What is RAID hardware?

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What is RAID hardware

RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) is a data storage technology that combines multiple disk drive components into a logical unit. RAID hardware provides data redundancy and improves performance by distributing data across multiple drives.

What are the benefits of using RAID hardware?

There are several key benefits to using RAID hardware:

  • Improved performance – By spreading data across multiple disks, RAID can increase read and write speeds. This is useful for applications that demand high I/O throughput like video editing or financial trading.
  • Increased reliability – RAID provides fault tolerance by duplicating data across drives. If one disk fails, data can still be accessed from the remaining disks. This prevents data loss and downtime.
  • Scalability – RAID arrays can be expanded by adding more disks. This allows storage capacity to grow along with data needs.

In summary, RAID delivers faster access, resilience against drive failure, and flexible storage expansion. These capabilities make it well-suited for mission critical systems and large datasets.

What are the different RAID levels and how do they work?

There are several standard RAID levels, each with specific data distribution and fault tolerance characteristics:

RAID 0

  • Data is striped across multiple drives without redundancy.
  • Fast performance but no fault tolerance.
  • One drive failure results in total data loss.

RAID 1

  • Disk mirroring – data is duplicated on secondary drives.
  • Very high fault tolerance but doubled disk capacity required.
  • Write performance slow since data must be written twice.

RAID 5

  • Data striped across drives with distributed parity information.
  • Single drive failure can be tolerated without data loss.
  • Good read performance but write speed reduced due to parity calculation.

RAID 6

  • Similar to RAID 5 but with double distributed parity.
  • Can withstand failure of up to two disks.
  • Write performance impacted more than RAID 5 due to dual parity.

There are also nested RAID levels (like RAID 10, RAID 50, etc) that combine striping and mirroring for enhanced performance and redundancy.

What are the hardware components needed for a RAID setup?

Here are the core hardware components required for building a RAID array:

  • RAID Controller Card – This is a specialized card that manages the RAID system. It handles striping/mirroring of data across disks and parity calculations.
  • Hard Drives – Standard internal hard disk drives (HDDs) or solid state drives (SSDs) can be used in RAID configurations. Disks must match in terms of capacity and speed.
  • Cables – Cables are needed to connect the drives to the RAID controller. The interface can be SATA, SAS, or PCIe based.
  • Enclosure – A disk enclosure houses the RAID drives and connects to the controller. Enclosures make installing and swapping drives easy.

Additionally, a RAID chassis may include redundant power supplies, cooling fans, network ports, and management software to monitor the health of the RAID system.

What are some examples of hardware RAID solutions?

There are many options for RAID hardware on the market. Here are some examples from leading vendors:

Dell PowerEdge RAID Controller Cards

  • PERC H730P – High performance card for internal RAID in Dell servers.
  • PERC H840 – Top of the line 12Gbps SAS RAID card for PowerEdge.
  • PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller – Modular card that can be scaled up by adding Upgrade Kits.

HP SmartArray RAID Cards

  • Smart Array P408e-p – Flexible RAID card for HP ProLiant servers.
  • Smart Array P816i-a – High performance offering from HP with 16 internal ports.
  • Smart Array E208e-p – Entry-level option for smaller RAID configurations.

Lenovo RAID Controller Cards

  • RAID 930-8e – 8 port 12Gb/s SAS card for ThinkSystem.
  • RAID 940-8e – Higher density 16 port card for ThinkSystem.
  • RAID 930-16i – Cost effective SATA RAID card from Lenovo.

NetApp Disk Shelf Storage

  • DS4246 – High density shelf with 24 drive bays.
  • DS2246 – Smaller 2U form factor shelf from NetApp.
  • E-Series Disk Shelves – Modular SATA RAID for midsize deployments.

These are just a sample of the broad selection of RAID hardware available from major vendors.

What are the steps to implement a RAID array?

Here is a general overview of the workflow for deploying a RAID system:

  1. Select RAID level – Choose appropriate RAID level based on I/O performance vs. redundancy needs.
  2. Obtain hardware – Procure matching drives, controller card, cables, and enclosure (if needed).
  3. Install controller – Physically install controller card in PCIe slot and attach drives.
  4. Configure RAID – Use management software to define RAID arrays, assign drives, and choose striping block size.
  5. Build arrays – Initialize the RAID volumes so they are visible to operating system.
  6. Manage arrays – Monitor RAID status and health; expand capacity by adding drives.

Proper RAID implementation requires assessing workloads, selecting compatible hardware, and tuning the configuration for optimal performance.

What are some key things to consider when selecting RAID hardware?

