Managing the System
Disk Management
Cisco Small Business NSS 322, NSS 324, and NSS 326 Smart Storage Administration Guide
106
3
RAID 5 Disk
Volume
RAID 5 disk volume is ideal for organizations running
databases and other transaction-based applications that
require storage efficiency and data protection.
To create a RAID 5 disk volume, a minimum of 3 hard disks
are required. The total capacity of RAID 5 disk volume
equals the size of the smallest capacity disk in the array x
(number of hard disks -1). It is recommended that you use
the same brand and same capacity hard drive to establish
the most efficient hard drive capacity.
Additionally, if your system contains four disk drives, three
of them can be used to implement RAID 5 data disks and
the fourth drive can be used as a spare disk. When a
physical disk failure occurs, the system will automatically
rebuild the data with the spare disk.
RAID 5 can survive 1 disk failure and the system can still
operate properly. When a disk fails in RAID 5, the disk
volume will be in “degraded mode.” There is no more data
protection at this stage. If one more disk fails, all data will
be lost. Therefore, you must replace a new disk
immediately. You can install a new disk after turning off the
server or hot swap the new disk when the server is on.
The status of the disk volume will be “rebuilding” after
installing a new disk. When rebuilding completes, your
disk volume resumes to normal status.
To install a disk when the server is on, make sure the disk
volume is in “degraded” mode. Or wait for two long beeps
after the disk crash, then insert the new disk.
Volume Type
Description
