MODULE 3

DATA PROTECTION
RAID

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Module 3: Data Protection - RAID

Module 3: Data Protection RAID

Upon completion of this module, you should be able to:

Describe RAID implementation methods
Describe the three RAID techniques
Describe commonly used RAID levels
Describe the impact of RAID on performance
Compare RAID levels based on their cost,
performance, and protection

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Module 3: Data Protection RAID

Lesson 1: RAID Overview

During this lesson the following topics are covered:
RAID Implementation methods
RAID array components
RAID techniques

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Why RAID?
RAID

It is a technique that combines multiple disk drives into a

logical unit (RAID set) and provides protection,
performance, or both.

Due to mechanical components in a disk drive it

offers limited performance

An individual drive has a certain life expectancy and
is measured in MTBF:
For example: If the MTBF of a drive is 750,000 hours,

and there are 1000 drives in the array, then the MTBF
of the array is 750 hours (750,000/1000)

RAID was introduced to mitigate these problems

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RAID Implementation Methods

Software RAID implementation

Uses host-based software to provide RAID

functionality
Limitations
Use host CPU cycles to perform RAID calculations,

hence impact overall system performance

Support limited RAID levels
RAID software and OS can be upgraded only if they are
compatible

Hardware RAID Implementation

Uses a specialized hardware controller installed either

on a host or on an array

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RAID Array Components

RAID
Controller

Logical
Array
(RAID Sets)
Hard
Disks

Hos
t

RAID Array

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RAID Techniques

Three key techniques used for RAID are:

Striping
Mirroring
Parity

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RAID Technique Striping

Strip

RAID
Controller

Strip
e

Host

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RAID Technique Mirroring

Block 0

Block 0

RAID
Controller
Block 0

Host

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RAID Technique Parity

4
D1

6
D2

RAID
Controller

1
D3

7
Host

D4

18
P

Actual parity calculation is a bitwise XOR operation

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Data Recovery in Parity Technique

4
D1

6
D2

RAID
Controller

?
D3

7
Host

D4

Regeneration of data when Drive D3 fails:

4 + 6 + ? + 7 = 18
? = 18 4 6 7
?=1

18
P

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Module 3: Data Protection RAID

Lesson 2: RAID Levels

During this lesson the following topics are covered:
Commonly used RAID levels
RAID impacts on performance
RAID comparison
Hot spare

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RAID Levels

Commonly used RAID levels are:

RAID 0 Striped set with no fault tolerance
RAID 1 Disk mirroring
RAID 1 + 0 Nested RAID
RAID 3 Striped set with parallel access and

dedicated parity disk

RAID 5 Striped set with independent disk access
and a distributed parity
RAID 6 Striped set with independent disk access
and dual distributed parity

