HYBRID RAID WHITEPAPER

Adaptec Hybrid RAID Solutions

Combining SSDs and HDDs for Maximum Performance and Reliability
Introduction must first be erased before new data can be written – even if only
a few bytes are changed. Not only does this process negatively
As user demand for speed grows and applications become more
impact write performance, it can cause uneven wear on the surface
and more robust, data centers face a constant battle to increase
of the flash medium and lead to premature failure of the drive.
their infrastructure performance accordingly. Some components
offer a relatively straightforward upgrade path: CPUs continue To combat uneven wear, many SSDs employ wear leveling to
to get more powerful, networking speeds increase, disk drive distribute erasures and rewrites evenly across the medium surface.
capacities grow, and so on. But these advances mean little if the Wear leveling extends the life of the drive but, over time, also
rate at which I/O operations can be performed doesn’t keep pace. further degrades write performance.
For example, an online transaction processing system is often SSDs are also much more expensive than HDDs, especially when
limited by the rate at which database updates can occur. The measured using the traditional “cost per GB of capacity” metric.
performance of a search algorithm may depend on how quickly In most environments it is simply impractical to replace every
various data structures can be read from disk. The number of users HDD with an SSD, regardless of the potential benefits.
that can successfully access a website depends on how quickly the
web pages can be served. However, a hybrid approach that combines HDDs and SSDs can
be extremely cost efficient, especially when measured in terms of
Growth in the number of end-users compounds the problem the “cost per I/O operation” or the more Green-oriented “power
by cause longer response times and increasing latency. consumption per I/O operation”.
According to Equation Research: 1
• 78% of site visitors have gone to a competitor’s site due What is Hybrid RAID?
to poor performance during peak times.
Approx. 400 IOPS / up to 150 MB/s
Hybrid RAID is a redundant storage solution that combines high-
50% READ
• 88% are less likely to return to a site after a poor user
Read performance on SSD
capacity, low-cost SATA or higher-performance SAS HDDs with
experience.
limited as 50% of all requests
go to the HDD
low latency, high IOPs SSDs and an SSD-aware RAID adapter card
(Figure 1).
• 47% left with a less positive perception of the company.
WRITE
To boost system performance, data centers will sometimes add SATA or
WRITE
very fast hard disk drives (HDDs) — for example 15,000 RPM SAS drives
Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) drives — and “short stroke” them,
which means that applications use only the outermost tracks on
Approx. 400 IOPs / up to 150 MB/s
1.
50% READ
the disks where the performance is best. Or, they may add new
servers, even if the existing servers have the storage capacity for
RAID adapter SSD
more users.
Either method, however, results in low storage capacity utilization.
On top of that, adding more servers leads to an increase in capital Figure 1. Hybrid RAID Deployment
WRITE
and operating expenses — namely maintenance, power and
cooling
WRITE costs — as well as physical space requirements.
In Hybrid RAID, read operations are done from the faster SSD and
write operations happen on both SSD and HDD for redundancy
The proliferation of Solid State Drives (SSDs) alleviates many of
Approx. 25K IOPs / up to 300 MB/s purposes.
100%these
READ problems, and is changing the way data centers think about
their storage architecture. Hybrid RAID is ideal for applications with low levels of data, such
as an Internet gateway, file server or virtual machine.
SSDs: Performance in a Flash
FigHDDs,
SSDs offer several advantages over 4 including higher read What Are the Benefits of Hybrid RAID?
bandwidth, higher IOPs, better mechanical reliability, and higher
Hybrid RAID arrays offer tremendous performance gains over
resistance to shock and vibrations. However, the same features (i.e.,
standard HDD RAID arrays at a much lower cost than SSD-only
flash) that provide these600
advantages also come with some inherent
RAID arrays. Compared to HDD-only RAID arrays, Hybrid arrays
limitations compared to HDDs, such as limited capacity and lower
accelerate IOPs• and reduce
Adapter card:latency,
Adaptecallowing
RAID 6805 data center and cloud
streaming write bandwidth.
500 computing environments
• Adapter cardtoFirmware:
host more users and perform more
18623
Another limitation of SSDs is that they cannot directly overwrite transactions per second on
• Windows each
Driver server,
Version: which reduces the number
18646
data like an HDD can. Instead, the entire destination data block of servers required to support any given workload.
• HDD Hitachi 3TB SATA HUA723020ALA640
400 • SSD: OCZ-Vertex3 MaxIOPS
1
“When more Website visitors hurt your business: Are you ready for peak traffic?,”
Equation Research 2010
300
 HYBRID RAID WHITEPAPER

