RAIDTechnologyandDataStorageToday

JeffreyDoto BrandonKrakowsky
th April15 ,2007

Abstract
Withinformationgenerationanddatatransferspeedatanalltimehigh,datastorageis fastbecomingoneofthefastestgrowingindustriesintheworld.Enterpriselevel corporations,endusers,andthegovernment,allneedtodealwithaneverincreasing plethoraofdata.RAID,orRedundantArrayofIndependentDisks,providesavery flexibleandreliablestoragesystemwhichcanbothenhanceperformanceandleverage faulttolerance.WediscussthevariousRAIDtypesandtheiruses,aswellastheir individualdrawbacks.FutureaspectsofRAID,aswellascurrententerpriseclass storageissuesarementioned.

TableofContents
Motivation InformationOverload. 3 ProliferationoftheInternet.3 SarbanesOxleyandHIPAA5 DataManagementfortheUser6 MicroprocessorTechnologicalAdvances7 Introduction MagneticDiskTechnology..7 RAIDDefined..8 History..8 Reliability.9 Performance.10 RAIDTechnology RAIDLevel0..10 RAIDLevel1..10 RAIDLevel2..11 RAIDLevel3..11 RAIDLevel4..12 RAIDLevel5..13 RAIDLevel6..14 HybridRAID RAIDX+Yvs.RAIDY+X.15 FutureRAID RAIDDP.15 RAIDZ16 RAIDControllers InterfacingwithRAID.16 SoftwareBasedRAID.16 HardwareBasedRAID17 ExternalHardwareRAID.17 Implementation.17 Conclusion.18 Appendix20 References..................................................................................................................21

Motivation
InformationOverload Theissueofdatastorageisbecomingincreasinglyimportant,asmoreandmore informationisstoredindigitalform.Assumingthattheaveragedigitalfilegets replicatedthreetimes,thetechnologyresearchfirmIDCdeterminedthattheworld generated161billiongigabytes161exabytesofdigitalinformationlastyear(Brian Bergstein 2007).Datamanagementisoneofthefastestgrowingindustriesintheworld. AccordingtoWorldWideLearn,Theinformationsectorhasthesecondhighest projectedjobgrowthrate. Publishing,theInternet,andtelecommunicationsshouldsee realoutputclimbto$1.6trillionby2014(WendyCroix).

Butwhereisallofthisinformationstored?IDCestimatesthattheworldhad185 exabytesofstorageavailablelastyearandwillhave601exabytesin2010.Butthe amountofstuffgeneratedisexpectedtojumpfrom161exabyteslastyearto988 exabytes(closinginon1zettabyte)in2010(Brian Bergstein 2007).Howdocompanies todaydealwith whatLindaNullandJuliaLoburrefertoastheinformationexplosion (Lobur2006)?

Companiesworldwidetodayfaceatremendousexplosionofdataproducedat everyleveloftheorganization,fromemail,databases,theInternet,ande commercetoimagebasedapplicationsthatproducevideoandaudiofiles. Boomingtrendsintheaudiovisualmarket,includingdigitalcamerasand camcorderproducts,areexpectedtoproduce700petabytesofdataperyear, dwarfingtheamountofdataproducedintraditional ITapplications.Movieswill beproducedanddistributeddigitallyEvenbroadbandandnewcellphone applicationswillcontributetosignificant,neartermstoragegrowth.

Withtheaccelerateduseofcontentrichsystems,theneedtostore,manageand protecttheimportantdataproducedismoreimportantthanever.Storagesystems willracetoincreasecapacitiesandperformance(JohnWoelbernandSony Electronics'TapeStorageSolutionsDiv2003).

ProliferationoftheInternet TheproliferationoftheInternethasservedtoonlyincreasetheneedforreliabledata storage.Hostingcompaniesneedtodealwithmillionsofwebpages.Andwiththe popularityofwebbasedaudioandvideo,thesesamecompaniesnowneedtodealwith datastorageonawholenewlevel.Whenwasthelasttimeyouhitawebsitethatdidnot havesomekindofembeddedaudioorvideofile?Ithasbecomecommonplace,because peopleareexpectingit.Asimplewebpagewithonlytextandgraphicsisathingofthe past.

Hostingafewvideofilesisonething,butwhataboutcompanieswhospecializeinaudio orvideoOnDemanddelivery?YouTubeisapopularwebsitewhichallowsusersto uploadandsharetheirownvideocontent.GoogleVideodoesthesame.Howdothese companiesdealwiththemanagementofallofthiscontent?Withnewpeopleturnedon totheseserviceseveryday,hostingcompaniesneedtolooktothefutureforstorageand deliveryoptions.