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RAID 0
C
B
A

Data from host

RAID Controller

A1
B1
C1

A2
B2
C2

A3
B3
C3

A4
B4
C4

A5
B5
C5

Data Disks

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RAID 1

F
E
D
C
B
A

Data from host

RAID Controller

A
B
C
Mirror Set

A
B
C

D
E
F

D
E
F

Mirror Set

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Nested RAID 1+0

C
B
A

Data from host

Striping
Mirrorin
g

A1
B1
C1
Mirror Set A

A1
B1
C1

Mirrorin
g

A2
B2
C2
Mirror Set B

RAID Controller

Mirrorin
g

A3
B3
C3

A2
B2
C2

A3
B3
C3

Mirror Set C

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RAID 3
C
B
A

Data from host

RAID Controller

A1
B1
C1

A2
B2
C2
Data Disks

A3
B3
C3

AP
BP
CP

A4
B4
C4

Dedicated Parity Disk

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RAID 5
C
B
A

Data from host

RAID Controller

A1
B1
C1

A2
B2
C2

A3
B3
CP

A4
BP
C3

AP
B4
C4

Distributed Parity

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RAID 6
C
B
A

Data from host

RAID Controller

A1
B1
C1

A2
B2
CP

A3
BP
CQ

AP
BQ
C2

AQ
B3
C3

Dual Distributed Parity

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RAID Impacts on Performance

RAID Controller

Cp new =

Cp old -

C4 old +

C4 new

4
A1
B1
C1

1
A2
B2
C2

A3
B3
CP

A4
BP
C3

AP
B4
C4

In RAID 5, every write (update) to a disk manifests as

four I/O operations (2 disk reads and 2 disk writes)
In RAID 6, every write (update) to a disk manifests as six
I/O operations (3 disk reads and 3 disk writes)
In RAID 1, every write manifests as two I/O operations (2
disk writes)
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RAID Penalty Calculation Example

Total IOPS at peak workload is 1200

Read/Write ratio 2:1
Calculate disk load at peak activity for:
RAID 1/0
RAID 5

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Solution: RAID Penalty

For RAID 1/0, the disk load (read + write)

= (1200 x 2/3) + (1200 x (1/3) x 2)
= 800 + 800
= 1600 IOPS

For RAID 5, the disk load (read + write)

= (1200 x 2/3) + (1200 x (1/3) x 4)
= 800 + 1600
= 2400 IOPS

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RAID Comparison
RAI
D
lev
el

Min
dis
ks

Available
storage
capacity (%)

Read
performance

Write
performance

Write
penalty

Protection

Moderat
e

Mirror

Moderat
e

Mirror

High

Parity
(Supports
single disk
failure)

Fair for random

and sequential
writes

High

Parity
(Supports
single disk
failure)

Poor to fair for

random and
sequential writes

Very
High

Parity
(Supports two
disk failures)

50

Better than
single disk

Slower than
single disk,
because every
write must be
committed to all
disks

1+0

50

Good

Good

Fair for
random reads
and good for
sequential
reads
Good for
random and
sequential
reads
Good for
random and
sequential
reads

Poor to fair for

small random
writes
fair for large,
sequential writes

[(n-1)/n]*100

[(n-1)/n]*100

where
of disks
6 n =4number [(n-2)/n]*100

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Suitable RAID Levels for Different Applications

RAID 1+0
Suitable for applications with small, random, and

write intensive (writes typically greater than 30%) I/O

profile
Example: OLTP, RDBMS Temp space

RAID 3
Large, sequential read and write
Example: data backup and multimedia streaming

RAID 5 and 6
Small, random workload (writes typically less than

30%)
Example: email, RDBMS Data entry

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Hot Spare

Failed disk

RAID
Controller

Replace
failed
disk
Hot spare

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Module 3: Summary
Key points covered in this module:
RAID implementation methods and techniques
Common RAID levels
RAID write penalty
Compare RAID levels based on their cost and
performance

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Exercise 1: RAID

A company is planning to reconfigure storage for

their accounting application for high availability
Current configuration and challenges
Application performs 15% random writes and 85%
random reads
Currently deployed with five disk RAID 0 configuration
Each disk has an advertised formatted capacity of 200
GB
Total size of accounting applications data is 730 GB
which is unlikely to change over 6 months
Approaching end of financial year, buying even one
disk is not possible

Task
Recommend a RAID level that the company can use

to restructure their environment fulfilling their needs

Justify your choice based on cost, performance, and
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Exercise 2: RAID

A company (same as discussed in exercise 1) is now

planning to reconfigure storage for their database
application for HA
Current configuration and challenges
The application performs 40% writes and 60% reads
Currently deployed on six disk RAID 0 configuration
with advertised capacity of each disk being 200 GB
Size of the database is 900 GB and amount of data is
likely to change by 30% over the next 6 months
It is a new financial year and the company has an
increased budget

Task
Recommend a suitable RAID level to fulfill companys

needs
Estimate the cost of the new solution (200GB disk
costs $1000)

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