Adaptec Hybrid RAID Solutions 2

Not only does the reduction in servers lead to reduced server 3. The unused disk space on each disk can be utilized in another
footprint requirements within the data center, there is the array if required.
additional financial benefit of reducing the capital expenses 4. In the above scenario, a 500GB RAID 5 disk could be created
required to purchase additional servers, as well as the operating across the six unused disk segments.
scenario 1 scenario 2
expenses associated with power, cooling, and maintenance.
Scenario 2: Workstation
Hybrid RAID Examples
100GB In this scenario, the workstation
Incorporating Hybrid RAIDSSD into a storage solution opens up a 160GB
user wants a fast-booting, fast 300GB 500GB
wide range of possibilities for maximizing capacity, boot times, SSD
application-loading system and SSD HDD
and overall performance, as shown in the following examples.
doesn’t want the hassle of having RAID 1
to rebuild the workstation if a drive
Scenario 1: Large-Capacity Servers fails.
Usable capacity is 300GB
High-speed workstation
In this scenario, the customer wants to make the maximum use
of space in a large capacity, 8-bay server, while still gaining a Figure 4. Workstation Hybrid RAID Solution
fast-booting server. The customer is conservative and wants to
3TB HDD 3TB HDD keep 3TB
OSHDDaway from data (OS in mirror 3TBand
HDDdata 3TBin RAID
HDD for 3TB HDD The
3TB 5HDD 3TBadvantages
HDD 3TB HDDof 3TB
the HDD
Hybrid solution (Figure 4) include:
scenario 1 scenario 1 scenario 2
AID 5 maximum capacity). RAID 5
1. All reads are directed from the SSD, so read speed of the
hard drive (15TB) Usable capacity is 6 x 2.9TB (17.4TB) workstation is dramatically improved over that of a standard System
The server boots faster than the traditional server 1 x 160
250GB
HDD
250GB
HDD single HDD.
100GB
SSD 1 x 2.8
300GB 500GB
2. Write speed is the same as a standard workstation, but due SSD HDD

to the cache on the adapter card, it will be faster than a RAID 1

standard HDD connected to an on-board disk adapter. Usable capacity is 300

High-speed workstation

3. Data is not lost if either drive fails. When the failed drive
is replaced, the array will rebuild onto the replacement drive,
3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD
putting the system back the way it was before the drive failure.
3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD
RAID 5 RAID 5

Usable storage capacity is 5 x 3TB hard drive (15TB)
Figure 2. Large-Capacity Server, Traditional HDD-Only Method
Note that it is not recommended to use this unused 200GB
Usable capacity is 6 x 2.9TB (17.4TB)
The server boots faster than the traditional server
capacity on the 500GB HDD due to the fact that this data is not
redundant, and failure of the HDD would result in data loss.

The problem with an HDD-only method (Figure 2) is that it wastes Scenario 3: Small Business Server
two bays in the server to the OS boot drives, and therefore limits
capacity to six drives in RAID 5. Additionally, the server does not Many small business servers require at least some high-
boot particularly quickly as it is booting from standard HDD in performance storage component to handle accounting software,
mirror, which is not a particularly
scenario 1fast form of RAID. industry-specific
scenario 2 small databases
scenario 3 and even mail servers.scenario
Along 4
with that performance is always the requirement for capacity.
Even small business can easily generate several TB of data in
100GB
SSD
scenario 1 thescenario
form 2of documents,
160GB
photos,scenario
video3 etc. 160GB scenario 4
160GB
300GB 500GB SSD SSD SSD
SSD HDD
RAID 1
100GB
SSD Usable capacity is 300GB 160GB 160GB 160GB
300GB workstation
High-speed 500GB SSD SSD SSD
SSD HDD
RAID 1 S
2
Usable capacity is 300GB
3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD
High-speed workstation
RAID 5 RAID 1 RAID 1

Usable capacity is 6 x 2.9TB (17.4TB) System has two volumes System has two volumes
The server boots faster than the traditional server 1 x 160GB mirror (high speed) 2 x 160GB mirror (high speed)
1 x 2.8TB mirror (high capacity) 1 x 2.8TB mirror (high capacity)
DD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD
Figure 3. Large-Capacity Server,
RAID 5 Hybrid RAID Solution RAID 1 RAID 1

Usable capacity is 6 x 2.9TB (17.4TB) System has two volumes System has two volumes
The Hybrid solution
The server boots faster(Figure 3) offers
than the traditional server several benefits: 1 x 160GB mirror (high speed) 2 x 160GB mirror (high speed)
1 x 2.8TB mirror (high capacity) 1 x 2.8TB mirror (high capacity)
1. Total server capacity is six times the usable capacity of
each drive in a RAID 5. Figure 5. Small Business Server, Hybrid RAID Solution

2. The server will boot quickly as it is reading from an SSD

during the boot process
 HYBRID RAID WHITEPAPER

Adaptec Hybrid RAID Solutions 3

scenario 2 scenario 3 scenario 4 scenario 5

The advantages of this Hybrid solution are:

1. The 160GB disk is big enough to create a boot volume for
600GB
300GB
the OS while
500GB
still leaving enough space for a 100GB
160GB 160GB volume 160GB
SSD
SSD HDD for databaseSSD
function. SSD SSD
600GB
RAID 1 2. Because the 160GB hybrid mirror reads directly from the SSD
SSD, both OS boot time and database function will be
Usable capacity is 300GB
greatly improved over a standard mirror of two HDDs.
High-speed workstation
2TB
HDD
160GB is lost from the capacity of the data mirror, but that is a System has two volumes
small percentage of capacity loss on the 3TB drives, and does not 2 x 600GB mirror (high speed)

significantly impact on the usable capacity of the server.

3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD
Figure 7. Small Business Server, High-Speed, Small Capacity
RAID 1 RAID 1 Hybrid RAID Solution
Scenario 4: SmallSystem
Business Server
has two volumes System has two volumes
The previous configuration requires
1 x 160GB mirror at least a 4-port RAID
(high speed) card,mirror (highNote
2 x 160GB that it would be possible in this configuration to add a third
speed)
1 x 2.8TB mirror (high capacity) 1 x 2.8TB mirror (high capacity)
but the fourth port is unused. Extending the server to utilize all SSD (using the fourth port on the RAID card), to give three hybrid
four ports is simply a matter of purchasing a second 160GB SSD mirrors on a total of three SSDs and one HDD.
to mirror
scenario 3 to the unused spacescenario
from the 4 previous example. scenario 5
Building a Hybrid Solution
From a hardware perspective, building a Hybrid RAID solution is
160GB 160GB 160GB 600GB fairly straightforward as any capacity of SSDs and HDDs can be
SSD
SSD SSD SSD
used (though an equal number of SSDs and HDDs must be used).
600GB
SSD If the RAID array is built from different-sized drives, the drive
segment size is the size of the smaller disk drive. For example,
2TB a RAID 1 created with one 128GB SSD and one 2TB HDD will
HDD
System has two volumes
make a 128GB logical device. A RAID 10 created with two
2 x 600GB mirror (high speed) 128GB SSDs and two 2TB HDDs will make a 256GB logical
3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD 3TB HDD device. The remaining HDD capacity can be used for storage.
RAID 1 RAID 1
From an application perspective, though, it’s not quite as simple
System has two volumes System has two volumes
1 x 160GB mirror (high speed) 2 x 160GB mirror (high speed) since most software was not created to be aware of the possibility
1 x 2.8TB mirror (high capacity) 1 x 2.8TB mirror (high capacity)
of having two types of storage with such different characteristics.
Figure 6. Small Business Server, Hybrid RAID Solution In order to take full advantage of a Hybrid RAID setup, an SSD-
aware RAID adapter with intelligent storage processing must
It might seem more sensible to mirror the two SSDs, and then be deployed.
mirror the two HDDs in what would seem a more conventional
server. However, there is good reason to do the above: Adaptec Hybrid RAID Solutions
1. The write speed of lower-spec SSDs is not much faster than Fortunately, reaping the rewards of Hybrid RAID technology
that of HDDs, so there is little to be gained by mirroring the can be as simple as installing updated firmware onto any
two SSDs. Adaptec Series 7, Series 6, or Series Q SAS/SATA RAID adapter.
2. Since the read speed of the SSD is so quick, putting them in a The adapter takes care of the rest by automatically creating a
mirror will not result in much improvement over a single SSD. Hybrid RAID array whenever one or more SSDs are combined
with the same number of HDDs in a RAID 1 or RAID 10 array.
3. Since the focus is on read speed, having two Hybrid RAID
The Hybrid RAID is completely transparent to the operating
arrays now gives 320GB of SSD read speed to the server, while
system and all running applications.
still protecting the data on each SSD in the form of a mirror.
4. The HDD capacity of the server is not sacrificed from the Additionally, Adaptec RAID adapters deliver maximum Hybrid
previous example. array performance by writing to both HDD and SSD, and reading
from SSD 100% of the time (Figure 8). By contrast, other adapters
Scenario 5: Small Business Server, High-Speed, Small Capacity write and read from HDD and SSD (Figure 9). Since server I/O
If performance is more important than capacity, then the user can of an SSD can be up to 100 times faster than HDD, competitive
install two 600GB SSDs and mirror them to the HDD, thus gaining Hybrid RAID solutions typically deliver lower I/O performance.
1.2TB of SSD capacity (Figure 7).
 • SSD: OCZ-Vertex3 MaxIOPS
WRITE
300
WRITE
HDD
200 HYBRID RAID WHITEPAPER
SSD
Approx. 400 IOPs / up to 150 MB/s Hybrid
50% READ 100