Perhapsvideoisstillafairlynewconceptforsome.Whataboutdigitalaudio? RememberNapster?Ofcourse,theystillprovideservicesandconductbusiness,butnot inthesamewayastheyusedto.Butthatstillhasntchangedthefactthattheyhaveto dealwithhostingallofthatcontent.iTunes,Rhapsody,andMP3.comdothesame, providinguserswiththeabilitytodownloadaudiofileswithease.Mostofthe companiesinthisbusinesshaveexpandedtheirservicestoincludevideodeliveryaswell, soitisallreallyoneinthesameissue.Donotforgetaboutpodcastingandvodcasting!

Peoplehavebeenuploadingphotosforsometimenow.Itisaprettycommonwayto shareyourfavoriteshots.ServiceslikeFlickrandPhotobucketmakeitsoeasytoupload, createanalbum,andsendalinktofamilyandfriends.Whoeventhinksaboutwherethe photosgo?Again,asthesekindsofservicesbecomemorepopular,hostingcompanies needtolooktothefutureforreliabledatastorage.

Databasedrivensitesrelyheavilyontheintegrityoftheirbackupsystems.Mostpeople donothavealocalbackupoftheirblogorwikientries.Canyouimagineifyour MySpaceaccountwasaccidentallydeletedorlost?CompanieslikeAmazon,eBay,and CitizensBankhavehugebackbones.Theirsitesneedtobeupandrunningatalltimes. Withoutadoubt,anycompanyusingonlinetransactionalprocessestoconductbusiness needstohaveareliablestorageandbackupsystem,butwhatabouttheNationalSecurity Agency?Didyouknowthatthegovernmenthasadatabaseofphonecallrecordsof tensofmillionsofAmericans(Cauley2006)?Canyouimagineiftheylostit?

Emailhasbecomethemostpopularmodeofcommunication.Whenyousenda message,wheredoesitgo?MessagesinyourSentfoldermustbestoredsomewhere. Whatwouldhappenifyoulostanimportantworkrelatedemail?Ifyouarelikemost, emailisalifeline.Forlargercorporations,emailstorageisamust.

SarbanesOxleyandHIPAA In2002,PresidentGeorgeW.BushsignedintoofficetheSarbanesOxley(SOXor Sarbox)act.Thisactchangedthewaypubliclyheldbusinesseswereheldresponsiblefor theiraccountingpractices,whichdirectlyaffectedtheirInformationTechnologystaff. Thebusinessesnowhadtoadheretostrictregulationsrequiringlongerdataretention time,whichwouldallowauditorstolookbackthroughthebusinessesfinancialhistories, aswellastheiremailrecords(RandolphKahn).Itisamazingwhenyouthinkofthe amountofdocumentsabusinessorinstitutioncangenerate:businesstransactions, invoices,purchaseorders,contracts,paymentsmade,websiterecords,internal documents.TheSarboxlawspecificallysites:recordsrelevanttotheauditor reviewmemoranda,correspondence,communications(includingelectronicrecords) (Jones2005)

Section404oftheSarbanesOxleyActinparticular,hasplacedanaddedstresstoIT managers,aswellasanenormouscostofmaintenance,whichsomeexpertsinthe industryhavebeencriticalof (Economist2004Jones2005Lallande2005) Theseadded regulationshavecertainlybeenaboontodatastoragevendors,aspracticallyevery

enterpriseclassstoragevendorwillmentiontheirSarbanesOxleycomplianceinregards totheirproducts(Consulting2005Consulting2005Corporation2005Dell2007) Costsarepredictedtobesomewherebetween$20$28.8billionincompliancerelated technology (Economist2004Sullivan2006).

SimilartotheSarbanesOxleyAct,TitleIIoftheHealthInsurancePortabilityand AccountabilityAct(HIPAA)of 1996hasreformedtheelectronicaspectofHealthcare insuranceplans,serviceproviders,andemployers.Theseregulationshavetheintentof promotingElectronicDataInterchange,orEDI,throughouttheUShealthcaresystem. Again,longerdataretention timeswillberequired,whichgreatlybenefitsthestorage sectoroftheIT industry (Consulting2005).

DataManagementfortheUser WithalloftheseadvancesinInternettechnology,wheredoesitleavetheuser?Whydo weneedtobeconcernedwithdatastorage?Didyouknowthateverytimeyougotoa website,alloftheimagesandmediafilesarecachedorstoredonyourlocalmachine forrapidaccess?Anyideawherethatdirectoryislocated?Youwouldbesurprisedhow quicklyyouamasstemporaryinternetfiles.

