Hardware Raid Controllers

Wilmington NC Dedicated Hardware Raid Controller Solutions

For those of us that are in Business for ourselves and take Data Backup as serious business and do not have the luxury or option of losing our clients Records and Data a Dedicated True Hardware Raid Controller and Storage Array with Fault Tolerance is a must and should be strongly considered if one is not in place already!

A dedicated True Hardware Raid Controller has distinct advantages above all other forms of Data Back Up Solutions and is in a class of its own and should strongly be considered when Data Integrity and Availability is a must. Not only does it provide a robust Safety Net in preventing Data Loss of Mission Critical information that we and our customers rely on to keep our Business on Track and running smoothly, it also has many key advantages over Software Raid (Fake Raid) in terms of sheer speed and enterprise level reliability & data integrity safeguarding it also allows for much greater scalability.

Raid is one of our Specialties at Community Computer Repair we have extensive First hand knowledge and experience with various Raid Levels and Hardware Raid implementations in Business and Professional Environments and we can provide you with the appropriate answers to all of your questions you may have regarding how implementing a Raid Array into your Business or work environment can benefit you and your Business and give you peace of mind that you need so that you may focus on other more important things like running your Business and taking care of your customers instead of worrying about Data Loss and Business Down Time.

What is Raid?

RAID, an acronym for Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks, it is a way to virtualize multiple, independent hard disk drives into one or more arrays to improve performance, capacity and reliability (availability). The total array capacity depends on the type of RAID array you build and the number and size of disk drives. This total array capacity is independent of whether you use software or hardware RAID. The following Raid Levels look at the different implementations, the strengths and weaknesses and their impact to system performance and effectiveness in enhancing data availability and security.

Different Raid Levels & their Implementations

In a RAID 0 system, data are split up in blocks that get written across all the drives in the array. By using multiple disks (at least 2) at the same time, RAID 0 offers superior I/O performance. This performance can be enhanced further by using multiple controllers, ideally one controller per disk.

• RAID 0 offers great performance, both in read and write operations. There is no overhead caused by parity controls.
• All storage capacity can be used, there is no disk overhead.
• The technology is easy to implement.

RAID 0 is not fault-tolerant. If one disk fails, all data in the RAID 0 array are lost. It should not be used on mission-critical systems.

RAID 0 is ideal for non-critical storage of data that have to be read/written at a high speed, e.g. on a Photoshop image retouching station or Video Editing Workstation and D.A.W ( Digital Audio Workstation) all benefit extremely well from running Raid 0 for the Operating System Drives

Data are stored twice by writing them to both the data disk (or set of data disks) and a mirror disk (or set of disks) . If a disk fails, the controller uses either the data drive or the mirror drive for data recovery and continues operation. You need at least 2 disks for a RAID 1 array.

RAID 1 systems are often combined with RAID 0 to improve performance. Such a system is sometimes referred to by the combined number: a RAID 10 system.

• RAID 1 offers excellent read speed and a write-speed that is comparable to that of a single disk.
• In case a disk fails, data do not have to be rebuild, they just have to be copied to the replacement disk.
• RAID 1 is a very simple technology.

• The main disadvantage is that the effective storage capacity is only half of the total disk capacity because all data get written twice.
• Software RAID 1 solutions do not always allow a hot swap of a failed disk (meaning it cannot be replaced while the server keeps running). Ideally a hardware controller is used.

RAID-1 is ideal for mission critical storage, for instance for accounting systems. It is also suitable for small servers in which only two disks will be used.

On RAID 3 systems, data blocks are subdivided (striped) and written in parallel on two or more drives. An additional drive stores parity information. You need at least 3 disks for a RAID 3 array.

Since parity is used, a RAID 3 stripe set can withstand a single disk failure without losing data or access to data.

• RAID-3 provides high throughput (both read and write) for large data transfers.
• Disk failures do not significantly slow down throughput.

• This technology is fairly complex and too resource intensive to be done in software.
• Performance is slower for random, small I/O operations.

RAID 3 is not that common in pre-press

RAID 5 is the most common secure RAID level. It is similar to RAID-3 except that data are transferred to disks by independent read and write operations (not in parallel). The data chunks that are written are also larger. Instead of a dedicated parity disk, parity information is spread across all the drives. You need at least 3 disks for a RAID 5 array. A RAID 5 array can withstand a single disk failure without losing data or access to data. Although RAID 5 can be achieved in software, a hardware controller is recommended. Often extra cache memory is used on these controllers to improve the write performance.

Read data transactions are very fast while write data transaction are somewhat slower (due to the parity that has to be calculated).

• Disk failures have an effect on throughput, although this is still acceptable.
• Like RAID 3, this is complex technology.

Disk failure has a medium impact on throughput Most complex controller design Difficult to rebuild in the event of a disk failure (as compared to RAID level 1) Individual block data transfer rate same as single disk

RAID 5 is a good all-round system that combines efficient storage with excellent security and decent performance. It is ideal for file and application

RAID 6 is essentially an extension of RAID level 5 which allows for additional fault tolerance by using a second independent distributed parity scheme (dual parity)

Data is striped on a block level across a set of drives, just like in RAID 5, and a second set of parity is calculated and written across all the drives; RAID 6 provides for an extremely high data fault tolerance and can sustain multiple simultaneous drive failures

RAID 6 protects against multiple bad block failures while non-degraded it also protects against a single bad block failure while operating in a degraded mode and is the Perfect solution for mission critical applications Superior to Raid Level 5 in Every Way The Absolute best choice for anyone that cannot afford to suffer Data Loss

More Expensive & More complex controller design is needed Controller overhead to compute parity addresses is extremely high Requires N+2 drives to implement because of dual parity scheme

• Recommended Applications
• File and Application servers
• Database servers
• Web and E-mail servers
• Intranet servers
• Excellent fault-tolerance with the lowest overhead

Provides very high performance and redundancy. Data is simultaneously mirrored and striped. Can under circumstances support multiple drive failures

• Highly fault tolerant
• High data availability
• Very good read / write performance

Very expensive / High overhead

All drives must move in parallel to proper track lowering sustained performance

Very limited scalability at a very high inherent cost

Database server requiring high performance and fault tolerance

We are the best & most reliable Wilmington Computer Repair service in Wilmington, NC Call to day for all of you computer repair needs at 910-228-9599