Some important considerations when selecting RAID hardware include:

  • RAID levels supported – Ensure the RAID card and management utilities support the required RAID level (RAID 5, 6, 10, etc).
  • Drive interface – Match disk interface types with RAID card connectivity (SATA, SAS, NVMe).
  • Card interface bandwidth – Select appropriate bus bandwidth to avoid bottlenecks (PCIe 3.0, 4.0).
  • Cache memory size – Larger cache improves write performance and throughput.
  • Number of ports – More ports allow connecting more disk drives.
  • Drive capacity support – Ensure the card and firmware work with high capacity drives.
  • Management features – Robust management software makes monitoring and maintenance easier.

Evaluating factors such as these will help choose high performance and reliable RAID hardware tailored to your needs.

What are some best practices for configuring RAID arrays?

Here are some best practices to follow when configuring RAID arrays:

  • Use RAID 1 for small, read-mostly databases to improve performance.
  • Deploy RAID 5 for databases with largely sequential access and infrequent writes.
  • Choose RAID 10 for mission critical databases requiring high performance and redundancy.
  • Ensure hot spares are available to transparently rebuild failed drives.
  • Locate each drive member on a separate controller channel for load balancing.
  • Align RAID stripes and disk partitions for optimal performance.
  • Select appropriate striping block size based on typical I/O access patterns.
  • Monitor disk utilization and expand capacity before arrays reach 70% full.
  • Regularly scrub arrays to check data integrity and confirm drive health.

Tuning the RAID topology for the specific workload and data redundancy needs ensures optimal array performance and reliability.

What tools are available for managing RAID arrays?

Some commonly used RAID management tools include:

  • Controller management utilities – Vendor provided software for monitoring and configuring arrays.
  • Command line tools – Like MegaCli or StorCLI for managing LSI and Avago controllers.
  • Server management tools – Applications like Dell OpenManage and HP iLO provide RAID support.
  • Third party tools – Solutions like StorMagic SvSAN enable centralized management.
  • Scripting – Shell scripts can help automate RAID administration tasks.
  • Web Interfaces – Browser GUIs like WebBIOS simplify remote management.

Robust RAID management software that provides health monitoring, threshold alerts, activity logging, and scripting helps streamline storage administration.

What are some key RAID monitoring and maintenance tasks?

Regular monitoring and maintenance is crucial for ensuring RAID reliability and performance. Key tasks include:

  • Checking disk utilization – Monitor capacity and expand arrays before disks reach 70% full.
  • Verifying disk health – Scan for predictive failures and preemptively replace disks.
  • Rebuilding failed drives – Automatically rebuild failed drives using hot spares or replacements.
  • Running consistency checks – Periodic scrubbing identifies data inconsistencies and bad sectors.
  • Updating firmware – Install controller and disk firmware updates for bug fixes and new features.
  • Cleaning connectors – Use compressed air to clean controller slots and drive connectors.
  • Event logging – Review event logs to identify component failures or topology changes.

Setting up monitoring alerts and following best practice maintenance procedures maximizes RAID availability and integrity.

What are some common RAID problems and how can they be avoided?

Some frequent RAID issues include:

  • Degraded arrays – Occurs when drive fails and data is inaccessible. Can be avoided by using hot spares and swapping failed drives promptly.
  • Split brain – Condition where drives get unsynchronized. Using multipath connectivity prevents this.
  • Controller failure – Critical controller malfunction causes array to go offline. Redundant controllers avert this.
  • Unclean shutdowns – Can lead to filesystem corruption or inconsistent parity. Use UPS for graceful shutdown.
  • Misconfiguration – Applying incorrect RAID parameters leads to poor performance or loss of data. Careful planning avoids this.
  • Limited management – Lack of monitoring and alerts increases risk. Robust tools like OpenManage mitigate this.

Deploying redundancy, preventive maintenance, and management software reduces likelihood of RAID failures.

Conclusion

RAID delivers enhanced performance and fault tolerance by grouping drives together in a logical unit. Carefully planning the RAID level, hardware selection, drive topology and management practices helps realize the benefits of performance, availability and efficient storage utilization.

Key considerations include matching the RAID level to application requirements, choosing components with appropriate bandwidth and scalability, following vendor best practices, setting up monitoring and maintenance routines, and using robust management tools. Avoiding pitfalls like rebuild failures, split brain scenarios and controller errors via redundancy and preventive care further maximizes uptime.

Leveraging RAID technology requires upfront planning but can pay long term dividends by speeding access, enabling seamless growth, and reducing downtime costs for critical business systems.