Downloadablecontentneedstobestoredsomewhere.CDsarealotlesspopularnow thantheyusedtobe.MusicfanswouldratherdownloadanentirealbumfromiTunes,or maybeevenjustdownloadtheirfavoritesongoff ofthealbum.Whohasntrippedaudio filesfromanaudioCDorimportedaCDdirectlyintoiTunes?Wherearethesefiles stored?Ifyouarelikemost,yourmusiccollectionisgrowingrapidly.Asistheamount ofspaceyouusetostoreit.Canyouimagineifyoulostallofyourmusic?

AndwhilevideoOnDemandbecomesmorepopular,sodoestheuseofwebcamsand videoeditingsoftware.Digitalvideocamerasmakeitveryeasytotransfervideotoyour computer.Harddrivesfillupquicklywhenyouareeditingvideo.

Digitalcamerasarecommonplacesincepriceshavecomedown.Takingpicturesand editingthemhasneverbeeneasier.Everybodyisaphotographer.Apersonallibraryof photoscouldeasilygrowtogreatproportions,letalonetheincreasingcomplexityofthe filedirectorytree.

MicroprocessorTechnologicalAdvances Asmicroprocessortechnologycontinuestoimprove,sodoesprimarymemorysize.If Mooreslawholdstrue,thesethingswillonlycontinuetoimprove.Whatdoesthatmean foroverallcomputerperformance?Itmeansthatanyresultingimprovementswillbe marginalunlesssecondarydatastorageprogressesatclosetothesamerate(PeterM. Chen1994).ThisideaisgovernedbyAmdahlsLawwhichpredictsthatoverall performanceenhancementislimitedbytheslowerpartsoftheoverallsystem (Lobur 2006).

Increasedmicroprocessorspeedopensthedoortonewerprocessorintensiveapplications. Italsomakesnewthingspossiblewitholderapplications.Asmentionedearlier,things likeaudiorecording,videoediting,andphotoeditinghaveallbecomecommonplacefor theaverageuser.Thiscapacitycreatestheneedforhighperformancesecondarystorage (PeterM.Chen1994).

Introduction
MagneticDiskTechnology BeforewecanfullyunderstandRAID,wemustfirstunderstandtheinnerworkingsofa magneticharddisk,andtheproblemsoftenassociatedwithadisk.

Asweallknowandtakeforgrantedthatacomputerhasmemory,andcanstore informationonthatmemory.Inthecaseofourcurrentgenerationoflaptopanddesktop computers,amagneticharddiskstoresthisinformationinasemipermanentfashion.We arealsofamiliarwiththeproverbialharddrivecrash,andmostofushave unfortunatelyexperiencedthelossofacrucialpieceofinformationduetooneofthese

crashes.Itisimportanttofirstunderstandalittlebackgroundabouthowaharddisk workstounderstandhowitcanfail.

Aharddiskisdifferentfromthealsowellknownfloppydiskbecauseithasafixed, rigidplatterthatiscoatedinamagneticmaterial,whichstorestheactualinformation. Thisrigidplatterhasamotorthatcausesittospinatspeedsvaryingfrom5400rotations perminute(RPM),upto15,000RPM.Anactuatorarmwitharead/writehead somethingakintothestylusofarecordplayer,movesinandout,readingandwriting datatoandfromthedisk(Lobur2006).Thus,thereareseveralobviouspointsoffailure inaharddisk:movingmechanicalpartscandeteriorateandbreak,ortherecanbe manufacturingdefects,suchassurfaceimperfections,ordustcontamination.The chambertothediskmustbehermeticallysealedsonodustcaninterferewiththesurface ofthedisk.Thus,overtime,themechanicsoftheharddriveareboundtofail,andall harddrivesaresoldwithaMeanTimeToFailurerating,orMTTF,whichmeansthat ultimately,everyusermustnotfacethequestionofwillmydatabelost,butwhenwill mydatabelost.Fortheaveragehomeuser,thismaynotbeofterribleimportance,but foramultimilliondollarbusiness,thiscouldbecatastrophic.Theneedforfailsafe, highlyreliablestorageisomnipresentinbigbusinessesofallkinds,government, academicinstitutions,andjustaboutanylargeinstitutiononecanthinkof.

RAIDDefined RAIDwasoriginallycoinedbyDavidA.Patterson,GarthGibson,andRandyH.Katz oftheUniversityofCaliforniaatBerkeley,intheir1988paper,ACaseforRedundant ArraysofInexpensiveDisks(DavidAPatterson1988). Theoriginalmeaningofthe acronymwasRedundantArray ofInexpensiveDisks,butbecausetheterm inexpensiveisrelative,RedundantArrayof IndependentDisksisnowgenerally acceptedasthepropermeaning(Lobur2006).

