a card at lower cost that one-
channel and two channel RAID cards.

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µ To use a ZCR card, you need a RAID I/O system (RAIDOS) chip embedded
on the motherboard.
µ This chip is used to enable an embedded I/O controller. The I/O controller
and I/O processor are the main hardware components of a RAID system.
µ The RAIDIOS circuit allows the I/O processor to configure the controller and
service its interrupts.

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µ In software RAID, the existing CPU cycles are used. This reduces the
processing capacity of a server.
µ In hardware RAID, dedicated circuitry and embedded software are used.
µ This helps to provide RAID functionality without increasing the load on the
CPU.
µ In both hardware and software RAID, software is used to calculate the array
allotments and data flow.

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µ The common types of hardware RAID implementations are I/O Controller

(IOC) and I/O Processor (IOP). In IOC RAID, processors on disk controller
are used to handle RAID functionality.
µ IOC ± based RAID systems can run processes in the background and are
independent of operating systems running on servers.
µ The IOC performance is constrained by the controller¶s processor speed
and memory bandwidth.

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µ In IOP, various RAID processes are performed by using a special processor

or subsystem in the array. IOP is a commonly implemented hardware RAID
option and is used in servers and Host Bus Adaptors (HBA).
µ IOP RAID systems have a dedicated processors and firmware that helps in
efficient handling of RAID tasks, such as RAID level migration. However,
IOP is an expensive RAID implementation.

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µ When compared to IOP based RAID systems, IOC ± based RAID

systems are cheaper. However, they lack in performance and
flexibility.
µ For example, IOC does not provide optimum performance when
used with applications such as databases.
µ Moreover, IOP handles more RAID-management jobs as compared
to IOC.

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µ Software RAID implementations are of two types:

µ RAID based on drivers
µ RAID based on OS

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µ A driver based RAID system is implemented in disk controller

drivers. Driver based RAID is independent of the operating system
but is dependent on the version of the hard disk controller for RAID
functionality.

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µ A RAID system that is based on the OS is implemented by including a RAID

engine in the OS.
µ The RAID system is independent of the hard disk controller but is
dependent on the OS.
µ For proper functioning, both types of Software RAID are dependent on the
systems processor and memory resources.

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µ Software-based RAID is cheaper that hardware based RAID.

However, software RAID systems have certain disadvantages when
compared to hardware RAID systems.

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µ Disadvantages include limited performance as less reliability. Software

RAID has components that depend on the OS. This results portability issue.
µ Software RAID solutions are implemented as kernel mode components.
Moreover, in OS such as Linux, the RAID solutions are included in Kernel.
Usually, kernel mode components require a scheduler to preempt their
operations when their time quantum expires or a higher priority task is
scheduled.

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µ A kernel mode RAID engine needs to share processor time with other
kernel mode components and applications.
µ This may lead to an increase in the CPU load, thereby affecting the engine¶s
performance. An increase in the CPU load may be caused due to factors
such as network traffic, application servers, operating system architecture
and components, and increased I/O processing to and from the secondary
storage.

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µ Another issue that effects software RAID implementations is unreliable

kernel mode programs. Kernel mode programs can execute privileged
instructions and modify the contents of virtual addresses.
µ Moreover, kernel mode programming errors may change system dependent
variables, which may lead to the failure of RAID modules in the Kernel. This
in turn, may cause a system failure.

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µ In contrast, hardware RAID offers various advantages. In hardware RAID,

the associated software or firmware is executed on a dedicated processor.
Therefore, hardware RAID does not share the processor with other kernel
mode components and applications.
µ This provides the advantages of asymmetric multiprocessing such as
distributed task processing.

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µ Hardware RAID is not dependent on the operating system of a

server. Moreover, in the case of a RAID hardware malfunction the
server can continue to operate and alert the user about malfunction.
µ If the server fails, hardware RAID continues to function with the help
of backup modules.

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µ Mirrored Drives
µ Hot Plug Drives
µ Hot Swap
µ Hot Spare Drives
µ Hot Plug Boards

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µ Most RAID arrays use mirrored drives where all the data on a server
is written simultaneously to two hard disks.
µ The RAID Controller uses the mirrored drive when one hard disk in a
RAID array fails and this ensures that the downtime is kept at a
minimum.
µ The process of a mirrored drive replacing a failed drive is known as
failover.

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µ Hot plug drives ensure that a server is always online. A failed drive
in a RAID array can be replaced with hot plug drives.
µ A hot plug drive can be installed or removed from a RAID array
without interrupting server operations.

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µ Hot swap is the ability of a RAID system to recognize a drive that is

inserted while the system is running.
µ For example, if a drive in a RAID 1 array fails, the malfunctioning
drive can be replaced with a new drive while the system is still
operating.

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µ A hot spare drive is connected to a RAID Controller even when other

drives in the RAID array are not functional. When a drive fails, the
controller automatically rebuilds data on the hot spare drive and
disconnects the failed drive.

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µ Hot plug boards are used for hard disk failures in a RAID array. A
hot plug board allows compatible hard disk drives and peripherals to
be installed or removed without shutting down the server.
µ The advantages offered by hot plug board are scalability, high
uptime and minimal down time.

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