Section 1 : Storage System

Data Protection: RAID

Chapter 3

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Why RAID
o Performance limitation of disk drive
o An individual drive has a certain life expectancy
o Measured in MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure)
o The more the number of HDDs in a storage array, the larger the probability
for disk failure. For example:
o If the MTBF of a drive is 750,000 hours, and there are 100 drives in the array,
then the MTBF of the array becomes 750,000 / 100, or 7,500 hours

o RAID was introduced to mitigate this problem

o RAID provides:
o Increase capacity
o Higher availability
o Increased performance
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Chapter objectives
After completing this chapter, you will be able to:
o Describe what is RAID and the needs it addresses
o Describe the concepts upon which RAID is built
o Define and compare RAID levels
o Recommend the use of the common RAID levels based on
performance and availability considerations
o Explain factors impacting disk drive performance

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RAID Array Components

Physical
Array

Logical
Array

RAID
Controller
Hard Disks

Host

RAID Array

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RAID Implementations
o Hardware (usually a specialized disk controller card)
o Controls all drives attached to it
o Array(s) appear to host operating system as a regular disk drive
o Provided with administrative software

o Software
o Runs as part of the operating system
o Performance is dependent on CPU workload
o Does not support all RAID levels

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RAID Levels
o 0 Striped array with no fault tolerance
o 1 Disk mirroring
o Nested RAID (i.e., 1 + 0, 0 + 1, etc.)
o 3 Parallel access array with dedicated parity disk
o 4 Striped array with independent disks and a dedicated parity
disk
o 5 Striped array with independent disks and distributed parity
o 6 Striped array with independent disks and dual distributed
parity

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Data Organization: Striping
Stripe

Strip

Stripe

Strip 1 Strip 2 Strip 3

Stripe 1
Stripe 2

Strips
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RAID 0
o Data is distributed across the HDDs in the RAID set.
o Allows multiple data to be read or written simultaneously, and
therefore improves performance.
o Does not provide data protection and availability in the event
of disk failures.

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RAID 0

1
5
9

RAID 2
Controller 6
10

3
Host 7
11

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RAID 1
o Data is stored on two different HDDs, yielding two copies of
the same data.
o Provides availability.

o In the event of HDD failure, access to data is still available from

the surviving HDD.
o When the failed disk is replaced with a new one, data is
automatically copied from the surviving disk to the new disk.
o Done automatically by RAID the controller.

o Disadvantage: The amount of storage capacity is twice the

amount of data stored.
o Mirroring is NOT the same as doing backup!
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RAID 1

RAID
Block 0
1 Block 0
1
Controller

Host

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Nested RAID
o Combines the performance benefits of RAID 0 with the
redundancy benefit of RAID 1.
o RAID 0+1 – Mirrored Stripe
o Data is striped across HDDs, then the entire stripe is mirrored.
o If one drive fails, the entire stripe is faulted.
o Rebuild operation requires data to be copied from each disk in the healthy
stripe, causing increased load on the surviving disks.

o RAID 1+0 – Striped Mirror

o Data is first mirrored, and then both copies are striped across multiple
HDDs.
o When a drive fails, data is still accessible from its mirror.
o Rebuild operation only requires data to be copied from the surviving disk
into the replacement disk.
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Nested RAID – 0+1 (Striping and Mirroring)

RAID 1

Block 0

Block 2

RAID RAID 0
Block 0
3
2
1
Controller

Block 1

Host Block 3

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Nested RAID – 0+1 (Striping and Mirroring)

RAID 1

Block 0 Block 0

Block 2 Block 2

RAID RAID 0
Controller

Block 1 Block 1

Host Block 3 Block 3

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Nested RAID – 1+0 (Mirroring and Striping)

RAID 0

Block 1

Block 3

RAID RAID 1
Block 2
0
Controller

Block 1

Host Block 3

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Nested RAID – 1+0 (Mirroring and Striping)