RAIDisamethodofcombiningseveralharddiskdrivesintoonelogicalunit,calleda LUN,ora"logicalunitnumber,appearingasasingledevicetothehostsystem (Technick.netPoelker2005).Diskprotectionisachievedanynumberofwaysbasedon

theparticularimplementationofRAID.RAIDtechnologywasdevelopedtoaddressthe faulttoleranceandperformancelimitationsofconventionaldiskstorage(Technick.net).

Diskscanalsobecombinedinthisfashion,butwithoutRAIDprotection. Thissetupis knownasJustaBunchofDisksorJBOD(Lobur2006).

History BythetimeACaseforRedundantArraysofInexpensiveDiskshadbeenwrittenin 1988,magneticdiskshadbecomeverylarge,dense,andcostlypiecesofequipment. Oftenrequiringastrictlycontrolledenvironment,useofthesediskswasgenerally restrictedtoonlythelargestcomputersystems.Withthenumberofpersonalcomputers ontheriseandanincreasingreliabilityonelectronicdatastorage,diskdesignersbeganto designsmallerandcheaperdisks,asanalternativetothesesinglelargeexpensivedisks (SLEDs)(DavidAPatterson1988Lobur2006).

Whencomparedtothelargerexpensivediscs,itwasfoundthatthesesmaller inexpensivediskswereatleastequalto,ifnotbetterthan,thelargerexpensivedisks,in termsofbothI/Ospersecondperactuatorandpricepermegabyte.Mostimportantly, thesesmallerdiskshadthesamebasicfunctionalityasthelargerdisks,includingan embeddedSCSIchipcontroller,whichcouldbeusedasaDirectMemoryAccessdevice attheendoftheSCSIbus(DavidAPatterson1988).

Basedonthefactthatthesmallerdiskshadthesamefunctionalityasthelargerdisks, storagesystemscouldbebuiltasarraysoftheseinexpensivedisks.Theideawastonot onlyovercometheproblemsassociatedwiththesinglelargedisks,buttoalsoachieve betterperformanceandincreasedreliabilityforbothsmallandlargedatastoragesystems. Interleavingthediscswouldallowforlargesupercomputertransfers,whilekeepingthem independentwouldallowformanysmallertransactionprocessingtransfers(DavidA Patterson1988).ThedifferentlevelsofRAIDaddressthesescenariostovarying degrees.

Reliability RAIDaddressestheissueofdiskreliabilitybymakinguseofredundancy.Thismeans thatdataisredundantlydistributedacrossall(orsome)ofthedisksforthepurposesof faulttoleranceanddataprotection.Ifonediskfailsorifapieceofdatabecomes corrupted,itcanberecoveredfromoneormoreoftheotherdisks(Technick.net).

Indealingwithredundancy,twothingsneedtobeconsidered: 1. Calculatingtheredundantinformationintheeventofanerror (PeterM.Chen 1994). 2. Themethodofdistributingtheinformationacrossthedisks(PeterM.Chen 1994).

ThesetwopointsareconsideredandaddressedbasedonthetypeofRAID.

Performance Diskperformanceisenhancedbasedonthefactthattherearemultipledisksworkingin parallel.Dependingonthedistributionofdata,differentpiecesofinformationcanbe readfromdifferentdisksatthesametime(Adaptec2007).

RAIDTechnology
RAIDLevel 0 AlsoknownasNonRedundant,RAIDLevel 0usesatechniquecalledstripingfor distributinginformationacrossthedisks.Dataisbrokendownintoindividualblocks, eachblockwrittentoaseparatediskdrive.Redundancyisnotemployedandthereisno paritygenerated,resultinginnodataprotection.Ifonestripeddrivefails,theyallfail.In fact,asthenumberofdisksincreases,sodoestheprobabilityof failure(PeterM.Chen 1994Lobur2006Corporation2007).

RAIDLevel0providesexcellentwriteperformancesincetheloadofstoringdatais spreadoutacrossmultipledisksandthereisnooverheadinupdatingredundant

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information.Thisschemeisexcellentforvideoproductionandediting,imageediting, prepressapplications,andanyapplicationrequiringhighbandwidth (Corporation2007).

RAIDLevel0requiresatleast2drivesandistypicallyveryinexpensivetoimplement sinceitusestheminimalnumberofdisks(Corporation2007).

RAIDLevel1 AlsoknownasMirrored,RAIDLevel1usesatechniquecalledmirroringor shadowingfordistributinginformationacrossthedisks.Alldataiswrittentoatleast twoseparatephysicaldisks,sotherearealwaystwocopiesoftheinformation. Thereis noparitygeneratedbut100%dataredundancyisprovided.Ifonediskfails,datacan easilyberecoveredusingitsmirrorimage(PeterM.Chen1994Lobur2006 Corporation2007).