Adaptec Hybrid RAID Solutions 0 4

100% Seq. 100% Seq. 100% Ran. 100% Ran.
Read 512K Write 512K Read 512K Write 512K

Some applications even see a slight performance benefit from

Adaptec Hybrid RAID and are faster on a Hybrid RAID 1 than Fig 5
on a single SSD (Figure 11).
WRITE

WRITE • Adapter card: Adaptec RAID 6805

300 • Adapter card Firmware: 18623
• Windows Driver Version: 18646
250 • HDD Hitachi 3TB SATA HUA723020ALA640
Approx. 25K IOPs / up to 300 MB/s • SSD: OCZ-Vertex3 MaxIOPS
100% READ • AS SSD Benchmark v1.6.4237.30508
200

Figure 8. Adaptec Hybrid RAID Solution 150

HDD
100 SSD
Approx. 400 IOPS / up to 150 MB/s
Hybrid
MB/s
50% READ 50
Read performance on SSD
limited as 50% of all requests
go to the HDD
0
ISO Image Applications Games
TE
Processing
TE SATA or
WRITE SAS drives
MB/s
1.
Figure 11. AS SSD Application Performance
WRITE
RAID adapter SSD As such, Adaptec Hybrid RAID offers better performance and
lower cost/GB, and lower cost and power consumption per I/O
fig 3 Approx. 400 IOPs / up to 150 MB/s
1.
50% READ than competing Hybrid RAID solutions.
TE

TE

MB/s
Figure 9. Competitive Hybrid RAID Solution
Conclusion RAID adapter

Adaptec Hybrid RAID arrays deliver a higher number of read Data centers face never-ending pressure to accommodate
operations per second than standard HDD arrays with no more users and more traffic. In the face of tightening
degradation
Fig 4 of write I/O performance (Figure 10). budgets, however, the days of simply adding more servers
WRITE are coming to an end.
600 WRITE Hybrid RAID arrays of SSDs and HDDs offer significantly
• Adapter card: Adaptec RAID 6805 better performance than standard HDD RAID arrays at
500 • Adapter card Firmware: 18623
Approx. 25K IOPs / up to 300 MB/s
a lower cost than SSD-only arrays.
• Windows Driver Version: 18646

400
fig 2 100% READ • HDD Hitachi 3TB SATA HUA723020ALA640 Adaptec Series 7, Series 6, and Series Q SAS/SATA RAID
• SSD: OCZ-Vertex3 MaxIOPS
adapters with the latest firmware updates can automatic-
300 ally create a seamless Hybrid RAID array whenever one
or more SSDs are combined with the same number of
HDD
200 SSD HDDs in a RAID 1 or RAID 10 array. Unlike competing
Hybrid
Fig 4 RAID adapter cards that read from the HDD 50% of the
100 time, Adaptec cards deliver maximum system perform-
ance by reading only from the SSD.
0
100% Seq.
Read 512K
100% Seq.
Write 512K
100% Ran.
Read 512K
100% Ran.
Write 512K 600 Compared to HDD-only arrays, Adaptec Hybrid arrays
deliver a higher number of read operations per second
with no degradation of write I/O performance, and • Adapter card
Figure 10. IOMeter Raw Performance
500 Fig 5 complete transparency to the operating system and all • Adapter card
running applications. Compared to SDD-only arrays, • Windows Driv
Adaptec Hybrid arrays offer the lowest cost/GB and
lowest cost and power consumption per I/O. • HDD Hitachi
300
400
• Adapter card: Adaptec RAID 6805
• Adapter card Firmware: 18623 • SSD: OCZ-Ve
PMC-Sierra, Inc. • Windows Driver Version: 18646
2501380 Bordeaux Dr. World Wide Web: www.adaptec.com
• HDD Hitachi 3TB SATA HUA723020ALA640
Sunnyvale, CA 94089 USA
Tel: +1 (408) 239-8000
Pre-Sales Support: US
• AS+44
UK:
Canada: 1 (800)
and OCZ-Vertex3
• SSD:
SSD1276
MaxIOPS
854 528
Benchmark
300
442-7274 or (408) 957-7274 or adaptecsales@pmc-sierra.com
or uk_sales@pmc-sierra.com
v1.6.4237.30508
200 Australia: +61-2- 90116787
Singapore: +65-92351044
150© Copyright PMC-Sierra, Inc. 2012. All rights reserved. PMC, PMC-SIERRA and Adaptec are registered trademarks of PMC-Sierra, Inc. “Adaptec by PMC” is a trademark of PMC-Sierra, Inc.
200
Other product and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. For a complete list of PMC-Sierra trademarks, see www.pmc-sierra.com/legal.
HDD
100WP_HYBRIDRAID_081912_US Information subject to change without notice.
SSD
Hybrid
50 100