RAID 0

Block 0 Block 1

Block 2 Block 3

RAID RAID 1
Controller

Block 0 Block 1

Host Block 2 Block 3

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RAID Redundancy: Parity

0 4

1
6 5
9

RAID 1
?
Controller

3
Host 7 7
11
The middle drive fails:
Parity calculation 4 + 6 + 1 + 7 = 18 0123
4 + 6 + ? + 7 = 18 4 518
67

? = 18 – 4 – 6 – 7
?=1 Parity Disk
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RAID 3 and RAID 4
o Stripes data for high performance and uses parity for improved
fault tolerance.
o One drive is dedicated for parity information.
o If a drive files, data can be reconstructed using data in the
parity drive.
o For RAID 3, data read / write is done across the entire stripe.
o Provide good bandwidth for large sequential data access such as video
streaming.

o For RAID 4, data read/write can be independently on single

disk.

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RAID 3

Block 0
3
2
1 RAID0
Block
Controller
Block
Parity1
Generated
Block 2
Host
Block 3
P0123

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RAID 5 and RAID 6
o RAID 5 is similar to RAID 4, except that the parity is distributed
across all disks instead of stored on a dedicated disk.
o This overcomes the write bottleneck on the parity disk.

o RAID 6 is similar to RAID 5, except that it includes a second

parity element to allow survival in the event of two disk
failures.
o The probability for this to happen increases and the number of drives in
the array increases.
o Calculates both horizontal parity (as in RAID 5) and diagonal parity.
o Has more write penalty than in RAID 5.
o Rebuild operation may take longer than on RAID 5.

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RAID 5

Block 0
Block 4

Block 1
Block 5

Parity
RAID4 Block 2
Block 0
4 Block 0
Generated
Controller Block 6
P4
0516
273
Block 3
Host
P4567

P0123
Block 7

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RAID Comparison
Min Storage
RAID Cost Read Performance Write Performance
Disks Efficiency %

Very good for both

random and sequential Very good
0 2 100 Low
read

Good
Slower than a single
Good disk, as every write must
1 2 50 High Better than a single disk be committed to two
disks

(n-1)*100/n Poor to fair for small

Good for random reads
where n= random writes
and very good for
3 3 number of Moderate Good for large,
sequential reads
disks sequential writes

Fair for random write

(n-1)*100/n Very good for random
Slower due to parity
where n= reads
overhead
5 3 number of Moderate Good for sequential
Fair to good for
disks reads
sequential writes

(n-2)*100/n Very good for random

Moderate Good for small, random
where n= reads
6 4 but more writes
number of Good for sequential
than RAID 5 (has write penalty)
disks reads

1+0
and 4 50 High Very good Good
0+1

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RAID Impacts on Performance
RAID Controller

Ep new = Ep old - E4 old + E4 new

2 XOR
Ep new Ep old E4 old E4 new

P0 D1 D2 D3 D4

o Small (less than element size) write on RAID 3 & 5

o Ep = E1 + E2 + E3 + E4 (XOR operations)
o If parity is valid, then: Ep new = Ep old – E4 old + E4 new (XOR operations)
o 2 disk reads and 2 disk writes

o Parity Vs Mirroring
o Reading, calculating and writing parity segment introduces penalty to every write operation
o Parity RAID penalty manifests due to slower cache flushes
o Increased load in writes can cause contention and can cause slower read response times

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RAID Penalty Exercise
o Total IOPS at peak workload is 1200
o Read/Write ratio 2:1
o Calculate IOPS requirement at peak activity for
o RAID 1/0
o RAID 5

Additional Task
Discuss impact of sequential &
Random I/O in different RAID
Configuration

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Hot Spares

RAID
Controller

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Chapter Summary
Key points covered in this chapter:
o What RAID is and the needs it addresses
o The concepts upon which RAID is built
o Some commonly implemented RAID levels

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