RAIDLevel1providesexcellentdataprotection.Writeperformanceiscompensated slightlybasedonthefactthatalldataiswrittentwice.Readperformanceisbetterthan RAIDLevel0sincetwodiscscanbereadatonce.Thisschemeisoftenusedfor accounting,payroll,financial,andanyapplicationrequiringveryhighavailability (Corporation2007).

RAIDLevel1requiresatleast2drivesandistypicallyexpensivetoimplementsinceit usestwicethenumberofdisks(Corporation2007).

RAIDLevel2 RAIDLevel2usesatechniquesimilartostripingfordistributinginformationacross somenumberofdisks. Stripsconsistofsinglewordssplitatthebitlevel,spreadacross thedatadisks,onebitperdisk.Hammingcodesaregeneratedforeachwordandarealso spreadacrossseparateErrorCorrectingCodedisks.Whendataisread,itiscross referencedwiththeseHammingcodestocheckforerrors.Errorcorrectionisperformed ontheflybysubtractingtheerrorfreedataontheotherdisksfromtheHammingcode

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information.Multipledisksarerequiredtoidentifyafaileddisk(PeterM.Chen1994 Lobur2006Corporation2007).

RAIDLevel2provideshighdatatransferrates.However,writeperformanceis compensatedhighlysinceeverywriterequirestheadditionalcalculationandstorageof Hammingcodes.Thisschemeishardlyeverusedandhasnocommercial implementationsmainlybecauseitrequiresconsiderableoverheadingeneratingthe Hammingcodes.Also,sincethenumberofECCdisksisproportionatetothelogofthe numberofdatadisks,theratioishigherforsmallerwordsmakingitinefficientand expensive(PeterM.Chen1994Lobur2006Corporation2007).

RAIDLevel3 RAIDLevel3usesatechniquecalledbitinterleavedparity(similartostriping)for distributinginformationacrosssomenumberofdisks.Dataissplitatthebitleveland spreadacrossthedatadisks.Singleparitybitsaregeneratedandstoredonaseparate paritydisk(PeterM.Chen1994Lobur2006Corporation2007).

ThereadandwriteperformanceofRAIDLevel3iscompensatedsincemultiple operationsarenotsupportedatonceandalldisksareusedforeveryoperation.Asa result,RAIDLevel3performspoorlyinsituationswheretherearemanylittledata transfers,butperformsverywellwhendealingwithlargeblocksofdata.Thisschemeis oftenusedforvideoproductionandlivestreaming,imageediting,videoediting,prepress applications,andanyapplicationrequiringhighthroughput(Poelker2005Lobur2006 Corporation2007).

RAIDLevel 3requiresatleast3drives(Corporation2007).

RAIDLevel4:BlockInterleavedParity TheimplementationofRAID4issimilartothatofRAID3,insteadRAID4writesdata blocksofvaryingsize,insteadofbitsofdataacrossthedisk,withonediskdedicatedto parity (PeterM.Chen).Theseblocksofdataareknownasthestripingunit,andcan

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spanmultipledisks,similartothatfoundinRAID0(PeterM.Chen).Thisusageof blockstripingincreasestherandomaccessperformancecomparedtoRAID3,but becauseonlyonediskfunctionsasdedicatedparity,writeoperationsmayposea bottleneck.Bottleneckscanbefoundinsmallerwriteoperations,wheredatamaynot spantheentiregroupofdatadisks,opposedtowriteoperationswheredataspansallof thedatadisks(PeterM.ChenLobur2006).

AlargewriteoperationsparityiscomputedbyXORingthedatafoundacrossalldrives, whichhasarelativelylowcomputationaloverhead.Supposeadatablockspans4disks, withonestripeoneachdisk,calledstripe14,foreachdiskrespectively.Theparity diskwillhaveonededicatedparityblockfortheotherfourdiskscontent.Thus,this parityblockwillbeequaltotheXORofalltheotherdatastripes[1,8].

Figure1 RAID4:Parity14=Stripe1XORStripe2XORStripe3XORStripe4. PictureadaptedfromChen,etal.

Thisissomewhatdifferentfromasmallwriteoperationwhereonlyonedatadiskisbeing accessed,andthesingleparitydiskisbeingupdatedaccordingly.Thenewparityfora smallwriteiscalculatedasfollows:

NewParity=(olddataXORnewdata)XORoldparity

Thiscalculationrequires2disks,2reads,and2writes,opposedtoalldisks,andoneread andonewrite(DavidA.Patterson1988). Thislimitsonewriteatatimeperdisk.A smallwriteissorelativelyslowtoaLevel1RAIDthatitbecomesimpracticaltojustify itsusage[9].WhileRAID4makesreading4disksinparallelveryefficient,itswriting issocompromisedthatitistotallyimpractical,especiallyinhighthroughput environmentswheremultiplerequestsatatimeneedtobehandled.RAID5overcomes

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thisproblembydistributingtheparityoveralldisks,thuseliminatingthededicateddisk bottleneck.

