Course Name : IT2 Group Members : Jawad Alturk Ibrahim khayal Riad katerji What is RAID?

RAID is an acronym for Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks. In fact, RAID is the way of combining several independent and relatively small disks into a single storage of a large size. The disks included into the array are called array members. The disks can be combined into the array in different ways which are known as RAID levels. Each of RAID levels has its own characteristics of:

Fault-tolerance which is the ability to survive of one or several disk failures. Performance which shows the change in the read and write speed of the entire array as compared to a single disk. The capacity of the array which is determined by the amount of user data that can be written to the array. The array capacity depends on the RAID level and does not always match the sum of the sizes of the RAID member disks.

How RAID is organized?

Two independent aspects are clearly distinguished in the RAID organization. 1. The organization of data in the array (RAID storage techniques: striping, mirroring, parity, combination of them). 2. Implementation of each particular RAID installation - hardware or software.

RAID storage techniques

The main methods of storing data in the array are:

Striping - splitting the flow of data into blocks of a certain size (called "block size") then writing of these blocks across the RAID one by one. This way of data storage affects on the performance. Mirroring is a storage technique in which the identical copies of data are stored on the RAID members simultaneously. This type of data placement affects the fault tolerance as well as the performance.

Parity is a storage technique which is utilized striping and checksum methods. In parity technique, a certain parity function is calculated for the data blocks. If a drive fails, the missing block are recalculated from the checksum, providing the RAID fault tolerance. All the existing RAID types are based on striping, mirroring, parity, or combination of these storage techniques.

RAID levels

RAID 0 - based on striping. This RAID level doesn't provide fault tolerance but increases the system performance (high read and write speed). RAID 1 - utilizes mirroring technique, increases read speed in some cases, and provides fault tolerance in the loss of no more than one member disk. RAID 0+1 - based on the combination of striping and mirroring techniques. This RAID level inherits RAID 0 performance and RAID 1 fault tolerance. RAID1E - uses both striping and mirroring techniques, can survive a failure of one member disk or any number of nonadjacent disks. There are three subtypes of RAID 1E layout: near, interleaved, and far. More information and diagrams on the RAID 1E page. RAID 5 - utilizes both striping and parity techniques. Provides the read speed improvement as in RAID 0 approximately, survives the loss of one RAID member disk. RAID 5E - a variation of RAID 5 layout the only difference of which is an integrated spare space allowing to rebuild a failed array immediately in case of a disk failure. Read more on the RAID5E page. RAID 5 with delayed parity - pretty similar to basic RAID 5 layout, but uses nonstandard scheme of striping. More information about RAID5 with delayed parity. RAID 6 - similar to RAID 5 but uses two different parity functions. The read speed is the same as in RAID 5.

RAID implementations
RAID can be created by two different ways:

with the use of operating system drivers, so called software RAID; with the use of special hardware, so called hardware RAID.

Software RAID Software RAID is one of the cheapest RAID solutions. Nowadays, almost any of the operating systems has a built-in capability to create RAID, though not for all RAID levels. Thus, Windows home editions allow user to create only RAID 0, while RAID 1 and RAID 5 can be created only using Windows server editions. RAID layout created by means of Windows is inseparably linked with the host operating system and so its partitions cannot be used, for example, in dual boot. Software RAID is created based on the user's computer and therefore it uses the host system CPU for implementation. It should be noted, that in case of RAID levels 0 and 1, CPU load is negligible, but for the RAID types based on parity, CPU load can vary from 1 to 5 percent depending on CPU power and the number of the disks, which is also negligible for practical purposes. There are certain limitations on the use of the software RAID to boot the system. Only RAID 1 can contain boot partition, while system boot is impossible with a software RAID 5 and RAID 0. Keep in mind that in most cases software RAID doesn't implement the hotswapping and so it cannot be used where continuous availability is required. Hardware RAID Hardware RAID is created using separate hardware. Basically there are two options:

inexpensive RAID chip possibly built into the motherboard, more expensive option with a complex standalone RAID controller. Such controllers can be equipped with their own CPU, battery-backed up cache memory, and they typically support hot-swapping. A hardware RAID has some advantages over a software RAID, such as:

doesn't use CPU of the host computer; allows user to create boot partitions; handles errors better, since communicates with the devices directly; supports hot-swapping.

RAID 5 utilizes the combination of striping and parity techniques. In case of RAID 5 the flow of data is split into the blocks of a certain size (block size) which are then written onto the member disks in turn. In each row one of the disks is assigned to store a certain checksum, so called parity function, which is calculated based on the data from other member disks in the row. In case of a single disk failure, the missing data can be calculated using the parity. In such a way fault tolerance is provided. A minimum of three disks is required for RAID 5. Theoretically, the maximum number of the disks is not limited, but in practice, it is needed to take into account the controller capacity in case of a hardware RAID. The capacity of the array is (N-1) times the size of the smallest member disk for the array of N disks. Thus, the capacity of one disk is used to store the parity function data to provide fault tolerance.

Reads in a RAID5 array

Read speed in RAID 5 is the similar to that of RAID 0 provided that the number of disks is the same. However, due to the fact that it is useless to read the parity data, the read speed is just (N-1) times faster but not N times as in RAID 0.