RAIDLevel5:BlockInterleavedDistributedParity Aswepreviouslystated,RAID4suffersfromtheimpracticalbottleneckofhavingonly oneparitydisk.RAID5overcomesthisproblembydistributingtheparityinformation acrosseachdisk.Thisallowsmultipleindividualdiskwritespergroup(DavidA Patterson1988).TheadvantageofRAID5ismosteasilyseenbyvisualizingthe structurewithadiagram. Figure2detailsthis.

RAID5:
Disk Sector 0 1 2 3 4 0 0 5 10 15 P4 1 1 6 11 P3 16 2 2 7 P2 12 17 3 3 P1 8 13 18 4 P0 4 9 14 19

RAID4:
Disk Sector 0 1 2 3 4 0 0 4 8 12 16 1 1 5 9 13 17 2 2 6 10 14 18 3 3 7 11 15 19 4 P0 P1 P3 P4 P5

Figure2 Optimal RAID5paritysetup. ObservehowintheRAID5depiction,theparity(PBlocks) aredistributedthroughoutalldisks,insteadofbeinglocatedonjustonedisk,asinthecasewithRAID4. Thismeansthatifthemachineneededtowritetosector0ofdisk3,andsector4ofdisk1,theoperation canoccursimultaneouslybecausetheparityforthedisksisindependent.Incontrast,noticehowinthe diagramforRAID4,thereisaconflictifyoutrytoservicethesectors0and4simultaneously:because the parityiscontainedononedisk,youcanonlywriteonegroupatatime.Thisisthecauseforthe aforementionedbottleneck.

TheaddedbenefitofdistributedparitygivesRAID5themostoptimalcharacteristics fromalloftheRAIDlevelsdiscussedsofar.Itoffersdataredundancywithsmallwrite timesclosetothatofRAID1,yetmaintainsthelargerstoragecapacityofaRAID3or RAID4configuration[9].InatypicalRAID5setup,ifyouhad4500GBdrives, totaling1terabyteofstorage,andthesediskswereputintoaRAID5array,youwould stillhave75%oftheusablediskspace,opposedtoaRAID1configuration,youwould lose50%ofthediskspace,becauseyouarestrictlymirroring(Apple2007).This

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additionalparityreadingandwritingmustbeperformedby anonboardcontroller,which addssomeadditionalcosttoRAID5.Wewillcovercontrollersinalatersectionofthe paper.

ItisimportanttonotethataRAID5configurationstillhasdrawbacks,themainone beingthatiftwodisksarelostatonce,youhavenowayofrecoveringthedata.Wewill seeinthenextsectionthatthereareadditionalwaystorescueanarrayofdisksthathas hadmultiplesimultaneousfailures. RAIDlevel5requiresatleast3diskstoimplement.

RAIDLevel 6:BlockinterleavedStripingwithDualErrorProtection Patterson,etal.envisionedthefirst5levelsofRAID,butadditionalresearchhasbeen donetodevelopadditionalRAIDschemesthatovercomesomeweaknessesofthe aforementionedschemes.RAID6protectsagainstmultiplediskfailuredatalossby employingbothParity(P),andReedSoloman(Q)codes.Thisalsorequiresadditional storagecomparedtotheRAID5schemeingeneral,ifyoucanstorethedataonNdisks, RAID6requiresN+2disks,withaminimumof4disks(PeterM.ChenLobur2006). TheadditionaloftheReedSolomoncodingschemeaddsinanadditionaloverheadinto thesystem,insteadof4readsandwrites,therearenow6:the4standardreadwrites,plus anadditionalupdateonthePandQblocks(PeterM.Chen).Thisadditionalcomputation maynotbeavailableonallRAIDcontrollersinfact,AppleComputerspopularXServe RAID,doesNOTofferaRAID6configuration (Apple2007).Ingeneral,RAID6is lesscommonthan 0,1, 3, 5,and01. Wefoundonlyonearraycurrentlyofferedthat supportsRAID6,theAC&NCJetStor416iS(Guide2001).

HybridRAID RAIDX+Yvs.RAIDY+X Interestingly,youcanRAIDaRAIDarray.Whenwesaythat,wemeanthatifyour controllerpermitsit,youcan,forinstance,takeastripeddiskarray(RAID0),andMirror it(RAID1)(Guide2001).Youcanthinkofthisasnestingthetwodiskarrays.There istherefore,adifferencebetweentakingastripedsetandmirroringit,andstripinga mirroredset.Thelatter,RAID1+0,wouldbeimplementedformoreaperformancegain

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inmirroring.ThemorecommonimplementationisRAID0+1,andisfoundinmost enterpriseclassRAIDdevices(AC&NC2007Computer2007).

Thisopensinterestingcombinations,whichcanbeimplementedtoovercomeany shortcomingsofotherRAIDlevels.OneinterestingnestedgroupwouldbeRAID5+1, whichwouldbeamirroredRAID5combination,fortheindividualwhorequires ABSOLUTELYnochanceofdataloss.AnunfortunatedrawbackofhybridRAID systemsisthattheyareverycostly,butifyouhavethemeans,theyareverybeneficial.

FutureRAID
RAIDDP ConventionalRAIDschemeswhichuseasingleparitydrive(RAID3forexample)can easilyrecoveronefaileddisk.Butwhatifaseconddiskfailsbeforetheprevioushas beenrebuilt?Thisisverycommonconsideringtheamountoftimeitcantaketorebuild anentiredrive(SunstarCompany2007).

RAIDDPusesasecondparitydiskwhichcanrebuildaseconddriveinadoubledisk failuresituation.Parityfortheseconddriveiscalculateddifferentlythanthefirst (SunstarCompany2007).

RAIDZ Thefuturemaynotbetoofaraway.SunintroducedtheZFSfilesystemwiththerelease oftheirSolaris10operatingsystem.TheZstandsforZettabyte,whichtoputin perspective,theIDCestimatesthatby2010,therewillbe988exabytes,justundera zettabyte,inallcomputerstorageworldwide[29]. ZFSisa128bitfilesystem,which givesitsuser16billiontimesthecapacityof32or64bitsystems(Microsystems2007).

RAIDZincorporatesallofthefeaturesofRAID5,butfurtherbenefitsfromtheZFS transactionalmodelutilizingtheZFSchecksummechanismstoprovetheintegrityof thedatabeforehandingitbacktotheapplications.RAIDZcannotonlyrecognize corrupteddata,butalsoreturnitcorrected,madepossiblebytheveryintelligentZFSfile

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system (SunMicrosystems2007).Thisisalldoneviasoftware,thusbypassingtheneed foranexternalcontroller,which,forthecostconsciousofusoutthere,thiscanbevery practical.

ApplesnewoperatingsystemLeopard,willfeaturetheabilitytoformatadriveusing SunsZFSsystem,andthereforeimplementRAIDZ (SunMicrosystems2007).

RAIDControllers
A RAIDcontrolleractsasaninterfacebetweenthehostsystemandtheRAIDsystem. It servestomanagethephysicaldisksanddeliverthedatatothehostsystem (Freeman 2004).

InterfacingwithRAID Astoragesystemcanbeconnectedtothehostsysteminanumberofways.Oneway usesSerialAdvancedTechnologyAttachment,orSATA,whichcommunicatesovera seriallink(Planet2003).AnotherwayisSmallComputerSystemInterface,orSCSI, whichcommunicatesusingaseriesofcommandsandistypicallyfaster,butmore expensive(Planet2004Adaptec2007).iSCSIandFibreChannelareothertechnologies typicallyused(Freeman 2004).

SoftwareBasedRAID AtypeofDirectAttachedStorage,orDAS,asoftwarebasedRAIDsystemfunctions throughtheoperatingsystem. Itistypicallylowerinperformancethanhardwarebased RAID,duetothelackofdedicatedhardware(STATS2004).Itreliesonthehost systemCPUforalloperations.SoftwareRAIDisveryeasytosetupandistypically veryflexible(STATS2004).

HardwareBasedRAID AnotherkindofDAS,hardwarebasedRAID,functionssimilarlytoSoftwareBased RAIDexceptthatitusesanadditionalpieceofhardwareforinterfacingwiththeexternal disks.ThesecontrollercardsoffloadprocessorintensiveRAIDoperationstoenhance

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performance.TheymayuseSATA,SCSI,iSCSI,orFibreChanneltechnology (Engine Freeman2004Adaptec2007).

ExternalHardwareRAID ExternalhardwarebasedRAIDsystemsuseacontrollerthatiscompletelyremovedfrom thehostsystem.All RAIDfunctionsareoffloadedtoamicroprocessorinsidean externalRAIDcontroller,independentofthehostsystem.Again,theymayuseSATA, SCSI,iSCSI,orFibreChanneltechnology (EngineFreeman2004Adaptec2007).