Writes in a RAID5 array

Writing data with the size less than the block size requires the following actions to be done: 1. Read the old data block; 2. Read the old parity block; 3. Compare data in the old block with the newly arrived one. For every changed bit, change the corresponding bit in parity. 4. Write the new data block; 5. Write the new parity block. As can be seen, the parity updates decrease the system write performance. For writes which are equal to or bigger than the size of a row consisting of N data blocks, write speed is a bit faster because it is not required to read the old blocks and look for changes.

RAID 5 layouts
There are four different types of RAID 5 depending on where the parity blocks are located and in which order the data blocks are written (note that the first block in each row is colored red in the diagrams below):

Left and right arrays are determined by how the parity blocks are distributed onto the member disks. Synchronicity and asynchronicity define the order of the data blocks. For RAID 5 recovery, all these parameters should be detected in addition to the block size, the start offset, and the order of the member disks.

RAID 6
RAID 6 uses both striping and parity techniques but unlike RAID 5 utilizes two independent parity functionswhich are then written to two member disks. Typically, one of these parity functions is the same as in RAID 5(xor function), while the second is more complex. The parity data helps to recover data in case of simultaneous failure of two member disks. A minimum of four disks is required to create RAID 6. The capacity of the array is (N2) times the size of the smallest member disk for the array of N disks. Read speed is (N-2) times faster than in case of a single disk - two disks in the row hold a parity which is useless to read. Such read speed values are roughly the same as in RAID 5. There is no performance increase as to the write speed in RAID 6, because every new write requires a recalculation and update of two different parity blocks. RAID 6 is rather expensive storage option. However, when it is needed a large and reliable storage, thenRAID 6 is one of the best choices, because it protects data if two disks failure happens. This can occur when:

an array is rebuilding (so called rebuild time); a wrong disk is hot-swapped due to operator error.

Recovery considerations
When one disk is missing from a RAID 5 set, there is a certain speed penalty because the data stored on a missing disk must be recalculated. However, the recalculation is still significantly faster than having to try to read a physically damaged drive. Hence, you should avoid using drives that are known to be physically damaged (multiple bad sectors or similar issues) for recovery. Although the RAID 6 can be rebuilt by the controller with N-2 disks available, ReclaiMe Free RAID Recovery requires N-1 disks to recover RAID6.

Create a RAID-5 volume

To create a RAID-5 volume
Using the Windows interface Using a command line

Using the Windows interface

1. 2. Open Computer Management (Local). In the console tree, click Computer Management (Local), click Storage, and then click Disk Management. Right-click the unallocated space on one of the dynamic disks where you want to create the RAID-5 volume, and then click New Volume. In the New Volume Wizard, click Next, click RAID-5, and then follow the instructions on your screen.

3.

4.

Notes To perform this procedure on a local computer, you must be a member of the Backup Operators group or Administrators group on the local computer, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority. To perform this procedure remotely, you must be a member of the Backup Operators group or Administrators group on the remote computer. If the computer is joined to a domain, members of the Domain Admins group might be able to perform this procedure. As a security best practice, consider using Run as to perform this procedure. For To open Computer Management, click Start, click Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management. You can create RAID-5 volumes only on computers running Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, or Windows Server 2003 operating systems. You need at least three (but no more than 32) dynamic disks to create a RAID-5 volume. RAID-5 volumes provide fault tolerance at a cost of only one additional disk for the volume. For example, if you use three 10-GB disks to create a RAID-5 volume, the volume will have a 20-GB capacity. The remaining 10-GB is used for parity. RAID-5 volumes cannot be extended or mirrored.

Using a command line

1. 2. Open Command Prompt. Type: diskpart 3. At the DISKPART prompt, type: list disk Make note of the disk number of the disks where you want to create a RAID-5 volume. 4. At the DISKPART prompt, type: create volume raid [size=n] disk=n,n,n Creates a RAID-5 volume of n MB on the selected disks.

Value

Description

list disk

Displays a list of disks and information about them, such as their size, amount of available free space, whether the disk is a basic or dynamic disk, and whether the disk uses the master boot record (MBR) or GUID partition table (GPT) partition style. The disk marked with an asterisk (*) has focus. Creates a RAID-5 volume using three or more specified dynamic disks. After you create the volume, the focus automatically shifts to the new volume.

create volume raid size= n

The amount of disk space, in megabytes (MB), that the volume will occupy on each disk. If no size is given, the largest possible RAID-5 volume will be created. The disk with the smallest available contiguous free space determines the size for the RAID-5 volume and the same amount of space is allocated from each disk. The actual amount of usable disk space in the RAID-5 volume is less than the combined amount of disk space because some of the disk space is required for parity. The dynamic disks on which to create the volume. An amount of space equal to size=n is allocated on each disk.

disk= n

Notes To perform this procedure on a local computer, you must be a member of the Backup Operators group, Administrators group, or you must have been delegated the appropriate authority. If the computer is joined to a domain, members of the Domain Admins group might be able to perform this procedure. As a security best practice, consider using Run as to perform this procedure. To open a command prompt, click Start, point to All programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command prompt. You can create RAID-5 volumes only on computers running Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Datacenter Server, or Windows Server 2003 operating systems. You need at least three (but no more than 32) dynamic disks to create a RAID-5 volume. RAID-5 volumes provide fault tolerance at a cost of only one additional disk for the volume. For example, if you use three 10-GB disks to create a RAID-5 volume, the volume will have a 20-GB capacity. The remaining 10-GB is used for parity. RAID-5 volumes cannot be extended or mirrored. For more information about DiskPart, see Related Topics.