Implementation
EnterpriseClassStoragevs.PersonalStorage Tothestorageneophyte,everyharddrivelooksthesame,whethertheharddriveis sittinginyourhomecomputer,orinamilliondollardiskarrayatNASA.Thefactis,an enterprise,orbigbusinesslevelharddrive,hasagreatdealofadvancedconsiderations thatmustgointomakingitenterpriseworthy.Theenvironmentrequiredbythedrives functionality,andthepurposesforwhichthedriveswillbeused,dictatespecial engineeringconsiderations.

Mostenterprisedrivesaretypicallyruninanarray,orgroupedfashion,muchlikewe havediscussedwiththeRAIDdiskarrays.Inthissortof environment,thereisanadded amountofheatandvibrationfromthemultipledriveswhichcandetrimentallyaffectthe performanceofasingleharddrive(Anderson2003).Enterpriselevelsystemsmustalso runconstantly,24hoursaday,7daysaweek,withlittleorpreferablynodowntime. Thiscanmeananenterpriseharddrivewitha1,000,000HourMTTFrating,comparedto apersonalharddrivewithanMTTFof300,000hours.Theextraengineeringthatmust gointothiscanaddasignificantcost.Thismayincludeaddinginextragasketstokeep unwantedvaporsout,desiccantsandactivatedcharcoaltoremovehumidityorvolatile solventsfromtheair,andchassismodificationstoabsorbvibrationsandkeeptheunit cool (Anderson2003).

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Historically,SCSIhasbeenthechoiceforhighlevelstorageapplications,withmostof theaforementionedengineeringgoingintoSCSIdrives(Anderson2003).Sinceabout 2003,though,thereseemstobeatrendtowardSATAreplacingSCSIinstallations.Null andLobursaidthat80%oftheenterpriseleveldrivesinuseattheirtimeofwritingwere SCSI,but,anInfoTechTrendspollfrom2005showedthat51%ofindividualsmaking nondesktoppurchasesselectedSATA,versusonly10%choosingParallelSCSI,and 11%SerialAttachedSCSI.SoitseemsthetrendisgoingtowardsSATAdrives,with theirmuchcheaperpricepercapacity.SCSIdriveshaveacurrentstoragelimitof300 GB,andatthatcapacitylevelcancostcloseto$900,whereasonecanpurchaseaSATA 500GBdrivefor$145.00.FastSCSIdrivesrunningat15,000RPMcancostover$1000 fora147GBdrive! Ingeneral,SCSIdrivesareanywherefrom2to4timesmore expensivethanSATAdrives,forafractionofthestoragespace.Thiscosthasits benefits,though,asseektimeona15,000rpmSCSIdriveisjust3.5ms,whilea comparableSATAdrivehasan89msseek.

Conclusion
Informationisbeinggeneratedatanalarminglyfastrate.Theworldreliesheavilyon datastorage.RAIDprovidesareliableandsafewaytostoreandmanagedata,butthere aremanyoptions.Dependingonimplementation,RAIDcanbeconfiguredforenhanced performance,increasedreliability,orsomecombinationofboth.

Datastoragehasfarandwidereachingapplications,fromsecuringournationsvital businessandgovernmentdocuments,tospeedinguptheprocessofaudioandvideo editing.Anenormousindustryhasgrownaroundprovidingsecuredataretention services,customizedtotheenduser.TheSarbanesOxleylawhasmadedataintegritya necessity,puttingadditionalpressureonthoseresponsibleforoverseeingtheproper implementationofreliablebackup.

AnewsarticlereleasedthisweekdetailedhowtheWhiteHouserecentlylost5yearsof confidentialgovernmentrelatedemail.Thisiscertainlyboundtogenerateagreatdealof

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controversyinthepress(Steiner2007).Imaginetherepercussions!Storageismorethan aconvenienceitisanecessity.

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Appendix
JeffreyDoto Abstract Motivation SarbanesOxleyandHIPAA MagneticDiskTechnology RaidTechnology RAIDLevel4:BlockInterleaved Parity RAIDLevel5:BlockInterleaved DistributedParity RAIDLevel6:BlockInterleaved StripingwithDualError Protection HybridRAID:RAIDX+Yvs. RAIDY+X RAIDDP RAIDZ Implementation EnterpriseClassStoragevs. PersonalStorage Conclusion

BrandonKrakowsky Abstract Motivation InformationOverload ProliferationoftheInternet DataManagementfortheUser MicroprocessorTechnological Advances Introduction RAIDDefined History Reliability Performance RAIDTechnology RAIDLevel0 RAIDLevel1 RAIDLevel2 RAIDLevel3 RAIDDP RAIDZ RAIDControllers InterfacingwithRAID SoftwareBasedRAID HardwareBasedRAID ExternalHardwareRAID Conclusion

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